My life journey has taken me to different places and encounters with people in many countries. I would not do professionally what I do today without learning from so many of them – no matter if they tried to improve vocational skills in their community, designed cross-sector initiatives for sustainable value chains or dealt with global actions against climate change. The world is full of people who want to make a difference. I learned that everybody’s contribution to making this world more sustainable counts. It matters what we do and how we think.
Every personal leadership journey is a process of unearthing our true nature, a growing self-expression that responds to what needs doing in the world. The core themes – the healing of fragmentation in the world and the regeneration of a sense of aliveness – have persistently presented themselves to me as a call to action, no matter which form it took. This passion for people and their capacities could not be silenced, not even in the most demanding of careers. I attempted to understand people and the world by studying psychology and political science. Disappointed with the limitations of traditionally fragmented Western science, I gained from feminist studies and my work in Africa, from implementing leadership development for multinationals and accompanying institutional change management. I discovered that the most obvious fact – that we co-create our world in a constant relational interaction – often goes unnoticed. Everything hangs together. Our world is the most fascinating interconnected place and the only home we have so far. Taking care of it and of each other is the most obvious logical consequence.
