10 Steps to handle complexity and change
Due to technological and other changes, our political systems, democracy, rule of law, business opportunities, the world, and life itself are in a rupture.
People handle change differently and in a world of rapid changes, we need to understand how to handle both changes and complexity.
Nordic Secret 3.0 takes you through 10 modules of 2½ hours each. Each module will give you a new prism through which to see and grasp the world and your challenges. Your perspectives will change.
Each module is a combination of presentations, discussions, and group exercises. There are 30 minutes of preparation for each iteration.
Professionals from such diverse fields as medicine, economy, communication, engineering, consulting, and plumbing have joined previous versions of the course when we called it Nordic Bildung Future Academy.
Program details below.
The lasting effect of these bildung sessions is that I conduct meetings, I organize discussions, and I approach large, complex issues in ways that mimic these sessions, and they have created results I’ve never had before–and results that last
Torben Riise,
Danish goodwill ambassador to the US
Tested by History: What secret and why Nordic?
Humans have immense capabilities for handling change–if they have the knowledge and capacity to do so.
Nordic history shows how it can be done, and this course is a continuation of that history.
During the overwhelming transition from agricultural feudal societies to industrialized democracies in the 1800s, the Nordic countries developed new education that got the Nordics safely and peacefully through the changes. We call that Nordic Secret 1.0.
In the 1930s, when many Europeans fell for authoritarianism, farmers and workers in the Nordics self-organized and kept democracy alive through their own actions. We call that Nordic Secret 2.0.
Welcome to Nordic Secret 3.0.
The world needs hope. Currently, for a lot of people, there are not a lot of places to go find it. So we have to self-organize and create it. That is fundamentally what this course is about, and I love to host it because I can see that it makes a difference!
Lene Rachel Andersen
Author of The Nordic Secret
What some of our previous participants say:
I’m falling up. I am bombarded with new thoughts, stories, quite unexpected viewpoints and experiences. This is called Nordic Bildung Future Academy, and I really love the way this unusual program is constructed and run: without fears, with plenty of jokes and good humor, and high-level thinking. This is true learning—making me feel like my mind is actually expanding. It really is: UP!
Mihail Krikunov
Dean, Kyiv School of Economics,
Ukraine
Lene constructed a sandbox for us to play in with Zen-like mastery—using few parts so we can play freely, yet enough parts for us to experience the topic in a new light, untethered to our specific version of the past journey to this moment.
Dr Milja Franck
Co-convenor of the Economy Working Group of the Global Compassion Coalition,
France
Participating in the Nordic Bildung Future Academy has been like opening new windows of possibilities in my mind. Grounded scientific content and disruptive, innovative ideas brougth with wisdom and care by Lene Rachel Andersen in each module enhances the curiosity and willingness to cocreate a more meaninful future for education and society.
Inês Medeiros
Psychologist and founder of Values Move,
Brazil
Nordic Secret 3.0 online
Host & teacher: Lene Rachel Andersen, author of The Nordic Secret
2026 price: €399
If you are not in Europe, Canada, or the US, please contact us for a discount.
Feb.-April
19:00-21:30 CET
- Session 1: Feb. 17
- Session 2: Feb. 24
- Session 3: Mar. 3
- Session 4: Mar. 10
- Session 5: Mar. 17
- Session 6: Mar. 24
- Session 7: Mar. 31
- Session 8: Apr. 7
- Session 9: Apr. 14
- Session 10: Apr. 21
- Course may end on Apr. 28
takes you to network.globalbildung.net
July-Sept. 10:00-12:30 CET
- Session 1: July 9
- Session 2: July 16
- Session 3: July 23
- Session 4: July:30
- Session 5: Aug. 6
- Session 6: Aug. 13
- Session 7: Aug. 20
- Session 8: Aug. 27
- Session 9: Sep. 3
- Session 10: Sep. 10
- Course may end on Sep. 17
takes you to network.globalbildung.net
Sept.-Nov.
