Inside the UN: A Practical Look at Transformative Change — with Laurel Patterson

Remembering the UN’s Origin - a fireside chat with Jyoti Ma and Alexandra Timor

In this fireside episode, Silke sits with spiritual elder Jyoti Ma and Earth lawyer Alexandra (“Ally”) Pimor to explore a simple yet transformative question: What was the UN born for — and what does that origin ask of us now? Together, they trace the UN’s roots as a spiritual endeavour grounded in peace, dignity, and a collective choice for life, inviting staff to realign everyday actions with this original intention. Ally expands the meaning of “We the peoples” to include rivers, forests, future generations, and more-than-human nations, offering concrete ways to bring these voices into programmes and governance. Both guests return to the power of individual agency, reminding us that while institutions may feel stuck, people never are — each email, meeting, and act of integrity is a seed shaping the future. The episode ultimately offers a hopeful call to dream the UN forward by nurturing reciprocity, deep listening, and care for all life, and to remember that UN staff are not cogs in a machine, but gardeners in a living ecosystem. Join the conversation: regeneration-collective.org [http://regeneration-collective.org] About the Podcast Guests: Jyoti Ma  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyoti-ma-5b82b819/]is an internationally respected spiritual teacher and bridge-builder between ancestral traditions and modern systems change. As Vision Keeper of The Fountain [https://thefountain.earth/people/#:~:text=Jyoti%20Ma,-Spiritual%20Elder%20%26%20Founder&text=Jyoti%20Ma%20is%20the%20Vision,Indigenous%20Grandmothers%20and%20Unity%20Concert.], she has dedicated her life to restoring balance between humanity and the Earth through sacred reciprocity and unity. She helped convene the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers and the Mother Earth Delegation of United Indigenous Nations, [https://motherearthdelegation.com/delegate-directory/jyoti-grandmother-elder-usa/] and works closely with the Kággaba Mamas in Colombia on the Sun Project to “remember the Golden Body.” Alexandra (“Ally”) Pimor is an Earth lawyer, legal scholar, and systems thinker working at the frontier of regenerative governance. As Director of Nature Governance at the Earth Law Center, she leads the pioneering Nature On The Board initiative — bringing the Rights of Nature into corporate and institutional decision-making.She served as one of the first proxies for Nature at the UK company Faith In Nature, and mentors a global network of Nature proxies through the Dandelion Fellowship. Her work invites us to reimagine law and governance as living systems that serve all of life. * Connect with Alexandra on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/apimor/] * Earth Law Center [https://www.earthlawcenter.org/]'s Nature Governance Agency [https://www.naturegovernance.org/]: a program for onboarding Nature (including Nature as inspiration, advisor, director and shareholder), and cultivating Nature-conscious governance and leadership praxis. * Dandelion Fellowship [https://www.naturegovernance.org/dandelion-fellowship]: capacity‑building for individuals to practice and speak as a voice of nature

Inside the UN: A Practical Look at Transformative Change — with Laurel Patterson

How can the UN move from talking about transformation to living it? In this powerful episode, Silke von Brockhausen sits down with Laurel Patterson, Head of Strategic Partnerships & Communications at UNDP’s Crisis Bureau, to explore what regeneration really means inside one of the world’s most complex systems. Together, they unpack why the UN often produces outcomes nobody truly wants—and how shifting our inner and relational lenses can change that. Laurel shares a refreshingly practical roadmap drawn from years of work with Theory U, Transformative Spaces, and SDG Leadership Labs—showing that change starts with how we show up together. You’ll learn: * How to design meetings that build trust and human connection. * Why naming power dynamics unlocks new possibilities. * How “action-confidence” beats waiting for perfect plans. * Why unlearning—together—is the real key to innovation. * How scaling transformation means deepening ownership, not rolling out toolkits. Big takeaway: Regeneration in the UN isn’t a project—it’s a daily practice of seeing clearly, acting with courage, and nurturing relationships as the core infrastructure of change. Listen now to rediscover the art of deep listening, relational leadership, and small steps that can move big systems. Chapters 00:00Introduction to Regenerative Leadership 02:20Understanding Regeneration in the UN Context 05:17Awareness-Based Collective Action in the UN 11:49Scaling Initiatives for Regenerative Leadership 18:43Advice for Future UN Leadership 29:45Empowering Young Leaders in the UN 34:33Daily Practices for Grounding and Connection

