What sets the Leadership for Sustainability program apart?
The MLS program is committed to creating a relational, reciprocal, and non-extractive learning ecosystem rooted in principles of differentiation, interdependence, self-organization, invitation, permission, and more. We are not creating a new model of leadership nor using tools of coercion or assimilation. Instead, we aspire to create conditions that support rigorous learning in service to differentiation.
We invite students to focus on their own learning, and not to carry responsibility to teach/show other students. Offerings from our affiliate community members are intended to inspire students to find/remember their own center and leadership pathway forward. They are not shared as a source of cultural practices, cosmologies, or tools to be taken, claimed, or appropriated. While meaningful relationships often develop organically through the learning experience, the program does not support transactional or extractive dynamics (e.g., networking, claiming a special relationship, etc.). Students are supported in rooting down into their own deep wells of creativity, courage, and intelligence as part of a larger exploration of what one’s role might be in creating conditions for all life to thrive.
The MLS Program is Rooted in:
Instruction, Coaching and Facilitation from Distinguished Professional Affiliates: Experienced practitioners and creative thought leaders are the heartbeat of this program. They facilitate and instruct intensives, design and deliver learning modules, and provide direct coaching and guidance to students as they embark on their year-long Capstone Project. Affiliates ground theoretical approaches in practice and share insights from cutting edge organizations and initiatives.
Practice-based: Program coursework provides meaningful and individualized application of learning throughout the program. The culminating Master's Capstone Project is an opportunity for students to design a project that rigorously integrates key learnings and leadership practices while strengthening relationships, building systems of accountability, and engaging complexity in ways that are deeply aligned with the student’s core values and principles.
Multiple Ways of Knowing: This program maintains a foundational commitment to multiple ways of knowing, being, and leading in the world. We believe that the wisdom needed for these complex times can be rooted in rigorous inquiry, creativity, spiritual practice and wisdom traditions, solidarity and survivance, and relationships with our more than human kin.
Networked Distance Learning: With our online approach, students stay rooted in their home community, while benefiting from a supportive learning container and cohort built on a strong network of student-colleagues, faculty, and seasoned professionals. Week-long remote learning intensives are complemented by ongoing online courses that emphasize relational learning and include regular synchronous meetings.
Areas of Specialization: In addition to our core curriculum, the Master’s in Leadership for Sustainability is designed so students are able to create their own area of specialization with the selection of 3 elective courses that are specific to their goals and learning edges.