When We See Clearly, We Can Act Wisely

Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti serves as a Unitarian Universalist religious leader in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  He is an openly gay father, with a multi-racial family.  He is a published author: Conversations with the Sacred ( 2020) and Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and the Environment (2018) and an advocate for racial justice.  

Prior to entering the ministry, Manish worked as a U.S. diplomat during the Clinton administration, representing the United States overseas in Oman, Finland, and at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.  His personal syncretic sense of spirituality draws on lived experience in parts of the world where Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity are major influences, as well as communities of practice grounded in Lakota spirituality and the Shambhala Buddhist tradition.  He enjoys desert hiking (especially in Utah), improv acting, crafting original poetry, and time with his spouse and kids.

 

Jill Mackechnie was Born in a Scottish shipbuilding town where social and economic hardship was widespread, from early on Jill felt called to contribute to relieving human suffering. Fueled by this, she became a deeply committed humanitarian worker, serving throughout her professional life with international organizations working to help refugees.

Shortly before retiring from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in 2016, with memories of wonderful camaraderie and fine humanitarian aspirations to help the suffering of some of the most vulnerable people in the world – yet overshadowed by impossible goals, meaningless results measurements and a dysfunctional system – Jill found herself confused, disheartened and completely burnt out.

Joining the Warriors for the Human Spirit programme in June 2016 was a turning point: “Learning to be a Warrior has been a lifeline to renewed trust and clarity, raw and tender open-heartedness, and deep reverence for life as I come back again and again to simply remember to be present, to collaborate with spirit, and open to serve the world as it is.”

Since retirement, she has completed studies in Ecology and Spirituality at Schumacher College, Devon, UK, and has recently settled in south-west France close to family and nature.

Jill has two adult sons and is the awe-struck grandmother of three wee grandsons who inspire her to stay curious and keep dancing on the edge of chaos.

 

Julie Demaeyer has spent 30 years teaching, learning and leading in the public education system in Canada. In the last 10 years, she worked for one of Canada’s largest public education employers.  During her career as a teacher, Student Success coordinator, secondary school vice principal and principal, she worked tirelessly to remove barriers that many students experience in traditional education systems.  Alternative grassroots learning programs, tailored to individual learners, are near and dear to her heart.  

In 2020, as principal of an inner-city high school–what she described as her “dream job”– Julie experienced a traumatic betrayal that completely changed the trajectory of her life.  She had joined Warrior Training just as she was taking on this new position.  Although the situation that unfolded was confronting and traumatic, Warrior skills and the community offered space for clarity and consolation.  Now moving on, Julie can look back on this ordeal with perspectives and understandings  gained as a Warrior. 

 

Devon Taylor; a wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, Devon lives and plays in beautiful Edmonton Alberta Canada. She acknowledges this land as a traditional gathering ground and home to diverse Indigenous people for thousands of years. Devon offers her respects to the Elders past, present, and future.

Devon has served in the international humanitarian sector providing and supporting psychosocial interventions to vulnerable children and families following war, conflict, and disaster. She is grateful for the opportunity to travel the world working with people of diverse culture, language, and geography. 

For fifteen years, she owned an independent consulting business and served people, communities, and nations offering consultation, training, and first response in trauma and suicide. Devon’s current call to service is a return to frontline child protection crisis response.   

As she continues to engage in collaborative and creative relationships, Devon knows the value of kindness, respect, and bravery.  Her work is rooted in warrior practice.

 

Anna Ioannidou has more than 20 years experience in global business, in many different management and leadership positions. 

As someone who grew up in a multicultural environment, Anna naturally embraces diversity & inclusion; her cultural sensitivity has supported her effectiveness in building and working with different international business communities. She is currently working with the U.S. and European nations to develop frameworks, strategies and activities to inspire and measure their Operational Performance.

To keep refreshing her “black box,” she recently did a Masters of Science degree in Psychology; her Master’s thesis explored leaders’ experiences of learning activities in their organizational setting. Anna enrolled in the Warriors training as “another” training in her career portfolio, only to discover the richness of the experience of self-knowing, the further development of her leadership skills, and practices to see more clearly into organizational and human dynamics.

Anna is Greek and currently lives in Munich Germany. 

 

Kathy Coffey has been the Executive Director of Leadership Snohomish County, Washington State, for the past eight years.  Her work history demonstrates her skills in inspiring others  through professional and personal leadership development, civic engagement, and a deeper understanding of racial equity as the lens to do that work.  As a non-profit leader Kathy has, by necessity, developed skills in philanthropy, organizational development, group facilitation, and creative problem solving. Her greatest satisfaction is when she can support someone to discover and honor their own strengths  and express those authentically.   Prior to her work in community leadership, she spent 16 years in Academe.  She also has owned an art gallery. 

In Meg’s view, Kathy’s work embodies Berkana Institute’s core belief that “Whatever the problem, community is the answer.” In everything she does, Kathy knows that to build healthy community, people must be empowered and united in working for the greater good.  She was drawn to the Warrior work for several years, and began Warrior Training in 2020. She says that she feels like she has found a home both in the work and the Warrior community.

