We are coaches, conveners and capability
builders for the leaders of the next way.
Genii Earth Team
Billy Afghan
Founding Partner & CEO • Global Community Builder
passionate curiosity, dancing with uncertainty, making big leaps, life-affirming solutions
Will Hewett
Founding Partner & Director • Creative Learning, Practice & Performance
invitations to play, amplifying what’s essential, multi-modal knowing, spontaneous innovations
Joseph Friedman
Founder and Whole-Life Councilor
sourcing, whole system integrity, artistry of listening, tuning in, the discipline of transformation
Susan Harycki
Founder and Whole-Life Councilor
befriending what is, tuning in to what’s possible, alchemical weaving, collective wayfinding
Elyse Knudsen
Operations Manager • Enabling Structures and Joyful Spaces
whole-hearted listening, playfully connecting, bringing things to life, delighting
Laurie Brunner
Marketing Strategist • Connecting People and Purpose
joyfully serving, inspiring the pursuit of possibility, scattering sunshine
YOU
Maybe you see a new possibility and feel called to respond, to act, to lead in reimagining how we live and work on our home planet. Or maybe your community or organization is being squeezed by the impacts of the Earth-sized challenges that confront us—things like resource degradation, income inequity, regulatory pressures, and climate-change. Likely, you simply know that nothing traditional or formulaic will get you, your community, or your organization to where you want and need to go. New futures require new thinking, new skills, and collective access to new action.
US
Genii practitioners are highly skilled at partnering with you as you envision and begin making a new future real. We bring a tuned-in, on-the-court-with-you, full-stakeholder, whole system approach to vision, strategy, leadership, organization, and team development. We partner with you to give rise to radical personal responsibility, shifts in mindset and context, as well as the transformation of your culture and the larger system to which you belong. We help you channel human energy and tap into the collective genius present in you, your organization, and in life itself.
OUR WORK
Our futuring work is centered on developing our collective capacities to be modern day alchemists and master weavers. That’s a fancy way of saying, to work with what you have to create something you want. You see, we know that new futures don’t displace either the past or the present. They arise from, and are woven into, both our old stories and current realities. Our work involves connecting people, real and meaningful conversations, unleashing the greatest intentions and collective genius of all key stakeholders, and being in continuous discovery regarding the next right steps to take to create that new future we are animating together.
OUR WORK TOGETHER
In the work of futuring—the courageous creation of a future that works for the good of all—there is no competition. The impact and sustainability of each of our futuring efforts (Genii’s, yours and that of many others), is amplified when we come together, support our collective efforts, and share generously. Doing so allows us to hold everyone and everything. To see and connect with others who are bringing about positive change. To learn and grow as a global community. To hold more, more lightly. And, ultimately, cooperative effort makes it possible for us to scale transformation at the pace that our perilous and anything-is-possible times are demanding.
Supported Organizations
We contribute a portion of our income each year to a variety of organizations that are working effectively to create a more workable world. We invite you to learn more about those we are supporting this year.
“Since 1987, Conservation International has worked to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.
Combining fieldwork with innovations in science, policy and finance, we’ve helped protect more than 6 million square kilometers (2.3 million square miles) of land and sea across more than 70 countries.
Today, with offices in more than two dozen countries and a worldwide network of thousands of partners, our reach is truly global. But we couldn’t have made it this far without you. Your contributions support our work to protect nature for the benefit of us all.”
“A grassroots organization based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, creating opportunities and support structures for vulnerable children and youth living in urban slum communities.”
“Landmark is a non-profit conservation organization serving 20 counties in western and northwestern Wisconsin. We work primarily with private landowners who wish to conserve their land in perpetuity. Conservancy staff evaluates and select potential projects based on notable conservation values. We also work with local municipalities, states, and federal entities to create public preserves and trails for all to enjoy. Our primary tools for land protection are conservation easements and land acquisition.”
“Lines for Life is a regional non-profit dedicated to preventing substance abuse and suicide. We offer help and hope to individuals and communities, and promote mental health for all. Our work addresses a spectrum of needs that include intervention, prevention, and advocacy. We educate, train, and advocate to prevent issues of substance abuse, mental illness, and thoughts of suicide from reaching crisis levels. But when a crisis arises or support is needed, we are available 24/7/365 to intervene with personalized help.”
“We provide independent, impartial medical humanitarian assistance to the people who need it most.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cares for people affected by conflict, disease outbreaks, natural and human-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries.”
“Our goal is to promote civil rights and improve legal representation for communities that have often been underserved in the past: people living in poverty and people of color among them. We work in collaboration with like-minded organizations to maximize our reach to serve underrepresented populations, to train future public interest lawyers, and to educate our community on issues related to civil rights and civil liberties.”
“The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-profit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. We are building an alliance to protect forests, improve the livelihoods of farmers and forest communities, promote their human rights, and help them mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis.”
“USA for UNHCR protects refugees and empowers them with hope and opportunity.”
Genii Communities
A RADIATING NETWORK
In our consulting and coaching work, we draw on our diversely talented community of futuring practitioners to customize Genii teams to each client project.
We welcome your inquiries and interest in different forms of collaboration and partnering. Please contact us below.
