SWoN Training Series: 3-Month Acceleration Program

How does this Program stand apart?

To us, the 3-Month Acceleration Program stands out from other training offerings in 5 key ways:

  • We have taken care to spell out our Theory of Change, and why we believe in its relevance: We aim to mobilise a large enough cohort of first-mover businesses and business leaders towards radical business transformation and co-orchestration of a systems change, ushering in zero-harm business and an interim, transitional system by 2030.

    The theory of change is uniquely rooted in a systemic understanding, appreciation of existing power dynamics, and a critical assessment of the viability of driving large-scale, radical change within this decade - to avoid or delay some of the most devastating effects of the polycrisis.

    It leads us to build a bridge across paradigms - and hopefully to ultimately transcend them.

  • The Series is not meant to be a program that you complete, and gradually return to working-as-usual. The Series is designed to help you drive 5 specific interventions - as they fit your company or client context - in order to drive radical business transformation and corporate systemic leadership, and for us to collectively materialise the theory of change.

    We’re inviting you to co-create enablers with us on the way: through your feedback, we track whether the Series content and experience are effective in enabling your interventions. Through your further feedback, we validate if the interventions are effective, and how they can be improved. Through tracking of jointly defined collective outcome metrics, we aim to validate if the theory of change is coming true - or whether we need to course-correct.

  • Our signature approach adopts a systems perspective, is aligned with science and ethics, and leverages strategic business acumen for transformational change. This combination allows us to draw a much more realistic - and urgent - picture of future scenarios and provides a foundation for a grounded assessment of available approaches to transformation..

    The SWoN Approach also enables us to translate the current lack of real-world sustainability into business imperatives and articulate those in business language - which we deem a precondition for mobilising a cohort of first-mover businesses and business leaders.

    We build on top of decades of cutting-edge knowledge of those who spearheaded systemic thinking before us, and complement it with our own sense-making to add original insights, a fresh perspective and novel advice.

  • We’ve designed the Series to marry three key elements:

    • A holistic approach to learning covering all 3 levels - Head (insights), Hands (tools, skills and practice) and Heart (emotional processing and personal growth).

    • An inclusive format: catering to folks in different places across the thinking-feeling continuum; offering live sessions in 2 time zones that span most of the globe, and multiple price tiers and scholarships based to match different levels of privilege.

    • And a safe-enough space for engaging with challenging content and contemplating radical action.

    Learn more about our Delivery Model

  • Our team brings together a wealth of expertise across various disciplines and geographies. With thought leadership in sustainable business strategy, as well as experience in climate law, business psychology and building purpose-driven enterprises, our team members collectively offer what is needed to help translate SWoN into business reality.

    Our global presence across continents encourages a broad spectrum of perspectives from which to engage with complex sustainability issues.

    Learn more about the team

Testimonials & Endorsements

Daragh Cogley
Sustainable Business Professor,
EU Bioeconomy Youth Ambassador,
Sustainable Fashion Professional
Ireland

Cohort 1

“This was the most impactful education I have ever received, both from a formal and informal perspective. It has not only changed my perception of business, or 'sustainable business', but of the world itself and my role in it.

I now understand, in much greater depth and clarity, what needs to be done from a business perspective if we are to take any meaningful action towards a better world for everybody.

From a personal perspective, it has been extremely valuable to have, for the first time, a community of people with the same feelings and objectives as me, and being able to have a space to partake in guided, heartfelt discussions on how we deal with our predicament.”

Dr. Claudia Gasparovic
Sustainability Consultant, Climate Tech Researcher
Brazil

Cohort 1

“I was hoping to develop my capacity and acquire the tools to influence and guide businesses towards authentic sustainability - Sustainability-as-the-World-Needs - in my professional practice as a consultant.

The Series presents a strikingly clear and precise thought-leadership on sustainability, and one of the most interesting Theories of Change out there.

The training has helped me with delineating a line of action, i.e. discerning between the corporate sustainability ambition levels, understanding the different possible interventions and how a company is situated in the Planetary Ikigai.

Very specifically, learning about the 3 Horizons framework was very useful and it helped me present some ideas to a client.

I’m very happy to have been a part of this first Cohort of change-makers, which was precisely the sort of educational experience I searched for: has a finger on the pulse of things and drives us towards meaningful change.

