Strategies for Change — Social, Personal and Systemic — An Overview

6 min readMay 16, 2020

The Humanity Rising Strategies for Change webinar series begins on 8 June for several days. I’m honored to be presenting on 9 June about the Pathways to Thriving which can help all of us context where we are doing our work and who else is out there we might be interested in collaborating with.

These six Pathways to Thriving are described in more detail in the first blog post in a three part series of blogs here on the Ubiverse that explore three different Strategies for Change in any human system: Macro (Social), Micro (Personal) and Meso (Systemic), as illustrated in this diagram:

MACRO-MICRO-MESO Strategies for Change

This short overview introduces you to the two key models that can help us all become more effective agents of beneficial change, so that all the brilliant work being done by all the people and partners taking part in Humanity Rising can be aligned into effective meshworks that help us changemakers to scale up what we are doing by creating ecosystems for change.

This is what we call the “Mesoscope” in the diagram above- where well designed platforms for change are co-created through the resonance and alignment that emerges during the Humanity Rising events. Aligning the often heroic efforts of the rugged individualists and mavericks that pioneer change movements is essential if they are to gain traction in the mainstream, so as to scale up breakthroughs in the midst of the breakdowns.

YOU, as an individual and leader of your team and organization/s and network/s, are the key to making our collective dreams of a better world come true, especially given the constant battle to find funding, recruit pioneering souls and organize physical and virtual activities. Finding partners to co-create with requires additional time, money and resources which most Betterworld organizations lack.

This is why it is essential that we share some common frameworks that help us clarify how we can help each other crystalize new initiatives that create win-win-win outcomes. Too often we see each other as competitors for airtime, funding and recognition, when we should be exploring the synergies between us in practical ways to get more done with less, in less time and with less effort and greater positive impact.

Here is a brief overview of what you will find in the three blogs written especially for those participating in the Humanity Rising activities over the coming months (and, possibly years, if we get this right).

To begin, we present you with the overview perspective on planetary change in the:

MACROSCOPE

In Part One, we begin with a brief recap of the situation we are in, including some of the breakdowns and breakthroughs at this moment in time. We introduce the six Pathways to Thriving framework, and explain each one in a little detail. This is where you can locate yourself on what Barbara Marx Hubbard called the “Evolutionary Mapping System”, which has been reframed in terms that enable us to connect with leverage points for shifts in mainstream systems.

In terms of developmental theory and practice, we are using words and concepts which align achievers (“orange” value systems for those familiar with integral thinking), and individualists (“green” value systems for those familiar with integral thinking). Right now, as you may have noticed, achievers hold the power and own the assets in the mainstream global economy, against which individualists often find themselves in opposition.

Just being in opposition to breakdowns does not cut it, as most of those heroically manning the barricades soon discover. We also need to learn how to harness the energy and resources in the exit turbulence of neoliberal capitalism to build the new models Buckminster Fuller always talked about, so that we not only disrupt but also magically blend coherent innovations into existence. This requires co-opetition and synergizing.

Here is a preview of the six pathways to thriving diagram to whet your appetite:

Pathways to Thriving for Humanity Rising

In Part Two, we explore the need for embodied spirituality and enhanced changemaker capabilities to energize, focus and deliver the elegant outcomes we are all capable of when we practice and develop our spiritual and changemaking capabilities. These capabilities are essential if we are to realize the coalesced power, authority and influence within us and radiate that through our presence, behavior, leadership and actions.

MICROSCOPE

We end Part Two with an integral developmental framework that can guide each of us to realize our full potential, what Maslow called Self-Actualization and Self-Transcendence.

Wake Up, Grow Up, Clean Up, Tune Up, Show Up and Connect Up as a Conscious Leader

Finally, In Part 3, we explore some of the very practical ways the breakthroughs in each of these six pathways can be accelerated and scaled-up, with a description of the Humanity Rising and Balancer agendas.

These three articles articulate the three different perspectives and levels at which we are going to scale up the new mainstream that comes after this Covid19 crisis.

These three perspectives and levels of transformation help us integrate the major themes of self, social and systemic evolution, while offering the three key components of a successful change process:

1. A Well-Defined Context for Action;
2. A Well-Aligned Group of Stakeholders;
3. A Well-Developed Platform for Action.

MESOSCOPE

We also explore the four quadrants of the AQAL integral model from the perspective of the changemaker, and why our survival depends upon our ability to harness the exponential technologies and systems that are evolving faster than our capabilities to use them wisely.

Many of the hundreds of partners and thousands of participants in Humanity Rising are working on how we respond to this challenge through the WE Space of our collective interiors, cultures and value systems. Yet unless this is integrated with our behaviors and consciousness, we fall into the chasm that opens up between the power of the mainstream systems and the good intentions of the betterworld organizations which do not scale due to their inability to bridge this gap.

We then describe how this gap shows up in the Seven Conditions for global systemic change, (or seven “ifs”), and the ways in which we can better align achievers and individualists through personal alignment, organizational and ecosystem alignment and global and social alignment.

We continue Part Three with a romp through some insights from those who are practiced in the arts of elegantly accelerated, beneficial global change.

We then return to the present, and ask whether the Coronavirus is a political crucible, melting down and reshaping current norms. Will the new era be a “Fortress Earth” or a harbinger of a transformed society based on a new set of values?

Finally, we explore how we can harness the power of the Overton window which has just opened up, and use the Balancer App and platform to reach conscious consumers and citizens to make the positive impacts they care about, and engage with the organizations, causes and platforms that mirror and align with their good intentions.

We look forward to meeting you in the forthcoming Humanity Rising events starting 22 May- may the Force be with us all!