ABSTRACT
The Centre for Sustainability Leadership (CSL) 1 is an education programme that was designed by a 21-year-old woman who was deeply unsatisfied with the world she saw around her. It was born with an ecological and cultural objective for growing the leadership capability and connected community for future change makers through “getting the people who care into positions of power, rather than trying to get those in positions of power, to care.”
In this chapter I will tell the story of the successful experiential and action-based curriculum design of an educational leadership programme for future leaders of the next generation, and the demonstrated successes of some of the notable alumni. Each annual programme represented a fractal of our society today, but with one difference: a shared commitment to create a world that works. The success of this programme design owed much to the creation of an experiential space encompassing a journey of sharing, vulnerability and creativity, whilst integrating passionate people, diversity of skills, knowledge and diversity of work area into this “sacred space.” The programme integrated the work of Sara Parkin (2010) on the 4Rs for sustainability leadership: Reflection, Reverence, Relationships and Resilience.
These are highlighted and discussed, with an additional focus on our greatest challenge: maintaining the resilience and personal sustainability of the passionate change makers. Resilience is undermined by the frustration and fatigue that comes from feelings of repeated failure, whilst trying to lead and drive change within our broken systems. Over 13 years (2005–2018) the programme has developed a powerful creative and courageous community of over 700 sustainability leaders, with a shared experience, language and commitment to meaningful change. They now span across the world and continue to connect, create and collaborate, regardless of geography and hierarchy. They continue to demonstrate the power of the individual in change making in support of sustainability.
