Radical Transformational Leadership with Dr Monica Shar

Radical Transformational Leadership with Dr Monica Sharma: Guest Speaker: Muthu Kumaran

Radical Transformational Leadership: What does this imply? Guest Speaker: Muthu Kumaran
The human aspect in trans-disciplinary approaches for transformative results
We invite you to a discussion with Muthu Kumaran, a person who dons multiple professional hats and works with children, youth and women, fostering their agency with underlying values of dignity, empathy and fairness. Currently he is the Programme Lead for the ‘Girls in STEM’ portfolio at Feminist Approach to Technology and Geo-spatial Consultant with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India. He has a B.E. Civil Engineering & M.Tech Remote Sensing and M.A. Globalisation and Labour from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India.
Muthu and I will discuss how transdisciplinary education programs and learning dismantles the artificial boundaries and barriers, professionals and experts may have created, unknowingly or intentionally, by breaking the power politics through technology. What does it mean to democratize science & technology, AND always with a human touch, based on universal values. He integrates technology ,eg spatial technologies like Cartography, Geographical Information System, within a social science environment through an universal value based approach.
Muthu will share examples from different settings— a village in the remote Himalayas, in coastal areas, in Urban Delhi, in rural India--of how he created enabling environments by fostering agency, among children, youth and women. He worked with them to be the change agents who are value based and self reflective. He applied transformational templates and tools such as, the Conscious Full Spectrum Response template where, self; system and solutions are aligned based on universal values, to create, equitable and sustained actions and results. 
Muthu says “The current world systems are filled with many challenging issues; and we all have a choice to work to address them in ways that are fully transformational; and we have the principles, templates and tools to do so. What’s important is, that our thoughts, actions and results must be imbued with. the deep human aspects of universal values, at all times and all places”
We emphasize that the solutions to our problems should not be only technology based, but use technologies along with shifting unworkable systems based on universal values. Both experts and community members can together use, science and technology to address issues, when science and technologies are demystified.
Most importantly, Each one of us, have the potential and possibilities to generate equitable change in this world – what matters is our choice to do so.
Bio: Muthu Kumaran, a Civil Engineer by education, a Development Professional by choice, a Cartographer by profession and a Leadership Practitioner Coach by practice. After his Civil Engineering, he earned his M.Tech in Remote Sensing and later, M.A. in Globalisation and Labour from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) where he had first hand professional experience in societal studies and developmental practices. From here, he started working extensively in social and ecological initiatives across India and currently engaged with trans-disciplinary educational practices. He loves working with children and youth especially to foster their agency and leadership and also likes to volunteer with value based initiatives. He designs and delivers initiatives integrating science and technology as well as critical cartography with social sciences; and engages in various projects with multiple stakeholders in the domains of education, ecology, labour and disaster management across India.
He is also a consultant and leadership practitioner coach for the past 7 years for various projects across India in the domains of disaster relief and recovery, education, environment, gender, Geographic Information System and fostering leadership. He is been involved in many aspects of Organisational Development (OD), policy making, Project Planning and Management (PPM) and with multiple stakeholders from the community to the government. Currently, he is a consultant and Lead person for the ‘Girls in STEM portfolio’ for Feminist Approach to Technology, where he supports, mentors and coaches the team of young women with technological and managerial skills and competencies. He is an Asian fellow of Asia Centre, Japan Foundation for creative disaster and environmental education working on inclusive and community centred disaster management. He strongly believes in lifelong learning and always eager to learn, de-learn and relearn as part of the commitment to actions and results for change. He is very passionate in working with the vulnerable and marginalised communities of the society, be it from the remote areas or from conflict environments or those who are disadvantaged based on socio-economic and cultural prejudices. He stands for the universal values of agency, empathy, equity and dignity for himself and all.
Muthu Kumaran T consmuthu@gmail.com
Learn more about Dr. Monica here: www.radicallytransform.org

Radical Transformational Leadership with Dr Monica Sharma: Guest Speaker: Robyn McKeen

