The Village Idiot Studio

The past few decades has seen a proliferation of coaches offering everything from negotiation, conflict, career, education, and life coaching services. This is a good thing because our societies have become extraordinarily complex, even as the family and other social support systems have broken down, and traditional wisdom has been made seemingly irrelevant. We all need help just navigating our world- and even the best coaches and consultants need help.

An ordinary coach can provide reasonably sensible suggestions and advice. A good coach is able to facilitate and advice the client because he understands the client and their context exceptionally well. A great coach has been around the block so many times that he knows almost every possible pathway to success and failure. A great coach is also able to share with the client the lessons he has learned from his mistakes as well as successes. 

As my client you will receive the lessons learned from:

  • 40 years of consulting experience.
  • 35 years of coaching experience.
  • Domain expertise in Conflict and Diversity Management; Democracy and Relationship Building; as well as Critical and Creative Thinking.
  • International professional experience in North America, Asia, Middle East and parts of Europe and Africa.
  • Most of all you will learn from the mistakes I have made over 40 years as a consultant. As your coach it is my responsibility to help you avoid the almost fatal mistakes I have made.  
  • 60 minutes. $150.00
  • 30 minutes free consultation

BUSINESS:

  1. Geopolitics and Business
  2. Rethinking Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  3. Leadership in times of Upheaval
  4. Balancing Change & Continuity
  5. Going Global in a Shrinking World
  6. Critical Thinking for Organizational Survival
  7. Career Planning for an Age of Upheaval

DEMOCRACY & POLITICS:

  1. Managing Democratic Breakdown
  2. Geopolitics for Human Rights Activists
  3. Rethinking Diversity and Pluralism
  4. Leadership in a Post-Liberal World
  5. Balancing Demands of Change & Continuity
  6. Career Planning for Change-Makers
  7. Critical Thinking for the Age of Discontinuity
  8. Democratic Citizenship Competencies

NON-PROFIT MANAGEMENT:

  1. Managing Democratic Breakdown
  2. Geopolitical Thinking for Leaders
  3. Rethinking Diversity and Pluralism
  4. Leadership in a Post-Liberal World
  5. Career Planning for Change-Makers
  6. Critical Thinking for the Age of Discontinuity
  7. Balancing Demands of Change & Continuity
  8. Re-envisioning International Work

Fools have all the answers.
The wise have questions- and they also make interesting connections.

Over the past few years people have asked me if I would help them make sense of the overwhelming complexity of life in the 21st century. Some folks just want to talk with me about their ideas on politics, culture, technology or peacebuilding. I am, finally, delighted to give concrete shape to this:

Consilience from the Latin “com” (together) and “siliens” (jumping). Consilience, the ‘jumping together’ of knowledge) is based on the philosophic idea of the fundamental unity of knowledge. Everything is connected, and our ability to understand these relationships helps us navigate a complex world.

Consilience Conversations are scheduled through prior appointment: You will select the topics that you wish to learn based on curiosity or specific skills that you wish to acquire. Please know that these are topics that I have significant familiarity with:

  • Critical Thinking and Creativity.
  • Conflict Management and Dialogue Facilitation.
  • Democracy, Diversity and Pluralism.
  • Geopolitics. History, Culture, and Civilization.
  • Impact of Technology on Humanity.

My strength is in asking Socratic questions and helping you see the relationships between seemingly unrelated ideas. My conceptual frame is to present everything through the robust prism of critical (and systems) thinking.

Broadly speaking, here are some reasons why you might wish to sign up for Consilience Conversations

  1. You wish to make connections between the current political, economic and cultural events and trends.
  2. You want to understand how key events and movements of the past have led up to our current culture, society and present-day conflicts.
  3. You are interested in developing specific skills of Critical and Creative Thinking, Conflict Management, Complex Communication or Relationship Building.
  4. You just want to hang out for an hour a week talking deeply about the challenges and questions that you have about living in the 21st Century (my favorite topic).

30 minutes initial Consultation: Free

$150.00USD

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IMPORTANT NOTE: Please know that Village Idiot Studio records all webinars, classes and study groups. We also retain all rights to any and all conversations, chats, as well as video and audio recordings that are produced during and as a result of our courses. These will also be shared with present and future students or for creating educational videos. Please know that these recordings may not be used by the students or anyone outside Village Idiot Studio without our written permission, either in part or whole, for any purpose other than your own personal learning needs. By taking this course you are also giving us permission to use excerpts from the sessions to create promotional and educational material for Village Idiot Studio. If you wish to withhold permission to use your name or image, please tick the appropriate box.