Cultivating Earth-Shaped Leaders: Ecological Imagination in Organizations

How would organizations act differently if they embodied an ecological imagination? In 2022, The BTS Center convened a group of leaders from seven cross-sector organizations working in the non-profit and higher education sectors to explore this question in the context of a year-long cross-sector co-learning community. Our research employed a qualitative research framework that aimed for thick descriptions of leaders’ experiences by field noting large group sessions, breakout groups, site visits, and one-on-one conversations with participants. The research identifies and describes several distinct patterns that emerged when leaders re-imagined their leadership via an ecological lens. These include: the importance of spaciousness for cultural transformation, the power of non-profit cultural norming through the concept of the “Non-Profit Industrial Complex,” and, most significantly, how shifts in organizational self-perception led to new ways of understanding leadership, metrics, and organizational identity; all while respecting the existing limits of leaders’ institutional and moral agency. This research also noted the perceptions, postures, and practices that cultivate earth-shaped leadership, including the importance of seeing health before growth, being curious and adaptable, creating personal differentiation from one’s professional identity, practicing spaciousness, and tending relationships.