Cafe seminar with Göran Carstedt on the Future of Education and Business

Learning Organisations for Sustainability has organized a seminar with the key speaker Göran Carstedt in the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations, The event was hosted by Katalin Czippan, deputy head of the Department for Strategy and Development.

After his leading talk Göran Carstedt inspired participants to co-create and cooperate with each another. He has a wide range of experience both in leading edge business and in university education. He emphasized the deep transformation we are experiencing in our world. The old paradigm to focus on objects, structures, linearity, data and hierarchy in education is changing into ideals, processes, networks and learning versus teaching. All our global problems endangering Planet Earth (climate change, consumerism, population growth, peak oil) evoke our individual and collective responsibility to become leaders in the transformation processes. He also shared some live examples of some committed and spirited business and governmental leaders who can and could already initiate core development processes leading to true transformation.

At the end Mr. Carstedt raised a few core questions. What if

• we are living among institutional crises rather than environmental, educational, health and business?
• our organisations are not capable to cope with the complexity of our world?
• organizations do not act like machines, but more like living communities?
• change is less about reorganizing, restructuring and reengineering and more about reconsideration?
• people don’t mind change, but they do mind being changed?
• people are not led by managers, but by good ideas?
• learning is less about absorbing information and more about becoming part of a meaningful community?

These questions were in the core of table conversations and participants shared their deep concerns and visions related to theses questions. They also expressed their deep connection and inspiration to events like this which open both their heart and mind. They also shared their view on the need to offer space and opportunity for similar collective dialogues to align their diverse experiences and aspirations to generate pathways leading to new economic, social and environmental crises (or perhaps the institutional crises).

At the end of our time together, Agota Ruzsa, chair of Learning Organisations for Sustainability, Sol ( Society for Organisational Learning,) Hungary invited participants on a shared and imaginative journey along the Danube to develop learning spaces for young leaders of cross national, cross sectoral and interdisciplinary background in topics and disciplines that already reflect new science and new practices, for a sustainable central-Eastern Europe with joy and creativity shared among our neighboring countries.

Szilard Strenner, also connection member of Sol offered his skills to emphasize connections and meaning to the flow of the day by using the art of graphic facilitation (poster #1, poster #2). It was appreciated and well welcomed by all participants.

Göran Carstedt Ph.D. was invited by SOL Hungary and Piac&Profit magazine to share experience and knowledge at the "First Hungarian Sustainability Summit”.

Göran Carstedt, an ex-VOLVO and IKEA CEO talked about “ How we can create our sustainable future? - Bringing awareness to our challenges”. He is also a founding trustee at the Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability, where he also teaches Leadership and Organisational Learning on the Blekinge Institute of Technology. He is also a chairman of The Natural Step International, a non-profit organization with a scientific approach to sustainable development. Dr. Carstedt joined the Clinton Climate Initiative in January 2007 as Senior Director of the C40 initiative and is engaged in the formation of the Society for Organizational Learning (SOL) Global Network.

The Learning Societies for Sustainability Foundation is an affiliated non-profit member organisation of Global SoL. SoLHungary a not for profit organisation whose aim is to contribute to regenerate sustainable societies based on systems thinking and eco-conscious principles and practice while supporting personal, organisational and community learning that opens the heart, stimulates the mind and uplifts the spirit of the people.