Hanno Burmester's soon-to-be-published book by Perspectiva Press, Unlearn: A Compass for Radical Transformation, offers a doorway into understanding the role of "unlearning" in transformative change and transformative leadership.
The panel conversation will also draw on Tomas Björkman's books The World We Create and The Nordic Secret, Monica Sharma’s book Radical Transformational Leadership: Strategic Action for Change Agents, and Indra Adnan’s forthcoming book The Politics of Waking Up: Power & Possibility in the Fractal Age.
Hanno Burmester works at the intersection of societal, organisational and individual transformation. He is author of the book Unlearn. A Compass for Radical Transformation (Perspectiva Press), and a frequent speaker at international events and conferences. As Policy Fellow at the Berlin-based think tank Das Progressive Zentrum, Hanno designs, writes and facilitates around the future of democracy. With his company Unlearn, he helps companies transform towards cultures of self-organisation.
Dr. Monica Sharma, a physician and epidemiologist, worked for the United Nations for 23 years, directed programs for whole systems transformation and leadership development world-wide. She led teams for policy, strategy and programme development in over 60 countries, building multi-stakeholder partnerships. Currently, she works with United Nations, universities, management institutions, governments, non-governmental organisations, civil society, business, media, and other organizations. She created a unique response model based on extensive application –a conscious full-spectrum response model- and generated equitable and sustainable results on several Sustainable Development Goals, worldwide. Monica Sharma is the author of the award -winning book “Radical Transformational Leadership”.
Tomas Bjorkman is an entrepreneur in financial services, media, property and banking. He founded Investment Banking Partners AB and served as chairman of EFG Investment Bank. In 2009, Tomas established the Ekskäret Foundation in Stockholm, which aims to facilitate personal development and social change. A special focus of the foundation is supporting the development of social entrepreneurs and the understanding of the complexities of social change. The foundation operates a conference and retreat facility on its island Ekskäret in the Stockholm archipelago.
Indra Adnan is Co-initiator of The Alternative UK political platform and been writing consistently about soft power, public diplomacy and the power of attraction and relationship in international relations for over a decade, in major UK and US publications. Indra has consulted to the World Economic Forum, Indian, Finnish and Danish governments, NATO, the Scottish Executive and the Institute of Contemporary Arts amongst others. She wrote over seven years for The Guardian and The Huffington Post. Her book The Politics of Waking Up: Power & Possibility In The Fractal Age will be published by Perspectiva Press in May 2021.
Aftab Omer, Ph.D. (Moderator) is a sociologist, psychologist, futurist and the president of Meridian University. Raised in Pakistan, India, Hawaii, and Turkey, he was educated at the universities of M.I.T, Harvard and Brandeis. His publications have addressed the topics of transformative learning, cultural leadership, generative entrepreneurship and the power of imagination. His work includes assisting organizations in tapping the creative potentials of conflict, diversity, and complexity. Formerly the president of the Council for Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychologies, he is a Fellow of the International Futures Forum and the World Academy of Arts and Sciences.