Sublime

Einstein once famously said that problems couldn’t be solved with the same level of consciousness that created them in the first place.

The future of our social systems, societies, and the planet as a whole depends in no small way on the choices we make in these moments. The first response (muddling through: same old) creates more chaos, breakdowns, and suffering. The second response (moving back: closing down) creates even worse outcomes, such as racism or fascism. Only the third

began calling the state at the bottom of the U “Presencing.” I will talk much more about this in Part III, but for now, we can call it “seeing from our deepest source”: that is, sensing and operating from one’s highest future potential. It is the state each of us can experience when we open not just our minds but our hearts and our wills—our impetu

The single most important skill and most undervalued capacity for exercising adaptive leadership is diagnosis.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead

A critical first step is to shift the focus to “Where are we now?” and the most important turning point comes when we focus on the future.

systemic and personal realities always play out simultaneously. Thus adaptive leadership is an iterative activity, an ongoing engagement between you and groups of people.

the artistry of leadership and the artistry of teaching recognize the opportunity within the conflict—the gap between how things are and the needs and aspirations of the social system—the adaptive challenge. One learns, not only how to take action and intervene, but also how to pause, to wait, to pace the work to let a process the leader cannot ful

process is effective to the degree that there is a culture within the workplace where people feel safe and encouraged to hold each other to account, and people have the skills and processes to work through disagreements with maturity and grace.