 Radical Transformational Leadership: What does this imply? Guest Speaker: Robyn McKeen
Generating results to address homelessness
 BEING the leader I have been waiting for 
We invite you to a discussion with Robyn McKeen. Robyn McKeen has worked for over twelve years managing social service programs, multi-sector coalitions, and systems change initiatives in the greater San Francisco Bay and Seattle areas. She has held leadership positions and made change in the areas of homelessness and youth development, utilizing the Radical Transformational Leadership approach. Currently, she is a Senior Practitioner or Impact Launch, a collective of social impact practitioners working to support game changing social change initiatives. Robyn is committed to fostering compassion and fairness through all aspects of her work and life.
Robyn will share the results of her work to address homelessness.  Community members were divided on whether help should be provided at all, and further divided among advocates about what the solutions should be. By sourcing individuals’ universal values and greatness, identifying systems shifts, and generating alignment and synergy with 150 stakeholders, they created a new coordinated entry system to address the gap between the number of people experiencing homelessness and the available shelter and housing.
Robyn will also share how her approach to social activism has been completely transformed by the principles of Radical Transformational Leadership. She says “I grew up believing that being an activist meant I needed to march in a demonstration, never agreeing or seeing the humanity in my enemies (which was anyone who didn’t agree with me), and crying out angrily at the injustices of the powerful. Now I believe that demonstrations have a specific purpose and place in social change. And there is so much more work to be done. I am an activist because I care about the unnecessary suffering in the world and choose to act. I am an activist when I choose to hold courageous conversations with leadership about what is not working with our policies. I am an activist when I design my projects, editorials to the newspaper, public presentations and grant proposals and reports in a way that sources universal values, shifts systems, and generates results.” The new activism requires us to break the silence of injustice without polarizing and blaming others, by calling out actions that are unacceptable while holding the humanity of everyone.
When applied systematically, Radical Transformational Leadership templates and tools enable us to transform personally in order to generate powerful results that can transcend embedded destructive social norms and systems and create a new future. People have created inequitable systems and with the appropriate tools we, as people, can change them.
Bio: Robyn McKeen Senior Practitioner Coach, Impact Launch
Robyn McKeen has worked for over a decade managing social service programs, multi-sector coalitions, and systems change initiatives along the West Coast, including the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle area. She has held leadership positions in the areas of homelessness, information and resources, and children and youth development. Robyn is a Senior Practitioner for Impact Launch, a collective of social impact practitioners working to support game changing social change initiatives. Most recently as the Smart Path Coordinated Entry Director, she led the strategic planning and implementation process of Santa Cruz County’s homeless coordinated entry system to redesign the assessment and referral process countywide.
Robyn has practiced the Radical Transformational Leadership framework since 2013, designing and implementing multiple initiatives for equitable and sustainable social change. As a practitioner coach, she has supported the training of over 300 leaders through the Leadership for Community Transformation Santa Cruz County and Leadership for Equity and Opportunity Bay Area. Robyn earned her BA in Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is committed to fostering fairness and vibrancy through all aspects of her work and life. She lives in Santa Cruz, CA with her partner, daughter, and a whole lot of aquatic creatures. 
Email: robyn@impactlaunch.org
Learn more about Dr. Monica here: www.radicallytransform.org

Radical Transformational Leadership with Dr Monica Sharma: Guest Speaker: Shomita Kundu

Radical Transformational Leadership: What does this imply? Guest Speaker: Shomita Kundu
Building Responsible Businesses through Sustainability Leadership
We invite you to a discussion with Shomita Kundu. Shomita is a Social Impact Strategy and Sustainability Leadership professional. She is committed to fostering Freedom for All through responsible and prosperous entrepreneurial initiatives - free from disempowering cultural norms around race, caste, class, gender, religion and region.
We will share many examples that are relevant world-wide. Shomita brought in Universal Values-based Design and Measurement to distinguish process-oriented social change from a banking or technology product development life cycle – one that accounts for changes in inequitable behaviours and social norms, in addition to regular financial profits and other ‘numbers only’ reporting, quite prevalent in banking ‘CSR funded projects’. In her engagement with social entrepreneurship education and incubation institutes, she uses the templates (such as the conscious full-spectrum response) and tools from Radical transformational Leadership (RTL) methodologies, looking at what individual’s deeply care about, their Stand and “what’s present” instead of starting to create “solutions” using the “problem-solving” or “fixing what’s not working” approach. She creates spaces to inquire deeper into the root factors of the issue of what’s not working, rather than only fixing immediate apparent causes, thereby, creating informed Conscious Full-Spectrum Responses than partial quick-fix techniques.
Shomita will share examples of organizing donor visits differently. Integrating the Universal Values into the core strategy of a large business and actively practicing it across functions and locations is a tangible method of moving towards making silo’ed business operations Responsible that then move towards Stewardship.
While working in entrepreneurship incubation and sustainability leadership, Shomita held conversations with donors and funders, and recognized a growing need to create spaces and examples of how funding and receiving can be an equitable dignified exchange of experiences and learning. Shomita says “Design tools and templates of RTL that help me make routine events transformational, enables me to address hierarchy in the donor/aid processes and foster Agency amongst the recipients of funds: Conscious Reciprocity”.
These easy to use tools address complex issues and enable diverse individuals and groups to design together and simultaneously keeping in perspective the future they wish to create, the inequitable morns and systems they would change and the immediate strategies of engaging to make it all happen.
It is our choice: we have a set of tools and templates a language, tested across cultures and contexts, that brings people together focusing on what they care about to be able to embrace different social, professional and personality profiles like religion, caste, gender, class, and hierarchy, to work towards common goals. Let’s choose to make the difference we have the potential for!
Bio: Shomita is a Social Impact Strategy and Sustainability Leadership professional. She is committed to fostering Freedom for All through responsible and prosperous entrepreneurial initiatives - free from disempowering cultural norms around race, caste, class, gender, religion and region.
She works with government, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes, consulting firms and nonprofits in designing entrepreneurship incubation and capacity building programmes. Through the principles of RTL like Conscious Reciprocity, she is enabling consulting and philanthropic organisations measure differently and thus engage Equitably and with Dignity with their partner and funded organisations. Using the principles of RTL and entrepreneurial education, she works with socially and economically marginalised communities to practise Agency and Equity in setting up their own entrepreneurial ventures using locally available resources. She has trained and coached enterprises in the areas of sustainable agroforestry, renewable energy access, coastal livelihoods, business education, CSR and non-profit management.
As a Sustainability Leadership Professional, she enables individuals and businesses incorporate Human Rights and Ecological Stewardship explicitly into their organisation’s vision, core strategy and financial decision-making. Thus bringing Integrity in action across their internal and external operations.
Apart from these, Shomita also engages with incubators and academic institutions in streamlining social entrepreneurship education to focus on articulating the deep-rooted systemic socio-economic challenges not just the superficially apparent issues, through practical implementable courses and live projects. And then designing effective entrepreneurial ventures based on hands-on doing, insight and incorporating feedback to refine their design and delivery.
She was formally educated in engineering and social entrepreneurship.
Shomitakundu@gmail.com
Learn more about Dr. Monica here: www.radicallytransform.org

