Hosted WITH THE SUPPORT AND partnership OF THE MCNULTY FOUNDATION
What does it look like to govern amid contested sovereignty, cultural erasure, and competing legal systems – for centuries? Building on immersive seminars in Colombia and Rwanda, the Leadership In Conflict series heads to Santa Fe, New Mexico in the fall of 2026. Created in partnership with Dawson Her Many Horses (Finance Leaders Fellowship) and supported by the McNulty Foundation, join fellow Fellows to explore that question through the lens of Pueblo nations and Indigenous leadership.
When the Ground Keeps Shifting: Indigenous Leadership in New Mexico
For centuries, New Mexico’s Indigenous communities have faced what many global leaders now confront: questions of contested authority, cultural survival, and governance under pressure. While the world debates whose voices matter and which institutions have legitimacy, Pueblo nations have been answering these questions for centuries—maintaining self-governance despite systematic attempts at elimination.
Alongside fellow Fellows, explore ongoing tensions experienced by Indigenous leaders in New Mexico, where three competing systems of authority operate simultaneously: Tribal/Pueblo governance, US federal law, and New Mexico state law. Pueblos are sovereign nations, but their sovereignty is constantly challenged, limited, or ignored. Who has authority over water rights? Land use? Criminal jurisdiction? Environmental protection?
Yet through it all, Pueblo leadership remains resilient: rooted in stewardship, restraint, and responsibility, earned through service not conferred by title, and seven-generation thinking not quarterly returns. Their experiences offer an alternative to tried leadership approaches that are struggling to meet this moment.
As the climate crisis intensifies resource conflicts, authoritarianism challenges democratic norms, and social fracture accelerates globally, the questions Pueblo leaders answer daily become universal.
- How do you lead when your authority is recognized but constantly contested?
- How do you lead while keeping in mind deep time horizons when systems demand immediate results?
- How do you preserve what’s sacred while engaging the systems that threaten it?
- How do you maintain cultural integrity under relentless pressure to assimilate or compromise?
Indigenous learnings on resilience, continuity, and leading through perpetual structural conflict has much to offer leaders navigating this particular moment. This gathering offers Fellows direct engagement with leaders who have navigated what many are just beginning to face: the long work of survival, sovereignty, and transformation when the ground never stops shifting beneath you.
The Experience
This four-day experiential program puts Fellows in proximity to New Mexico’s journey through colonization, cultural survival, and Indigenous-led renewal. It is an invitation for global leaders to explore governance as it’s actually practiced across competing value systems and time horizons. Programming will begin at 5:00PM MST on Tuesday, September 15 and finish at 1:00PM on Saturday, September 19, 2026.
Cost to Attend – $750USD
Inclusive of:
- All meals, snacks and coffee on program days (from Tuesday dinner through Friday lunch)
- Lodging at the hotel/venue
- All program materials (readings, etc.)
- Excursions and site visits
Make Your Commitment to Act
This experience is a stepping stone for action. Supported by the community you build during this journey, and in collaboration with the developing Leadership In Conflict community who have gone before you, you’ll craft a personal Commitment to Act: a pledge to spark meaningful transformation in your own context. This could look like:
- Building the societal trust needed to bridge divides
- Influencing key stakeholders toward more ethical leadership
- Reimagining the organizations and institutions in your sphere as forces for repair and renewal
- Creating conditions for dialogue across difference in polarized environments
Who Should Join
- Lived experience with conflict or are currently leading in divided societies
- Community influence and a desire to amplify their impact for positive change
- Deep curiosity about leadership’s role in social transformation
- Active commitment to applying these lessons meaningfully in their own context
Ready to explore what it means to lead through our most challenging moments?
Space is limited to ensure intimate dialogue and meaningful connection.
Application Process
Ready to explore what it means to lead through our most challenging moments? Submit your application below.
Space is intentionally limited to 22 participants to ensure intimate dialogue and meaningful connection. Acceptance to this cohort will be based on:
- Your personal connection to conflict or leadership in divided communities
- How this experience aligns with your current leadership challenges and goals
- The potential impact you can create in your sphere of influence
- Your commitment to translating insights from this experience into impact in your own context
Apply to share more about your background, why you’re drawn to this experience, and how you plan to apply these learnings in your community.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis within two weeks of submission.
Scholarships
The full cost to attend this experience is $3,500. However, thanks to the generosity of the McNulty Foundation, we are pleased to offer a subsidized registration rate of $750.
Limited scholarship funds will be available to help with travel costs as needed. If you would like to request additional needs-based scholarship support, please indicate this in your application form.
Program Curators
Dawson Her Many Horses, Managing Director, Wells Fargo, Finance Leaders Fellowship
Traci Dove, CEO, Tapestry Collective, Pahara Fellowship, Moderator-in-Residence
Tracy L. Canard Goodluck, Executive Director, Center for Native American Youth
