Below is the Letter from the Editor for the Solstice Issue 2026. Read the Kindred Solstice Issue here.

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How Kinship Is Our Real Operating System:

The Illusion of Systems (Wizards) & the Reality of Stakeholder Coalitions (Kinship)

Otto Scharmer, MIT professor and creator of Theory U, argues that the traditional, static view of a “system” is an illusion—a “blind spot”. Instead, he believes that what we call a system is actually a constantly evolving “coalition of stakeholders” or a “social field” that is made possible by its participants. While I have studied Scharmer’s work in his complex and scholarly Theory U Lab, I found his core insight of awareness-based systems change echoed in many myths, fairy tales, and children’s stories.

Think of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, clutching Toto, standing with her brave companions as a blustery, disembodied head wreathed in fire and smoke bellows his refusal to help them. It’s Toto, with his love for Dorothy and wise instinct, who pulls back the curtain and exposes the ordinary man pulling the levers to create the illusion of an all-knowing, all-powerful wizard.

Like the wizard’s fiery head, systems based on the Dominant Worldview appear intimidating, impersonal, vast, and separate from us. It sets the rules, demands compliance or impossible tasks, and maintains authority through fear, mystique, and the belief that only it can confer legitimacy or solutions.

Until the disruptors show up. The disruptor is often not the most powerful actor but the one not fooled by the illusion. In Theory U, the capacity to break the trance is possible through sensing and presencing: moving below the surface to see what is really happening. In the Wizard of Oz, the disruptor is Toto.

Scharmer’s illumination of our “blind spot” isn’t a denial that patterns and structures exist, but that they are maintained by ongoing, witting or unwitting participation. The coalition of stakeholders, the social field, is a living pattern of relationships (kinship), attention, stories, power dynamics, and habits — continuously enacted by the people inside it. There is no separate “system” to petition from outside; there are only coalitions of stakeholders whose quality of relating and seeing either reproduces the old patterns and stories or allows new ones, like Nested Kinship, to emerge.

In the end of the children’s story, we are told the power to overcome evil and return home was always possible… once Dorothy and her companions realize they are the coalition of stakeholders. And their shared quest, their complementary gifts, their willingness to trust their instincts and keep going together — that was the real operating system.

And now that you know the truth about “systems”, on this Solstice Day I invite you to set aside time to explore our stories of stakeholder coalition envisioning and building in the Solstice Issue of Kindred. I know it’s a lot. We’ve been busy. And inspired (you will be too).

Please join us in celebrating the first official graduating cohort of Nesting Ambassadors this month. We proudly recognize and honor their brave disruptor instincts and hearts for humanity. (You will meet them soon in the Nesting Ambassador Global Directory.)

You are invited to join us for this fall’s Nesting Ambassador Program. Together, we’re finding our way home.

Warmly,

Lisa Reagan

Kindred, Editor

Kindred World, Founder

Join the Nesting Movement:

Restore the Science of the People & Reclaim Our Nested Kinship

About the Origin Story Discussion with Darcia and Lisa…

Watch the video discussion below and read the transcript here.

In the discussion below, Darcia Narvaez and Lisa Reagan share the story of bringing together the transdisciplinary, holistic science theory of the Evolved Nest and Kinship Praxis wisdom in the new Nesting Ambassador Program. The program’s life-affirming strategies are practical and empowering, providing ambassadors with a healing journey, expansive resources for normalizing nurturing, and a global network and community.

The insights below first emerged during last summer, when a global beta-testers group moved through the components of the Evolved Nest together and shared their stories of integrating the baselines for human thriving into their own neurobiologies, families, communities, professional fields, and research. The beta-testing processes yield these main three insights:

1. The Learning Experience Versus the Lived Experience of the Evolved Nest. The Learning Experience of the Evolved Nest reverses the order of the nine components to create a trauma-informed, pedagogical framework. By sequencing for nervous system safety first, the reversed order of the nine components honors lived realities (including potential wounds) while equipping trainees to deeply engage the science and worldview. Read more about the Learning Experience of the Evolved Nest.

2. The intentional design of the phrase, Nested Kinship. “Nested Kinship” was created to support the praxis learning experience of Nesting Ambassadors who no longer need to cognitively toggle between “Evolved Nest science” and “Kinship Worldview” in every conversation, checklist, or policy brief. One term encapsulates personal re-nesting and relational activism, community projects, and policy advocacy. The term also simplifies messaging to families, schools, workplaces, or healthcare—e.g., “We’re building Nested Kinship in our community” instead of explaining two frameworks.
3. Closing the Theory-Praxis Gap. The recognition of the Nesting Ambassador Program’s capacity to close the Theory-Praxis Gap between the holistic science of our Communal Evolved Nest and regenerative, trauma-informed action through Kinship Praxis.

As all we do at Kindred is intended to work with the life-affirming emergent, we expect more insights in the coming months and years as the Nesting Ambassador Program expands. For now, many Nesting Ambassadors are sharing their stories of integrating Nested Kinship in their Field Reports and presentations to new cohorts. You can read their “Field Reports” on Kindred and on the Nested World website. The new Nested World Initiative launched the Nesting Ambassador Program’s first inaugural cohort in January 2026. We hope you will join the forthcoming Nesting Ambassador Fall Cohort. Applications are being accepted now.