I'd like to thank Alice, Anne and Neil for this experience and all your work, and wish all success to you and to SWoN!”

Sarah Carre
Founder, The People and Planet Company
Jersey, Channel Islands

Cohort 1

“Finally finding sustainability training that I could resonate with was just amazing. This is the first time I've experienced such dedicated, authentic delivery, accompanied by rich, powerful, practical content and tools.

Authentically approaching sustainability can feel overwhelming, but I felt supported throughout, and loved the entire experience.

Thank you!”

Michela Paolicelli
Sustainability and Innovation Manager
Portugal, Germany, Italy

Cohort 1

“It has been an amazing experience so far. I highly recommend the SWoN Series to all sustainability managers and consultants of medium and large organizations who want to step out from business-as-usual and incremental sustainability.

The Series provides you with holistic frameworks, tools and a set of "interventions" from a strategic point of view to foster the corporate inner transformation towards a regenerative business.

Once you learn about SWoN, most of the current frameworks you're working on will seem obsolete! :)

I appreciated that the online learning platform was really organised and easy to use, and peer to peer exchange groups among cohort participants are encouraged and supported.

I loved to share this experience with like minded and experienced leaders who are willing to try new things and being the first movers in co-orchestrating system change.”

Lyn McDonell
President, The Accountability Group, Inc.
Toronto, Canada

Cohort 1

“The SwoN Foundational Training provides useful perspectives and tools, a logical and efficient pace of content, opportunities for engagement, and a community of practice that will build over time.

I’d recommend the program to sustainability consultants serving clients who may be at different stages in transitioning business as usual to more thriveable futures.”

Philippe Drouillon
Metamorphosis - Regenerative Business Models and Transformations
Belgium, Europe

Cohort 1

“Proud and happy to have been part of the 1st cohort of this new and ground-breaking Series.

I had a rather good experience: It helped to complement some of my approaches and tools I knew already (eg: 3 Horizons, 12 places to intervene in a system, several chapters of the Regeneration cheatsheet, Flourishing Business Canvas,...) with a few complementary tools (eg: Planetary Ikigai, SWoN concept, the Sustainability Ambition Levels Spectrum) that I'll surely integrate in my practice.”

Dan Gray
Sustainability writer and consultant

“Apart from the clarity of the problem statement, what really stands out about the design of this series is the empathy for professionals who feel trapped in the paradigm of 'sustainability-as-usual', and the holistic approach (head + heart + hands) to helping them step up as agents of 'sustainability-as-the-world-needs'.

Encouraging participants to appreciate and live with complexity, yet, at the same time, focusing on intensely practical outcomes, this feels like the kind of learning the world is crying out for.”

What the Series does Not

Reduce the problem statement to “climate change”

You should be comfortable with us defining the problem as the polycrisis as a whole - a predicament, the addressing of which does not lend itself to compartmentalised approaches.

Reduce corporate sustainability to the environmental impacts of our activities

The Series does not ignore the injustice inherent in our current economic system, which existentially depends on actively exploiting and preempting fulfilment of basic human needs and rights for the majority of our fellow humans, especially in the Global South.
You should not wish to shy away from facing this reality.

Engage in the trend of simplifying sustainability

The real world operates in complex-adaptive systems. Reducing this complexity artificially often leads to misidentifying problems and potential effective responses. That being said, this Series does not aim to make you an expert in any of sustainability’s subdisciplines. We present the big picture, the guiding principles and relationships necessary for driving strategic decisions and initial systems interventions.

Endorse or perpetuate the science-defying Green Growth narrative

We follow available scientific evidence which points to the green growth promise (that we will innovate our way out of the polycrisis, especially through technology) as implausible.

You should enter this Series with the expectation to learn how to drive interventions towards a radical systems change, proportional to your current level of competence and courage.

FAQs & Our Answers

  • Completing the Series should enable you to begin a whole new chapter in your professional life - starting to work in much more meaningful ways, driving interventions in the systems towards a broader systems change, and feeling energised by the personal integrity this brings.

    It can also help you leverage your current or future specialist expertise in much more profound ways.

    You can read about what to expect at the end of each individual training session in our high level Outline here.

