The MSL is an immersive journey in systems thinking, shifting systems and leadership, equipping you to navigate complexity, drive transformation, and seek out pathways to a new regenerative future.
Despite decades of warnings of accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss, we find ourselves with increasing emissions, mass species loss and a prevalence of natural disasters. And despite warnings of increasing wealth inequality, rising mental health challenges and democratic decline, we live at a time when the very social systems that were designed to support human thriving are fracturing and failing, while trust in our institutions is evaporating and increased polarisation, spurred on by social media and AI algorithms, threatens to lead to violence and conflict.
The metacrisis identifies that these challenges are both deeply interconnected and also threaten the very foundations of our way of life - consider the potential of climate change, artificial intelligence, or another global war. Not only are the challenges historically linked through an economic and social order rooted in dominance, exploitation, and extraction, but they are also linked in our current moment through amplifying and reinforcing feedback loops. Climate change is intertwined with inequality, mental health decline is associated with a disconnection from nature, the housing crisis is connected to gendered violence, etc. In this context, it is clear that iterative approaches and siloed solutions, while no doubt having the potential to reduce immediate harm, can achieve little concerning deep-rooted systemic change. New approaches are needed.
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” - Archbishop, Desmund Tutu
With the convergence of ecological collapse, economic fragility and social unraveling upon us, we cannot afford incrementalism or the illusion of control anymore. Within every breakdown lies the potential for a breakthrough.
That’s why we’ve brought together some of the most radical and brilliant thinkers at the forefront of systems change - Nora Bateson, Daniel Schmachtenberger, Indy Johar and Kate Raworth, to name a few - to co-design a program as ambitious as the moment demands. This is not just about understanding complexity; it’s about stepping into it fully. It’s about moving beyond the collapsing paradigms of our time, forging bold new pathways, and cultivating the wisdom to lead in ways that regenerate, restore, and reimagine what is possible.
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Whether your path lies in business, policy, philanthropy or community leadership, this journey equips you with the tools, mindsets and networks to lead across different disciplines and shift interconnected paradigms. If you’re ready to move beyond siloed solutions and embrace new models of leadership, MSL is for you.
“This is not a moment to fix a machine, this is a moment to compose new cultures... This is that moment when the doctor says that without a drastic lifestyle change, your odds are not good. The old patterns, the logic, the history, have to be harmonised into what is possible."
Nora Bateson, Institute for Systemic Leadership
Kaj (pronounced Kai) is the CEO of Regen Melbourne, an engine for ambitious collaboration, in service ofMelbourne. Powered by an alliance of more than 200 organisations, Regen Melbourne is the host of bold projects that are moving Melbourne towards a regenerative future
Kaj is also the Director of Action Labs atSmall Giants Academywhere he leads the creation of newinitiatives and collaborates on the Academy’s education and storytelling programs.
Kaj (pronounced Kai) is the CEO of Regen Melbourne, an engine for ambitious collaboration, in service ofMelbourne. Powered by an alliance of more than 200 organisations, Regen Melbourne is the host of bold projects that are moving Melbourne towards a regenerative future
Kaj is also the Director of Action Labs atSmall Giants Academywhere he leads the creation of newinitiatives and collaborates on the Academy’s education and storytelling programs.
Eleanor is a curator of immersive experiences, bringing people together to explore the ideas defining our time.
Eleanor is the Executive & Creative Director of TEDxSydney, most recently co-curated the Forest Economics Congress with MONA (Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania) and designed the Climate Leadership Accelerator for Small Giants Academy.
She was previously the Head of Programs at Small Giants Academy, co-creating deep impact learning journeys including the Mastery of Business and Empathy, Impact Safaris to Israel and Palestine (conflict & innovation), Bhutan (GNH & systems of measurement) and the Tarkine Rainforest (regeneration of people and place), as well as various courses exploring the interplay of wisdom and action required to meet global challenges.
Prior to this, Eleanor was the Managing Director of The School of Life Australia, a platform exploring emotional intelligence through philosophy, anthropology and culture, staging ambitious public programming with interdisciplinary thought leaders across the country.
Eleanor co-founded First Light to contribute to the growing global community investing in climate responses. She is a board director for Groundswell Giving and co-chair of the Atelier Council at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Eleanor is a curator of immersive experiences, bringing people together to explore the ideas defining our time.
Eleanor is the Executive & Creative Director of TEDxSydney, most recently co-curated the Forest Economics Congress with MONA (Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania) and designed the Climate Leadership Accelerator for Small Giants Academy.
She was previously the Head of Programs at Small Giants Academy, co-creating deep impact learning journeys including the Mastery of Business and Empathy, Impact Safaris to Israel and Palestine (conflict & innovation), Bhutan (GNH & systems of measurement) and the Tarkine Rainforest (regeneration of people and place), as well as various courses exploring the interplay of wisdom and action required to meet global challenges.
Prior to this, Eleanor was the Managing Director of The School of Life Australia, a platform exploring emotional intelligence through philosophy, anthropology and culture, staging ambitious public programming with interdisciplinary thought leaders across the country.
