To the women of Homeward Bound 6
You reach around our world; so much expertise, so much intelligence, so much heart, so much courage. You are the sixth cohort, selected during tumultuous times, for a cause that offers a small part of the solution to a troubled world.
Kate Raworth is an English economist working for the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. She is known for her work on ‘doughnut economics‘, which is an economic model that balances essential human needs and planetary boundaries. Kate developed a compass for the 21st Century, referred to as the Doughnut. It offers a view of a space between the social foundations of humanity and the ecological ceiling we must not exceed.
There is a space between these two spheres in which we can live, in perpetuity, a safe and just life, together. We will find that space if we work together; collaborative, inclusive, legacy mind and trusted with the assets of the planet, treating our world as something we are part of not something to be conquered.
Finding our way into this mindset, this space, requires a significantly evolved approach to the practice of leadership.
There are many great things that humanity has achieved. On the whole we are better fed, better educated, fight fewer wars and suffer less illness (at either end of our lives), than any generation that has preceded us. However, these gains have been achieved at great cost to the very earth on which our survival depends.
Humanity has been rapacious in its consumption of earth’s resources and, unchecked, will continue until we ultimately destroy the very environment that allows us to survive.
Homeward Bound is an inspirational, focused, pragmatic, global collaboration for and with women in STEMM, to role model and evolve a very different way of leading. We share a common cause – to care for Earth as our home – and we have the expertise, intellect and will to do something about it.
We influence the story of Homeward Bound in small ways (what ‘I’ do as a result of my journey in the initiative), and in globally significant ways (what ‘we’ do in global and regional collaborations emerging with participants and alumni).
The organisation of Homeward Bound, paid administration and program coordination and the extensive donor network of faculty, coaches and strategic donors, focusses on creating a solid platform of skill and will for the participants to stand on and use as you all see fit.
This is a ‘polycratic’ structure – a collaboration that is governed by many. You have the opportunity to lead where you are able, to make choices and inspire action individually or together, where you see fit.
Your only restriction – stay true to the cause, aligned with the strategy.
Welcome to the community
Fabian.