During the past several days, monumental events have driven my thoughts repeatedly to the issues of leadership, individual empowerment and their balance within the movement toward a sustainable economy.

Nationally, President Barack Obama was sworn into the office as the 44th President of the United States. His inauguration was met with a sense of patriotism reborn unlike ever before. During his first week in office, President Obama took actions that reinforced campaign promises and the faith of his citizens. First-steps addressed the energy and climate change crisis as part of an economic stimulus plan, which passed in the House this week. 

Meanwhile, developments concerning local leadership provided stark contrast. Portland Mayor Sam Adams became entangled in a maelstrom of scandal as a City Hall sex affair came to light. The city seemed to divide and deflate amidst controversy and conflicting views. Some supporters of the green policies that popularized Adams - including some fellow members of the sustainable transportation and bike contingents - rallied behind the mayor, hopeful that the need for progress would outshine professional and ethical turmoil. Other former supporters - shocked and saddened - called for immediate resignation. 

Interested in the advancement of the green agenda, my focus shifted away from Adams and toward the notion of individual responsibility and potential. As opposed to relying on a leader to spearhead the continuing movement, I contemplated the power of popular momentum. Just as Obama's first week in office offered a great case study of leadership in action, the disappointing mayoral incident reminded me that - while leadership is critical - the ability to affect change ultimately lies in the hands of active, insistent individuals and organizations. It occurred to me that - no matter the political leader's fate - the realization of desired change would ultimately be up to the people who called for it to begin with.

Given the mercurial nature of the political landscape, individual action offers a constant source of meaning and fulfillment within the sustainability movement. Action takes us from a point of isolation to a place of empowerment and community. Small-scale personal practices make a cumulative difference. They connect us with the collective consciousness of a hopeful new kind of economy and culture. For example, at MarketShift Strategies, sustainable office practices transfer to work on a larger scale. Bosses encourage us to bike together to client meetings. Electronic solutions replace paper standards that corporate offices still implement at large. The small-scale individual efforts feed a collective thought process and state of mind, ultimately nourishing strategies for sustainable business and industry clients.

In the new kind of economy and culture, my hope is that we will not be far removed from our leaders, as their actions impact us profoundly. Furthermore, I hope that we will become closer than ever with our respective leaders and power potential within.

Risk. The four-letter word that is as slippery as wet soap -a skittering phantom that defies possession. Opinion around our economic crisis questions the role risk management played in the current economic debacle. Particular attention is given to the tools used to predict risk. While legit and interesting, this inquiry doesn’t resolve how insight and action were decoupled this past year, when they should have been joined at the hip.

In fact, a short piece written by David Chen explores his own reluctance in responding to insight about the impending economic crisis. “Insight” he writes “did not drive pre-emptive action.” Chen explores our resistance to changing course even when intel and experience tell us differently. But “insight” is not an exact science, it’s not a “tool” mathematically attuned to an algorithmic landscape. It’s not something we can measure and its often difficult to articulate – so acting on insight can be considered risky.

But here’s my insight. By denying our ability to see deep into a situation we block our opportunity to innovate new outcomes. We also block our natural instinct for survival. Some of the most exciting discoveries advancing civilization have been found through a reaction to deep insight. Descartes, for example, discovered the cartesian coordinate system by lazily watching a fly buzz through his room. He realized the intersection of his walls could describe the fly's position at any time and applied his idea mathematically. This turned out to be the bridge between algebra and geometry, and the foundation to calculus and cartography.

Even the cornerstone to understanding the movement of the earth through space was a moment of insight followed by action. Bradley, an 18th century astronomer, observed a weather vane from the deck of a boat and applied his observations to astronomy, forming the evidence of earth's motion and creating accurate measurements of the speed of light.

Perhaps our hunger for such innovation has waned, as we have built a social and economic code that does not reward the fusion of insight and action, but celebrates and profits from stagnate conditions. And when it comes to risk, nothing so deeply tied to our peril exists than our unwillingness to act on precious insight.