Radical Transformational Leadership with Dr Monica Sharma: Guest Speaker: Therese Adams

Radical Transformational Leadership: What does this imply? Guest Speaker: Therese Adams
Radical Transformational Fund-raising
We invite you to a discussion with Therese Adams. For over 20 years, Therese Adams has held nonprofit leadership positions working in Santa Cruz, California as an executive director, fund development consultant, development director, and community organizer.
To solve problems in an equitable and enduring manner, we must identify what we wish to shift Therese Adams will share the shifts they worked on, using templates and tools in the Radical Transformational Leadership approach: 1)shift nimbyism from neighbors stopping housing units into their neighborhoods to allowing housing to be built in all neighborhoods; 2)shift the attitude that those who experience homelessness are undeserving to everyone is worthy has a right to be housed and healthy; and 3)shift apathy and resignation, an attitude that the problem is unsolvable to it is solvable and many communities around the country have ended homelessness.
Therese will share 7 guiding principles she developed for transformational fund-raising events:
First of all, I must continue my own practice of Radical Transformational Leadership and the Conscious Full Spectrum Response template to identify universal values as well as norms and systems that need to shift to solve the problems.
Hold the event where clients (and donors) feel comfortable and make the food simple and delicious—not ‘gala’ events in fancy spaces!
Before the event it is crucial to have clients access their own inner potential for empowerment and prep client speakers to talk about their core universal values and what they care about. This is the key to promoting conscious reciprocity- mutual respect and dignity. It is a space where donors’ hearts break open and they see each other (clients and donors) as people.
I create spaces for everyone present to anchor themselves in their universal values.
I design activities where everyone can identify the most pressing problems and identify the root factors as well as the systems and norms that are not working.
I make two committed requests: I ask donors and clients to volunteer – I discuss leadership position open for both clients and donors. Ask for donation if it is a fundraising event.
Afterwards, I ask for feedback about the event from attendees to check if the activities were meaningful.
We will have a discussion on how Therese now designs fund-raising events for a much bigger outcome – to transform the attitude and behavior of the participants, beyond the event to inspire mutual generosity and foster participant’s leadership, each in their own way—a process we refer to as ‘conscious reciprocity’.
Bio:  For over 20 years, Therese Adams has held nonprofit leadership positions working in Santa Cruz, California as an executive director, fund development consultant, development director, and community organizer. Since 2014, Therese has practiced Leadership for Community Transformation with Dr. Monica Sharma and has supported the training of hundreds of leaders in Santa Cruz County and the Bay Area of California as a practitioner coach. In her work with nonprofits, she has incorporated the Conscious Full Spectrum Response and Radical Transformational Leadership to promote equity and generosity to transform the current nonprofit fund development and philanthropy practices to create sustainable change.
Since 2012, Therese has worked on the issues of homelessness as Community Organizer with the United Way of Santa Cruz County and Development Director at Pajaro Valley Shelter Services. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Santa Cruz affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), using the Conscious Full Spectrum Response to stop stigma and to improve the treatment for those with mental health conditions. Originally from Los Angeles, Therese moved to Santa Cruz to receive her BA in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz. For several decades, she was the Director of Moving and Storage Performance Company and was the SPECTRA Arts Coordinator and Instructor for Cultural Council of Santa Cruz, County working to ensure every school in the county had arts programming. To contact Therese Adams please email her at seeds.therese@gmail.com
Learn more about Dr. Monica here: www.radicallytransform.org