Five Superpowers For Co Creators

This groundbreaking and timely book provides change makers, organizations and facilitators with practical tools to initiate and conduct multi-stakeholder co-creation processes. Such processes are of critical importance in times of rapid change, where mega trends and grand challenges influence the market dynamics of business in entirely new ways. The book provides a concrete pathway for business to become future-ready by building capacity to work outside its traditional boundaries. The book unfolds the shift of multi-stakeholder teams from a state of competition to a state of collaboration, addressing the inner and outer dimensions of such a change. The five superpowers identified in the book are: (1) the genuine engagement of individuals, (2) collective solutions of groups, (3) transformative spaces created by facilitators, (4) the building blocks of co-creation, and (5) an effective strategy process for organizations. The book explores the challenges to achieve each of these superpowers. It also shares the stories of "heroes of transformation" and explores what have been the reasons for their success. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the grand challenges, the future of work...call it what you want, the future is here and organizations, change makers and facilitators need nothing less than these superpowers to collaborate with other players to solve these wicked problems.

In achieving civic engagement and social justice in smart cities, literacy programs are offered in the society by three essential information service providers: libraries, archives, and museums. Although the library and museum services are documented in literature, there is little evidence of community-led library or museum services that make a full circle in understanding community-library, community-archive, and community-museum relationships. The Handbook of Research on the Role of Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Achieving Civic Engagement and Social Justice in Smart Cities examines the application of tools and techniques in library and museum literacy in achieving civic engagement and social justice. It also introduces a new outlook in the services of libraries and museums. Covering topics such as countering fake news, human rights literacies, and outreach activities, this book is essential for community-based organizations, librarians, museum administrations, education leaders, information professionals, smart city design planners, digital tool developers, policymakers engaged in diversity, researchers, and academicians.

We are facing a new and urgent challenge when collaborating across organizations, and with broader stakeholder groups: how to overcome polarization. It has never been harder to find a common vision, when opinions are often considered as facts. This book empowers changemakers and business leaders to understand how successful organizations in the 21st century require leaders to become fluent in collaborating outside of traditional business boundaries. Such collaboration often involves working with parties that hold very different values, opinions and priorities, and working with them requires new skills. Building on the book Five Superpowers for Co-Creators, Katrin Muff presents a number of real-world examples that demonstrate how organizations have successfully managed to address these challenges. Examples of such unlikely but successful cross-sector collaboration include a project addressing plastic waste in Switzerland, and two European city government projects that reached out beyond organizational boundaries. The book features many stories of trial and error in overcoming the societal polarization gap. From all these insights emerges clear guidance as to how leaders and organizations can transform to new ‘outside-in’ mindsets to overcome polarization and develop a Positive Impact Mindset. The book is ideal for use by facilitators, educators, business and political leaders, and consultants, who are seeking solutions within an often polarized world to achieve sustainable change and a positive impact.

Energy policies and management are of primary importance to achieve the development of sustainability and need to be consistent with recent advances in energy production and distribution. Progressing from an economy mainly focussed on hydrocarbons to one taking advantage of sustainable renewable energy resources requires considerable scientific research, as well as the development of new engineering systems. Energy fuels the world’s economy. Diminishing resources and severe environmental effects resulting from the continuous use of fossil fuels has motivated an increasing amount of interest in renewable energy resources and the search for sustainable energy policies. Key difficulties to overcome often originate from the conversion of renewable energies (wind, solar, etc.) to useful forms (electricity, heat, fuel) at an acceptable cost, including impacts on the environment as well as in the integration of these resources into the existing infrastructure. A wide range of topics are covered by the works contained in this book. The collaboration of varied disciplines are involved in order to arrive at optimum solutions, including studies of materials, energy networks, new energy resources, storage solutions, waste to energy systems, smart grids and many others.

