Having made it through what we expected to be a bumpy and uncertain year, things feel more clear this New Year’s Day… in ways that feel both daunting and more hopeful.
While the challenges of radical technology advances and climate volatility and societal anxiety are very real, it’s also comforting to scroll through end-of-year lists of all the positive things we didn’t know have been happening, right under our feet. Many are working hard to redress the triple challenges of over-farmed soil, plastic-filled oceans and greedily-plundered forests. That now many more are committed to restoring justice and equitable access for women around the world. And that we are digging deeper into our own beliefs and values as we simultaneously teach machines how to emulate and amplify our thinking.
I’m so sure of this because I’ve met and learned from passionate people in places like Tangier, Barcelona, Armenia, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and more, around the U.S.. They’ve included plenty of AI cheerleaders, a 19 yr-old tour guide in Morocco and a group of committed European social impact creators building a global ReFi network.
This past year, my colleague, Emma, and I also hosted monthly gatherings online to share the inspiring work of those actively writing #TheNewStory (a big thanks for all who joined and contributed!). We encourage you to wander through our “video-magazine” like recordings and/or flip through the very pretty pdf summaries that give you links to all this goodness including the full events.
Of all we shared, however, one concept has given me the most confidence that we’re on route to an extraordinary future: the growing understanding of the “Imaginal Cell”.
Have You Heard of Imaginal Cells?
Hypothesized way back in the 1600’s, we’ve come to appreciate the natural intelligence of a system that both fights and creates its own metamorphosis. In short, in the embryonic stage of a caterpillar larva exist cells designed for post-cocoon life, such as antenna and wings. In general they lie dormant most of the caterpillar’s journey until it’s time for the insect to begin its transformation, during which they increase in number and potency… exponentially! Most interestingly, the consumptive caterpillar has no idea this beautiful fate awaits and so it expends much unnecessary energy trying to resist the inevitable shift and stay just as it is. It only succumbs when the imaginal cells expand in such number that they are able to swarm the caterpillar, initiate the disintegration into the cocoon and catalyze the metamorphosis into a pollinating butterfly. We see this happening in our world now too.
While I also appreciate how afraid we really are of change, I had not fully celebrated the critical role of the imaginal cells in our society. The metaphor of cells that hold the vision for a very different, more expansive and prosperous future fighting against the growing retrenchment we see in our world today feels very right.
This hostile, often painful resistance to disintegrating systems is an expected part of the process… just as it is also key that the number of imaginal cells in our world rapidly increase in number and potency.
This is what the monthly #TheNewStory gatherings have been all about. And why Emma and I remain so committed to amplifying the work of visionary and extraordinary women shaping the future in our Femme Futurists Society interviews.
What does an equally radical transformation look like for society?
At this year’s Dubai Futures Forum, technologist/designer/co-founder of DEOND Ila Colombo, Founder, Protopia Futures Monika Bielskyte and I shared our thoughts on a panel that many described as the most refreshing and inspiring they had seen at DFF. Here's where you can watch “Repatterning the Future: How will we design a world of shared prosperity?”
I believe the future requires an extensive repatterning away from completely outdated systems of domination, centralization, colonialism, patriarchy, industrialization and so on, to a future patterned on living systems, cooperative/symbiotic networks that are both distributed and caring, and the reclamation of indigenous, often feminine intelligences.
I also recommend reading The Ministry For the Future – brilliant economic/science “not-so-fiction” glimpse into a world in which imaginal cells are multiplying and accelerating needed breakdowns both inside and outside of existing systems. They aim to create a world of greater stability, prosperity and balance, that looks quite different from most versions we have in mind today.
“What do you do?”
Like most of us these days, I carry lots of titles. But a more accurate answer is that my work is 100% focused on increasing the number and potency of the imaginal cells leading us to a safe and thriving future. This is paid and unpaid; as a speaker, consultant, advisor, coach, mom and everyday optimistic human.
My hope is that we all believe this is our work to do. I see it every day in the inspired and visionary executives that invite me to speak or work together to transform their enterprises and industries. I see it with nearly every young person I meet who is convinced there is a better way. I dance in it with the women around the world I am deeply grateful to call sisters. There is a new story being written.
And I’m super excited about five projects in particular I’ll be focused on in 2025:
- securing all the funding we need to begin production on Humanity vs Capitalism – a hopeful documentary on new economic models (like Samantha Power’s work on BioRegional finance hubs)
- speaking at SXSW on “The Quantum Leap: Repatterning The Future with a Feminine Perspective"
- evolving my talks and writings on this potent weave of exponential tech, partnerism and living systems
- co-creating and facilitating an immersive retreat in Mexico this April with a small but mighty group of imaginal cells ready to play much bigger (ping me for more info if this calls to you)
- deepening my understanding of community, consciousness and divine wisdoms with a growing circle of caring women on land we are stewarding in Costa Rica
Inside The Liminal Gap: Better Preparing for the Resistance
I’ve been talking about the “Liminal Gap” between the old and the new for quite a while. And so far my work has focused on building our capacity to better and more safely navigate as old systems break down and new ones are yet to be created; we even now offer Leadering Workshops!
And last year I got more in touch personally with the grief this sense of loss can create and wrote about our need to accept and hospice what is necessarily dying. Note: not our natural habitat. But rather our consumptive ways of using up natural assets. Our slow, incremental processes that move us in inches when it’s time to fly. Our lack of awareness that we now share the planet with over 8 billion beautifully diverse neighbors and need to better share ideas and resources. Our clinging to outdated beliefs that no longer keep us secure in a very different world, – such as the tiring RTO debate or striving for relentless GDP growth.
This is the moment of metamorphosis – for ourselves, our organizations and for society itself. It will feel heavy, painful and confusing at times – especially for those afraid of losing. But knowing this is part of a process allows us to better prepare emotionally and economically. It pulls us to find and nourish each other.
The future isn’t happening to us, it is us – so what kind of world do you want to be responsible for? Knowing you are not alone, how expansively can you let your imagination go? Do you have the courage to imagine a truly prosperous world for us all? We are right here next to you. And we are multiplying fast.
With lots of love for a brave, beautiful and transformative new year,
🧡 Nancy (+ Emma)