Sample Curriculum

Session 1: 
Foundational communication and dialogue skills, introduction to mindfulness, personal leadership habits, structured dialogue, personality styles, conventional and sustainable agriculture, water quality, and environmental justice. 

Session 2: 
Fundamental group facilitation skills, understanding the basics of self-awareness, the “Higher Ground” approach to setting group norms, conflict management styles, Chesapeake Bay water quality, fisheries, and sea level rise in coastal Virginia.

Session 3: 
Key leadership qualities, discuss and applying contemplative practices in the workplace, collaborative process design, group consensus, green economics, the ethics of advocacy lobbying, and Virginia’s Capitol.

Session 4: 
Negotiation process preparation and practice, servant leadership, bringing mindfulness into meetings, natural resources and local economies, sustainable agriculture and forestry. 

Session 5: 
Public involvement, leadership without easy answers, compassionate leadership, rural economic development, the economics of extractive and renewable resources, coal mining reclamation, and the Clinch River regional collaboration.

Session 6: 
The “Open Space” group process, personal leadership goals, mindfulness for leadership, the values and ethics of leaders, plus current topics of the VNRLI class’s choice.