Jamie Miller co-led “Designing the Future Lab” at Common Ground Kauai Summit
2024 Common Ground Kauai Summit
The 2024 Common Ground Kauai Summit was a masterclass in curation. It brought together visionary leaders from diverse backgrounds, all united by a common goal: becoming regenerative stewards in their communities, businesses, and families.
“What if your next big idea was inspired by 3.8 billion years of natural wisdom, guided by regenerative leaders, and forged in one of the most breathtaking places on Earth?”
Jamie Miller and Mason Chock, President at Kupu Ae Leadership Development, co-led the design lab. They introduced a unique approach using Design Fiction, encouraging participants to imagine new futures by suspending disbelief and challenging conventional thinking. Inspired by nature’s resilience and adaptability, they guided participants to seed the future with regenerative principles.
By encouraging participants to “think like a weed,” they identified practical steps to realize futures rooted in nature-based thinking. Nature’s time-tested strategies offer a roadmap for shifting entrenched systems and creating small-scale solutions that actively generate conditions for more life.
“One of the most powerful moments for me was standing under Kaua’i’s vast night sky, sharing stories with Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz an astronaut who’s traveled to space seven times, and Uncle Chadd Paishon, a traditional Hawaiian navigator who charts his course using only the stars.
Their journeys—from the cosmos to the open ocean—reflected the essence of what we were doing in the workshop: exploring the unknown, guided by trusted models, and imagining bold futures.”