ABSTRACT

There is growing awareness among leading responsible management scholars and practitioners that understanding global wicked problems is insufficient in effecting lasting engagement and changed behaviors. Research indicates that to impact behavior, the mindset has to shift, which leaves the question: How do you shift a mindset?

This book guides educators and practitioners, their students and colleagues to take action on finding urgent solutions to the grand challenges stated in the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. A Sustainability Mindset is a way of thinking and being that results from a broad understanding of the ecosystem, from social sensitivity and an introspective focus on our personal values and higher self, which finds its expression in actions for the greater good. By promoting a mindset shift, educators in very diverse contexts are laying the foundation for a resilient future. The book presents a collection of over 150 student voices depicting a transformative experience and a shift in their mindset. Seventeen educator/student teams of contributing authors from across five continents describe the activity that prompted those students’ reflections, and the conceptual frameworks that played a role in the selection of the learning goals and activities.

The book is written with academic and corporate educators, reflective practitioners, consultants, coaches, trainers and students in mind, and is invaluable in guiding the process of developing a sustainability mindset among participants in the training process.

part I|104 pages

Individual transformational experience

chapter 1|10 pages

Just be there

The inconvenient exercise of being with oneself and doing nothing

chapter 2|12 pages

How does emotional intelligence feel?

An exercise to cultivate self-awareness, self-regulation, perspective-taking and empathy

chapter 3|10 pages

Transforming mindsets for resilience and growth

A reflection of an educator and her (former) students

chapter 4|14 pages

The quantum shift

Teaching sustainability leadership critically and mindfully

chapter 5|14 pages

Education for sustainability

Sourcing inner qualities and capacities for transformation

chapter 6|9 pages

LIFE: Listen. Identify. Feel. Exchange

Bringing connection through emotions to students and leaders

chapter 7|18 pages

A semester with a tree

Meaning making and global learning contexts

chapter 8|15 pages

“A step forward”

Developing a sustainability mindset among business students using a norm-critical approach and an adaptation of the “privilege walk”

part II|124 pages

Action on the SDGs

chapter 9|16 pages

Becoming a reflective story-teller

An empowering and transformative learning experience with AIM2Flourish

chapter 12|16 pages

Climate change in action

Creating innovation and increasing impact in undergraduate business curriculum design

chapter 13|14 pages

Developing mindfulness through international immersion

Transformational learning for a complex world

chapter 15|10 pages

Developing agency

Nurturing the doing dimension through the social impact scholars program

chapter 17|13 pages

Reimagining responsible leadership through experiential learning

MBA student accounts of engagement with non-profit organizations and their leaders