Josh Leonard hosts three leading experts in the field of integral policing to explore how applying big-picture, integrative frameworks could help address the complex challenges facing modern law enforcement.
IAM: Organizing Big Pictures For The Transformation Age
Robb Smith and Josh LeonardJosh Leonard and Robb Smith discuss the founding and evolution of the Institute of Applied Metatheory (IAM). They explore the urgent need for an organization that networks and supports scholar-practitioners in applying integrative metatheory to complex 21st-century challenges. The conversation reflects on the integral movement’s stages and challenges, societal shifts necessitating IAM’s emergence, and the four foundational hypotheses underpinning its work.
Integral Diversity Maturity: Toward a Postconventional Understanding of Diversity Dynamics
Toni Gregory and Michael RaffantiThis article outlines the authors’ ongoing study of diversity, focusing particularly on the AQAL model as a linchpin in an evolving theory of “diversity maturity.” Recognizing the limitations of non-integral approaches to understanding and negotiating diversity dynamics, the authors explain how an integral perspectives come to inform their postconventional understanding. The authors share their preliminary theory of the diversity maturity process in which the integral vision/theory that unites diversity, complexity, and creativity is the dynamic relationship among and between quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. The article concludes with an agenda for further theoretical and empirical inquiry.
The Art of Integral Conversation: How to Have a Turquoise Dialectic
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore the concept of “turquoise dialectic” – a sophisticated form of integral discourse that emerges at the later stages of human development. Drawing upon their deep understanding of adult development and integral theory, they explore the feeling and transformative potential of the turquoise “we-space”, and how we might create the conditions for this type of conversation to unfold.
In Context: AI-Enhanced Strategies for Social Sector Evolution
Josh Leonard and Robb SmithRobb Smith is joined by Josh Leonard to explore together how IAM’s new AI-augmented mental model software, Context, can support Josh’s work as a social sector consultant, specifically in a project Josh is leading with the YMCA of San Francisco to revamp their leadership development program.
Buddhas in Blue: Enlightened Ways to Make Policing Work For Everyone
Ryan Johansen, Chris Orrey, Roger Walsh and John DupuyIn this moving, illuminating, and impassioned discussion, retired Police Lt. Chris Orrey and San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen open our eyes as to the realities of policing in today’s world and offer solutions as to how the entire institution of police work could be transformed to become more effective and sustainable, both for police officers and for the communities they serve.
Diversity, Empathy, and Integration: Reframing and Reclaiming a Movement Toward Healing and Wholeness
Brad KershnerBrad Kershner offers a deep and detailed criticism of standard DEI approaches (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), highlighting the complexities of ethnicity, race, and cultural evolution. He challenges prevailing educational metaphors grounded in the postmodern perspective, advocating for a more universal application of modern liberal values, and emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding to forge a more genuine and generative path forward for social justice.
From Race to Culture to Kosmos
Greg Thomas, John Dupuy and Roger WalshJoin cultural analyst and co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project, Greg Thomas, as he explores the transformative power of culture, using his knowledge of jazz and blues as a conduit to greater understanding and connection. Greg tackles layered issues of race through a systemic lens, suggesting a shift from racial to cultural worldview, offering an enlightening dialogue filled with anecdotes from music history and a rich exploration of how shared cultural experiences can dissolve boundaries and unite us all.
Transcending and Including Our Current Way of Being: An Introduction to Integral Coaching
Joanne HuntThis article provides an introduction to the Integral Coaching® method developed by Joanne Hunt and Laura Divine, founders of Integral Coaching Canada, Inc. A brief introduction to the field of coaching is offered using the four quadrants to appreciate the underlying assumptions of how change occurs and how schools of coaching have approached the rapidly growing field of adult development. Further delineation of Integral Coaching Canada’s use of subject-object theory and a “transcend and include” developmental model is provided and resides at the root of this school’s AQAL approach to change.
Transform the Police: A More Integral Approach to Law Enforcement
Chris Orrey, Mark Fischler and Corey deVosMark and Corey are joined by Chris Orrey, a retired police lieutenant with over 30 years of service with the Hayward, California Police Department, to discuss the abuse and resulting death of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten and ultimately killed by five Memphis police officers after a routine traffic stop. What allowed this tragedy (and others like it) to take place? What sorts of personal, cultural, and institutional transformation are necessary to prevent something like this from occurring again?
