And Then It Happened: LCN’s Third Global Leaders Convening Comes to Life in Mexico

From January 16–19, 2025, the Leading Change Network (LCN) held its third in-person convening, bringing together 22 global leaders spearheading the charge of building organized people power methodologically. It had been a decade since our last face-to-face meeting at the LCN Global Affiliates Gathering in Serbia in 2015, preceded by the 2012 Learning Conference. 

The day finally arrived: the “Dream Conference” came to life as we welcomed our friends to Cuernavaca. From ten countries—Australia, Canada, Denmark, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Tanzania, and the United States—they traveled: Ana Haule, Andrew Crespo, Anita Tang, Aprajita Pandey, Art Reyes, Dan Grandone, Emily Lin, Jacob Waxman, Kanoko Kamata, Kortni Malone, Mais Irqsusi, Mariali Cardenas, Marshall Ganz, Mike Perry, Nisreen Haj, Nneka Akubeze, Noorulain Masood, Pedja Stojicic, Reem Manaa, Rune Baastrup, Sarah ElRaheb, and Tanvi Girotra.

Our first morning was a joyful reunion of hugs and laughter. We began with a sacred Indigenous ritual led by a local shaman, who cleansed our spirits and grounded us in the land, preparing us for the work ahead.

With gratitude and intention, we dove into building deep connections. In true LCN style—with vulnerability, heart, and honest friendship—we explored the values that define our community: growth, presence, purpose, calm, leadership, agency, joy, determination, and resilience. As we confront global crises like climate change, war, and rising authoritarianism, these values remind us of our collective strength and purpose.

Despite the world’s challenges, our commitment to each other and our shared purpose reignited our hope. We identified our shared resources and envisioned a future informed by three core theories of change:

1. Pedagogy (led by Jake and Tanvi): To spread, safeguard, and evolve the organizing practices globally, nurturing an inclusive and empowering organizing culture to advance a paradigm shift in leadership rooted in freedom, justice, equity, agency, and learning for all. 
2. Organizations (led by Reem, Noor, and Pedja): To build people power locally and scale it globally through organizations, anchoring the framework in the context of real communities and human capabilities toward creating the world we want to live in. 
3. Global Movement (led by Aprajita and Nneka): To enhance freedom, justice, equity, and life in the world by shifting the paradigm of power from domination, money, arms, and access to people power. 

This conference marked a milestone in our collective journey, as we asked how our work could transcend individual efforts to create a greater, unified impact. For years, we have aspired to collaborate in this way—and now, that dream is coming true.

Organizations joining us included Ahel, Australian Progress, Community Organizing Japan, CSIDC, Democracy X, Haiyya, Harvard Kennedy School-Practicing Democracy Project, Institute for Change Leaders, Leading Change Network, MS TCDC, People Power Health, Via Educación, We the People MI, and Wild Project.

We closed with a vibrant celebration: dancing, singing, and releasing old burdens into the fire. We then immersed ourselves in Mexican culture—from visiting the National Anthropology Museum, savoring delicious traditional food, strolling through the Zócalo, and picking up local handcrafts for loved ones.

As we said goodbye, we felt the enduring power of our shared mission. The Dream Conference concluded, leaving us with renewed purpose and a collective belief in LCN’s and its affiliated organizations’ potential to drive meaningful change in a world that needs it now more than ever.