Bootcamps 2019: Detroit + Beyond Fall 2019
Written by Martha Cavazos, StartingBloc Director of Community Engagement
“Whatever your personal beliefs and experiences, I invite you to consider that we need a new worldview to navigate this chaotic time. We cannot hope to make sense using our old maps. It won’t help to dust them off or reprint them in bold colors. The more we rely on them, the more disoriented we become. They cause us to focus on the wrong things and blind us to what’s significant. Using them, we will journey only to greater chaos.” — Margaret Wheatley
StartingBloc exists to build new maps for the ways we work, live and lead together. In fact, we’ve been building and re-building these maps for over 16 years in our work with change-driven leaders. Alongside our 3,000 Fellows in 50+ countries, we believe that the only way to shift the culture of leadership is through the creation of maps that build self-awareness, maturity, competence and connection. Each of our signature events and experiences embody these four core tenants of leadership, from our flagship 5-day StartingBloc Institute to our newest offering, our one-day Bootcamp in cities across the US.
StartingBloc Bootcamps bring together current StartingBloc Fellows and impact-driven, intersectoral leaders from around the globe for a day of community building, leadership training and place-based exploration with a local community partner.
With a heavy focus on skill building and leadership frameworks, the day’s curriculum provides pathways to better navigate differences of values in work and life with a deep understanding of 21st century leadership skills.
On Saturday, March 23 we launched our first ever Bootcamp in Detroit, Michigan. In partnership with the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, we gathered with thirty-five leaders from across the region and country to unpack the complexities of the future of leadership and leadership past and present, centering our conversation in the narratives of Detroit.
Each of our Bootcamps follow a similar structure: StartingBloc connection building and content on the future of leadership in the morning, and a facilitated experience or workshop from a local community partner in the afternoon.
Settled on Belle Isle’s Dossin Great Lakes Museum on the Detroit River, our day began by forming connections to one another and crafting our intentions for the day. We then dove into the context of the future of leadership and reflected on the four core tenants required to thrive within this future. Our morning was crystallized with our most highly-rated StartingBloc content: “Life’s a Paradox, Deal with It.” Studying the polarities management framework, participants answered questions like “What is an abiding strength of mine that has brought me here today?” and “What kind of feedback have I received, asking me to be different?” Participants walked away with a new framework to manage personal tension and competing values in work and life.
The afternoon was led by the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership. By touring various historic sites around the east side of Detroit, participants tracked Detroit leadership’s successes and failures over the last century. From the Packard Plant to the Elmwood Cemetery, the tour was full and our day concluded with a debrief at the Boggs Center where participants answered, “So what? Now what?” and “What time is it on the clock of the world?”
One Detroit Bootcamp participant shared, “I was very inspired and while my hopes were high, I took away even more value than I had expected to. It was very soul-nourishing.”
At a StartingBloc Bootcamp, we have one full day to build new maps for how we lead and live with one another. We believe the future of leadership means that we must remain as interconnected and as intersectoral as possible, using our new maps to navigate.
We’re thrilled to bring Bootcamp to three more cities this year:
Build your community, your training and your new map for the future of your own leadership. Join us at a Bootcamp this Fall.
If you’d like to sponsor a Bootcamp in your city, please reach out to our team.