A Unique View Into You: Working With a Client’s AQAL Constellation
Laura DivineThis article provides an introduction to the set of six lenses used to support client assessment and competency development: the four quadrants (competencies, orientation, and translation), levels of consciousness (including three levels within each level), six lines of development (cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, somatic, spiritual, and moral), states of consciousness (gross, subtle, and causal as well as productive and non-productive, high-energy and low-energy states), gender type structures (feminine and masculine development), and Enneagram type structures.
Transformational Conversations: The Four Conversations of Integral Coaching
Joanne HuntThis article provides an introduction to the process used by Integral Coaching Canada in working with clients over time.
Transformational Theses: Your Doorway to Changing the World
Robb SmithA Transformational Thesis (“TT”) is the name for a specific hypothesis that if you can effect this change, you can achieve that outcome, and in particular this process of change is a transformational one in which a person, organization, system, context etc. has moved to an overall fundamentally higher- and more-healthy form of long-term functioning.
Ramping Up Human Evolution in Time to Avert Disaster
Jamie Wheal, John Dupuy and Roger WalshIn this riveting, mind opening (and bending) conversation, philosopher and peak performance expert Jamie Wheal takes our existential metacrisis head on, asking and often answering the biggest questions we, the human race, face today. More than inspirational, this conversation is like an infusion of the energetic, coherent, transpersonal potential of human beings. Guaranteed, you won’t see things the same way after listening.
Russia Is Catalyzing the Transformation Age
Robb SmithRussia’s invasion of Ukraine is not just a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, it is a coordinated attack, with China’s cooperation, on the dominant late Information Age global network, especially the US dollar as global reserve currency. And while it likely counts on a devastating financial counterattack from the western alliance—after all, Putin is a Judo master and wants to use his opponent’s weight against them—it underestimates the global values coherence of the “Green” structure of sociocultural evolution that will yet hamper a serious bipolar Russo-Sino block from gaining momentum. But it may come to represent a signal opportunity for the US to lead much-needed reform in the global order in the very areas continuing to be exposed as structural flaws, including the power of UN’s peacekeeping mission, total nuclear disarmament, the US dollar’s role in foreign policy, and the structure of the UN security council.
Integral Management and the Effective Human Service Organization
Heather LarkinHuman service organizations aim to address personal and social growth and development in the communities they serve. At the same time, these organizations must respond to increasing client complexity and diversity within a rapidly changing global environment. This includes the ability to respond to the needs of an ever-increasing aging population as well as the spiritual diversity within communities. There is also an increasing emphasis on interorganizational collaboration as a way to better meet the needs of disadvantaged populations. Integral Theory offers a map to guide the human service manager in handling these complex organizational interactions while aligning with the mission of addressing personal and social growth and development.
Fatherhood and Leadership in a Time Between Eras
Robb SmithRobb Smith talks with Bonnitta Roy, Jordan Greenhall, and Jonathan Rowson about what it means to be a father, raise children, and take on the responsibility of intergenerational transmission in this time between eras — and whether it holds lessons for being a leader today.
Monological, Dialogical, and Translogical Power
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen and Corey explore the three different kinds of power, each a product of particular stages of development in both individuals and collectives. Ken explores the different kinds of power associated with each chakra in our interiors, and Corey notes that the same patterns can be seen in the different modes of power associate with social holons.
Wang Huning: The World’s Most Influential Intellectual?
Robb SmithTo understand this century, we have to understand the geopolitical and philosophical power struggle between China and the United States and the differing global “Operating Systems” they’re fighting for. And to better understand that struggle, we have to better understand whether the cognition of China’s leaders are integral or not: are they capable of bringing the Teal “Power to Integrate” to bear on the world system?
Israel/Palestine: Where Do We Go From Here?
Magdalena Smieszek, Mark Fischler and Corey deVosWatch as Magdalena, Mark, and corey explore the long and complex history of the region, offer their own thoughts on whether Israel qualifies as an “apartheid state”, and suggest some next step solutions in order to inch ourselves closer to genuine peace, stability, and justice for the men, women, and children on all sides of this seemingly intractable conflict.
