Original Nature: Awakening World-Changing Leadership in the Wild

This paper explores themes of wildness, awakening and transformative learning in a land-based MBA leadership course. For twenty years, students have consistently characterized their participation as being a life-changing experience that shapes their personal choices and leadership actions for years afterwards. Many describe personal, social or ecological awakenings that have catalyzed a deeper ethos of connectedness, care and responsibility for the well-being of the planet and future generations. I distinguish wildness from wilderness and consider its role in generating and sustaining culture. I critically examine the MBA as a vehicle for cultivating effective and ethical leaders along with the promise and limitations of awakened leadership. I historically contextualize various forms of spiritual and social awakening, review the theoretical foundations of ecological awakening, and warily consider transformative learning as a pedagogy of awakening. I outline the overall approach of the leadership course and discuss three primary transformative learning components; Indigenous pedagogies, nature as teacher, and a range of transformative practices. I suggest that wildness offers a distinct pedagogical wellspring for educators working to shift and recalibrate patterns of consciousness and culture and conclude that transformative learning provides a way to integrate a pedagogy of awakening into management education and leadership training.