A Call to Mind

When face-to-face meetings became untenable last March, the Institute’s Executive Leadership Seminars team launched the Resources for Living and Leading website. “Alumni and others told us of their hunger for meaningful connection while social distancing,” says Todd Breyfogle, the Institute’s managing director of Seminars. “They wanted to reflect on what a better society might look like post-pandemic.” The website’s three sections let them do just that. “Heartspace” offers daily meditations based on short readings. “Headspace” offers essays and a weekly curriculum with guiding questions and advice on meaningful exchanges. And “Commonspace” hosts two weekly dialogues: “The Pursuit of Happiness Hour” and “The Connected Learning Seminar,” each with curated readings. As a public offering, the new site opens the Institute’s seminar room to all. “I’m in Zoom meetings all day,” one participant says. “I come to the virtual Aspen space twice a week, because this is the only time I’m asked to think.” The global reach has enriched conversations, too. “It’s food for my soul,” says another participant, who wakes at two o’clock in the morning to join from New Delhi. “The online community of dialogue is vibrant,” says Breyfogle. “We’re renewed in mind and spirit.”

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