Inhabit: Your Wokeness
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeRyan and Corey invite all of us to inhabit our own most embodied “post-woke” leadership, allowing us to recognize and rescue the most important babies of “social justice” from the bathwater of political extremism.
Hope as Process: Being and Becoming in the Great Integration
Brad KershnerHow do we expand our horizon? How do we learn to see through our current forms of construction and break through into broader, deeper vistas of awareness and understanding, so that we may envision a richer and more nuanced context of possibility, and enact a way of life that forms the shape of our deepest potentials?
The GameStop Revolution Has Started. It Won’t Be Televised.
Robb SmithThe revolution won’t be televised, it will be Reddited. And it has started. In a four year run of incredible, historic events, it’s hard to objectively recognize which and when the most significant of them occurs. But I think it possible that one of the most important events of the past several years is playing out as we speak: the deep structure of society has just phase-shifted into a state of conditions necessary for Teal to emerge and without which it cannot: the GameStop Revolution is putting in place a demand by the crowd that will force Green-platform power holders to either evolve to Teal or become increasingly irrelevant.
The Fierce Urgency of Now
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosWelcome back to Integral Justice Warrior! Watch as Corey and new co-host Mark Fischler kick off a new season of IJW, exploring how the spirit of integral justice moves through us, and how it has moved through some of the most significant justice warriors throughout history.
Welcome to the Party! Celebrating Race as a Mutually-Shared Experience
Mark Palmer, Diane Musho Hamilton, Corey deVos and Rob McNamaraIntegralist Mark Palmer proposes that our conversations all need to be more imbued with joy, with play, and with celebration of our differences.
Integral Business and Leadership
Integral LifeThis introductory article is an early articulation of Integral approaches to business and leadership in which the authors use the clarifying and synthesizing perspectives of Integral Theory and methodology to update biases, make new connections, and illumine blind spots of the theorists who have gone before: Drucker, McGregor, Kaplan and Norton, Senge, Hammer, and Collins, et al.
Overcoming Racism: What Is Ours To Do?
Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosDiane and Corey continue their in-depth exploration of race and racism, focusing on the actual four-quadrant work that needs to be done in order to begin to truly overcome these personal, cultural, and social challenges.
The Metacrisis is Giving Rise to the Transformation Age
Integral Life and Robb SmithHow can we contribute to the rise of the Transformation Age? We first need to understand what’s driving the emergence of the Transformation Age out of the Information Age: a global metacrisis, occurring amidst a great release of global power, which as it becomes more acute is exposing the limitations of the current era’s structures, sensemaking, key contradictions (all pluribus, little unum), scarce resources (meaning), and the sources of power themselves (convening power).
Power, Privilege, and Fragility: Leveling Up Our Conversations About Race and Racism
Greg Thomas, Mark Palmer, Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosDiane and Corey are joined by guests Greg Thomas and Mark Palmer in this groundbreaking discussion about racism, anti-racism, and racial integration, highlighting a number of critical views that have been largely missing from the larger conversation that’s been taking place culturally in recent weeks, months, and years.
Inhabit: Your Resistance
Justin Miles, Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeSpiritual conversations often emphasize the importance of overcoming our resistance and accepting the world for what it is, exactly as it is. However, there are times when we don’t need to overcome our resistance, we need to fully inhabit our resistance. We can’t simply accept what is, we need to put ourselves on the line for what can and should be. How can we bring more mindfulness, skillfulness, and embodiment to our resistance, even while seeing everything as always-already perfect?
The Transformation Age: America Burning
Robb SmithAmerica has been on fire these past few weeks. A nation struggling with its racist past, its contemporary racial shadow, its deep political and cultural polarization, and a divisive president who will never be capable of leading a nation, we continue to find ourselves in the heart of The Great Release (and this time, not from an economic depression or disease pandemic, but from our deep and terrible racist heritage). In this brief article, I want to use a few lenses of integral metatheory—concepts you’ll be familiar with, but applied in ways you’ve never seen before—to see if we can get a broader view of what’s happening.
#EnoughIsEnough: Overcoming Racism in America
Diane Musho Hamilton, Greg Thomas, Mark Palmer, Gabe Wilson, Rob McNamara and Corey deVosIn light of the recent violent deaths of three black Americans — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd — at the hands of current and former police officers in the United States, we wanted to deepen our discussion of race and racism and how we as Integralists can contribute to change by becoming powerful anti-racists in our own circles of influence.
