Invitation.


Human beings and systems: stories we tell and systems we build.

We shape our systems; thereafter they shape us.

Reflecting on the phrase, we are becoming aware of constructed nature of our reality – systems we build are reflections of deep assumptions we hold about ourselves, human relationships and the world ‘out there’. The problem is – these assumptions stay ‘hidden’ from our view, as our attention is largely ‘out there’ – we are busy building spaces and solutions to our challenges, as if we are not a part of those challenges.

Spaces have memory; they live, and their effects linger… until we wake up to questioning their underlying assumptions, acknowledging their limitations and come up with a different approach. The designer is always a part of the system – so what’s the point living in this separation?

Welcome to the Learning Plaza 2022 in Stockholm!


You are invited by Society for Organizational Learning – a global learning community composed of organisations, individuals, and communities around the world, a member-governed NGO devoted to the interdependent development of people and their institutions, in service of inspired performance and meaningful results, based on Systemic Change and Organizational Learning. SoL is an international knowledge network of researchers, consultants and practitioners from business and other organisations, with a focus on Systemic Change and Organisational Learning. It was founded in 1997 in collaboration with MIT in Boston, USA.

For us, this event is a contribution, a response to the challenge that one of our founders, Arie de Geus, so vividly presented back in 2014:

“I think what is needed, what is waiting for you, the next generation, is to find ways to change the internal structures of business and governmental institutions to become much more in harmony with the value systems that have developed since the second world war. That´s your job. That´s waiting for you and that´s a very difficult problem. That´s really organizational learning by accommodation”.

This SoL Learning Plaza happened in Stockholm, adjacent to “Stockholm +50”, a high-level meeting hosted by the Swedish government to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the first UN conference on the human environment – the 1972 Stockholm Conference.

To create this event, SoL communities around the world have come together to design a learning experience to make you feel a natural part of the systems we chose to focus on – at this time, they are:
  • Regenerative food systems,
  • Business and other organisational systems, and
  • Living communities with their cultural roots.
Please read more about each of our four Themes and their different Learning Circles and start designing your OWN learning journey!

Welcome to join our continued online Learning Journey Webinars. They will be announced here .