Homeward bound project, an initiative to create woman leaders for a sustainable future

Homeward Bound is a groundbreaking leadership, strategic and science initiative for women, set against the backdrop of Antarctica.
The initiative, turned global movement, aims to enlighten the influence and impact of women with a science background in order to influence policy and decision making in order to create a sustainable future. The project was the idea of Fabian Dattner (leadership activist and partner at Dattner Grant) and Jess Melbourne Thomas (Antarctic Marine Ecological Modeler).

The project is supported by a world leading global faculty who are experts in their various domains, including a filmed faculty with contributors such Dr Jane Goodall (primatologist and environmental campaigner); Franny Armstrong (film maker behind ‘The Age of Stupid’, 100 most influential women); Dr Sylvia Earle (global leading Marine Biologist, explorer, author, and lecturer); Christiana Figueres (Former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change); Dr Amy Edmondson (Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School); Dr Susan David (Co-Founder and Director of the Institute of Coaching, awarded speaker and coach, Harvard A-lister); Clare Bowditch (award-winning Australian singer and activist); Dr Robert Kaplan (developed Balanced Score Card strategy execution methodology); and Valerie Taylor (shark expert, known for her conservation advocacy and films).

The objectives of the project are:

• To elevate each participant’s leadership capabilities.
• To educate the team on the science of what is happening to our planet.
• To refine participants’ skills to design and execute strategy, and to create plans for a sustainable future.
• To enhance these skills, over a 10-year target, with 1000 women.

The project will be operational for a period of twenty days. The team led by Greg Mortimer OAM, will set sail from Ushuaia in Argentina on 2 December 2016. Twelve days of state of the art leadership and strategic planning training will delivered by Kit Jackson, Fabian Dattner and other experts in their fields. Six days of a cutting edge science education program incorporating the most up to date and relevant research about the state and functioning of our planet will be imparted by leading Australian academics.

The primary reason behind choosing women for this project is that Globally, women have always been underrepresented in leadership despite increasing dialogue and process/systems changes.
Women take up a significant percentage of our workforce. However, they are in the profound minority globally when it comes to executive decision making roles.