2007 Authentic Leadership Summer Program

Practicing Fearlessness in Times of Fear with Margaret Wheatley, Chris Grant & Jerry Granelli

We live in a time of heightened fear, which pervades our society and organizations . How can we lead others when we are grappling with realities, pressures, and uncertainties beyond our control? What ground can we stand on with authenticity? What moves can we make that don't produce yet more fear?

This module is an inquiry around questions that are real for us, individually and collectively. We aim to create a trusting environment for exploring the texture of our fears and discovering within them the possibility of fearlessness. We will revisit what keeps us from acting fearlessly, moment to moment, and in the larger patterns of our life and work. Through dialogue, exercises, and reflection, we will explore how we might move beyond fear and hope, so that, in our best moments, our work becomes a true gift, freely offered. We will also learn practical steps for generating a culture of courage for ourselves and others.

Margaret Wheatley writes, teaches, and speaks about radically new practices and ideas for organizing in chaotic times. She is President emerita of The Berkana Institute, a charitable global foundation serving life-affirming leaders around the world. Her newest book, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time, is a collection of her practice-focused writings, where she describes both the organizational and personal behaviors that bring her theories to life. Her classic book Leadership and the New Science has just been published in a revised and updated third edition, and now appears in 20 languages. Her other books are Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, and A Simpler Way (with Myron Kellner-Rogers). Her articles appear frequently in a wide variety of magazines and professional publications. See www.margaretwheatley.com for her most recent articles and listing of seminars.

Chris Grant is a Hungarian-Jamaican South Londoner who considers his trade to be the building of bridges. At an early age, he developed a fascination for the way that groups function. For him, learning how to read and influence groups felt like a natural part of growing up. Thirty years later, Chris is applying that passion and those skills in a very broad range of activities, spanning leadership development, executive coaching, group process design and facilitation, change management, strategy development, and mediation.

For five years, Chris chaired the Board of the successful £1.1 billion UK Chip & PIN Programme, run by the banking and retail industries to introduce more secure card payments technologies. Other recent and current projects include designing and facilitating the UK Sports Summits for the BBC and the National Sports Councils; acting as lead consultant on two major culture change programmes, one within a government agency, and the other in the banking industry; hosting the first World Cities Forum - a conversation on the building of sustainable, liveable cities organised by the Urban Land Institute and sponsored by the World Bank; and facilitating seminars for Olympic and World medalists shifting into coaching roles.

Chris's home and working base are flanked by Greenwich's 600-year-old park and the River Thames - both of which provide excellent playgrounds for him and his two daughters. Chris has a BA in French Studies and an MSc in Group dynamics and Organisational Behaviour, but his 25 years' experience in group facilitation tell him that this is where Art meets Science meets more mysterious forces: thus it is that he aspires to being a great Alchemist. To learn more about Chris and his work, see www.14aconversations.com

Jerry Granelli, jazz drummer, composer, bandleader, and teacher, began his musical career in San Francisco in the 1960s, as a member of Vince Guaraldi's group, and then later as the rhythm-section mate of Charlie Haden. Over the years he has frequently worked with Mose Allison, and has been regarded as the star pupil of legendary drum master Joe Morello. Jerry spent much of the 1970s and early '80s teaching in various innovative and prestigious music programs, such as Seattle's Cornish Institute and Boulder's Naropa University.

In the mid-1980s he returned to active recording and performing, first in a trio with Ralph Towner and Gary Peacock, and then with the group Quartet. He now leads his own quartet, Berlin-based UFB. His recordings include Another Place, A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing, News from the Street, and Broken Circle. Jerry presently teaches at the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin, and also lives and performs in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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