The Heart of Conversation
Diane Musho Hamilton and Ken WilberDiane talks to Ken Wilber about her new book, Compassionate Conversations, which takes an intimate look at many of these cultural fault lines — power, privilege, identity, systemic racism, political correctness, collective shadows, etc. — and suggests a more skillful, artful, and heartful way to facilitate these conversations, to honor our unique differences, and to reaffirm our underlying unity.
Deeper Into the Great Release
Robb Smith and Corey deVosLadies and gentlemen, the Great Release is truly and fully underway. That earthquake has now begun. Nanoscopically small and quietly transmissible, Covid-19 would be almost laughable as a catalyst for the great release if it weren’t so deadly. But as it stands, it is in fact the perfect spark to alight the ample tinder of total system irresilience.
Integral Justice Warrior: Compassionate Conversations
Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosIntegral Justice Warrior is a new show with Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVos, where every month we will take a close look at some of the most challenging cultural issues and fault lines of our time — as well as the communication skills we need in order to heal these shared wounds and begin to close the gaps between us.
Evolving a Multi-Cellular Society
David Sloan Wilson and Ken WilberA fascinating discussion of conscious, cultural, and biological evolution — and how we can use the fundamental patterns running through all three in order to create a more adaptable and sustainable future.
Lead With Purpose Webinar
Ginny Whitelaw and David RiordanGinny Whitelaw shares some of the central themes of her astonishing new training program, Lead With Purpose.
Today’s Next-Level Organizations
Frederic Laloux and Jeff SalzmanEach stage of human development features a unique way of organizing work. So what’s next? Frederic Laloux‘s blockbuster book, Reinventing Organizations, offers compelling answers to that question.
A New Republic of the Heart: The Art and Practice of Sacred Activism
Terry Patten and Ken WilberTerry Patten talks to Ken Wilber about his new book, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries, inviting us to align our “inner work” with our “outer work” and establish sacred activism as both a fundamental component of our ongoing Integral Life Practice, as well as the ultimate expression of that practice.
Why Power Matters: A Conversation with Robb Smith
Robb Smith and David RiordanRobb Smith talks with David Riordan about the many faces of power, and why it’s so difficult for each of us to get a personal handle on it.
Kosmic Integrity: The Integral Community’s Most Important Contribution to the World
Robb SmithJoin Robb as he calls us forward to be agents of kosmic integrity, an incredibly unique praxis of healing and wholeness that may be one of our most important contributions to the world in the road ahead.
The Stages of Leadership Maturity
Susanne Cook-Greuter and Beena SharmaBeena Sharma and Susanne Cook-Greuter offer a stunning overview of their Leadership Maturity Framework, which offers leaders, coaches, and change agents of all stripes a far more thorough understanding of human development and human potential, as well as a far more robust toolset to help others thrive at whatever stage of life they find themselves at.
Integral Power Panel
Ginny Whitelaw, Roger Walsh, Jeff Salzman, Gail Hochachka, Bert Parlee and Robb SmithJoin panelists Ginny Whitelaw, Roger Walsh, Jeff Salzman, Gail Hochachka, and Bert Parlee in this far-ranging discussion about power — how to relate to it, how to wield it, and how to avoid getting trampled by it.
A New War for Power
Robb SmithBlack Lives Matter. MeToo. North Korea. Robert Mueller. Fake news. What do these and dozens of other headlines have in common? Join Robb as he explains how they all point to a new war for power that is currently underway: how power is being used and misused, how power is changing, and who will have power when the momentous leap into the transformation age is done.
Never Been Better, Never Felt Worse: Inside the Rise of an Integral Global Operating System for the 21st Century
Robb SmithIntegral Life CEO Robb Smith puts the tumult of 2016 into historical perspective and looks ahead at the “momentous leap into the transformation age” that he believes is underway right now. Taking a long view of history, evolutionary dynamics, culture and economics, Robb argues that we’re at the peak of a Green, pluralistic global operating system, with Orange modernism slipping into our rearview mirror, and Teal integralism just beginning to emerge, holding all the promise of overcoming the evolutionary contradictions that gave rise to populism and leaders like Donald Trump.
