The mission of Innovative Leadership Services is to awaken, equip and inspire individuals and teams so that they will provide creative and transformative leadership in their communities, organizations, institutions and networks based in ethical values, strategic plans, a whole system orientation and a planetary context. The current missional focus is on strengthening local governance, mitigating global warming and catalyzing a new global civilization of sustainability, equity, justice and participation. 

Philosophy

The philosophy of innovative Leadership Services is that things are the way they are because we humans have helped create them that way. We can therefore redesign ourselves and our societies to realize our full potential as creative, compassionate beings out of values of equality, sustainability and justice.   

Due to the staggering complexity of interlocking challenges of ecology, economics and governance, traditional leadership styles and approaches do not work. Command-and-control leadership based on hyper-egoic projection and celebrity-charisma will not save the day. What is needed now is a style of leadership that is effective, profound, creative, inspiring, collaborative, facilitative, compassionate, participatory, ethical, visionary and, most of all, arising out of wisdom and understanding. The virtues of masculine leadership must be fully partnered by essential feminine leadership.

Innovative leadership is creative in each moment thereby recognizing that every situation and group is unique and unrepeatable. The innovative leader enables a team, community or organization to realize its true wisdom and power by releasing their own breakthrough insights through the use of participatory group facilitation processes such as the Technology of Participation (ToP) developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA).  Innovative leadership is both intensely solitary and a deeply collective enterprise. The innovative leader is a social artist who works with realms of consciousness and culture to transform seemingly intractable problems into opportunities. Innovative leadership includes strategic planning and whole systems thinking and design.

What heretofore was seen as idealism and a seeking of a utopia has now become a necessity for survival. We must either grow or die. We must become a new species in a new social order or not only humankind but all of life is at risk. The blessing of this cursed challenge is that we can realize our fullest potential of creativity and care in partnership with all of life on this the most beautiful planet we have yet visited.
         

Selected Resources   

Baudot (Ed). (2002). Candles in the Dark: A New Spirit for a Plural World. Seattle: University of Washington Press.  

Harman, W. (1988). Global Mind Change. New York: Warner Books.

Harrison and Huntington. (2000). Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress. New York: Basic Books

Houston, J. (2004). Jump Time. Boulder: Sentient Publications.

Houston, J. (2004). “Applying Social Artistry to Decentralized Governance for Human Development”, UNDP website, http://www.undp.org/governance/eventsites/mexico2003/index.htm

Institute of Cultural Affairs International. (1997). Beyond Prince and Merchant: Citizen

             Participation and the Rise of Civil Society. New York: Pact Publications.

Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) USA. (1996). “Technology of Participation (ToP), Participatory Strategic Planning”. ICA

ICA USA. (1994). “Technology of Participation (ToP), “Group Facilitation Methods”.

             ICA.

Jaworski, J. (1996). Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership. San Francisco: Berrett-  
            Koehler.

Jenkins. (2003). Healing the Hurts of Nations. Somerset: Gothic Image.

Senge et al. (2005). Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People,

             Organizations and Society.  New York: Doubleday

Timsina and Sanders. (2003). “Transformative Approaches to HIV/AIDS, Nepal 2002-2003”,
UNDP website, http://www.undp.org/governance/eventsites/mexico2003/index.htm

UN. (2007). Toward Participatory and Transparent Governance: Reinventing Government. New York: UN

UNDP. (1990-2006). Human Development Reports.  New York: UNDP

UNDP. (2006). “Millennium Development Goals,” UNDP website

 http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml

UNDP. (1997). Participatory Local Governance.  New York: UNDP

UNDP. (2005). Pro-poor Urban Governance: Lessons from LIFE 1992-2005. New York:

             UNDP.

Wheatley, M. (1994). Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization

             from an Orderly Universe. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Wilber, K. (1996). A Brief History of Everything. Boston: Shambhala.

Work, R. (2003). “Decentralizing Governance: Participation and Partnership in Service

             Delivery for the Poor”. In Rondinelli and Cheema. (2003). Reinventing

             Government for the Twenty-First Century. Bloomfield, Conn.: Kumarian Press. 

Work and Sanders. (2006) “Manuscript of an Integral Palette of 50 Capacity

             Development Methods”. UNDP.

Work, R. (Ed.). (2006). “Manuscript on Innovative Policy Perspectives on Decentralized

             Governance”. UNDP.

Work, R. (2007). “Strengthening Governance and Public Administration Capacities for

             Development”. UN

Work, R. (2009) "Innovative Leadership of Civil Society: Technology of Participation, Social Artistry and Integral
             Frameworks." East-West Center. University of Hawaii