Kathy’s experience with the many leadership programs that are hosted by numerous community centers in the U.S. was the inspiration for Meg to design the next form of Warrior Training.  This training will be embedded in local and regional centers, going to scale by going local.  Without Kathy’s experience and networks, this new form would not have taken shape.

 

Charlene Collison is an Associate Director in an international sustainability NGO working to address complex global sustainability challenges. The multi-stakeholder initiatives she leads seek to reduce carbon emissions to halt and reverse climate change, restore ecosystems, and make business more fair in its distribution of profits. She works with leaders in business, civil society and foundations to change the way global supply chains work, starting by helping them understand and use systems thinking and futures techniques to look beyond today’s issues into tomorrow’s world.

 She’s been a futurist for over 15 years, ten of them in a futures unit within the UK government helping policymakers understand long term needs and implications of their strategies on society.  She became increasingly aware that report after report, project after project was pointing towards crisis – and was baffled at the lack of response.  After completing a Masters in Sustainability, she worked as the global head of futures in an NGO, leading their research on future trends and creation of scenarios depicting different plausible futures to spark innovation for sustainable development. She thinks of herself as a “storyteller of the future.”  In many futures projects, she’s learned that stories, much more than data, give people a bridge to imagine the future not as some abstract idea but as the world they, and their children, are actually going to live in.  Key to getting people engaged in working towards a different future is closing the gap between data that tells us the future is going to be very difficult, and imaging that future as a lived experience.

In her work with business and other leaders, Charlene does see growing momentum for more sustainable ways of working, net positive strategies and regenerative practices – but still not enough and too slowly to prevent the world from hitting dangerous tipping points for climate chaos. Skills she’s learned through Warrior training help her continue to work towards that aim, leading projects with ambitious goals for regeneration and resilience building, but without any certainty of success.

A mother, nature lover and keen walker, she gets joy from experiences in the natural world, made more poignant by the knowledge that we live in such a time of astonishing loss. She sees her role as facilitating and enabling change where we can make it, supporting others to come to terms with what we can’t now change or prevent, and witnessing beauty and goodness wherever she can find it.

 

Christina Lombardi-Somaschini is a leadership development coach and facilitator, working with corporate groups and a wide range of individuals.  She is also an avid skier and photographer, and often uses skiing as a metaphor for leadership and for living one’s life to the fullest.  Doing the same slope a hundred times is always different and no two runs are the same, even if you think you “know” the ski run.

With skiing and business (and life in general), Christina has learned to be ever present and responsive to the Now – conditions, terrain, people – and rapidly make adjustments as necessary.  We never know what the mountain, the weather and our fellow skiers might throw up out of nowhere, but when we feel confident in our skills, we know we can deal with it and enjoy the thrill of improvisation and grounded panic-free response.  And when there is a flutter of panic because we’ve hit a patch of ice, breathing and recovering to the skiing stance sees us through.  

Christina’s Warrior journey over the past year or so has brought an additional sensitivity and awareness, which informs her work with her clients – she creates an expansive space for them, often taking the stance of witnessing reflective and emotional processes with a light touch rather than trying to solve issues. Thankfully, she no longer feels like she needs to have all the answers!

Christina is British and German, and loves living in Italy surrounded by her large and boisterous acquired family.  Good food in good company is a sure thing!

 

Lindsay Coulter seeks to inspire others to claim sane leadership and find better ways to be in this world together using skills of compassion and insight. To prepare for chaos, she believes in creating good human society wherever we are, whenever we can ,with the people and resources available to us now.

For several years she was the Queen of GreenTM at The David Suzuki Foundation, a science-based non-profit environmental organization founded by the great Canadian environmental leader.  She developed expertise as a public engagement specialist, naturalist, educator, writer, leader, facilitator, community catalyst, compassion cultivator, and activist. 

For the past years, her work has been to coach and mentor adults and youth to foster a deep connection with the living world. She’s developed practices and resources for all to connect to the Earth as a source of energy and love. Nature is the classroom, teacher, and healer.

She’s the co-founder and Director of Community, Culture and Communications for EPIC forest and nature school in Victoria, B.C. and shares insights and inspiration @SaneAction.

Lindsay lives in Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada with her husband and two sons, Wyn (8) and Beau (4).

 

Guus Geisen of The Netherlands has worked as a teacher and a principal in Special Education and as an educational consultant in primary and secondary education. He is the author of The Art Of Thinking which looks at what we know about the brain and how we can use this knowledge and deep insights to change the educational system as a whole. 

His book Autopoiesis: Perspective On Sustainable, Meaningful Education builds on The Art Of Thinking and illustrates a foundation for the self-creation of the individual, the team and the educational system (and any organization). 

Since 2004 he has been working as an independent entrepreneur and is specialized in sustainable innovation and organizational development in organizations and companies. He works regionally, nationally and internationally to improve innovation in education. 

He is most passionate about working on complex issues with children using systems thinking tools and confronting adults with the advanced and deep learning of the children. Recently, a team of four children in The Netherlands and four in Nepal started working together as ‘Young Warriors for the Human Spirit.’