Bridging Two Systems: What It Feels Like to Walk Between Worlds

Bridging Two Systems: What It Feels Like to Walk Between Worlds

Last week at a systems change meetup in Lisbon, someone said something that stayed with me:

“It’s hard, bridging the old and the new.”

Most of us already sense that things must shift. A new system is emerging. Yet we still stand with one foot in the old — caught between familiar logic and a future that feels more alive but less certain.

Standing Between the Old and the Emerging

Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer, in Leading from the Emerging Future, ask a piercing question:

Why do we persist in producing results that no one actually wants?

Financial stress. Ecological collapse. Burnout. Inequality. These aren’t separate crises — they’re symptoms of an economic operating system rooted in ego, not ecosystem awareness.

Shifting this system means unlearning deep habits of separation — and finding ways to integrate self, team, and environment into something more whole.

A Framework for Systems Change

To make this real, I’ve landed (for now) on a three-level lens:

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Transformation begins with self-awareness — because that’s where agency lives.

Leading from Love, Not Fear

One axis I return to often is the fear → love continuum.

When we lead from love — trust, generosity, curiosity, holding safe spaces — we shift our nervous system, expanding our capacity for clarity and executive functioning.

As Marianne Williamson wrote:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate… our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

Fear is learned. Love is remembered. The more we relearn love, the more grounded our systems become.

Small Practices That Build Big Shifts

There’s no template, but a few patterns help:

• Begin with regulation: Breathwork, reflection, and daily choices that stabilise your system.
• Build team norms: Create conditions for vulnerability, dissent, and repair.
• Prototype small nudges: Design rituals, feedback loops, and policies that reflect ecosystem thinking.

Transformation starts small, but compounds over time — through alignment between what we think, feel, and do.

Walking Between Worlds with Intention

If you’re walking between worlds too, you’re not alone.

We’re all learning to bridge — to bring the steadiness of the old and the imagination of the new into coherence.

At Kholo, we help leaders and teams navigate this in practice — through ways of working that connect the inner and outer systems of change.

👉 Reach out to explore how your organisation can lead from love, not fear.

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