Three Streams
We have three streams that we have organized into areas of focus: (1) Applied Research, Scholarship and Innovative Education, (2) Leadership and Organizational Practice, and (3) Movement and Community Building.
Each stream has a target audience, although there will be lots of crossover: (1) Students and scholars, (2) Change agents, coaches, religious leaders, business leaders, government leaders, etc., and (3) Partner organizations including universities, foundations and non-profits.
(1) Applied Research, Scholarship and Innovative Education:
The purpose of this stream is to fundamentally alter the educational paradigm, from skills and standards-based, towards a vision of education as fostering resilience, adaptation, entrepreneurial wisdom, soul development, and social equity. Education will become embodied, whole-hearted, and integrative. Our plan includes generating a cadre of MA, MEd, and PhD/EdD scholar practitioners and certified leadership coaches who will spread the new paradigm and experience of global consciousness through the research/educational ecosystem.
This requires an intentional focus on faculty development through new pedagogies, curriculum, delivery modalities and content. Most importantly, this requires creating a new space in higher educational institutions that will allow for the educational paradigm to shift out of its traditional structure, and into a regenerative, innovative, and unbounded space of inquiry, reflection, and expansiveness. This new space will be nested within a university system or consortium of universities, but it will be organized through the enactment of global consciousness. One of these new spaces is GCI at George Washington University’s Sustainability Institute. Another is at Case Western Reserve University.
Deliverables include practitioner-oriented journal articles, books, white papers, terrain mapping, conference presentations, panel presentations, and so forth. Long term deliverables also include development of academic courses, teaching materials, and masters and doctoral programs.
GCI’s applied research will connect scholarship to practice in order to identify pathways and opportunities for wellbeing, mindset/spiritual healing, including heart in science, and eco-system flourishing. GCI will connect with other universities and research-based organizations to foster interdisciplinary collaborations, the development of cross-sector research teams, and innovation labs.
(2) Leadership and Organizational Practice:
The purpose of this stream is to fundamentally alter human relationships at work and in communities; to catalyze consciousness development; and to develop evolutionary leaders with the capacity to lead for planetary and human flourishing. Self-cultivation is a fundamental pillar, a practice that requires learning, coaching, and healing.
We see a mutuality between our vision of applied research described above and these innovative organizational practices and intend to create living systems and with processes for connections and regenerative capacity.
(3) Movement and Community Building:
The purpose of this stream is to increase global collaboration in order to accelerate the collective elevation in consciousness in humanity. Marilyn Ferguson in her book Aquarian Conspiracy stated that a quantum shift happens in society when small groups and initiatives begin to link up and collaborate with one another.
Deliverables include an interactive on-line map of global consciousness organizations with in-depth information and the ability to analyze cooperative opportunities. This information will be made freely available. Community building requires outreach and relationship building efforts with like-minded organizations. A benefit of such an on-line mapping of like-minded organizations is greater connectivity and visibility for GCI and all of its partner organizations.
We envision creating a consortium of partners to co-create scalable programs and events as well as collaboration with foundations, social enterprises, and other relevant organizations and networks.