Fearlessness in the Face of Uncertainty

May 28 – June 1, 2012

Meg Wheatley returns to Schumacher College to develop her work on the challenges of leadership in a chaotic age.

Our current challenge—as individuals, citizens and leaders, isn’t the rapid pace of change. It’s uncertainty—not knowing what’s next, what works, or where things are heading.

Few of us have been prepared to deal with this level of groundlessness. We learned the skills of certainty: we know how to set goals, create strategies, develop complex plans. We’ve been told that we can make the world work according to plan if we have clear intentions, a strong will, and good leadership skills. Now, these very skills create obstacles to our effectiveness. Our task now is to learn how to deal with uncertainty, not as a temporary state, but as a condition of life. How do we maintain our clarity, focus and stamina as we move with life’s changing rhythms and directions? How do we avoid holding on to old patterns and behaviours that no longer serve? How do we find ground when the rug keeps getting pulled out from under us? And, most importantly, how do we make a meaningful contribution in the midst of so much chaos and instability?

If we choose to be leaders for this time, if we desire to serve and contribute, and help others navigate through turbulence, we need a different set of skills and practices as leaders, including:

• Dealing with strong emotions, such as anger, despair, fear, loss.
• Recognizing familiar patterns, getting unstuck
• Admitting when we’re lost
• Discerning the complexity of interactions
• Inventing, making it up as we go along
• Knowing self

“We’re lost, but we’re making good time.” Yogi Berra
This course is intended for those who are trying to do good work and persevere in the face of unending challenges and uncertainty. It is relevant for people from all sectors, especially those involved with government, NGOs, education, and organisational development.

Teacher:Margaret Wheatley

Course Fees: £850
All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions.
For further information about Schumacher College please see About the College.

For further information about Margaret Wheatley visit her website

Reserve your place now:

To provisionally reserve a place for 5 days, email us your contact details and the name of the course We will hold the place for five working days for reservations – three weeks before a course or earlier. After five days we will automatically offer your place to someone else if we have not received your application.

More information

For further information visit the Schumacher College website