Eleanor co-founded First Light to contribute to the growing global community investing in climate responses. She is a board director for Groundswell Giving and co-chair of the Atelier Council at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
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Ali is an author, journalist and facilitator focused on bringing new ways of seeing and being from the margins of culture into the mainstream. Through writing, and by creating transformative experiences that invite us to find ways to evolve and thrive in the chaotic times we live in. Previously as Founder of Rebel Wisdom, Ali continues to explore the cutting-edge of systems change and cultural cohesion. He joins the team as Chief Sensemaking Officer, stewarding the curation of our programs.
Ali is an author, journalist and facilitator focused on bringing new ways of seeing and being from the margins of culture into the mainstream. Through writing, and by creating transformative experiences that invite us to find ways to evolve and thrive in the chaotic times we live in. Previously as Founder of Rebel Wisdom, Ali continues to explore the cutting-edge of systems change and cultural cohesion. He joins the team as Chief Sensemaking Officer, stewarding the curation of our programs.
Danny Almagor is co-founder (with his wife Berry) and the Executive Chair of Small Giants. Danny was the inaugural Social Entrepreneur in Residence at RMIT, the founder and former CEO of Engineers Without Borders Australia and is the co-founder and Chair of the Impact Investment Group. He has founded over a dozen for profit and non profit organisations including The Sociable Weaver, The Impact Club, and Beyond Creative. He has served on numerous boards, including Tom Organic, The School of Life, The Cape ecovillage, Pacific Biotechnologies, Smiling Mind, The Gross National Happiness Centre in Bhutan.
He has studied Aerospace Engineering, Business Administration and outdoor education. He loves to cook, read, rock climb, talk about philosophy, garden, travel and jump on the trampoline with his three kids. He doesn’t like to run marathons, watch horror films, drink beer, spend time on social media, or invest in anything that isn’t impact.
Danny Almagor is co-founder (with his wife Berry) and the Executive Chair of Small Giants. Danny was the inaugural Social Entrepreneur in Residence at RMIT, the founder and former CEO of Engineers Without Borders Australia and is the co-founder and Chair of the Impact Investment Group. He has founded over a dozen for profit and non profit organisations including The Sociable Weaver, The Impact Club, and Beyond Creative. He has served on numerous boards, including Tom Organic, The School of Life, The Cape ecovillage, Pacific Biotechnologies, Smiling Mind, The Gross National Happiness Centre in Bhutan.
He has studied Aerospace Engineering, Business Administration and outdoor education. He loves to cook, read, rock climb, talk about philosophy, garden, travel and jump on the trampoline with his three kids. He doesn’t like to run marathons, watch horror films, drink beer, spend time on social media, or invest in anything that isn’t impact.
Kate Raworth (pronounced ‘Ray-worth’) is a renegade economist focused on making economics fit for 21st century realities. She is the creator of the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries, and co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab.
Her internationally best-selling book Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist has been translated into over 20 languages and has been widely influential with diverse audiences, from the UN General Assembly to Pope Francis to Extinction Rebellion.
The throughline of his interests has to do with ways of improving the health and development of individuals and society, with a virtuous relationship between the two as a goal.
Listen to Dumbo Feather Podcast: Daniel Schmachtenberger PART 1: social philosopher, thought leader, sensemaker
Nora Bateson is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and educator, as well as President of the International Bateson Institute, based in Sweden. Her work asks the question “How we can improve our perception of the complexity we live within, so we may improve our interaction with the world?”. An international lecturer, researcher and writer, Nora wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary, An Ecology of Mind, a portrait of her father, Gregory Bateson. Her work brings the fields of biology, cognition, art, anthropology, psychology, and information technology together into a study of the patterns in ecology of living systems. Her book, Small Arcs of Larger Circles, released by Triarchy Press, UK, 2016 is a revolutionary personal approach to the study of systems and complexity.
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Indy Johar is an architect, teacher and leader focused on systemically changing the way we build our urban environments through regenerative redesign, distributional care and democratising access to spaces. He is the founding Executive Director of both Architecture 00 and Dark Matter Labs and co-founder of Impact Hub Birmingham and Open Systems Lab. He was a Senior Innovation Associate at the Young Foundation, has lectured at many universities globally and is currently teaching at RMIT. His work includes concern for aligning our incentives across civic systems to more accurately orient our lives toward intrinsic value.
Katherine takes audiences into a conversation about the root causes of today’s great challenges. With a blend of humour and insights of a range of prospects and evidence she makes the complex accessible, sparks new ways of thinking and spurs audiences to explore their role in making the world a better place.
John is a consultant in the field of Defence and National Security. He is the Board Chair of the Institute of Integrated Economics Research - Australia, an Executive Member of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, a Fellow of the Institute For Regional Security, the Sir Richard Williams Foundation and the Australian Institute of Energy. He has extensive experience across the fields of strategy, policy, planning, operational command, capability development and material acquisition. He has written and spoken on National security and Resilience, Energy Security, Economic Security, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, the 5th Gen Air Force, Cyber Security, Space Policy, Defence Logistics, Defence White Papers and Fuel Security.Other Board roles have included: Chairman of the Kokoda Foundation (renamed the Institute for Regional Security,) Deputy Chairman of the Williams Foundation, and Council member of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Council member.
Dr. Julia Kim joined the Gross National Happiness Centre of Bhutan in 2013, after serving as a member of the International Expert Working Group for a New Development Paradigm. Julia brings a background in programs, policy, and research in the fields of global health and sustainable development with the UN. Julia co-hosts our safaris in Bhutan.
Small Giants is located on the traditional lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
With thanks to our partners
