Trainings & Retreats
Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation
The 2024 workshop has concluded.
Register now for this year’s Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation workshop, taking place in beautiful New Zealand from November 8-14, 2024.
Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation is a transformational training workshop, designed specifically for social benefit leaders interested in learning how to use nature’s wisdom to create regenerative solutions to challenges they face. Participants spend seven days together, immersing themselves in New Zealand’s diverse and flourishing ecosystems to learn from nature, for nature - and for people.
Offered in partnership with Biomimicry 3.8, this program is led by BSI’s Founder Toby Herzlich and B3.8’s Co-Founder, Dayna Baumeister, two internationally esteemed teachers and facilitators. In its eighth iteration, this program continues to evolve to be mind-expanding, results-oriented, inspirational, and practical. We welcome leaders and learners of all kinds – from nonprofits to businesses to government agencies, community organizations, and more.
Your days will include exploration of unique habitats, learning from a broad range of species as your new mentors, and translating nature’s intelligence into regenerative biomimicry strategies that meet your own organizational and social innovation challenges. You will share this experience with an international group of other changemakers and co-learners, and build connections that you can draw upon to keep growing this work for years to come. We will explore the island with a Maori guide, whose deep place-based knowledge weaves cultural and ecological insights to inspire your own discoveries.
Participating in this course will bring you closer to nature, develop your practice of social biomimicry, expand your network of Nature Positive Leaders, and change how you make change.
Where is Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation?
This year’s workshop is taking place in Aotea, on Great Barrier Island, off the northeastern coast of New Zealand. The location is a pristine ecological gem known for its unique biodiversity, rare endemic flora, and an unsurpassed variety of wildlife, birds, and marine species.
The retreat setting encourages you to unwind and open up as you learn the profound lessons nature offers for shaping a world characterized by adaptability, resilience, cooperation, and interconnectedness.
Who is Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation For?
This workshop is designed for anyone who is looking to explore the convergence of biomimicry and social innovation, and who is ready to invest in themselves as a Nature Positive Leader.
Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation is open to professional and university-level participants from all backgrounds, with all levels of experience in biomimicry. Past participants have come from a wide range of fields: nonprofit work, education, public policy, community organizing, faith communities, businesses across all sectors, and more. This cross-pollination of backgrounds, ideas, and experiences will enhance your workshop experience.
Learn more details
Click here for information about the workshop location, the course, pricing, and additional details.
Register Now
Participation is limited to 20 people to keep this workshop closely connected and hands-on. Spots are filling up quickly, secure yours now!
Living Systems Leadership Retreat for Women
This retreat is for people of all ages and backgrounds who identify as female or as non-binary, including a wide realm of gender expression.
Are you looking for proven strategies to help lead toward a sustainable and regenerative future? Are you curious about nature’s intelligence as a model for leadership practices, organizational strategy, or social change?
The call of our time is for women to step forward to lead in new ways, embodying approaches that are adaptive, resilient, collaborative, networked – practices that the natural world has masterfully evolved over nearly 4 billion years. With nature as our teacher, we will explore the mountains, grasslands, and organisms of this stunning northern New Mexico retreat center, and practice the skills to connect with nature, deepen our relationships with life, and translate nature’s strategies into transformative leadership practices for thriving communities, organizations, and social change initiatives. To read more about this workshop, CLICK HERE.