It is all about learning

Thanks to the ARTS-project and Sara Borgström I had the great opportunity to go to the conference IST2017, International Sustainability Transition and meet 470 other geeks. Mostly researchers, who live in a totally different world than I do. Here are some of my reflections written on the train back to Stockholm.

It is all about learning. Meeting new people means that you can test your ideas and learn a lot from the questions you get and the input people have. Most people love when you ask them what they think about what you do. The trick is to transfer what they tell you, into your own context.

A little suprising is that some of the people that have traveled from all over the world, are only physically there when a session is going on. Mentally they are not in the session, beacause they are doing something else. Imagine the CO2, the cost and the stress. That made me curious, are they all on Twitter? Well, no, the #IST2017 shows not that amount activities.

I would say that they are mailing, writing applications and making their own presentation for the next session? No yoga or mindfulness in the world can help you there. To me the personal sustainability is important. First you help yourself, then others I try to think. Saving the world is big business so we need to be fit and prepare our reserves.

Being amongst all the smart people working in the same field as we do, makes me feel that we are an important part of something bigger and it strengthens me. To go further, to explore the gaps and try to use my new knowledge to take us to the next level.

My idea that I will go on to build the business on women is now a conviction. Peter Senge said that ”it is time for mothership instead of leadership”. To hold, to make it secure to share knowledge and to make us human beeings instead of human doings I would say.

An excellent rolemodel for this is Heila Lotz-Sisitka. In a very sedate way she talked about composting knowledge, reusing things in a new way or letting noveltys grow together with old knowledge. I fell in love with her. Can I please come and see how you do it?

As I thanked her for some new insights she looked suprised at first. Why is that? Have we stopped telling each other that we are doing good work? I believe that being afraid is the biggest obstacle to develop, transform and change. The quickest way to build trust and power is to tell someone that they are doing a good job and why you like it. Lets start now, whom are you beginning with?

//Liselotte Norén