An effective strategy necessarily involves replenishing and rebuilding the base of capitals to tackle growing demand. The only way of doing this is through co-investment from multiple diverse stakeholders in a system.

“I have an image on my wall from one of the course plenaries - to remind me about inputs and outputs in a healthy system. Every action I take in my daily life needs to produce an output that contributes to the story I want to tell. What does this action feed into the results I want to create?” - Participant, Complexity University

The six forms of capital we work with include:

Human Capital or new capacities

Social Capital or increased trust in the system

Intellectual Capital or new knowledge and information

Physical Capital or new products, services or infrastructure

Financial Capital or new stocks (and flows) of financial capital

Natural Capital or ecosystem services (such as trees or cleaner air)

Over two 90-minute sessions, we will set you off on the path towards learning how you can achieve greater impact with your work. Join us. This introductory course provides an overview of complex challenges, how to understand them, while providing an opportunity to understand what makes them different from other challenges, Over two 90-minute sessions, we will set you off on the path towards learning how you can achieve greater impact with your work. Join us.

Learning Objectives

  • How to understand complex systems through the lens of multiple capitals

  • The six forms of capital and their relationship to inputs, outputs and evaluation

  • How to correctly assess capital requirements for effective strategy

  • How to assess the impact of efforts to tackle a complex challenge

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome

    • Welcome to the course - Read this first!
  • 2

    Session 1 - 1st Feb

    • Multiple Capitals session 1 - Slides

    • How Civilizations Fall: A Theory of Catabolic Collapse

    • Session Recording -1
  • 3

    Session 2 - 3rd Feb

    • Session 2 - recording

    • Multiple Capitals session - 2 | Slides
  • 4

    Session 3 - 5th Feb

    • Session 3 - recording
  • 5

    Reading Materials

    • Complexity_-_A_Guided_Tour

Who is this course for?

This is a programme for people who are serious about their commitment to change both the world and themselves.

Your profession or the sector you work in are less important than the depth of your commitment to change. Join us if you want to learn how to take effective action.

This is an introductory course, which means that you don’t need any particular professional or technical background, but you may benefit from reading some of the key texts from our reading list before the course starts.

How is this course different from other courses?

The foundation for all of our courses at Complexity University is practice.

We have two decades of practical experience working on many of the world’s most complex challenges. Unlike many courses, we do not simply teach cut and paste “best practice.” We invite you into what can be called “reflexive practice,” where we together reflect critically on what practices are most appropriate for you and the context you’re in.

Our courses are synchronous, which means no canned lectures and no passive learning. Our group sessions are live, with plenty of interaction and space for discussion.

Who, when, and how much?

The sessions will be run by a diverse group of Faculty. Click here for Faculty Info

Schedule

The sessions will take place via Zoom at 1500 GMT(London)/1000 EST (New York)/2030 IST (Delhi). Check www.worldtimebuddy.com to find when this is for you.

Each session will last for 90 minutes and take place via Zoom.

Session 1 - 1st Feb

Session 2 - 3rd Feb

Session 3 - 5th Feb

Cost

We believe that this knowledge about facing complex challenges should be available to all regardless of class background, age, academic level, etc . So all our courses are offered to you in the spirit of gift culture (contribute what you can). This doesn't mean the course is 'free'. This means we invite you to choose an amount that you feel able to afford, or feel the course is worth. This enables us to offer the course to a wider range of participants than if it were to be offered at a fixed price.

We’ve put some suggested amounts in the sign up - If you belong to an organisation then we suggest choosing a larger amount to enable others to participate at a lower cost.

We offer Scholarships for all our courses.

WE WILL NOT TURN ANYONE AWAY DUE TO INABILITY TO PAY.