—Systemic change begins with personal change—
Frederic Laloux tries to square, not always easily, the many projects he is passionate about with his inner knowing that he is meant to live a simple life, spending much time with his family and whenever possible in the silent presence of trees.
Most recently, he helped start The Week---a nonprofit project run by a group of colleagues and friends who, each in our own way, came to see that facing environmental and climate breakdown is likely to become the defining adventure for humanity in the next 10 or 20 years.
The Week points out: Our kids will ask us: what did you know and what did you do? Figuring out our answer to this question is perhaps one of the most important things we are all invited to do. That’s why we created The Week: to open up a space where everyone can explore this question and come up with their own answers.
Frederic’s book Reinventing Organizations has sold more than 500,000 copies and is considered by many to be the most influential business book of this decade. Described as “groundbreaking,” “world-changing,” and “a leap in management thinking” by some of the most respected scholars of management and human development, it has sparked a global movement with hundreds, probably thousands of organizations adopting radically more powerful and soulful management practices.
A former Associate Partner with McKinsey & Company, Laloux holds an MBA from INSEAD, and a degree in coaching from Newfield Network in Boulder, Colorado. He has traveled widely and speaks five languages. Frederic Laloux lives in Ithaca, NY, USA, where he is blessed to share his life with his wife, Hélène, and their two children.
Frederic describes his program The Week in our conversation. I did it last year, invited by a friend (whom I misname in our conversation, sorry) and recognized him. Podcast guest and mutual friend Lorna Davis had introduced us before he had started creating The Week. The Week is one of the few programs on sustainability approaching it as a leadership effort, not management or lecture. Anyone can do it. It's a series of videos you watch with a group, then engage in discussion about it. It's different than the Spodek Method, but shares many aspects. I could describe it more here, but the best way to learn is to hear his description in our conversation, then sign up for it.