Finding the Rhythm of Improvisational Leadership
Greg Thomas and David RiordanGreg Thomas talks to David about what is moving him as our cultural disruption continues to unfold, particularly concerning the issues of race and culture. Listen as Greg outlines his improvised response to all that is arising. He is particularly noticing a lack of moderate voices on both sides of the conversation. Although, Jazz Leadership has been his practice for some time he, like the rest of us, he is experiencing an acceleration and intensity to the cultural conversation since the 2016 election.
Moving Beyond Fear
Ginny Whitelaw and David RiordanAt the moment, Ginny is particularly concerned about the lack of leadership that both President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un are displaying in their escalating war of words, and in this discussion she helps work through the very fears that naturally arise as a result.
How Zen Can Provide Leadership in a Post-Truth Trump World
Ginny WhitelawGinny Whitelaw offers some valuable advice on how presence, resilience, and centeredness can help us illuminate a better path forward in the midst of the “post-truth” collapse.
The Rise of the Benefit Corporation: Bringing More Sanity, Sustainability, and Success to Big Business
John Montgomery and Robb SmithIn a world where corporations often act like psychopaths and seem steered by barely more than greed and avarice, is it possible to transcend their sociopathic pursuit of profit and bring more care and consciousness to our economic system? Listen as corporate lawyer and conscious business leader John Montgomery explains how we arrived at the corporate oligarchy in which we now find ourselves, and how we might be able to steer ourselves toward a more sane and sustainable future.
Everyone Culture: A Radical New Model for Work, Career, and Leadership
Robert Kegan and Ken WilberNext to our love, the most precious thing we give to another is our labor. Now you can give both at the same time. Discover a new set of breakthrough approaches to work, career, and leadership that fully honors and accepts its people for who they are, while also encouraging them to use the workplace as an ongoing source of personal growth, inner meaning, and self-improvement.
Trump, Hamilton, and the Zen Leader Walk Into a Bar…
Ginny Whitelaw…the Zen Leader would want to learn from these two cultural phenomes how to message in a culturally resonant way — how to inspire people to pause in their busyness, connect with what is, to resource their lives and leadership from a place of centered connectedness.
Wicked and Wise: Climate Change, Democracy, and Integral Theory
Alan Watkins and Jeff SalzmanAlan Watkins, co-author of Wicked and Wise with Ken Wilber, talks to Jeff Salzman about climate change, the problems of globalization and democracy, getting CEO’s to do the right thing, and that pesky Donald Trump.
Everything Is Workable: Zen and the Art of Conflict Resolution
Diane Musho Hamilton and Ken WilberThough meditation is incomparably helpful, it doesn't make the sticky interpersonal issues go away. Conflict resolution skills are needed. Diane Musho Hamilton suggests that we make conflict resolution a valued part of our practice.
Reinventing Organizations: 3 Breakthroughs to Make Organizations More Integral
Frederic Laloux and Ken WilberFrederic Laloux and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at many integrally-structured organizations that are beginning to emerge all across the planet, while outlining three major breakthroughs shared by these organizations: self-management, striving for wholeness, and listening to evolutionary purpose.
The Zen Leader
Ginny Whitelaw and Ken WilberGinny Whitelaw talks to Ken Wilber about her new book, The Zen Leader, offering an exceptionally simple guide to help maximize your health, happiness, and productivity.
How Highly Conscious Leaders Are Engaging the Problem of Sustainability
Barrett Brown and Ken WilberBarrett Brown talks to Ken Wilber about the extraordinary overlap that exists between leadership, sustainability, and the highest reaches of adult development.
The Art of Tribal Leadership
Dave LoganIf you really want to fulfill your dreams, one of the best ways to improve your chances is to do a bit of work to understand and upgrade your culture. Author Dave Logan talks to Ken Wilber about the five levels of our professional tribes, offering a glimpse into the values and strategies of the world’s most effective leaders—and some of the ways you can become one of them.
The Higher Reaches of Success
Tony Robbins and Ken WilberTony Robbins discusses his model of human needs and motivations, and his intervention strategy for change. From emotions to relationships to finances to physical health, Tony covers the bases. His model allows him to spot a person’s leverage points, identify their barriers to change, and redefine their challenges in a way that allows for the most effective action.