February 2025
More and more, we see individuals in positions of institutional power—leaders of philanthropic organizations, governments, and large institutions—expressing their commitment to systemic change. Encouragingly, there are bright spots of how this commitment is shifting power and purpose.
Too often, this commitment gets co-opted by the very systems it seeks to change— resulting in bold new language but little real change.
For the past two years, we’ve been working alongside Collective Change Lab and ten global partners to reflect on our own role in deeper, more transformative systems change.
We’ve also turned the mirror outward, inviting others to engage with some of the tougher, more uncomfortable questions.
“When you show up in collaborations, are you seeking transformational change yet requiring immediate and measurable results for narrowly-defined impact?”
“Or are you risk-averse to pursuing transformational change because it appears complicated and feels safer to pursue incremental change or quick wins?”
We note “[t]o put support and compassion behind our invitation to leaders with institutional power, below we share our learnings about how we are creating the conditions — within ourselves and for others — to lead in ways that are more relational and transformative.
Our universal learning across different geographies, cultures and communities is that the work of transforming systems is relational and requires a shared recognition of systemic harm and a focus on healing, repair, possibility, hope and equity.”
Read more in our co-authored article here.
If you want to develop your leadership in ways that change power and transform systems, we invite you to explore our 2025 Systems Leadership Learning Program here.
