Celestial Navigation

Listens deeply to many perspectives, weaving insight into story.

Know your strengths…

Finding perspective
Listen to the hum of many perspectives, and shape what you find into stories that can guide others to new ways of seeing.

How to begin…

Change the story, change the future.
Ask whose voices are missing.
Find new stories. Share your own.
Use perspective to shift hearts and minds.

“I don’t think you can say there’s ever an end. Also, in saying that, I don’t know where the beginning is.”

Uncle Mickey O’Brien, Senior Kaurna and Narrunga man and advocate

Carries memory forward to inform the present and future.

Know your strengths…

Carrying knowledge
In your hands, memory is not a record but a compass – ensuring the lessons of yesterday shape the future we’re building.

How to begin…

Trace the lines between then and now.
Ask what deserves to last.
Reconnect with your origins.
Unearth an old lesson and make it new.

“The experiences and lessons of the past can be passed forward.”

Professor Sarah Robertson, reproductive biologist, Adelaide University

Shapes imaginative ideas into balanced solutions.

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Balancing chaos
Imagine new forms and find balance between them – shaping creativity into coherence, and turning possibility into pattern.

How to begin…
Sketch freely, shape with intention.
Bring opposites into conversation.
Transform possibility into pattern.
Find balance between feeling and form.

“It’s gonna take time, and it’s gonna take practice, and it’s gonna take patience. So you have to be confident in yourself.”

Tilly Tjala Thomas, Nukunu singer-songwriter, Fleurieu Peninsula

Tends growth patiently, nurturing potential with intention.

Know your strengths…

Growing potential
Nurture the unseen, tending possibility with patience and care, and trust that small acts will one day transform the landscape.

How to begin…

Start where you stand.
Listen for signs of growth.
Notice what needs more light.
Trust the rhythm of renewal.

“All meaningful change has started with someone with an idea, one person with some ambition, and then other people backing them up to get something done.”

Tiahni Adamson, Kaurareg woman and Australian wildlife conservation biologist

Thinks critically, acts with purpose and advocates for change.

Know your strengths…

Activating others
Question what is and imagine what could be, finding courage and clarity to help move ideas from intention to impact.

How to begin…

Ask what needs your voice.
Question what feels inevitable.
Find allies who share your purpose.
Start small, but start now.

“Every individual action does have an impact. Sometimes it’s small, sometimes it’s huge. Often at the moment of behaviour you can’t really tell which it’s going to be. But it is a vote.”

Professor Anne Souvertjis, sustainable marketing researcher, Adelaide University

Reimagines systems and transforms processes for better.

Know your strengths…

Reshaping systems
See the cracks in old foundations as openings for something better. Take what is and imagine what could be, reshaping systems for the future.

How to begin…

Let curiosity lead you forward.
Prototype a better way.
Look for opportunity in moments of change.
Improve one part at a time.

“If we think about transformation, we might actually be then talking about transforming the architecture of the system itself.”

Associate Professor James Hopeward, sustainability scientist and systems thinker, Adelaide University

Anticipates, plans and positions to face the unexpected.

Know your strengths…

Anticipating change
Act with quiet intention, tracing the subtle signs of change and positioning yourself and others to navigate uncertainty with grace.

How to begin…

Read the horizon, not the headlines.
Build systems that can bend, not break.
Prepare others to adapt, not react.
Move when the moment calls.

“The kinds of things you have to do to prepare for unknown outcomes is you have to do a lot of thinking about how to see in a way outside of what the current reality might be.”

Dr Vaughn Tan, risk and uncertainty researcher

Restores balance and strength after disruption.

Know your strengths…

Building resilience
Embrace change and look for the seeds of renewal.
Gather strength from what was broken to create something stronger than before.

How to begin…

Pause before moving forward.
Start where things fell apart.
Find beauty in the mending.
Tend the embers, not the ashes.

“A visible repair advocates for more repair in the world… how we can use repair practices creatively to kind of reconnect and rejoin and re-strengthen.”

Dr Guy Keulemans, designer, artist and researcher, Adelaide University

Charts potential futures, finding new paths forward.

Know your strengths…

Finding direction
Chart potential futures and read the currents of possibility, helping others to find their way through the unknown with intuition and insight.

How to begin…

Step back to see the full picture.
Look further than the familiar.
Help others find their own direction.
Adjust your course as the future unfolds.

“If you want to strive for something that might seem unattainable, it’s worth doing anyway. You don’t know what the future holds.”

Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Australian astronaut and Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency