by Julien Devereux, MKP USA Chairman
Why are we supporting the Better Man Conference?
The Mankind Project is three things: a social movement for emotional authenticity, a leadership training organization for men, and a global brotherhood of over fifty seven thousand after 30 years of existence.
Three men — Rich Tosi, Bill Kauth, and Ron Hering — looked at the world and recognized that there was something missing for men. They saw that men’s beauty, joy, connection, true power and potential was getting lost in a broken model of what masculinity was ‘supposed to’ be. They decided to start changing the world, one man at a time.
Powerful men, with influence and resources, had been highly successful in manifesting a vision of the world that we now see as lacking in some fundamental values. Chain of command, power consolidation, hierarchy, domination, administrative controls, all served to get us where we are, but are no longer adequate to take us where we need to go. Values that we recognize now as essential: sustainability, cultural and gender diversity, environmental integrity, nimble and responsive organizations, market adaptability, empowerment, equity and equality were largely missing in “traditional masculine models.” Though they may not have been able to articulate it, I think the founders knew in their bones what was needed.
Today, businesses, corporations, and organizations are evolving to embrace what we have held sacred for decades; that men’s emotional intelligence, purpose, and authenticity are essential to building a better world.
We in the Mankind Project have also held some traditional beliefs and attitudes which are slowly changing. This has led us to sponsor The Better Man Conference [http://www.bettermanconference.com/]. We have been focused primarily on initiating men through the New Warrior Training Adventure. The NWTA is a transformative weekend, the bedrock of what we do as a training organization, and the doorway to our global community. This inward journey of personal growth, emotional intimacy, and increasing maturity for all members is core to who we are. And we are on a spiral of growth.
So, as businesses are beginning to do the inner work, the ManKind Project USA is doing the outer work — to be there for this essential transition.
Now, we are evolving to include a growing awareness of our place among other organizations serving all men and women, their children and the communities that they live in. We want to be a part of this growing partnership of organizations, groups, and initiatives that take on the social issues that create so much of the trouble in the world. So, we have begun to face outward.
As an organization, we have engaged individually and now more collectively to take action on the many issues often lumped together as violence and often expressed as Male Violence. Violence towards ourselves as men, through suicide, addiction, depression, isolation. Violence towards others through domestic violence, child abuse, assault. Economic violence through poverty, homelessness, and exploitation. Cultural violence through racism, sexism, ageism, and, of course, war. Much of this violence is perpetrated by men, on men, women, children, and society. This must stop!
We will be at the Better Man Conference as Breakthrough Sponsors to bring all that we have learned, and to learn from all of the other participants. Because of the work we do, we know that men can change and get better in any area in which they are willing to do the work.
We hope that this conference will impact men and women in the business world as significantly as our work affects men in their individual lives. When men understand that they don’t have to do it alone, they don’t have to be perfect and that the very thing they fear the most about themselves is the source of the energy source that will drive initiatives of gender equity in the workplace and other significant improvements in our society.
Please join us at the Better Man Conference in San Francisco, on April 7-8, 2016. Be part of the evolution of MKP USA and the evolution of business.
See you there,
Julien
