Foresight: How our leaders build a better tomorrow for future generations

CPPR News

Creating Tomorrow Today. Seven Simple Rules for Leaders. 1. Define our shared purpose 2. Root our transformation efforts in a sense of belonging 3. Go backwards in the care/health process as a core principle 4. Support people to build their agency (power) at every level of the system. Understanding that imbalances in power and privilege mean that people have very different starting points. 5. Embrace contradictions and tensions 6. Unleash learning as a power for transformation. 7. Action. Small-scale changes within a large-scale framework

Image: Seven Simple Rules for Leaders courtesy of @HelenBevan and @GoranHenriks.

Better World
Wonder how change makers bring about a better world? Where are their heads? Where do they seek inspiration and wisdom?

This is lifted from the CPPR internal newsletter (The Dot). We are sharing it with you, the innovators and change makers in the world, because it highlights how we at CPPR see our role in healing the system we have, and envisioning and building the future we want. We hope it sparks something in you and helps you envision how foresight can help you create positive change in your part of the world.

 

From The Dot, CPPR’s internal newsletter
1/13/21

Dear CPPR Staff,
Our work at CPPR brought us together around the shared purpose of making the world better. We each have a slightly different version of what better means, but our work with Openfields, Openvoices, and other efforts confirms that we are all going in the same direction.

I have clarity on CPPR’s role in the transformation, and the graphic above aligns with my approach. I’m sharing it so you can see the basis for some of my decision making and actions. I take in a lot of new information and process it by inserting it in conversations and trying out my own small-scale changes.

I do not claim that futures work is new. This approach has been around for a while and builds on several principles that foster long-term thinking. One example is the foresight of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquis). The Seventh Generation Principle considers how decisions will affect the welfare and well-being of the seventh generation to come. If this resonates with you, check it out. I’ve sourced it from some of you and my latest reading of The Good Ancestor.

In Jots to come, I will explore long-term thinking and how we can embed it into our work. We need to have one foot planted in today and the other in the future. That means that we will continue to provide the high-quality work we have been, while also nudging/pulling/creating the demand for the world to be more just.

CPPR’s role is in healing the system we have, and envisioning and building the future we want.
I want you to see yourself in this work, and as Randi put it yesterday, find your “comfort and home.”

In solidarity to create tomorrow today,
Jackie Counts