Saturday, August 30, 2008
10 AM – 12:30 PM
Suggested Donation: $10 – $20

Anticipating a convention hangover?
Boulder Integral has the cure!

A Conversation with Steve McIntosh and Special Guest Drexel Sprecher

In order to define an authentic progressive politics you must integrate the opposites that define contemporary political debate in a way that is consistent with universal developmental principles. Political theories and causes that claim to be “progressive” or even “transformational” without this integration often prevent realization of the human ends to which their proponents are committed.

In this off-the-record session, author Steve McIntosh will host political philosopher and leadership educator Drexel Sprecher in a conversation about the relationship between developmental theory and practical politics. This conversation will explore the tensions between left and right in the context of universal stages of human development. The conversation will enable you to recognize some of the limitations of the orthodoxies of left and right and identify new and more revealing ways to view current issues.

Drexel will also present highlights of the Common Destiny™ political and policy framework and explain why it is the most promising social contract for the digital age.

About Drexel Sprecher

Drexel Sprecher is a pioneer in the field of transformational political leadership and the relationship between political philosophy and leadership education. Drexel is Senior Research Officer at American Renaissance Corporation and the primary developer of the American Renaissance™ leadership education programs. These programs are the first programs to combine political theory, developmental theory, systems theory, cultural renewal theory, political realignment theory, and practical politics into an integrated approach to politics, civics, governance, and leadership.

For the last several years Drexel has been developing the Common Destiny™ political and policy framework. Drexel is now working with Institute for Democratic Realignment to develop a new series of political leadership development programs based on the Common Destiny™ framework. The Common Destiny™ leadership programs will offer the prospect of integrating leadership development, policy development, message development, and constituency development into a coherent approach to progressive politics.

Drexel served as a consultant on the founding, organizational design, and curriculum for the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland and as an adjunct professor at the university. He was a founding member of the politics department of Integral Institute.

Drexel currently consults to technology companies on ways to maximize the social and environmental value of their products and services.

Drexel has played a variety of roles in Democratic presidential campaigns. He is one of a very small number of individuals to attend the annual conferences of both the Democratic Leadership Council and the Netroots Nation. He will have attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention during the week before this event.

About Steve McIntosh

Steve McIntosh is the author of Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution: How the Integral Worldview Is Transforming Politics, Culture, and Spirituality (Paragon House 2007). He is an original member of Integral Institute, and has taught integral philosophy to a wide variety of audiences. In October of 2007 What Is Enlightenment? Magazine featured an extensive interview of Steve entitled Integral Politics Comes of Age, and referred to him as “integral thinker par excellence.”

An honors graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and the University of Southern California Business School, today Steve is founder and president of Now & Zen, an international manufacturing company marketing “natural lifestyle products” which he has invented, including the famous Zen Alarm Clock. Steve is a long-time participant in progressive culture, he has traveled extensively throughout the world, and has had a variety of successful careers, practicing law with one of the nation’s biggest firms, and working as an executive with Celestial Seasonings tea company.