Originally posted at http://gathering11.net/start-building/
Something needs to change. It’s clear that industrial age institutions and systems aren’t the answer to today’s complex social and environmental issues.
Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” So how do we come up with real solutions to the big issues facing all of us?
It’s time to change our approach.
It’s time to build new institutions and develop new systems. It’s time to move from industrial age leadership to 21st century buildership. It’s time to stop saying they need to do this or they need to fix that. It’s time for us to come together and take action – after all, there is no they, we are the they.
So how might we address local and global societal problems? How might we come up with solutions that are wholistic, sustainable and have real impact?
How might we be the change we wish to see in the world?
By bringing together diverse
community members, socially innovative thinkers and progressive leaders in the not-for-profit, corporate, social, government and academic sectors.
By coming together to explore challenges, identify opportunities, envision pathways, and lay down foundations for real solutions to today’s pressing social and environmental issues.
By gathering together to cocreate pathways to better futures for all, and implementing plans for action.
- experience new approaches to idea generation and problem solving;
- learn how to engage and mobilise your friends, your community and your organisation around a cause;
- discover models for business that are having a positive social impact and thriving in challenging economic times;
- find out how you can use technology and social media to make a real difference;
- hear how small moves, smartly made, can set big things in motion; and
- develop ideas and cocreate opportunities for world-changing projects and game-changing enterprises.
Join us at Gathering ’11 to share, learn, grow and build. Come plant the seeds for a community of practice with other visionaries, though-leaders and change-makers from across Australia and around the world – taking steps toward better futures for all, together.
What might outcomes look like?
We’ve created a program to support the emergence of radical innovation and creativity. At Gathering ’11 we’re aiming to inspire implementable concepts that effect real change, like:
- Communities that come together to address climate change and ensure low-carbon, secure energy futures.
- Enterprises that have a positive social impact and help those in need.
- Businesses that value people and thrive from providing goods and services with real meaning.
- Systems that enable a shift in the way that people buy, consume and lessen their impact on our precious planet.
- Organisations that connect people who want help with people that need it.
- An online platform for open participation in creative problem solving to today’s big challenges.
Join featured participants including: John Hagel, Michel Bauwens, Pete Williams, Venessa Miemis, Kate Carruthers, Stephen Johnson, Jean Russell, Kristin Alford, Tim Longhurst, Christine Egger, Benny Callaghan and Ehon Chan, for an immersive weekend of presentations, participant led discussions and generative processes.
Join us for the inaugural Gathering in Melbourne 11-13 June to build better futures.
Every revolution begins from the bottom up. Fed up with the status quo? Tired of the 20th century? Then don’t just talk about it. Reject it and refuse it. Build a better 21st century instead. Real change doesn’t begin with governments, presidents, or prime ministers. It begins with each of us. ~ Umair Haque
Where does change come from? You, me, we.