A Tale of Contradictions

Yannick Beaudoin

By GRID-Arendal

March 31^st, 2017

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness….”

Charles Dickens wrote the opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities in 1859. In doing so, he was looking back at the contradictions of the French Revolution when the older order had been overturned and life seemed uncertain and capricious.

Dickens’s words echo today. Some may think we live in “the worst of times”. Others, that it is “the best of times”. No matter which Dickens perspective you prefer, it is easy to agree that we live in exciting, rapidly changing times.

Leadership training in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Photo: Yannick Beaudoin

Ours is an era of global complexity, environmental disruption and creative potential. These apparent contradictions were the anchor for the first stage of a year-long “learning journey” aimed at practicing and experiencing leadership in the face of uncertain development and climate futures. This journey began for participants from Central Asia when they gathered recently at the Supara Chunkurchak Ethno-complex, about an hour south of the Kyrgyz Republic capital of Bishkek. Inquisitive and eager minds from government, business and civil society in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic began to navigate the often challenging waters of leadership for change.

This was the first workshop in a year-long project that will examine different concepts of leadership. Participants will work to develop new approaches that could best serve their countries. How fitting that this meeting was set in a landscape dominated by still, snow-capped mountains, silent witnesses to a transformed natural world and with it, a changing human world.

Supara Chunkurchak Ethno-complex, where the leadership training was held. Photo: Yannick Beaudoin

Yannick Beaudoin in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.

Exploring the realities and needs of Central Asia through the eyes of such a dynamic and engaging group can lead to some big questions. It can also lead to those of us not from the region to feel as though we walked away with more than the participants themselves. However, perhaps that is the true point of this work. Everyone is a “teacher” and everyone a “learner” when it comes to challenging conventional approaches in order to let new and innovative forms of leadership for change emerge. Together, we explored the building blocks of leadership approaches and techniques that thrive in the face of complex challenges. Through discussions on theory, scenario work and role play, this first module established a solid base for the more disruptive and possibly uncomfortable explorations of the next modules.

Some of the most rewarding conversations revolved around how few examples there really are of innovative leadership approaches actually being used in practice -- even within the “western” institutions that promote them. From this starting point, participants tackled challenging questions including: Are our global institutions capable of delivering the future we want? How about our national ones? Our businesses seem particular well suited for quick innovation and adaptability to a constantly changing world, but how often do they deliver for the collective good? Do the choices we make in our over-consuming western households serve this vision of long term social and ecological sustainability?

When exploring such questions, it can be easy to suffer moments of self-doubt. And though at times the group had to navigate some uncertain waters, the group bonded and these new friends from Central Asia took the first steps together to create a vision of what transformational leadership might look like in their region. A key moment of inspiration came with the sharing of the story of imagining, belief and action by the founders of the unique Supara Ethno-complex. This was the story of a husband and wife team that turned an idea for a tourism experience steeped in tradition and nature, into a reality. This was an important example highlighting how one or two people can lead the small changes needed to help a vision become reality by inspiring others to join the change.

Kyrgyz mountains. Photo: Yannick Beaudoin

As we collectively let this first week settle, there is already palpable anticipation of how the next module in July will deepen the group’s exploration. It may get messier and more provocative. It may get argumentative and stormy. It’s all part of a process to help people let go of ways of thinking that have stopped serving us, in order to make way for the new. Whether the vision is that of climate-resilient societies or more broadly one of overall sustainability, we need the leadership of groups like this one to overcome hubris, manipulation, and global inequality. There are no easy fixes no matter how many “gurus” might suggest otherwise. Innovation, change and transformation are hard earned rewards worth every wonderful challenge along the way.