Alert: Fred Presley Participating in The Festival of Ideas (United Arab Emirates)
Resilient Futures Forum member and coach, Fred Presley will participate in the “2009 Festival of Thinkers” taking place in Abu Dhabi from Nov 2nd to 4th, by invitation of Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan (Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology).
Fred will join an eminent group of thinkers including Nobel Laureates John Nash, Dr. Shirin Ebadi and Dr Christophe Fournier; Chair of the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change)and Nobel Laureate Dr Rajendra Pachauri; Royalty HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden , HRH Prince Nikolaos of Greece ; Sportsman Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer; Cherie Blair, Plácido Domingo , and Dr Fidel Castro Díaz–Balart – to name a few.
The Minister is quoted on the Festivals website:
“I believe that, in this complex world of information technology and rapid change, we need to learn better how to use that most wonderful of human qualities – our great gift – the power of thought, and our ability to convey our thoughts to others and to apply these to our way of doing things – and to what we do.
This is why we have decided to ignite a new light to show the way, to celebrate thinking. I believe that great things can come from this process. If only one young person in our land yearns and learns to use this wonderful gift of thought better, maybe greatness will be the outcome. What more can we want? I look forward to a continuing process contemplation at this Festival of Thinkers. The festival itself, and this Web site, offers a wonderful opportunity to shape the future of this region through the creative minds of young thinkers and innovators”.
For more information visit: www.festivalofthinkers.com.
To listen to a Pre-festival interview with Fred click here.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
It has been quite an amazing few days here at the Festival of Thinkers. I have been so encouraged by the conversations that have taken place at the roundtables and in the panel discussions. If there is one thing that rings true to me thus far, it would be that there is a real appetite for whole systems-based thinking and a recognition of the critical need for such thinking if we are to proactively transform with massive regional and global change that we regularly experience.
There is also a strong optimism that we can into make this transition in a cooperative global level. The Festival’s focus on the youth is a key element to this becoming a reality. The next generation must have the critical problem solving ability that can only be achieved from a foundation of whole systems understanding, a willingness and desire to embrace complexity, and the ability to allow systems to go through their natural adaptive cycling and resisting the urge to prevent natural adaptive decline and rebirth and trying to hold on to a certain condition. There is a strong recognition here that it has been human notion to attempt to manage around this natural cycle that has caused many of the global problems we face today.
I have heard leaders of major global corporations, NGO’s, University and political leaders echo a these basic concepts throughout the Festival of Thinkers. We in the RFN are part of a critical movement to transform how we all relate to our planet and our global community.