  • Learn more here

  • The Series is a great first step towards understanding the ins-and-outs of real-world sustainability and their implications for corporate sustainability agendas and business strategy. However, a career pivot into corporate sustainability will likely require specialist, technical knowledge - you will need to complement the Series with other sources.

    arkH3 will soon launch a short asynchronous online training offering some helpful more technical insights, complementary to the Series. You may sign up to be notified when this offering is launched.

  • We do not specifically focus on teaching First Nations’ wisdoms, however we strive to make sure our content represents diverse perspectives.

    Read about how we align with indigenous wisdoms here.

  • We offer multiple inclusive price tiers (see here). If neither of these is accessible to you, you may explore our scholarships or request for your payment to be split into 2 instalments. (T&Cs: The offer cannot be combined with any discounts. 1st instalment is payable before the registration deadline, the 2nd mid-Series. The offer is subject to an additional one-time administrative fee of EUR 50 applied on top of the package of your choosing).

  • Potentially yes, please contact us to discuss the details.

  • We will keep you posted as the number of applications keep growing.

    Once we’ve reached the critical mass to launch Cohort 2, we will reach out to all applicants to co-determine a launch date that works for all, and provide room for co-creation of the final design of the program - in terms of topical focus and so on, based on everyone’s most pressing needs.

    Once these details are set, we will invite all applicants to settle their membership fee, in sufficient advance.

    If your application indicates you’re looking for employer funding support, we may reach out early on to confirm if you need any assistance with building the case.

    The application itself does not constitute a commitment to join the 3-Month Program, however we only encourage those seriously interested to apply.

    We look forward to engaging with you!

  • You will receive an invitation to create your account in the online learning environment about 2-3 weeks ahead of the training start date. We encourage you to create the account without delay, and proceed with the Onboarding Survey you’ll find therein - it will help us prepare a summary of who is with you in the Cohort for the first Cohort-wid Meetup call during Orientation week. This will help you in initial networking with your fellow change agents.

    Please make sure you add the email id swon.series (at) arkh3.com to your approved contacts, so it doesn’t land in your spam.

  • We tentatively plan for one of the following scenarios: Either we will launch a new live cohort in the months following this Series’ completion, or we will enable viewing the series on-demand (against the same payment).

    We believe the Series, along with the resources and community engagement, which together may enable you to drive interventions and begin a new life chapter, represent an outstanding value for money at the current rates. Having said that, we may increase the rates from Cohort 2 onwards.

    We also tentatively plan for launching follow up training options, for deepening some of the knowledge and providing stimuli and resources to go further, where the market does not already offer meaningful training options. Subscribe with us to be notified of our future offerings.

  • In the best interest of everyone involved, we have decided to switch from a direct registration process to applications. This allows us to introduce more co-creation into the 3-Month Acceleration Program, and take sufficient time to provide you with the best possible content and learning experience. You can learn more about our decision here.

How do we align with Indigenous Peoples’ Wisdoms?

Modern sustainability concepts - practiced in the Global North and often co-opted by corporations in the Global South - predominantly start from an anthropocentric position. Sustainability consulting has become less-and-less about preserving real-world sustainability and more-and-more about ‘sustaining business’. To align with what the planet and its inhabitants need, it must become ‘how to design, govern and conduct business in order to sustain life’.

To bring greater alignment and coherence, we must become more aware of our collective social and ecological blindspots, vulnerabilities, injustices and outright atrocities conducted in our name. This can be helped by reflecting on how we humans - as one species in ecosystems of other living species on which we depend - interact with each other and those ecosystems, as indigenous wisdoms, complexity sciences and systems ethics do.

Indigenous governance approaches emerged from deeply respectful relationships that co-evolved to stay in dynamic balance with the living systems which they saw as kin and part of the same, interconnected whole. Living closer to the dynamic systems they were deeply immersed in, they learned to respect and revere the relational dynamics - across time, across space, and across ecological relationships. They often see themselves as humble stewards and evolutionary agents within the ecosystems - not above the system; eco - not ego. This stance aligns with what complexity sciences and many forms of spirituality also steer us towards.

We do not profess expertise or ownership of indigenous wisdoms, which we encourage you to explore and assimilate from better qualified sources. However, by following us to align with science- and systems ethics, you will also come closer to alignment with indigenous peoples’ wisdoms, as their imperatives are more closely aligned with science and systems ethics than the dominant world-view.