Hi, I’m Leslie Meehan, MSEE Ph.D. I’m a leadership consultant and co-creator of collaborative networks committed to community healing and transformation. I have over 25 years experience in strategic planning, intuitive process, systems architecture, management, and peer facilitation in business and non-profits. I’m passionate about the power of whole-systems collaborative networks in our social evolution. To go farther, we need to go together. Going farther together is a central theme of my life’s journey as a mother, healer, writer, designer, donor, and activist. I’m grateful and happy to be alive during this auspicious moment as we learn how to get along so that our great-great-grandchildren of all species can thrive.
“Think globally, act locally, organize regionally and trans-locally in networks.” This mantra inspires my work with inclusive collaborative networks that bridge head, hands, and heart. In 2005 I co-founded the Gaiafield Project: a network of networks hosting global peace practices for social change and transformation. The Gaiafield Project brings together people across spiritual, consciousness, and indigenous traditions and has a reach of 5 million people.
In 2011, I catalyzed the Thriving Resilient Communities Funding Circle within the Threshold Foundation network, which led to founding the Thriving Resilient Communities Collaboratory (TRCC) in 2012. TRCC is an action learning community of grassroots regional and trans-local network leaders building resilient local community systems in North America. TRCC networks include Art of Hosting, Bioneers, Evolver, New Economy Coalition, Movement Generation, TransitionUS, and others, engaging hundreds of thousands of people in over 400 local communities year-round and thousands more communities during annual events.
I enjoy co-stewarding these networks with New Stories colleague friends. Here’s a shoutout to New Stories for its wise counsel and support! I also consult for other leading social change initiatives such as Alliance for the Earth, Canticle Farm, Compassion Games, and Shift Network.
Collaborative networks are the latest chapter in my life-long quest to live in healthy communities. The trail has taken me from roaming the beautiful outdoors in my rural hometown, through a Stanford MSEE and engineering management career, and around the world backpacking (twice!). After retiring from corporate life, I deepened my community roots as a mom who ran our local community foundation.
Although I’ve travelled the world, the hardest journey I’ve ever been on has been the journey into my own inner world. In 2000, I went back to school at the California Institute for Integral Studies because I couldn’t reconcile my inner and outer life. Science simply could not explain my experiences in my marriage, my travels, and my spiritual journey. I discovered a living systems worldview as told in my dissertation “Our Birth as Holo Sapiens: Navigating our Passage through Climate Change.” This exciting new story has turned into rewarding adventures with so many of you.
My blessings to you, dear Holo Sapien companion. Thank you for who you are and what you do!