Power and Leadership: Returning to the Future

By J. Tyson Casey

Like many people in these times of climate disruption and other global challenges, I want to cause the least amount of harm, and do everything I can to maximize the chances for life to thrive on this planet. But how do I actually do that? As I’ve sought to answer that question, I’ve realized that one big part of the answer is power and the way we use it as human beings—especially how we can shift from using our power over others to using power together for the benefit of all.

Leadership for Social Change Courses

For the last few years, I’ve been fortunate to teach about leadership for social change movements at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA. SKSM is a Unitarian Universalist seminary and progressive multi-religious graduate school and one of the first seminaries to offer education and leadership in coursework to counter oppressions, and to create just and sustainable communities. In the upcoming 2019 term, I am teaching two classes, one during the summer intensives, and the other in the fall term. My courses share what I’ve learned in nearly two decades of coaching and leadership training, from individuals to institutions:

• “Leadership Along the Way” is my August intensive focused on building your personal understanding of power and unique tool-kit to unlock the leadership latent in any group of people working together.
• “Power and Movements: Approaches to Collective Liberation” is my fall semester course that will give you the chance to practice working with a group of diverse people toward a shared vision, much like you would in social change movements. This course is offered in a hybrid format, both online and on-campus.

Power and Leadership: Returning to the Future

Also, this summer, I’ve been invited to adapt some of my most popular teachings for people outside the seminary setting. The workshop is called “Power and Leadership: Returning to the Future.” Like all of my work, it’s built on the principle that leadership is an action anyone can practice.

Unlike my other offerings, we’ll be exploring and building regenerative leadership in an extraordinary natural setting: Indralaya, a retreat center on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington.

By the end of this retreat, you will be able to:

• Articulate your relationship to power and leadership.
• Understand how authority, agency, and consent influence leadership and power.
• Have more tools for moving energy in an intentional and equitable direction.

The retreat takes place June 26–30, 2019. You can read more details and register on the Indralaya website here.

Join Us

I teach these courses because I deeply believe that we as human beings have an opportunity to evolve how we relate to each other and shape our future. You’re invited to join me in building our capacity for leadership that facilitates interdependence, democracy, and equitable change. Please contact us to learn more about our programs and how you can register for these courses.

J. Tyson Casey is a professional coach, facilitator, and educator whose work centers on a simple truth: leadership is an action anyone can practice.
His vision is to cultivate just, equitable, accessible, and regenerative communities—where power is dispersed, where agency is available, where informed consent is the status quo. To create conditions for this vision, he employs experiential, academic, somatic, and participatory methods. Tyson lives his vision and methods in a wide variety of settings, from corporate and nonprofit organizations to small group and one-on-one coaching.
His writing has been published in St. Petersburg Times, The Fuse, Seeds of Peace, Turning Wheel, and Tikkun.
Learn more about Tyson and his work at jtysoncasey.com.
Or here at Starr King School for the Ministry.