Upcoming Workshop
Friday, May 31st 2024
9am-4pm
Workbar Framingham,
111 Speen Street, 2nd Floor, Framingham MA
Cost:
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION (BY FRI, MAY 17TH): $400
REGULAR REGISTRATION: $500
The Problem
In this moment of constant change and complexity, it’s increasingly clear that old ways of understanding and practicing leadership are no longer sufficient: Hierarchical structures generate pushback and resistance; senior leaders struggle to manage staff effectively in the face of ongoing change; younger workers expect greater degrees of freedom, deeper alignment with purpose, and different types of support; and everyone is challenged to stay grounded and resilient in the face of multiple overlapping issues unfolding simultaneously. The old ways are no longer effective, but the new ways have not yet come fully into view…until now.
Inner Fire, Wider View is a one-day leadership workshop that will guide you through four key shifts that will change the way you understand yourself and the way you think about leadership in foundational, paradigm-shifting ways. The experience weaves together the four most powerful and impactful leadership development trainings that I’ve refined over the course of my career. These are the sessions that I’ve tested with members of Congress, senior business leaders, non-profit leaders, social entrepreneurs, young idealists, and leadership scholars in countries around the world. I know from experience that even the most high-achieving and sophisticated audiences find these ideas to be eye-opening and deeply relevant to their challenges in ways that are both powerful and unexpected.
About Dr. Max Klau
Dr. Max Klau is a leadership educator, consultant, author, speaker and Integral Master Coach based in Boston. He received his Doctorate of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005, with a focus on leadership development. He went on to spend the next ten years at City Year, the education-focused AmeriCorps program, where he oversaw leadership the development experience of thousands of AmeriCorps members and staff annually. In 2016, he became the Chief Program Officer at the New Politics Leadership Academy, a non-partisan non-profit focused on recruiting, developing and electing servant leaders—military veterans and alumni of national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps--to run for elected office. In 2022, he completed his certification to become an Integral Master Coach.
Over the years, Max has designed leadership development experiences and led trainings for tens of thousands of individuals, ranging from idealistic young adults to senior business leaders to non-profit executives to sitting members of Congress. He has led trainings in Israel, Bangladesh, India, and Europe.
The four trainings included in this program are the sessions that have proven to be the most powerful, impactful, and transformational sessions in Max’s toolkit.
This is a collection of a master leadership educator’s greatest hits.
Here’s what you’ll encounter in Inner Fire, Wider View:
As the world around us changes, we discover that tools, responses and beliefs that once served us well are no longer effective or sufficient. We must experiment our way towards innovative approaches that meaningfully respond to the new realities that we face. The shift from technical to adaptive leadership provides a framework and practices to lead powerfully in the context of change. Here’s what you’ll take from this session:
-An understanding of the difference between authority and leadership
-An ability to discern the differences between technical and adaptive challenges
-A framework and tools for effectively exercising adaptive leadership
-A memorable and engaging opportunity to experience adaptive leadership
A focus on clarifying your purpose is everywhere these days; this work is an essential task for anyone seeking to confront complexity. It is essential…but it is not sufficient. The truth is that light and shadow always co-exist, and we do not fully understand ourselves if we focus only on our light while ignoring our shadow. Until we confront our own wholeness—the fact that we each possess both light and dark within—our shadow will influence our actions in ways that we do not fully understand. Here’s what you’ll take from this session:
-Greater clarity of personal purpose
-Insight into your own personal shadow
-Enhanced ability to lead with light and not shadow in the future
-Greater wisdom regarding how to be with our wholeness as human beings
Problem solving is an essential skill; it allows us to move forward powerfully and also becomes a source of trust and authority when we demonstrate and ability to solve problems consistently. It’s important to recognize, however, that this source of strength can quickly become a blindspot. In a rapidly changing world, we may jump too quickly to problem solving mode without taking the time to discern whether we fully understand the problem, or whether we’ve chosen the most strategic problem to address. We draw on past experiences and unexamined assumptions that may not be relevant to new circumstances. To respond to complexity and uncertainty, we must complement our skills at problem solving with an equally important and related skill: Question Finding. Here’s what you’ll take from this session:
-A concrete, practical tool for finding the most personally compelling and strategic questions related to a given situation
-Enhanced ability to refine that question using clear, powerful language that evokes productive dialogue
-Deeper awareness of how a sole focus on problem solving limits our ability to confront complexity and uncertainty
Our current thinking about leadership is influenced by some assumptions about how the world works and how change happens that are increasingly problematic. When we uncover these assumptions and illuminate an entirely different paradigm for understanding leadership and change, we access and unleash a whole new array of possibilities that allow us to respond powerfully and effectively to the world around us. Here’s what you’ll take from this session:
- A new awareness of the assumptions—and limitations— of the mechanical universe paradigm
-An overview of the assumptions that inform the living systems paradigm
-An ability to exercise leadership and drive change within living systems
-An expanded worldview that integrates all three previous shifts in powerful and practical ways
Inner Fire, Wider View pulls all four of these proven approaches to leadership development together into one powerful day-long immersive workshop. Expect to be provoked, challenged, engaged and inspired by an experience that integrates practical tools and pragmatic insights with big ideas, deep reflection and meaningful dialogue.
If you sense at some deep level that our basic assumptions about what leadership is and how it works no longer serve us, or that our mental models of how organizations function and how change occurs no longer describe the reality we see all around us, you’ll want to experience this workshop. If you are intrigued by the Einstein quote above and are open to an experience that will challenge your most foundational assumptions about what leadership is and how change happens, I encourage you to register today.
Inner Fire, Wider View is designed to run from 9am-4pm and can be tailored to engage small groups and large audiences.
Upcoming Workshop
Friday, May 31st 2024
9am-4pm
Workbar Framingham,
111 Speen Street, 2nd Floor, Framingham MA
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION (BY FRI, MAY 17TH): $400
REGULAR REGISTRATION: $500
If you are interested in learning more about the workshop or would like to explore how to bring this experience to your organization, let’s connect!