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'Humans are made of stories'

A Creative Leadership Story

01/06/2021

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A Creative Leadership Story

Hani Abou Fadel from Lebanon is studying Global Studies at Lund University in Sweden. He was one of the participants of last year's Creative Leadership conference on the theme Together for Change.

This amazing six-day Creative Leadership conference felt more like a one-month conference.

I was able attend both morning and afternoon sessions, which meant that I could take part in two different dialogue sessions. I knew some of my fellow participants from before. Others I had just met and this was when the magic erupted. We bonded fast, as if we’ve known each other for a long time.

We bonded fast, as if we’ve known each other for a long time.

We had the chance to listen to one another from our own culture, occupation and personal experience, and to analyze how leadership works. Then we had webinars from top experts in their respective fields that clarified everything and inspired me to improve my leadership skills.

CL 2020 teatime — Teatime at Creative Leadership 2020

The conference also showed us that one of the basics of being a leader is having the courage to share your story, because, as a fellow participant put it, ‘humans are made from stories’. It also showed me that there is an artistic aspect in leadership: I wrote a poem about my perspective of creative leadership. I used never to show my poems in public, but now I believe that there is a world where you can show your authentic self without feeling under pressure.

During the dialogue sessions, I learned a new term: collective leadership. This builds trust in a community and is a further step from any single change an individual wants to see. We have diverse ideas and nationalities, but can work together with mutual agreement and respect.

This extraordinary conference, with IofC values floating all over the world, has changed me to be more ambitious, intellectually honest and more consistent.

Now I believe that there is a world where you can show your authentic self without feeling under pressure.

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1965: Robert Carmichael - Industry which puts people first

By Andrew Stallybrass

26/05/2021

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By Andrew Stallybrass

In 1965, the first freely negotiated agreement between industrialized and developing nations on the price of a raw material was signed in Rome. This pioneering accord was in large part the work of an unlikely revolutionary, who was a regular visitor to Caux in the 1950s and 60s.

Robert Carmichael answering questions in Caux

Robert Carmichael was a French industrialist who believed, in the words of one observer, ‘that putting people first is the only possible way ahead for industry’. He had met Moral Re-Armament (now Initiatives of Change) just after the end of the war and put its principles into action in his factories, which processed jute for the manufacture of string, sacks and matting.

He went on to work closely with an old antagonist, Maurice Mercier (see 1951), to bring a new spirit of consultation to the French textile industry. And he felt impelled to apply this approach to the relations between industries in Europe which processed jute and the farmers in India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) who grew it.

Robert Carmichael discussion solutions for factory with workers from Montereau in their kitchen — Searching for solutions in a worker's kitchen in Montereau, France

In 1951 Carmichael visited Calcutta, and was horrified by the misery he saw encamped on its streets. A clear thought came to him: ‘I am responsible for the millions of jute-growing peasants who are dying of hunger.’ He accepted this responsibility as a vocation and went into action.

He accepted this responsibility as a vocation and went into action.

The first step was to form an association of all the European importers of jute. Carmichael became its president. At its annual conference in 1959, he said, ‘If the European jute industry makes an effort to create a sane economy in this sector with India and Pakistan, it can find its real reason for existence. To do this, the basic motives of European industrialists must undergo a fundamental change.’

Robert Carmichael Stockholm conference participants — The delegates to the conference in Stockholm, where Robert Carmichael offered to resign

This did not go down well, and Carmichael offered to resign. When his opponents could not agree on a successor, he was asked to resume his position.

In spite of increasingly disabling arthritis, Carmichael travelled back and forth to Asia, weaving new ties between India and Pakistan and the eight European jute-importing countries. His task was exacerbated by speculative traders and by the ongoing hostilities between India and Pakistan.

Robert Carmichael public meeting in India or Pakistan — At a public meeting in India

In 1965 all the countries which produced or processed jute met in Rome, under the auspices of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Several delegations arrived with instructions which would have made a conclusion impossible, and Carmichael’s European colleagues did not want him to commit himself to one side or the other.

For years Carmichael had been building personal friendships with each of the men at the conference. This helped him to overcome the obstacles. He offered the chairmanship of the debate to the most awkward person. Astonished and flattered, this man accepted the responsibility of arbiter, and carried out his duties impeccably without imposing his own arguments.

Carmichael had introduced such a spirit of frankness, that one of the Asian delegates proposed a figure which was agreed immediately.

In friendly conversation with another man, Carmichael discovered the parties agreed more than their official instructions allowed them to reveal.

Everyone expected that the figures put on the table at the start would be so far apart that agreement would be impossible. However, Carmichael had introduced such a spirit of frankness, that one of the Asian delegates proposed a figure which was agreed immediately. The other details then settled themselves as a matter of course.

For the first time the price of a basic raw material had been freely negotiated between equal partners. This showed that a similar approach to other international trade negotiations was possible.

