re•base is a conscious effort to create a distinctive space for talent, energy and contribution to mobilize towards human progress. Each of those words is full of assumptions that are worthy of unpacking.
That full task is too ambitions for this paper. Instead, this paper is going to state some assumptions about the motivations of those of us who have chosen to take part in basecamp:London.
Challenged in our thinking and framing
Have you read the provocative book by Anand Giridharadas called Winners Take All? It's about the hubris of certain "save the world" philanthropic endeavors, but it contains a critique that's valid for all of us, rich or poor, whenever we aspire to "save the world" or "change the world" or "have an impact" or simply "do good": We rarely spend enough time examining our own motives, beliefs and actions. The result can be that we fail to see how our well-intentioned efforts are actually reproducing present problems in a new form. The more powerful and influential our actions, the greater the risk of causing unintended harm. Of reinforcing, rather than righting, systemic wrongs.
A different and more beautiful world will arise consciously, through empowered people who are powerfully self-aware. That is why each table at basecamp begins with a "challenge paper", in which the champion of that table tries to spell out their own assumptions, their own understanding of the relevant background and context, which led them to frame the challenge a certain way and see a certain set of possible actions. And that is why the table and the room contained diversity along multiple dimensions. The aim should be to make our motives, our assumptions, our beliefs transparent, so that our peers can challenge that, and thereby help our leadership gain power.
Absent such challenges, we are probably not leading change as consciously as we could be or should be. Instead, our work-however well-intended-may be reinforcing some things that need to change, and changing other things that need to be reinforced.
This space is not for people who are afraid to stretch their ways of thinking.
Challenged in our leadership
A different world will be led differently. What are the thinking, doing and being skills that we need to lead a conscious, courageous mutation-in our company, or community, or society? That's an open question, and it shouldn't be delegated to outside gurus or "leadership development" programs. We each need to arrive at the answer for ourselves, experientially, supported by a diverse community of peers who are struggling with the same question.
Whether we are leading a transition in our own lives, or in society as a whole, it's a humble bet that we are, right now, thinking/doing/being something that is part of the problem. Being challenged by our peers helps us to gain awareness of those somethings and see possibilities for thinking/doing/being something differently.
This space is not for people who are afraid to stretch their ways of doing.
The image of us as many pathfinders or trailblazers on the same mountain helps make some needs intuitive-including the need to be connected. We need a place (and a practice) of meeting so that we can find allies for our expeditions (or help in an emergency), share each other's firsthand knowledge of the mountain (so that together we can better understand the ever-changing whole), and renew ourselves after risky travails.
Connecting with one another is also an important part of challenging our self-awareness and consciousness. None of us can access reality directly; we all experience the world from a particular angle and through a particular filter. To help us each recognize our own viewpoints and blind spots, it helps to convene around a common problem and process with people who think differently. Economists, business executives, social workers, scientists, climate campaigners, politicians, artists, youth vs elders, precarious vs secure: all possess distinctive ways of seeing that can help improve our own vision and the actions that flow from us.
Practically speaking, it's probably not possible for any of us to see from many different points of view at the same time, or to unify them into one grand perspective. The best we can do is to practice consciously shifting between different perspectives, and try to bring into view the contradictions between them. If we can do that, then we can discourage the tendencies in our own thinking toward narrow, one-dimensional, static assumptions, and encourage tendencies toward fuller, more fluid understandings of the landscape, its transformation, and our efforts to shape or navigate it.
To reach summits takes a lot of energy. To make paths where none yet exist takes a lot of faith and courage.
Efforts to navigate the unknown are accompanied by high levels of doubt, uncertainty and vulnerability. They involve many encounters with people who either don't understand the importance of the journey, or worse, actively put up obstacles in its way. And so a lot of energy that we probably should invest into our own self-care is spent instead on educating, persuading and confronting other people.
As pathfinders and waymakers, we all need time in spaces where: