#047. Beverly Winterscheid, PhD: nature as a teacher for women who want to change the world

Beverly is a mentor and motivator for women who want to change the world through passionate commitment to their ideas, families, organizations, and communities.

After 20 years of a successful business and academic career that included a Ph.D. in Business Strategy, a post-doc at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management,  positions as VP, Strategy and Organization for Manco-Henkel, Inc. and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Stratton Corporation, she had a profound awakening.   After investing two decades in change management with a large systems focus, she came to the conclusion that change happens one person at a time.

Acting on her discovery, she began training in ecopsychology and nature-based guiding with the Animas Valley Institute.  In 2008, she joined Marlboro College’s Sustainability MBA, launching a 2-year nature-based leadership development course, where she stayed for the next seven years.

Also in 2008, she founded the Center for Nature and Leadership (CNL) to blend traditional leadership development with scientific and experiential findings on the beneficial effects of Nature on humans.  The Generative Council is CNL’s keystone program, designed to provide diverse women leaders the time & space to develop their personal impact, meeting  in places of wild magnificence two times/year, and supported by an ongoing community of previous participants.  CNL now offers virtual and regional programming, as well, based on these same principles.

Creating and achieving bottom-lines of all sorts, and helping others see the wisdom of Nature at work in their own lives is what she loves to do.  Cultivating fearless leaders, those who stand firmly on authenticity and truth, who strive to bring new visions into reality in concert with others is her passion and expertise.

And, when she’s not working with members of the Center for Nature and Leadership community, you’ll find her in the backcountry of her home in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado.

Resources:
Center for Nature & Leadership
Generative Council
Growing Your Best Self (virtual & physical journey of personal & leadership development - Registration deadline: 5/9)
Leadership the Way Nature Intended (Beverly Winterscheid)

Beverly’s book recommendations:
The Spell of the Sensuous (David Abram)
Widening Circles: A Memoir (Joanna Macy)
The Hoop and the Tree  (Chris Hoffman)