My journey towards a more sustainable world started in 1987 on a dark and foggy November evening in St. Gallen. I rushed to my first meeting with a group of students who had just founded oikos, but the first attempt failed. I tried again and finally found the group of enthusiastic young students.
Why did I look for oikos? In 1986, I was shocked by the nuclear accident of the atomic reactor in Chernobyl and by the blast of the chemical facility Schweizerhalle next to Basel. Convinced that the change must start in the economy, I decided to study environmental economics at the University of St. Gallen. As a member of oikos, I had a unique chance to co-organise the first two oikos conferences with a great team.
These conferences as well as the long discussions in the oikos team about the right way to go, influenced my professional career a lot. During my studies, I became interested in integrated solutions for sustainable development and started researching on participatory multi-stakeholder processes. The insights were summarised in my thesis “Public-Private Partnerships for Regional Development”. Then I got the opportunity to apply my knowledge in an interdisciplinary team supporting the Mayor of the City of Zurich in implementing a more coherent and sustainable urban development. In 2002, it was time for a new experience, and I started as Executive Director of a small foundation and as an international consultant for development cooperation and humanitarian aid. I worked in many countries and specialized in knowledge management and knowledge sharing networks. This was THE topic at the time, and we believed with better knowledge we could get better solutions.
For the last ten years, I had the chance of leading a great Swiss Foundation working towards better quality education and intercultural understandings in Switzerland and 12 other countries. Providing quality education is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, the education of girls is considered by experts as one of the most effective solutions to fight climate change. Leading an NGO was a completely new experience for me, and I learned a lot about leadership, organizational change, and belief systems.
Throughout my career, I observed that the most elaborate participatory processes, the best knowledge or quality education do not always lead to a better world for all. Even NGOs with ambitions to create a more sustainable world sometimes fail or even draw out dysfunctional systems and poverty despite their best intentions. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I became increasingly interested in self-development and mindfulness. On this journey I got new insights and realized how much we are stuck in our thinking patterns, concepts and behavior, experiences we individually and collectively have been gathering in the past. This limits our search for new solutions.
32 years ago, I started my journey towards a more sustainable world. Although there have been many frustrations, I’m still convinced that another world is possible. However, we must go beyond the limiting concept of sustainability and strive for a positive impact for a thriving world.
Today it is my mission to pass on my long-standing experience as a coach to leaders striving to make a positive difference on this planet and guide them in crystallizing their potentials and in realizing their aspiration to transform the world.
Urs Karl Egger was a member of oikos St. Gallen in 1987-1989.
