“The major problems in the world are the results of the difference between how Nature works and the way people think.”
– Gregory Bateson
The design principles I work with largely draw from nature-based frameworks. Those take into account the innovative mindset required for modern-day change projects and the role of nature in this. What can we learn from nature? As human beings, leaders, team members. And how can we (re)connect with (inner & outer) nature?
I help you increase workplace productivity, enthusiasm, and creativity while improving interpersonal relationships and revolutionizing your business with integrity and respect for the earth. In addition to creative problem-solving practices, I also draw from Theory U, Biomimicry, and Way of Nature.
“The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervenor.”
– Bill O’Brien
Building upon two decades of action research at MIT, the process of Theory U shows how individuals, teams, organizations, and large systems can build the essential leadership capacities needed to address the root causes of today’s social, environmental, and spiritual challenges. In essence, this framework shows how to update the operating code in our societal systems through a shift in consciousness from ego-system to eco-system awareness.
The rationale behind this framework is that the reason our attempts to deal with the challenges of our time so often fail and why we are stuck in so many destructive patterns is that we are blind to a deeper dimension of leadership and transformational change. This so-called “blind spot” also shows up in our daily social interactions. We are blind to the source dimension from which effective social action and leadership emerge. We know much about what leaders do and how they do it, but very little about the inner place (the source) from which they operate. And it is this source that Theory U attempts to explore.
“When we look at what is truly sustainable, the only real model that has worked over long periods of time is the natural world.”
– Janine Benyus
Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The objective is to create processes, products, and policies — new ways of living and interacting — that are well-adapted to life on earth in the long term.
The core idea of Biomimicry is that nature has already solved many of the (technical and social) problems we are currently faced with. Animals, plants, and microbes are master engineers. After billions of years of research and development, what surrounds us is the secret to survival and any failures have turned to fossils.
“Returning to the Source is stillness, which is the way of n
ature. The way of Nature is unchanging.”
– Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching
Way of Nature is a practice and a global community of people committed to exploring and sharing the liberating recognition of Source Awareness. The community was founded by John P. Milton, a pioneering ecologist who blends a scientific background with the open heart and mind of a spiritual seeker. For much of his life, John has labored to bring what he calls “Sacred Ecology” as a new cultural foundation for the west. He calls this foundation and path Way of Nature and has developed 12 principles of Natural Liberation.
As a student of John’s for many years, Simoon is an experienced practitioner and board member of Way of Nature NL.