Overview

In a world where the dominant paradigm has separated humans from the rest of nature and is leading us ever deeper into chaos and polycrisis, this handbook of Kincentric Leadership offers a rich seam of hope and a radically different way forward. Rooted in the understanding that human beings are inseparable from the wider web of life, it invites readers to listen to, learn from, and work with the intelligence of the more-than-human world and an animate, sacred Earth. Drawing on Indigenous knowledge, the cutting-edge science of animal and plant sentience, ecological holism, biomimicry, systems thinking, decolonial theory, perennial wisdom, and embodied knowing, it invites readers to cultivate kinship with the more-than-human world and reimagine leadership not as a purely human affair, but as a practice of reciprocity and cocreation with all life. Kincentric Leadership weaves together sacredness, interdependence, animacy, kinship, diversity, justice, belonging, and the courage to navigate global crises, offering a holistic path for (re)weaving our relationship with the Earth. It speaks equally to personal, organisational, and systemic transformation, inviting a shift in how we live, lead, and collaborate as part of a living ecosystem of change. More than a manual, it serves as a trusted companion-supporting individuals, teams, and communities as they integrate kincentric principles into their daily lives and leadership journeys. Organised around eight guiding principles, thirty-four capacities, and over one hundred practices, the handbook offers practical, achievable pathways for placing the wellbeing of the whole web of life at the centre of governance, strategy, operations, and culture. It includes twelve inspiring stories of kincentric practice from around the world and a self-assessment benchmarking tool to celebrate strengths, identify new possibilities, set meaningful goals and track your journey over time Whether you are taking your first steps into kincentric lifeways and leadership, or seeking to deepen existing practice, this book offers a comprehensive guide for both navigating the challenges and unfolding the real possibilities of our time. At heart, it is a call to action and a blueprint for a regenerative, just, and thriving world, rekindling our innate capacity to live in right relationship with all life. It is a doorway into a way of life that is both new and ancient, and into the power that lies in collaborating with the vast and diverse intelligences of our more-than-human kin. In an age of polycrisis, this is not only an ethical invitation but a practical and joyful pathway for finding our place within the communities of life that sustain our shared home. Through its invitation to serve, belong, and cocreate with an animate Earth, it calls forth a renewed sense of stewardship for the wellbeing of present and future generations.

Full Product Details

9781919315812

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Reading this handbook, my heart sang again and again. cocreating with a Living, Intelligent Earth: A Handbook for Kincentric Leaders is a profound and practical guide to remembering who we are-kin among kin in a vast, intelligent web of life. Justine Huxley and Anna Kovasna offer a vision that is both ancient and urgently needed: leadership rooted in belonging, reverence, and reciprocity. Every page invites us to step into right relationship-with the Earth, with one another, and with ourselves. This is the world I want to live in. This is the future the Earth-and all our kin-are calling us to cocreate."" - Kaira Jewel Lingo (Author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption, co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation) ""We are in the throes of a global-scale polycrisis and heading deeper. We can navigate through and out of this condition. But it will require appropriate forms of leadership across all communities. More than anything, this leadership must be based on elementary reality: our kinship with all fellow life on Earth. This is the starting point of this remarkable handbook. It is an invaluable guide for anyone dedicated to navigating what is to come."" - Laurie Laybourn (Executive Director, Strategic Climate Risks Initiative) ""I have been through the Kincentric Leadership process myself and found it to be incredibly rich and thought provoking. This handbook is an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to lead, or indeed live, from a more kincentric standpoint. This guide is inspiring and educational in equal measure and I thoroughly recommend it. The world needs this."" - Rachel Corby (Author of Rewilding & The Art Of Plant Whispering and Rewild Yourself: Becoming Nature) ""This handbook and toolkit brings together so many aspects of what it means to lead from within the web of life. The principles and capacities are expressed beautifully and it's so valuable to have such a wide range of practices collated in one place and that cover both personal and collective ways of engaging. There will be something for everyone - to either find a way in, or to deepen their capacities. As this is the most important thing we can do at this time, this book is essential reading."" - Jenny Rouquette (Founder of Rooted Lifeways.)

Author Information

Dr Justine Afra Huxley is a writer, facilitator, spiritual ecologist and visionary. She co-founded the project Kincentric Leadership with Anna Kovasna, and leads workshops, retreats and trainings in many locations on how to align leadership and decision-making with the principle of kinship with all life. Justine is fascinated by many kinship-connected themes, including how we reclaim Earth-based spiritual practice; how we align our lives with natural cycles; and how we can enter into artistic collaboration with Earth and Her beings. For many years she was the CEO of St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, where she innovated programmes at the intersection of ecology, spirituality and peace-making. She has a Ph.D. in psychology and belongs to a Sufi community which has, over the last two decades, consistently oriented its focus towards reweaving our relationship with Earth and meeting the needs of our times. She has led meditation and dreamwork groups within that tradition for over twenty years. She is the author of Generation Y, Spirituality and Social Change, a collection of stories about how the younger generations are reinventing spirituality and social action. Anna Kovasna is a systems thinker, creative convenor, and passionate weaver of collective resilience and kinship with all life. She co-founded Kincentric Leadership with Justine Huxley, and works with communities globally to catalyse systems change and regenerative practice rooted in animist and relational worldviews. Through her longstanding work with the Global Ecovillage Network, Anna connects pioneering projects exploring how local communities can adapt, respond, regenerate, and inspire amid deepening polycrisis. She is also a co-founder of the Living Systems Alliance, a cross-movement initiative accelerating more-than-human governance and living systems design at a bioregional scale. Anna's approach blends participatory research, systemic frameworks, community-building, and a curiosity-driven, playful spirit. She creates spaces and tools for cocreation, regenerative design, and transformative learning, strengthening resilience and solidarity within and between communities worldwide. With a background in social anthropology, Anna has taught, researched, and worked internationally while remaining deeply rooted in grassroots movements for change. After many transformative years as a member of the Findhorn Ecovillage, she now lives in a multispecies community on a vegetarian permaculture homestead in the Pyrenees. Lyla June is an Indigenous musician, author, and community organiser of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences across the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing. She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. Her doctoral research focused on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans.

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