Next Economy Leadership
Walking the Talk
A 6-Part Series to Design, Implement, and Embody a Regenerative Culture.
A new workshop series begins May 13th, 2026.
Don't just claim your values. Operationalize them.
Leadership is not just about who you are; it is about what you build and how you relate.
In the Next Economy, good intentions are no longer enough. Leaders today face a widening gap between the values they espouse—equity, transparency, regeneration—and the daily operations of their organizations. To close this gap, you need more than just a mission statement; you need a new operating system.
LIFT Economy’s Next Economy Leadership Series offers a comprehensive "Structure + Skills" approach to organizational development. We believe that Structure (policies, decision-matrices, etc.) without Skill creates rigidity, while Skill (communication, empathy, etc.) without Structure invites chaos.
Over the course of six workshops, we will help you move beyond certification and compliance toward full embodiment of your values. You will alternate between designing the "hardware" of your organization and practicing the "software" of human connection.
Interested in joining our September 30th cohort? Get coffee with us!
You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers. Sign up for a 15 min coffee chat with a LIFT Partner to learn more about the program, ask questions, and get to know one of our facilitators ahead of our orientation on September 26th and program start date.
The "Structure + Skills" Journey
What You Will Gain:
-
Structure: You will leave with tangible templates for values-aligned roles, decision-making charts, conflict transformation policies, and performance enhancement processes.
-
Skills: You will cultivate the capacity for Nonviolent Communication (NVC), deepen your capacity for offering feedback, and navigate power dynamics to foster psychological safety and inclusive community.
- Integration: Learn how to align your internal operations with your highest values, closing the gap between your mission statement and your daily reality.
-
Community: Join a cohort of peers in our online Hylo community and receive 1:1 coaching to troubleshoot your specific organizational challenges.
Workshop dates and format:
- Online training facilitated via Zoom, accessible to anyone worldwide.
- 90 min workshops sessions 2x per month over 3 months; 6 workshops total.
- Recordings are provided after each session.
- Plus: 1 hour; 1:1 coaching with a facilitator
Dates and times:
- Wednesdays from 11:00am-12:30pm PST
- Spring Series - May 13th & 27th, June 10th & 24th, July 8th & 22nd
- Fall Series - October 7th & 21st, November 4th & 18th, December 2nd & 16th
The Next Economy Leadership Series
Designed to support founders, managers, and culture-carriers in B Corps, social enterprises, cooperatives, and nonprofits who are seeking to bridge the gap between their organization's high-level values and the practical, daily realities of leadership and team dynamics.
The Series Journey
This series alternates between "Structure" sessions and "Skill" sessions, creating a rhythm of design and practice (facilitated by Shawn Berry, Ryan Honeyman, and Phoenix Soleil):
-
- Living Your Values: Assessing values alignment and leadership commitment.
- Nonviolent Communication: The foundational skill for collaborative culture.
- Structures I: Designing community agreements and conflict transformation policies.
- Offering Feedback: Constructive, growth-oriented dialogue.
- Structures II: Decision zones, role clarity, and performance enhancement processes.
- Creating Inclusive Culture: Navigating power, privilege, and belonging.
See full individual workshop descriptions below...
Would you like to focus on the communication skills only? Choose the Skills Track only. See more information here.
Meet your facilitators:
The LIFT Economy team has been leading on the cutting edge of next economy businesses for decades.
Collectively, we have a diverse set of entrepreneurial and professional skills developed while consulting for some of the most influential and inspirational Certified B Corps like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry's, Allbirds, World Centric and worker-owned cooperative, nonprofits and other Next Economy organizations like Aorta, Sustainable Economies Law Center, agilesix, and HRFN among others...
Phoenix Soleil, Partner
Specializes in
- Organizational Development
- Inclusion And Diversity
- Nonviolent Communication
- Personal Development and Play
Phoenix Soleil helps people bring their values and passions to their connections and conversations so they can make a difference and have more fun making that difference. She is a certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication (NVC), NVC is a powerful modality that helps us connect with others and our own emotions and values for more effective and healing interactions. She also teaches and practices Insight Meditation Nonviolent Communication is a form of mindful communication. She has a deep background in the intersections of community, emotional intelligence, and intergenerational trauma. She’s led workshops on communication, racial justice, and meditation for various organizations, including Google, the Kellogg Foundation, UC Berkeley, the Insight Meditation Society, and the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. She also facilitates mediations and restorative practice circles. To make learning experiences more engaging and fun, she incorporates art and play.
Shawn Berry, Partner
Specializes in
- Systems design
- Workplace democracy
- Company Culture
- Strategy
Shawn is a lifelong cooperator, having worked in cooperative enterprises for his entire 24 year career. He brings this knowledge and experience to help participants navigate the paradox of running a mutually beneficial enterprise in the context of the exploitative capitalist marketplace. Shawn delights in connecting with the amazing community that has formed around this training and helping them approach the next set of challenges they are facing.
