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Co-Founder of The Big Questions Institute. Author and Adviser on Innovation, Change, Strategy, Futures, Cultural Competence, Global Citizenship, Belonging, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
For over three decades, Homa’s work has addressed themes of strategy, change, culture, innovation, leadership, global citizenship and global competence, and deep diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion. Homa is the author of best-selling Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World (Random House), Global Kids (Barefoot Books), and co-author of five additional books for educators, including the just-released 12 Big Questions Schools Must Answer to Imagine Irresistible Futures.
Homa advises and trains K-12 schools and Boards around the world, and a wide range of organizations, from Fortune 50 to small companies and mission-driven not-for-profits. She coaches leaders on accountability for equity, leading through crisis, and launching inclusive and transformational practices. She is co-founder of BigQuestions.Institute and OnenessLab.com. She has served on a variety of boards, including International Schools Services and is a judge for the Templeton Prize, an award calibrated to exceed the Nobel Prize purse.
A graduate of UCLA and Princeton University, Homa was born in Iran, has lived on four continents, and has heritage in four world religions. She and her husband live just outside Philadelphia, and they are the parents of three adult daughters.
12 Big Questions School Must Answer to Imagine Irresistible Futures
Friday 10.40-11.40
This session offers a guided exploration the just-released ebook on 12 Big Questions (free download here), following the popular 9 BIG Questions Schools Must Answer to Avoid Going "Back to Normal" (*Because "Normal" Wasn't That Great to Begin With) by Tavangar and Richardson. The big questions are being used as a provocation by Trustees, leaders, and educators around the world to drive meaningful and fearless inquiry around school change and efficacy in the midst of volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) conditions in the world and in education.
Through probing, interactive activities we will audit and explore questions such as What is Learning? Why Do We ______? Who is Unheard? and Are We OK? as well as the three new questions: What is Your Story? What is Success? and What is Your Legacy? Embarking on a systematic interrogation of key questions, our “why” becomes clearer, to unlock new “how’s” for steering schools through crisis and uncertainty.
From Othering to Belonging: Building Psychological Safety, Community, and Joyful Learning Through a Commitment to Belonging
Saturday 09.45-10.45
In this session we will explore real examples from various international schools and practical strategies that lead to lasting change through a shared commitment to “belonging” across a school culture. During a time when a combination of letters “DEIJ” can create division or misunderstanding within a community, a path toward “belonging” has been shown to offer shared language, vision, and values that might unite and build community. After examining what is really meant by “belonging,’ and the design principles that flow from it, we will consider ways to diminish polarization and enhance leadership for equity and belonging, invite parents as partners, listen to and learn from student voice, and ensure “windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors” in a culturally responsive curriculum.