Cultivating Authentic Leadership Presence

with Toke Møller, Barbara Bash, Bob Wing

Leaders who act from a place of deep authenticity bring out the best in others. They create a climate of both challenge and trust, so that others are inspired to take risks and rise to their potential. Although authenticity is an innate quality, leaders can cultivate the capacity and courage to bring more of who they are into their everyday interactions.

In this module you will strengthen your leadership presence. You will also learn how to initiate and host authentic conversations and meetings, and how to generate a culture of coherence and meaning without imposing control. Through circle dialogue and exercises based on the contemplative arts of brush calligraphy and Aikido, you will enhance your capacity for trusting the moment, and for acting with decisiveness, clarity, and compassion.

This module brings together three masters from three fields, and is a collaboration that began at the Shambhala Institute's summer program in 2005.

"The melding of three modalities: hosting good conversations, using my personal katana (sword) and practising contemplative brush calligraphy was magical and enabled me to deepen my personal and professional leadership capacity."
— Gabriela Ostendorfer, Consultant, Comprehensive School Health, Calgary Board of Education, Alberta

"This was all I had hoped for and more. Toke was masterful and an impeccable model. Bob Wing playfully, but with strong intent, helped us learn how to commit to action as we put our stake in the ground. And Barbara created a safe space for us to make visible gestures from a still and quiet space inside. What I have taken away from this workshop is subtle and yet very deep. My life feels transformed even as I continue to integrate all the wisdom shared so generously in this module."
— Carla Kimball, Public Speaking Coach and Trainer, President/Founder, RiverWays Enterprises, Massachussets

Toke Møller has collaboratively developed a strategic conversations methodology called "The Art of Hosting questions and conversation that matter", which he has offered in various locations in North and South America, Europe, The Middle East, and Africa. Mr. Møller has been pioneering in the fields of sustainable entrepreneurship, sustainable leadership, educational renewal, and social responsibility since the early 1970s. He is co-founder and CEO of InterChange, a training and process consulting company based in Denmark. He has co-led modules at the Authentic Leadership Summer Institute for the past six years.

Barbara Bash is the author and illustrator of many books on natural history for children and adults. Her involvement with Western calligraphy led her to a successful career as a graphic artist, botanical illustrator, and teacher of book arts at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she collaborated with dancers, musicians, and storytellers in performance. Her study of Dharma Art with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Chinese pictograms with Ed Young has contributed to her understanding of Eastern principles as applied to Western forms. Ms. Bash's most recent book is True Nature: An Illustrated Journal of Four Seasons in Solitude. She has been a member of the creative process faculty at the Authentic Leadership Summer Institute for the past five years.

Bob Wing - M.A. Theology, is director of Mountain Warrior Institute, an organization dedicated to cultivating compassionate and dynamic actions in the world. He co-developed Warrior of the Heart seminars and retreats, designed to teach and empower individuals and groups to live and work intelligently and courageously in skillful warriorship. He has been inspired by and worked closely in, The Art of Hosting Important Questions. He has presented workshops for The Shambhala Institute Authentic Leadership Program (Halifax), Omega Institute (Reinbeck), and The Crossings (Austin). Bob started studying Aikido in 1977 and is a direct student of both Kashiwaya Sensei and Ikeda Sensei. He has taught Aikido at The Naropa University (Boulder, Colorado) since 1982 and worked in the Contemplative Psychology (B.A.) and Contemplative Psychotherapy (M.A.) departments, as well as the Marpa Center for Business and Economics. He is honored to have worked closely with Milton Trager, founder of Trager Psycho-Physical Integration. Bob is also an artist (stone sculpture and ink paintings) and is especially interested in spontaneous and "in the moment" work, that often produces unexpected and brilliant results.

Regional Intensive Ontario Modules

Leading for Profound Innovation & Change with Otto Scharmer & Arawana Hayashi
Getting to Maybe: The Art and Practice of Leading Social Innovation with Brenda Zimmerman
Cultivating Authentic Leadership Presence with Toke Møller, Barbara Bash & Bob Wing
Mapping & Leveraging Social Networks with Karen Stephenson
The Future of Leadership: Scenario Planning and the Changing Nature of Organizations and Communities with Art Kleiner