19:00-21:30 CET
- Session 1: Sept. 16
- Session 2: Sept. 23
- Session 3: Sept. 30
- Session 4: Oct. 14
- Session 5: Oct. 21
- Session 6: Oct. 28
- Session 7: Nov. 4
- Session 8: Nov 11
- Session 0: Nov. 18
- Session 10: Nov. 25
- Course may end on Dec. 2
takes you to network.globalbildung.net
Nordic Secret 3.0 Live in Copenhagen
If you are in Copenhagen and would rather do the course in two full days, Wednesday-Thursday, March 11-12 from 09:00 to 17:00, please write us at .
Coffee, tea, lunches and snacks are included, and the price is the same.
If you are booking with a discount, please book here:
Sign up with a discountSession 1: State of the World; what is changing?
What are the changes we are facing? Technologically, economically, societally and existentially? And how complex are things going to get?
This first session presents an overview of the situation for people, planet, politics, profits, and potentials. It also raises crucial questions such as: What does it mean to be human in the 21st Century? What are our challenges? What are our possibilities? What kind of future do we want? What gives you hope? How do we keep our humanity and unfold as individuals, communities and a species?
What you’ll get:
You will see a bigger picture that will allow you to make better long term decisions. You will see your own situation in a new light.
Session 2: How do different people handle change?
People handle change differently. In this session, we will explore how, and we will look into how bildung philosophy and developmental psychology can help us understand ourselves and others better.
Bildung is two kinds of knowledge: Transferable knowledge that allows us to understand the world as it changes, and non-transferable knowledge, which allows us to handle the changes. The non-transferable knowledge comes from life experience and the arts, and the combination of the transferable and non-transferable knowledge and one’s struggles with them are bildung, and bildung is the process as well as the result.
Emotional and moral development, i.e. non-transferable knowledge, are described by developmental psychology, and this module therefore introduces both bildung and developmental psychology.
What you’ll get
You will get a better overall understanding of yourself and people around you, why change stresses some and not others, and why some (work) relationships work and others are filled with conflict.
More on the topic:
Session 3: How do different cultures handle change?
Indigenous, traditional, modern, and postmodern societies handle change fundamentally differently. This session will explore how and why, and we will discuss how we can address these different abilities to handle change.
As societies grow in size and complexity, and as communication technology evolves, so do our moral norms and cultural codes. History is by no means linear, but there is development over time, and there are structures in those changes that allow us to understand values systems and cultural clashes in more advanced ways than just “they are different.”
This module also includes an introduction to hypermodernity, metamodernism 1, metamodernism 2, and polymodernity.
What you’ll get
You will be able to meet multicultural challenges and grasp cultural clashes among individuals, between individuals and organizations, and in society at large. Particularly as we all face major changes.
More on the topic:
Video and article were created before we changed the name metamodernity to polymodernity
Session 4: Where to find safety that allows us to handle change
Too many changes cause us to loose our foothold. ‘Circles of belonging’ will help us explore where and how to find and create our foothold and safety as the world around us changes.
Public education has spent the past 200 years teaching everybody to be good nation-state citizens. Now the nations are dwarfed by globalization, and families are falling apart too; how do we handle that? (Not well, but we could…)
As the world connects through social media and global markets, where do we belong? Where is Home? Where do we feel a sense of belonging, where do we feel commitment and responsibility, and where do we have it within our means to make a difference?
We will explore this through the Circles of Belonging, and we will look at the crucial role that the nation state plays in cultural development and global stability.
What you’ll get
This session allows you to see your many social roles in connection and where you can make a difference right away. It provides you with a tool to calibrate your expectation and your relationships so that they match the group size well.
Session 5: Technological Development; changes in the pipeline
When Gutenberg invented the printing press, Europe fundamentally changed, and from 1618 to 1648, the new political situation caused the 30-Year War. The steam engine and the conveyor belt led to revolutions and, eventually, WW2. We are facing even bigger changes with the current technological development.