Climate change is one of the most significant and challenging problems we face today, and many organisations have recognised their responsibility in reducing emissions and environmental degradation and regenerating biodiversity. However, conventional leadership has failed to respond adequately to the magnitude of the threat, and a profound change in corporate leadership is required to substantively cut emissions and change climate policy to minimise further destructive environmental impact. This book sets out the qualities and approaches needed by leaders to successfully develop and implement climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. Bringing together the foremost experts in climate change leadership from business, leadership, psychology and coaching backgrounds, this book addresses the failures of current leadership practice and proposes a variety of models of how climate change leadership capabilities can be effectively developed in organisations. It is structured around four concepts: foundations, which includes models of environmental, ecological and evolutionary leadership; transitions, which looks at transformational and ethical models that are being repurposed for the age of sustainability; progressions, which explores innovative models that are being developed for the current age including systems, adaptation and maturity-based models of leadership; and actions, which includes models of sustainable goal setting and climate leadership coaching and development. The book is written for corporate leaders, researchers and educators and will be an invaluable addition to the leadership curriculum and executive development programmes to help the next generation of leaders respond to global challenges.

How to embed the concept of sustainability is one of the key questions boards of directors and top management teams discuss in times of societal change and environmental challenges. These reflections are driven not only by self-reflection but also by capital market pressures and the consensus of public opinion. Unlike other issues on the corporate agenda, sustainability calls for a distinct approach to governance and raises questions about the foundation of corporate governance: the corporate purpose. This book presents various perspectives on corporate governance of sustainability and sustainable corporate governance, bringing together viewpoints from 16 practitioners and academics. It offers practical insights, introduces new perspectives, and invites readers to reflect on their own approaches to integrating sustainability into corporate governance.

The concept of circular economy is based on strategies, practices, policies, and technologies to achieve principles related to reusing, recycling, redesigning, repurposing, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recovering water, waste materials, and nutrients to preserve natural resources. It provides the necessary conditions to encourage economic and social actors to adopt strategies toward sustainability. However, the increasing complexity of sustainability aspects means that traditional engineering and management/economics alone cannot face the new challenges and reach the appropriate solutions. Thus, this book highlights the role of engineering and management in building a sustainable society by developing a circular economy that establishes and protects strong social and cultural structures based on cross-disciplinary knowledge and diverse skills. It includes theoretical justification, research studies, and case studies to provide researchers, practitioners, professionals, and policymakers the appropriate context to work together in promoting sustainability and circular economy thinking. Volume 1, Circular Economy and Sustainability: Management and Policy, discusses the content of circular economy principles and how they can be realized in the fields of economy, management, and policy. It gives an outline of the current status and perception of circular economy at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels to provide a better understanding of its role in achieving sustainability. Volume 2, Circular Economy and Sustainability: Environmental Engineering, presents various technological and developmental tools that emphasize the implementation of these principles in practice (micro-level). It demonstrates the necessity to establish a fundamental connection between sustainable engineering and circular economy. Presents a novel approach, linking circular economy concepts to environmental engineering and management to promote sustainability goals in modern societies Approaches the topic on production and consumption at both the micro and macro levels, integrating principles with practice Offers a range of theoretical and foundational knowledge in addition to case studies that demonstrate the potential impact of circular economy principles on both economic and societal progress

Most of our communities are fragmented and at odds within themselves. Businesses, social services, education, and health care each live within their own worlds. The same is true of individual citizens, who long for connection but end up marginalized, their gifts overlooked, their potential contributions lost. What keeps this from changing is that we are trapped in an old and tired conversation about who we are. If this narrative does not shift, we will never truly create a common future and work toward it together. What Peter Block provides in this inspiring new book is an exploration of the exact way community can emerge from fragmentation. How is community built? How does the transformation occur? What fundamental shifts are involved? What can individuals and formal leaders do to create a place they want to inhabit? We know what healthy communities look like—there are many success stories out there. The challenge is how to create one in our own place. Block helps us see how we can change the existing context of community from one of deficiencies, interests, and entitlement to one of possibility, generosity, and gifts. Questions are more important than answers in this effort, which means leadership is not a matter of style or vision but is about getting the right people together in the right way: convening is a more critical skill than commanding. As he explores the nature of community and the dynamics of transformation, Block outlines six kinds of conversation that will create communal accountability and commitment and describes how we can design physical spaces and structures that will themselves foster a sense of belonging. In Community, Peter Block explores a way of thinking about our places that creates an opening for authentic communities to exist and details what each of us can do to make that happen.