At one of the UN COPs I was early for an evening reception, wandering the rooms of an inappropriately luxurious villa. Golden eagle faucets in the bathroom. Another guest was equally lost, and with time to kill we started talking. Knowing nothing about each other’s organizations, we went straight to what each of us believed was truly at the heart of the environmental crisis. We’ve worked together for over two years since, in a non-profit built around the structural deficits we named that evening.
It happened again at a climate summit, at a packed restaurant where a stranger let us join his table. He ran the local office of a major financial institution and had nothing to do with the event. What he told me from inside that industry changed my mind about why things stay stuck, and how they get unstuck. Years later, we’re still honest sounding boards for each other.
Neither conversation was on any agenda.
Room after room, across sectors, organizations, and standards bodies, the pattern held. Committed leaders, with real mandates and a real desire to make a difference, stuck in surface-level conversation. The exchange that mattered happened outside. Accidentally. If you got lucky.
What if we designed for the lucky accidents?
I want a different kind of space to exist. Retreat to Progress is my attempt at building one.
— Alex