Ryan Honeyman, Partner
Specializes in
- The B Corp Movement
- Anti-Racism / DEI
- Visioning and Marketing
- Raising Capital
Ryan Honeyman is the co-author of The B Corp Handbook and co-host of Beyond the B, a podcast exploring what is working—and not working—in the B Corp movement. For more than 15 years, Ryan has worked with founders, CEOs, and senior leaders who are trying to lead responsibly amid growth, complexity, and competing demands. Ryan’s work focuses on the practical side of leadership: how decisions actually get made, how leaders show up under pressure, and how everyday choices shape trust, accountability, and culture. His workshops create space for honest reflection, clearer thinking, and grounded action—helping leaders move from good intentions to more consistent, aligned leadership in practice. Alongside the LIFT Economy team, Ryan is also a co-author of The Next Economy MBA and co-host of Next Economy Now.
Pricing & Registration
We offer two tracks to meet your organization's needs.
1. Full Leadership Series (Recommended)
-
Includes: Access to all 6 workshops (Structures + Skills), all recordings, a full library of templates (Conflict Policy, Decision Charts, Values Assessments), access to the online Hylo Community of Practice, PLUS 1 hour of 1:1 coaching with a facilitator of your choice.
-
Price: $2,000
-
Early Bird: $1,600 (20% off)
2. Skills Track Only
-
Includes: Access to the 3 Communication/Skill-building workshops (NVC, Offering Feedback, Inclusive Culture), recordings, and the Hylo Community of Practice.
-
Price: $800
-
Early Bird: $640 (20% off)
Workshop 1: Living Your Values
Focus: Structure & Strategy Lead: Ryan Honeyman Date: May 13 (Spring) / Oct 7 (Fall)
Description: True leadership is about "Walking the Talk"—ensuring that your personal presence and organizational systems reinforce one another. Based on LIFT’s 10 Dimensions of Embodiment framework, this session challenges leaders to move beyond check-the-box impact.
We will explore how Leadership Commitment acts as the cornerstone for culture. If leaders delegate values-work without modeling it, cynicism grows. You will use the LIFT Values Embodiment Assessment to identify where your strategy, budget, and daily behaviors diverge from your stated mission.
Key Takeaways:
-
The Embodiment Audit: Assess your organization across 10 dimensions, from Strategic Integration to Recognition and Celebration.
-
Walking the Talk: Identify specific behaviors senior leaders must model to move values from rhetoric to practice.
-
Strategic Integration: Learn how to embed impact goals into budgeting and compensation so that purpose is not a side project, but the lens for every decision.
Workshop 2: Nonviolent Communication
Focus: Skill Building Lead: Phoenix Soleil Date: May 27 (Spring) / Oct 21 (Fall)
Description: In high-stress environments, communication often breaks down into judgment and defense. This workshop introduces the core skills necessary to foster open, honest, and empathetic relationships.
Phoenix Soleil guides participants through the principles of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a framework for connecting across differences. We will focus on self-regulation—learning to "compost" the stress and manure of daily work life into something generative. By focusing on universal human needs rather than judgments, we lay the groundwork for a culture where team members feel heard and psychological safety thrives.
Key Takeaways:
-
Self-Connection: Learn to identify your own feelings and needs before reacting to others.
-
De-escalation: Techniques for staying grounded when you feel triggered or defensive.
-
Empathetic Listening: How to listen for the "beautiful need" underneath a colleague's difficult message.
Workshop 3: Designing Regenerative Culture
Focus: Structure & Systems Lead: Shawn Berry Date: June 10 (Spring) / Nov 4 (Fall)
Description: Culture is not just "how we feel"; it is "what we do." If you do not explicitly design your culture, you will inherit a default one—often defined by mediocrity or unexamined norms. In this session, we focus on the foundational agreements that hold a team together.
We will move from abstract "Core Values" to concrete "Habits and Behaviors." You will learn how to draft a Conflict Transformation Policy that treats conflict as a generative opportunity rather than a failure. We will also cover how to craft Community Agreements that operationalize your values into daily actions.
Key Takeaways:
-
Defining Values: A process for narrowing down values to 3-6 distinct words, defined by specific behavioral descriptions.
-
Habits & Behaviors: Creating a living list of actions that demonstrate your values to use in hiring and evaluation.
-
Conflict Transformation: Templates for a policy that outlines how to move from "discussion" to "mediation" to "arbitration," ensuring safety and accountability.
Workshop 4: Offering Feedback
Focus: Skill Building Lead: Phoenix Soleil Date: June 24 (Spring) / Nov 18 (Fall)
Description: Giving feedback is one of the most anxiety-producing tasks in any workplace, yet it is essential for growth. Building on the structures of the previous session, this workshop focuses on the interpersonal skill of radical candor.
We will practice a framework for offering feedback that is clear, actionable, and empathetic. You will learn to overcome the fear of confrontation and the tendency to "mask" resentment. By translating judgments into needs-based requests, you can transform feedback from a punitive measure into an invitation for connection.