Biotechnology, Information technology, Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology, Cognitive technologies, Quantum computers, Crypto currencies, and 3D printers are about to fundamentally change what it means to be human.
This module presents the forefront of technological development and the dilemmas it raises.
What you’ll get
A tech map that allows you to navigate the overall development and contribute to an informed debate about tech and the future of humanity. It will also allow you to consciously position yourself: What kind of life would make sense for you in the 21st century?
Session 6: Where to go looking for personal strength
Need organizational change to match the challenges? Need employees and colleagues who can think for themselves and take responsibility? Need personal robustness, hope, and strength? Call in the educators! In this session we are going to explore how education and bildung can allow us to handle the changes—and we are going to address the shortcomings of psychology, which is so often called to the rescue.
Psychology helps us understand people the way the they are; it is a helpful analytical tool. But psychology has also been used by the business world to manipulate us to produce more and to consume more, which is exactly why we are facing the problems we are facing.
We will explore the differences between bildung, pedagogy, education, and psychology, and you will get an introduction to the philosophers of pedagogy, who can help us deal with complexity and change: Comenius, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, John Dewey, N.F.S. Grundtvig, Christen Kold, Ellen Key, Myles Horton, and Paulo Freire.
What you’ll get
In times of turbulence we need new education. We need new pedagogy and bildung. An understanding of the interplay between how we think and behave, and how we learn. And an understanding of what a powerful and emancipating approach education can be if we do it right.
More on the topic:
Session 7: Meaningful and wholesome collective changes
Are you, your community, your country, and/or your organization thriving, and is there a quick way to find your blind angles if you are not? Are you contributing to sustainability and societal thriving, and is there a shortcut you can take if it is not the case?
This session introduces the Bildung Rose, which describes society through seven domains: production, technology, aesthetics, power, science, narrative, and ethics. All functioning societies have these seven domains, and the more they are in balance, the more resilient and well-functioning the society.
But it is not just society, it is also your own life that is richer and more meaningful if it encompasses all seven domains. Hence the name Bildung Rose.
The Bildung Rose is a helpful tool for self-discovery and improvement, alone or together with others.
What you’ll get
This session gives you a tool for more diverse thinking to improve your life, community, country and/or your organization.
We will explore the “inner workings” of the model and how you can use it.
More on the topic:
Session 8: Systems Thinking, Complexity, and Change — Part I
Though things change rapidly, there are stable patterns in the way the changes unfold. Awareness about these stable patterns can help you grasp the changes and navigate them safely. It is even possible to get a “free ride” on some of the processes in the changes.
The patterns can also be seen as shortcuts for sense-making. Once you understand these patterns, the big picture becomes much simpler.
This session introduces scale-free networks and theory of complexity (as defined by Brian Arthur). As abstract as this may sound, we will work with hands-on every-day examples.
What you’ll get
After this session, the overall development in history and in dynamic societies and organizations will be less confusing and overwhelming, and you will be able to grasp your context and better position yourself. You’ll be a much safer driver in the changes that unfold.
Session 9: Systems Thinking, Complexity, and Change — Part II
In this second session about complexity, we will look at the process of evolution, in biology as well as in culture and society.
The module also relates systems thinking to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
What you’ll get
This session adds to the previous and you will be able to see how several patterns interact.
Session 10: The Future of Freedom and Democracy
How do we best protect, develop, and spread the modes of self-organization, responsibility, and governance that allow individuals and communities to thrive and achieve the highest degrees of fulfillment?
What you’ll get
Deep conversations about how we move on as a civilization and as a species.
Session 11: You Present — if you would like to
After 10 sessions of Nordic Secret 3.0, you now get the opportunity to connect your own work to the content of the course and to share it with the rest of the participants.
Depending on the number of people who sign up for this, each participant will get 10 to 15 minutes for their presentation + feedback from the rest of the group. If everybody wants to make a presentation, we may add more hours or more dates; time will show…
What you’ll get
This is when you will learn the most…