Robert Carmichael and his wife with workers from Montereau and family members in Caux — With some of his employees and their families in Caux

There’s a footnote to this story. Early on in Carmichael’s connection with MRA, a friend had challenged his busy lifestyle. He pointed that as a conscientious Christian, Carmichael would of course consciously resist if the devil tried to tempt him with any obvious sins. But instead, this friend suggested, the devil might fill his life with so many ‘good works’ that he’d miss the task that God most wanted him to fulfil. In response, Carmichael resigned a number of roles, and told his wife that he felt naked. But when the agreement was reached in 1965, he saw the fruits of this painful stripping away.

Adapted from 'The World at the Turning', by Michel Sentis and Charles Piguet

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Watch Robert Carmichael in an extract from our archives from the silent film "Ciné Journal Suisse 1953 (00'52" - end)

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This story is part of our series 75 Years of Stories about individuals who found new direction and inspiration through Caux, one for each year from 1946 to 2021. If you know a story appropriate for this series, please do pass on your ideas by email to John Bond or Yara Zhgeib. If you would like to know more about the early years of Initiatives of Change and the conference centre in Caux please click here and visit the platform For A New World.

Photos: Par lui-même, Robert Carmichael, 1975, Caux Books and Initiatives of Change
Film: Ciné Journal Suisse 1953, Initiatiatives of Change
An unexpected revolutionary, Donald Simpson, The Industrial Pioneer, 1984

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Yara Farhat

Yara Farahat joined the Creative Leadership team in 2021 after having been a participant herself and having drawn inspiration, growth, and healing from the conference and her collaboration with the IofC Lebanon team. She has lived in her three home countries, Ivory Coast, Canada, and Lebanon, and is interested in culture, traveling, and languages. Yara is also passionate about writing, art, storytelling, social entrepreneurship, social change, people and their stories.

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Vivi Straub

Viviane Straub is from Germany/UK and was deeply moved by her personal journey during the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme in 2019. She has since been part of the Creative Leadership team and hopes to create spaces for dialogue and connection. Having studied Human Ecology, she is interested in finding alternatives to dominant narratives on how we live with the human and more-than-human world and is currently living and working in an ecovillage on Gotland/Sweden. For Viviane, music is a constant companion on her path towards greater regeneration.

Read more about Vivi Straub

Steven Lin

Steven Lin is a CPLP alumnus from Canada where he works as a Family Outreach Worker, helping young parents achieve their personal and parenting goals. He is passionate about youth leadership and has been engaged in various initiatives to help develop future leaders. He loves to learn new things and to chat with people. If you need someone who will listen, he is the one to go to.

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Siya Myeza

My name is Siya Myeza and I work with marginalized communities in Cape Town on social and environmental justice issues and specifically on access to clean, equitable and affordable water. My work with the Environmental Monitoring Group focuses on creating space for ordinary citizens to engage with and influence decision makers. I knew about Caux before I got there. It was explained as a peaceful and majestic place. The feelings I felt when I was in Caux were a huge sense of peace, tranquility and freedom. To me leadership is the way a person lives his/her life.

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Sinda Arfaoui

Sinda Arfaoui has been working as an English Language Teacher for two years, and sees herself as a pursuer of knowledge. She is a MEPI Student Leaders program alumna and took summer courses in Civic Engagement and Leadership at Montana State University. She worked with multiple initiatives focussing on education before joining Initiatives of Change and co-founding MENNA Initiative. For the past two years she has been working for IREX as a selection committee member for the Civic Engagement Exchange Program.

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Sidra Raslan CL

Sidra Raslan is a young Syrian determined to take part in making the world and her country a better place. She believes in the power of youth and the gift of diversity, and that when these are combined with personal stories and an openness to share, they can provide a space that inspires leadership and a cascade of change – the Creative Leadership conference. Her journey with IofC began in 2016. Since then she has carried with her a piece of the Caux Palace and the people she met there. This keeps her motivated to be the best version she can be of herself.

Read more about Sidra Raslan CL

Sarah Schofield

Sarah Schofield is a new addition to the Creative Leadership family this year. She is a photojournalist who enjoys helping people to share their stories through her writing and photography. Intrigued by the journeys and life experiences of those she has met in her 32 years, she believes there is always something we can learn from one another if we only take the time to listen.

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Noha Alladin

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'Humans are made of stories'

A Creative Leadership Story

We bonded fast, as if we’ve known each other for a long time.

Now I believe that there is a world where you can show your authentic self without feeling under pressure.

related stories

related events

1965: Robert Carmichael - Industry which puts people first

By Andrew Stallybrass

He accepted this responsibility as a vocation and went into action.

Carmichael had introduced such a spirit of frankness, that one of the Asian delegates proposed a figure which was agreed immediately.

related stories

Yara Farhat

Vivi Straub

Steven Lin

Siya Myeza

Sinda Arfaoui

Sidra Raslan CL

Sarah Schofield

Noha Alladin