Rewiring the UN: Small Habits, Big Transformation- with Liliana Uruburo

What if the UN could regenerate from the inside out—one meeting, one ritual, one relationship at a time? In this insightful conversation, host Silke von Brockhausen speaks with Liliana Uruburo, a culture-change advisor in the UN Secretariat’s Business Transformation and Accountability Division. Instead of debating large-scale reforms, they explore what every UN staff member can actually do tomorrow morning to make work more humane, energized, and effective—no matter their grade or duty station. Liliana introduces the idea of tending the UN’s “social soil”—the web of trust, presence, and relationships that makes everything else grow. Through small, repeatable habits, she shows how we can shift from fatigue and fragmentation toward clarity and collaboration. KEY THEMES * Culture before structure: Technology enables change, but people and relationships carry it. * Micro-habits of regeneration: How brief practices like breath resets and collective listening can transform meetings. * Middle management as the system’s pivot: Why the “squeezed middle” determines whether change sticks. * Empowered early-career staff: Building credibility through clarity, kindness, and quiet value creation. * Regeneration as participation: Re-imagining the UN’s renewal as a shared, living process—not another reform task force. 💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS Try these this month: 1. Open–Listen–Close: Start with a 3-minute reset, practice collective listening mid-meeting, and end with one-line commitments and an energy check. 2. Borrow before building: Before starting a new initiative, find an existing one and collaborate. 3. Trust the outputs: Focus on outcomes over optics—flex where, when, and how work gets done. 4. Find your circle: Join a practice group such as Transformative Spaces or NewWork to keep skills alive and embodied. FURTHER RESOURCES * Explore Transformative Spaces and NewWork [https://www.un.org/newwork] within the UN system for bite-size, experiential learning. * Connect with Liliana Uruburo on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/emagineitall/]. * Discover more about The RE:Generation Collective and upcoming events here: regeneration-collective.org [regeneration-collective.org]

How to Regenerate an Organization: Lessons from Mercedes Vans – with Luise Raaschou and Felix Braun

When people talk about “transformation,” it often sounds like a slogan — a shiny new strategy that changes little in reality. This conversation is different. In this episode of The Regeneration Collective Podcast, host Silke von Brockhausen speaks with Luise Raaschou and Felix Braun from Mercedes-Benz Vans Europe, who have quietly led a culture shift inside one of the world’s most traditional, high-pressure industries. Together, they share how regeneration — the practice of leaving systems, people, and processes better than we found them — can turn even the most hierarchical organization into a living, learning, and energizing system. Their story offers a roadmap not just for businesses, but for institutions like the United Nations, where mission-driven people are often exhausted by structures that no longer serve life. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Regenerative Leadership 05:41 The Journey of Transformation at Mercedes-Benz 11:48 Challenges and Resistance in Transformation 17:53 Staying Grounded in Times of Crisis 24:03 The Role of Leadership in Regeneration 29:53 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions Key Takeaways for UN Staff and Leaders: * You don’t need permission to start. Begin in your own team. * Make space for honesty and recovery. * Protect people experimenting with new ways of working. * Watch the energy in the system — it tells the truth. * See regeneration as prevention, not decoration. Listen if you’re curious about: * How large organizations can become more human and effective * Regenerative leadership in practice * Lessons for the UN and international institutions * Culture change that doesn’t depend on top-down reform Follow the Guests: Find Luise Raaschou on LinkedIn to learn more about her ongoing journey of regenerative leadership inside Mercedes-Benz Vans. Connect with The Regeneration Collective:  🌐 regeneration-collective.org [http://regeneration-collective.org]

Warm Data & the UN: Stop Writing Reports, Start Tending Relationships — with Nora Bateson

Nora Bateson invites the UN to let life through: to work with information that is as alive as the systems we serve. Instead of preloading projects with KPIs, she proposes placing the SDGs at the end—tend the relationships that nourish relationships, then see what goals were actually met. In disaster and conflict, skip the town-hall shopping list; make space for people to be together (childcare, food, time) and allow new patterns to emerge. Warm Data Labs create an ecology of communication where personal stories widen perception—because perception is the action. Key themes  * Regeneration: “Participating in life that makes more life.” Relationships making relationships. * Warm Data: Relational, trans-contextual information living between people, institutions, culture, ecology. * Why metrics fall short: Streams of decontextualized data don’t add up to systemic understanding. * SDGs at the end: Do what’s needed; afterwards, note which goals were met. * Rupture as opening: In crisis, everyday patterns break—don’t impose; support emergence. * No town halls: Don’t ask communities what they need in a competitive frame; it aligns them to power, not to each other. * Make space: Provide childcare, food, time; let relationships re-knit. * Ecology of communication: Personal stories neutralize status, amplify the quiet, soften the loud. * Secretary-General thought experiment: Stop writing reports; bring in people who learn from how nature healsin multiple directions.   Memorable lines * “The information we need has to be as alive as the systems we want to make more life within.” * “Perception is the action.” * “Put the SDGs at the end, not the beginning.” * “Don’t pit communities against each other for funding—help them align to each other, not to you.”   About Nora Nora Bateson leads the International Bateson Institute in Sweden. She coined Warm Data and developed Warm Data Labs, now facilitated in 40+ countries, to help groups perceive complexity together. She is the author of Small Arcs of Larger Circles and Combining, and director of An Ecology of Mind (about Gregory Bateson).   Chapters 00:00Introduction to Regeneration and the UN 02:54Understanding Regeneration 05:18The Concept of Warm Data 10:44Challenges of Simplified Data in the UN 16:07Building Relationships in Crisis 22:05Creating Cohesion in Communities 27:21Listening to Marginalized Voices 32:56A New Way of Leading and Governing 34:22Vision for the Future of the UN Key links * Nora Bateson (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-bateson-b4a2456/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-bateson-b4a2456/] * Warm Data Labs (Bateson Institute): https://batesoninstitute.org/warm-data/ [https://batesoninstitute.org/warm-data/] * Nora Bateson at the Bateson Institute: https://batesoninstitute.org/nora-bateson/ [https://batesoninstitute.org/nora-bateson/]