Where should you start if you are faced with massive systemic challenges or want to cultivate a shift towards sustainability in global systems? Where are the leverage points for systemic change? This book provides examples of what organizations and companies like the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, WWF and Nike are doing, along with practical strategies and an overview of system change theory. Section one outlines systems thinking, especially how we can use a "living systems" perspective as a tool to understanding sustainability and change.Section two pulls out practical strategies for action from theoretical models and "must-read" literature. Section three illustrates how organisations are implementing these strategies – including examples from the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, Nike, Sustainable Food Lab, Finance Innovation Lab, Shell Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation.Section four provides tips for you as a practitioner navigating this territory. Many of the ideas behind cultivating system change can be difficult to understand until they are put into practice. This "practitioner's companion" ends with questions that will prompt reflections and spur you to action. Keep it to hand as you change the system!

The issues of poverty, inequality, racial injustice, and climate change have never been more pressing or paralyzing. Current approaches to social change, which rely on linear thinking and traditional power dynamics to 'solve' social problems, are not helping. In fact, they may only beentrenching the status quo.Systemic social challenges produce bewildering results when we try to solve them due to their complexity, scale, and depth. While strategies to tackle complexity and scale have received significant attention and investment, challenges that arise from deeply-held beliefs, values, and assumptions thatno longer serve us well have been largely overlooked. This book draws on stories of committed social changemakers to uncover a set of principles and practices for social change that dramatically depart from the industrial approach. Rather than delivering solutions or being lured by grander visionsof 'systems change', these principles and practices focus on the process of change itself. Simple yet profound, these stories distil a timely set of lessons for leaders, scholars, and policymakers on how connection, context, and power sit at the heart of the change process, ensuring broader agencyfor people and communities while building social systems that are responsive in a rapidly-changing world.

Shifting cultivation is one of the oldest forms of subsistence agriculture and is still practised by millions of poor people in the tropics. Typically it involves clearing land (often forest) for the growing of crops for a few years, and then moving on to new sites, leaving the earlier ground fallow to regain its soil fertility. This book brings together the best of science and farmer experimentation, vividly illustrating the enormous diversity of shifting cultivation systems as well as the power of human ingenuity. Some critics have tended to disparage shifting cultivation (sometimes called 'swidden cultivation' or 'slash-and-burn agriculture') as unsustainable due to its supposed role in deforestation and land degradation. However, the book shows that such indigenous practices, as they have evolved over time, can be highly adaptive to land and ecology. In contrast, 'scientific' agricultural solutions imposed from outside can be far more damaging to the environment and local communities. The book focuses on successful agricultural strategies of upland farmers, particularly in south and south-east Asia, and presents over 50 contributions by scholars from around the world and from various disciplines, including agricultural economics, ecology and anthropology. It is a sequel to the much praised "Voices from the Forest: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Sustainable Upland Farming" (RFF Press, 2007), but all chapters are completely new and there is a greater emphasis on the contemporary challenges of climate change and biodiversity conservation.

"Where should you start if you are faced with massive systemic challenges or want to cultivate a shift towards sustainability in global systems? Where are the leverage points for systemic change? This book provides examples of what organizations and companies like the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, WWF and Nike are doing, along with practical strategies and an overview of system change theory.Section one outlines systems thinking, especially how we can use a "living systems" perspective as a tool to understanding sustainability and change.Section two pulls out practical strategies for action from theoretical models and "must-read" literature.Section three illustrates how organisations are implementing these strategies – including examples from the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, Nike, Sustainable Food Lab, Finance Innovation Lab, Shell Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation.Section four provides tips for you as a practitioner navigating this territory.Many of the ideas behind cultivating system change can be difficult to understand until they are put into practice. This "practitioner's companion" ends with questions that will prompt reflections and spur you to action. Keep it to hand as you change the system!"--Provided by publisher.

This book offers an ecological perspective to understand the opportunities and complexities of spreading and sustaining educational innovations. It explores the imperatives underpinning educational reforms and identifies the role of schools in developing, disseminating, and sustaining changes in Singapore’s educational context. It also includes international case studies that examine the dialectical relationships between structure, people and culture and demonstrate that cultivating ecologies involves leveraging affordances and resources across the education system to create new contexts, synergies and capacities. Further, it argues that educational innovations and reforms also need to consider tacit knowledge and conditions of transfer, which may be ambiguous and challenging. Few books address the nuances and interactions of innovation and change across levels of the education ecology – from the micro (classroom), meso (organisation / school), exo (partners), macro (policy) and chrono (time scales) levels. The ecological perspective adopted in this book explores the dynamic tensions in order to understand the interplays of policy and school-level influences that contextualize school innovations. By presenting multiple voices and views, it allows impediments and affordances of innovation diffusion to be discussed holistically, which is an integral caveat for nurturing a sustainable ecology that enables innovations.

