Living the Vision: True Stories from the Frenchtown Vision Retreat with Guest Host Chris Wahl

  

The Golden Pheasant Inn where much of the retreat work took place

Is it really possible to create a vision and then bring it to life? Find out! Join Host Kate Ebner and Guest Host Chris Wahl, founder of the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program, for a special interview with four women who are living their visions. In January of 2011, Donna Friedman Meir, Helene Richman, Marijo Puleo and Sheila Harding were among a group of  successful professional women who gathered for a women's visioning retreat in Frenchtown, New Jersey to answer the question, "What's next?" At the retreat, they reflected on where they had been and what they truly wanted out of life. The retreat, guided by Kate and Chris,  culminated in the creation of their own personal visions of their futures. Now, more than two years later, you can hear their visions and discover what they've learned as by "living into" vision. You will be astounded and reassured by the wisdom and pragmatism of our guests -- and by the way that visioning has changed their lives.

 

To read more about next Monday's guests and guest host Chris Wahl, click here.

 

Missed the Live Show?

In the mid-90's, amidst an ever-growing pile of depressing news about human degradation of the environment, Janine Benyus realized that 99.9% of the species on Earth had already figured out a sustainable and safe way to exist on the planet. It was an epiphany. Janine seized upon this realization as an opportunity for people to move ideas originated in the natural world into the design and engineering sphere. Humans could be apprentices to nature. Janine expanded on these ideas in a book called

Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature and the field of biomimicry was born. 

After her book was published, industry leaders came calling. Who wouldn't want to develop technologies that used fewer toxins and less energy than the current best models? Since then, Janine has consulted with such corporations as Proctor & Gamble, Nike and Boeing and launched several institutions to explore the possibilities of biomimicry. Last summer, Janine was honored by Michelle Obama with the Design Mind Award from the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in a special ceremony at the White House.  

Excerpts from Janine's conversation with Kate:

"If we were to develop one stance towards the rest of the natural world that would allow us to fit in, it would be respect. I like to think of all the other species on earth as our "biological elders" who could teach us how to be earthlings and live here in harmony with the planet.  If we could respect other organisms as mentors, then good behavior would not have to be legislated."   

"It's not easy to go from where we are in Western industrial culture to go towards biomimicry. Right now, we think things are natural that aren't. We think it's natural to heat up a piece of glass to an extremely high temperature and add high levels of toxins but there are organisms in the ocean that make glass at body temperature and without toxins.  We need to learn that there are alternatives to be found in the natural world. It takes listening and becoming a student of the natural world, and that's not a stance we've had towards nature  in a very long time- that feeling of humility, of wanting to learn from the world around us."

"Biomimicry is very practical, in that it solves problems.  I'm very lucky to be constantly working in a solution space, to be working towards solving problems instead of just noticing them. I'm hopeful for the future because I've seen humans adapt before. We can turn around our thinking in a relatively short time span when we need to and, with respect to our relationship with the planet, I think that time is now."

Hear more of Janine's wise insights into the relationship of humans to nature by clicking here or by downloading the podcast. 

Learn about the fascinating field of biomimicry and hear Janine Benyus' vision for a sustainable planet on the most recent episode  of Visionary Leader, Extraordinary Life.

Be inspired.