The State of the World Forum is a platform for dialogue, inquiry and coordinated action among those committed to shaping a more thoughtful and integrated future. We exist not to add noise but to create space — space for clear thinking, grounded leadership and cross-disciplinary collaboration at a time when many systems are being questioned, reimagined or left behind.

The original State of the World Forum was launched in 1995 by Mikhail Gorbachev and Jim Garrison to bring together global leaders, young people, indigenous elders, visionaries and change agents to engage with the defining issues of the era. It became one of the first high-level platforms to bring global diversity together to transform conversations that matter into actions that made a difference. It proved that when people gather with shared intention, something meaningful and transformational can happen.

The new Forum builds on that legacy, not as a replication but as a new response to a new moment.

We are not seeking to offer quick fixes or singular answers. Instead, we are convening people who are willing to think systemically, to hold complexity without fear, to explore what it means to act with integrity in a time of transition.

Our work centers around four converging domains of intelligence — human, natural, artificial, cosmic — and our responsibility to engage each with wisdom, curiosity and care. These intersections raise profound questions about governance, ethics, consciousness and the future shape of humanity in a rapidly changing world. 

We believe that deep transformation comes not just from insight but from connection — to one another, to place and to a purpose larger than ourselves. The opportunity is for humanity to transition from human supremacy to living in harmony with the larger ecology of life in the spirit of sacred reciprocity.

The Forum is an invitation. A space for serious dialogue, meaningful collaboration and long-term stewardship. It is designed for those who feel called to help carry what matters through times of change.

If that includes you, we welcome your presence, your voice and your care.

Our Vision 

We envision a world where intelligence is not limited to machines or markets but expressed through ecosystems, cultures, communities and the quiet clarity of conscience. A world where humanity realizes not only that it is not alone but that it can’t make it alone. A world where leadership is defined not by dominance but by coherence. Where we measure progress not only by growth but by alignment, depth and the capacity to care.

The State of the World Forum exists to help shape that world.

We see a future that invites a new kind of response — one that is integrative, not reactive. One that honors science and spirit, data and intuition, governance and emergence. In this future, the most meaningful change doesn’t come from a single breakthrough but from a series of intentional steps taken by people who are willing to act with maturity, presence, and purpose.

Our vision is to create a durable platform where those people can find one another — and work together.

We believe that what lies ahead will require us to think across disciplines, traditions and time horizons. It will require humility to admit what we do not yet understand and the courage to stand for what we know to be true.

We do not claim to hold the answers. But we are committed to asking deeper questions. To listening deeply. To bringing together those who are building quietly and leading thoughtfully.

The Forum is not a one-time event. It is part of a longer process — of learning, building, remembering and reimagining. A path toward planetary maturity. A gathering point for those who feel the future asking something more of us.

This is our work. And this is our invitation.

The New Leadership Required for the Global Transition

As the world enters a period of profound complexity and simultaneous instability, the frameworks we’ve long relied upon — political, technological, ecological, and psychological — are showing their limits. These are not isolated crises. They are signs of a deeper structural mismatch between the systems we have built and the reality we now shape.

In such a moment, leadership cannot be defined by charisma, credentials, or control. It must be measured by coherence, discernment and the ability to operate across paradigms. It requires not just skill or knowledge but interior development. This is the role — and necessity — of the new leadership required.

The new leaders are not defined by ideology or expertise alone. They are defined by their capacity to hold multiple worldviews simultaneously without collapsing into relativism or reaction. They operate with a kind of deep seeing: understanding systems as living fields, sensing what is emerging beneath the surface and working across domains with both humility and precision.

These leaders are often underestimated. They speak in layered language. They pause before answering. They hold back from polarization. Their authority arises not from domination, but from synthesis. In a media culture that rewards certainty and speed, they may appear slow or complex. But in reality, they are often the ones making the invisible visible — mapping relational fields, protecting coherence, sensing where trust is leaking or where signal is trying to emerge through the noise.

The State of the World Forum exists in part to recognize, convene and activate this level of leadership. The Forum is not a stage for performance. It is a working network for those who feel called to hold and shape the next phase of human evolution — spiritually, structurally, ecologically and ethically.

The new leaders are often already in motion: inside governments, scientific communities, indigenous councils, startup ecosystems and contemplative traditions. What they lack is not wisdom but access. Not vision but visibility. Not skill but recognition. The Forum exists to give them that field — to support emergence, not impose agenda.

In this next phase of civilization, we cannot afford to rely solely on conventional thinking: management-by-crisis, reactive governance, binary debate, or linear problem-solving. We must invite in a deeper form of intelligence — one that integrates reason and intuition, precision and presence, data and discernment.

This is the time for integrators. For bridgebuilders. For inner-mature, outer-capable humans who know that lasting transformation is not a branding exercise but a relational, ethical and often invisible form of labor.

The State of the World Forum is not asking these leaders to explain themselves. It is inviting them to collaborate. Quietly. Deeply. Intelligently. Together.