Key Takeaways:
-
The Feedback Framework: A step-by-step guide to delivering feedback that inspires growth rather than shame.
-
Navigating Power: Acknowledging how power dynamics influence how feedback is given and received.
-
Practice: The workshop will include role-playing exercises and real-life examples, helping you begin to develop the confidence and skills needed to effectively offer feedback.
Workshop 5: Governance, Roles & Performance
Focus: Structure & Systems Lead: Shawn Berry Date: July 8 (Spring) / Dec 2 (Fall)
Description: Ambiguity is the enemy of accountability. In Next Economy organizations—especially those moving toward self-management—you need a crystal-clear "Operating System." This session provides the templates to clarify who decides what and how work gets done.
We will dive into the Decision Zone Chart to clarify authority and the Performance Enhancement Process—a regenerative alternative to the traditional performance review. We will explore how to design "Values-Aligned Roles," ensuring that job descriptions explicitly reference the mission and stakeholder responsibilities.
Key Takeaways:
-
Values-Aligned Roles: How to rewrite job descriptions so that every role has a clear connection to the mission.
-
Performance Enhancement: A peer-based review template that evaluates "Core Cultural Values" and "Key Habits" alongside functional tasks.
-
Decision Matrix: Tools to clarify decision-making authority, reducing bottlenecks and empowering autonomy.
Workshop 6: Creating Inclusive Culture
Focus: Skill Building Lead: Phoenix Soleil Date: July 22(Spring) / Dec 16 (Fall)
Description: Creating an inclusive culture is not just about policy; it is about the capacity to repair harm and navigate power. In this final session, we integrate our structures and skills to address the nuances of belonging.
We will explore how empathy helps us navigate power imbalances, where those with less power often bear the emotional labor. We will move beyond "fake compassion" to understand the true impact of our actions, learning how to offer meaningful repair when we miss the mark. This ensures the structures we have built are inhabited with heart.
Key Takeaways:
-
Navigating Power: Recognizing that impact can occur regardless of intent, and learning to acknowledge imbalances of risk.
-
Meaningful Repair: Moving beyond conditioned apologies to genuine restoration and acknowledgment of harm.
-
Belonging: Strategies for creating a workplace where diverse perspectives are not just invited but integrated into the core of the organization.
Have more questions? Send us a note!
With Gratitude To Our Partners:
FAQs:
What is NVC?
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a philosophy and communication framework that fosters connection and collaboration, enhancing personal liberation and cooperative interactions, especially in resolving conflicts. It serves as a profound tool for enriching self-connection and deepening the quality of relationships with others, making interactions not only more effective but also more enjoyable and fulfilling.
By emphasizing sensitivity to interpersonal dynamics, NVC enables caring and effective interactions. This approach supports individuals to communicate authentically, akin to nurturing the unique blossoms of their personality, while holding their own needs and the needs of others with care. Just as a well-tended garden blooms with vibrant flowers and plants, NVC enhances mutual understanding and respect, making relationships richer and more enjoyable. It's a powerful method for navigating challenging conversations, leading to a more harmonious and satisfying personal and professional life, reminiscent of a diverse and thriving ecosystem.
Who are these trainings for?
This series is designed for founders, leaders, and culture-carriers in B Corps, worker cooperatives, social enterprises, and nonprofits. It is ideal for those who feel the tension between their high ideals and the messy reality of people-management. You do not need to be in a formal "executive" role to participate, but you should be in a position to influence team culture. Anyone in any position in any institution or organization could benefit from the Skills workshops.
Do I need to have experience with NVC to participate?
No. The workshops are designed to be accessible to beginners while offering depth for experienced practitioners. We focus on the underlying consciousness of NVC, which allows you to apply the tools in your own authentic voice rather than sounding scripted.
What is the difference between the "Structure" and "Skills" sessions?
"Structure" sessions focus on the "hardware" of your organization: templates, policies, decision matrices, and role descriptions. "Skills" sessions focus on the "software": the somatic and interpersonal communication skills required to inhabit those structures effectively. We believe you need both to succeed.
What if I miss a live session?
All sessions are recorded. Participants will receive a link to the video recording, a chat log, and a folder with all handouts and templates within 48 hours of the session. You will also have access to these materials indefinitely via our Hylo community.
Can my organization pay for this?
Yes. Most participants have this training covered by their organization’s professional development budget. The series provides tangible organizational assets (policies, templates) that justify the investment as organizational development.
What if I can't afford the full price?
We are committed to accessibility. We offer a 50% discount for persons of color and a policy to never turn anyone away for lack of financial capacity to participate. Please reach out to us directly to discuss an arrangement that works for you.
If I don’t want coaching, can I pay less?
No, coaching is bundled into the package and not unbundled for a lower price.
Can I pay for more coaching sessions?
Yes, it’s possible to arrange additional or ongoing coaching beyond the included hour.
Get exclusive updates + free resources