The MFP is a course for creating hybrid and mutant methods, selves and futures.

We all know that our world is going through tremendous and dramatic transitions. Old patterns are falling away, new ones must be born. We live in Epic and Messy times. Epic because we each play a part in a dramatic story of change, which we are discovering and creating. Messy because this journey is full of the unexpected, synchronicity, challenges, confusion, insights, and battles. We must create the road by walking with others. The transition(s) we care so deeply about call forth new selves in us. What is the future asking us to be, to become?

The old methods we have used to address our challenges will not necessarily work for a host of new 21C challenges.

We need to create new mutant and hybrid methods that are better suited and effective at addressing our 21C challenges, in the myriad and multiple domains in which we want to influence. Indeed, we have shifted into an era of trans-disciplinary and multi-modal practices that are not segmented specializations. Increasingly change practitioners combine a number of talents, knowledge domains and fields to create hybrid approaches. This can be daunting, because we are playing in the space of the unknown, but also deeply creative and central to the capacity for us to realize our true potential to contribute to the world and general wellbeing. We know will not be able to address our challenges with yesterday’s thinking and methods.

And yet, to create new hybrid or mutant methods also requires of us new “selves”. Some selves are older and a bit tired, others are wanting to come forth. When we want to create a new way of addressing issues, new methods, new approaches, we need to bring forth new selves to accompany, to support this. Mutant selves means discovering parts of us that have been hidden, disowned, or neglected that need / want to come emerge, and become part of who we are. What selves is the future asking us to bring forth?

What do we do in the program?

• Session 1 – provides an introduction to the key concepts and processes, provides a space for introduction and sharing with peer learning. You are eased into the course and given the overall journey map.
• Session 2 – takes participants through the Re-imaging Self process, where you renew and develop a deep sense of purpose and meaning, and where you can discover “mutant” selves that can become a new part of who you are and which can support new “powers”.
• Session 3 – is a guided exploration of the societal transitions and 21st century challenges that can form a fundamental part of your purpose, meaning and direction. This session orients you toward participating in, supporting and mutating new societal futures.
• Session 4 – is a capstone session which provides a process for you to ideate mutant methods that both align deeply with personal purpose and which will address the societal transitions and 21st century challenges you choose to address. You get guidance on piloting and prototyping this new method or strategy.

Outcomes

You will leave with:

•  A stronger sense of alignment with your emerging direction
•  A stronger sense of your personal development pathway
•  Greater clarity of your emerging hybrid / mutant practice
•  Greater clarity of what communities you want / need to engage with
•  Greater clarity for what societal changes your embody
•  Narrative development and context-based service / product design ideas and prototypes

Options

Option 1: The self guided program is US $19 and on Thinkific. It is comprehensive and has all the steps and key ideas. If you are on a budget or want to try before you buy, this is a good option.

Option 2: The cohort program is US $190 – this includes 4 session which are 2 hour each across 6 weeks, and includes the self guided program on Thinkific (option 1). This is a good option for those who want the structure and support of regular session and enjoy group learning.

Option 3: The coached program is US $490 – this includes three sessions of one to one mentoring and coaching (total 2 hours) as well as the self guided program on Thinkific (option 1) as well as being part of the cohort learning (option 2). This is a good option for those that want strong support through the process, and who want personal one-on-one guidance.

Background

Jose Ramos conceived the program, after several years of his own soul searching. Inviting others (see testimonials), several pilot program were run between 2016 and 2017, and between 2017 and 2019 and was very valuable for all. From this experience the program was turned into an approximately 6-8 week course, both self guided and also as a cohort learning process. A detailed write up of the prototyping and program logic was recently published and can be seen here.

More Background

The course is a synthesis and fusion of a whole lot of different influences.

• The work of Joseph Campbell which explores the role of myth and metaphor in forming a dialog with the unconscious,
• The work of Sohail Inayatullah and Ivana Milojevic on “CLA of the Self” (CLA stands for Causal Layered Analysis) informs the examining of core life narratives in the reimaging self approach,
• The visualisation work of Oliver Markley on re-imaging has also been an influence to create deep shifts,
• The work of Andrew Curry and his collaborators on the Three Horizons of Change approach has informed the exploration of transitions and transformations in our world,
• The work of John Hagel on open ended narrative has influenced the approach to narrative craft,
• The work of Hal and Sidra Stone on inner selves informs the reimaging and mutating selves work,
• The work of Julia Cameron in The Artists Way has informed the daily and weekly practices needed for change,
• Viktor Frankl’s work on meaning (see Man’s Search for Meaning) has also guided the thinking on purpose,
• The work of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art has also influenced thinking on resistance and personal change,
• The work of Daniel Priestly “Key Person of Influence” has also informed learning.

Facilitator

Dr. Jose Ramos is director of Action Foresight, a Melbourne-based business that focuses on bridging transformational futures with present-day action. He holds a Doctorate from Queensland University of Technology in Global Studies and Strategic Foresight and has taught and lectured on futures research, methods and analysis at the National University of Singapore, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is senior consulting editor for the Journal of Future Studies, and has over 50 publications spanning economic, cultural and political change. He is originally from California from Mexican American and Indigenous ancestry, now residing in Melbourne Australia with his wife De Chantal, son Ethan and daughter Rafaela.