Today's marketplace is fueled by knowledge. Yet organizing systematically to leverage knowledge remains a challenge. Leading companies have discovered that technology is not enough, and that cultivating communities of practice is the keystone of an effective knowledge strategy. Communities of practice come together around common interests and expertise- whether they consist of first-line managers or customer service representatives, neurosurgeons or software programmers, city managers or home-improvement amateurs. They create, share, and apply knowledge within and across the boundaries of teams, business units, and even entire companies-providing a concrete path toward creating a true knowledge organization. In Cultivating Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder argue that while communities form naturally, organizations need to become more proactive and systematic about developing and integrating them into their strategy. This book provides practical models and methods for stewarding these communities to reach their full potential-without squelching the inner drive that makes them so valuable. Through in-depth cases from firms such as DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, the authors demonstrate how communities of practice can be leveraged to drive overall company strategy, generate new business opportunities, tie personal development to corporate goals, transfer best practices, and recruit and retain top talent. They define the unique features of these communities and outline principles for nurturing their essential elements. They provide guidelines to support communities of practice through their major stages of development, address the potential downsides of communities, and discuss the specific challenges of distributed communities. And they show how to recognize the value created by communities of practice and how to build a corporate knowledge strategy around them. Essential reading for any leader in today's knowledge economy, this is the definitive guide to developing communities of practice for the benefit-and long-term success-of organizations and the individuals who work in them. Etienne Wenger is a renowned expert and consultant on knowledge management and communities of practice in San Juan, California. Richard McDermott is a leading expert of organization and community development in Boulder, Colorado. William M. Snyder is a founding partner of Social Capital Group, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transform your organization with speed and efficiency using this insightful new resource Incremental improvement is no longer sufficient in helping organizations navigate the complexity, uncertainty and volatility of today's world. In Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times, authors John P. Kotter, Vanessa Akhtar, and Gaurav Gupta explore how to create non-linear, dramatic change in your organization. You'll discover the emerging science of change that teaches us about how to build organizations – from businesses to governments – that change and adapt rapidly. In Change you'll discover: Why the ability of organizations to deal with threats and take advantage of opportunities in the face of ever greater complexity and uncertainty is being severely challenged In-depth, evidence-based, actionable solutions for dealing with institutional resistance to change Case studies and success stories that describe organizations who have successfully built the ability to change quickly into their DNA A universal approach for how to dramatically improve outcomes from various change efforts, including: strategy execution, digital transformation, restructuring, and more Perfect for managers, executives, and leaders at companies of all types and sizes, Change will also prove to be a valuable asset to other professionals who serve these organizations. This book is for anyone seeking a proven approach for delivering fast, sustainable and comprehensive results.

Clemmer's inspirational stories, personal and client examples, fables, and humor help explain hundreds of practical action ideas that make this book "inspir-actional."

Shifting cultivation is one of the oldest forms of subsistence agriculture and is still practised by millions of poor people in the tropics. Typically it involves clearing land (often forest) for the growing of crops for a few years, and then moving on to new sites, leaving the earlier ground fallow to regain its soil fertility. This book brings together the best of science and farmer experimentation, vividly illustrating the enormous diversity of shifting cultivation systems as well as the power of human ingenuity. Some critics have tended to disparage shifting cultivation (sometimes called 'swidden cultivation' or 'slash-and-burn agriculture') as unsustainable due to its supposed role in deforestation and land degradation. However, the book shows that such indigenous practices, as they have evolved over time, can be highly adaptive to land and ecology. In contrast, 'scientific' agricultural solutions imposed from outside can be far more damaging to the environment and local communities. The book focuses on successful agricultural strategies of upland farmers, particularly in south and south-east Asia, and presents over 50 contributions by scholars from around the world and from various disciplines, including agricultural economics, ecology and anthropology. It is a sequel to the much praised "Voices from the Forest: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Sustainable Upland Farming" (RFF Press, 2007), but all chapters are completely new and there is a greater emphasis on the contemporary challenges of climate change and biodiversity conservation.

Energy. Psi, prana, mana, chi, divine power, the tao, reiki, or "vibes," every system of magic and mysticism calls the energies that power its practices by different names. Whether questioning the power of prayer or a healing session with a Reiki master an underlying question exists of whether this energy is all the same or if they exist as distinctly different "wavelengths" of some universal power? When New Agers, occultists, spiritual healers, metaphysicians, artists, and Neopagans talk about the "energies" they use, what do they actually mean? Now, for the first time, a single book discusses the vocabulary, magic, metaphysics, art, and science of energy from a multi-model, 21st century perspective. Lessons included will cover: Physical vocabulary of energy Metaphysical vocabulary of energy How the laws of magic affect energy The Importance of Focus Real Energy will then take these lessons to the next level giving you direction on how to understand and begin working with different energies. Half of the book is dedicated to showing you how to work with specific energies, including: the four elements, crystals, plants, animals, your own body, nature spirits, ancestors, and deities to accomplish your goals and enhance life experiences. Specific energy work practices are also covered, including: Reiki, The Huna System, working with "Pure" ESP and PK, Feng Shui, and the Tantra System. With tips from scientists, artists, magicians, and spiritual teachers, Real Energy will give you a solid introduction to both the theory and practice of energy work.