Interview & Research Primer
We live in a time where traditional leadership models are collapsing under the weight of complexity. Hierarchies are fragmenting, institutions are losing trust, and many of the old maps no longer work. The problems we face can no longer be solved with linear tools or isolated action.
Yet we’re also in a time of extraordinary emergence. New movements, communities, and systems are being built—not from the top down, but from the inside out.
Those who step into this work often find themselves holding more than they imagined. They’re not just starting businesses or leading teams. They’re stewards of coherence in a time of chaos. They are sensing and shaping living systems. And they’re being changed in the process.
This is what we call systemic leadership. And it demands a very different kind of development:
They’re not just founders or executives. They are stewards of coherence in a time of chaos. Their work is relational, regenerative, and systemic. It asks them to grow—not just in strategy or skill, but in maturity. And that’s the research we’re here to do.
The Leadership Path as Initiation**
Many of us have noticed a pattern: the more true and beautiful our work becomes, the more life seems to test us. Not randomly. Precisely. As if building elegant systems requires us to become elegant instruments.
We believe this isn’t just personal. It’s a structural feature of emergence:
This research group exists to explore that pattern—and to find new ways forward: Living labs to support those walking the path, while building a body of knowledge that can inform the next generation of investors, founders, and field-builders.
Systemic investing is not about funding isolated outcomes. It’s about recognizing the interdependence of systems and aligning capital with what actually generates long-term coherence.
That means investing in leadership—not just individuals, but the conditions and structures that allow mature systemic leaders to thrive.
This research group is a crucial piece of that puzzle:
In short: we can’t fund the right work unless we understand what makes it real.
We’re not just mapping what breaks us — ‘trial by fire’ and ‘evolution through pain’ are well-established paradigms, and currently being played out at scale in the world, forcing change.
We’re mapping what supports us, and looking to create the scaffolding for a step change in our evolution: What if we were no longer driven forward by fear and pain, but instead drawn forward, called to evolve and become better versions of ourselves for the sake of the joy inherent in healthy growth?
We are not looking to avoid pain. It is inherent in any undertaking worth doing. We are simply seeking to balance the equation. So we’re asking: What supports growth that is elegant, not extractive?
Our interviews, gatherings, and real-world projects investigate:
