Hope as a Strategy - Strategy 2025-28
Hear from our CEO, Fiona Carden, on our new Strategy…
I am honoured and excited to share CoLab’s refreshed strategy. The word refreshed is intentional. We haven’t discarded what came before—instead, we’ve reflected on what has served us well, celebrated what has been achieved, and created space for what is needed in our next chapter. Letting go of what no longer serves us allows room for innovation, hope, and aspiration.
In co-creating our CoLab strategy, I have been informed and inspired by individuals, organisations, books, podcasts, and most recently, an article by poet Michael Rosen. He began with the line: “We live in hard times.” He continued, “In many ways, wherever we look—locally, nationally, or globally—there are things that have got worse.”
On the face of it, that’s a tough opening. Yet what followed resonated deeply with me, both professionally and personally: “We must have hope.”
Rosen wrote, “No matter how much events seem to point towards despair, telling us to be pessimistic, I think we have to find strategies and techniques to be hopeful.” That line captures so much of what I believe CoLab stands for.
He also reminds us that “The now is in the day.” To me, this is an invitation to live and lead in the present—to stay grounded while still imagining better futures. One passage, in particular, helped shape how I think about our work at CoLab:
“To experiment is to do something new; it’s to discover something in the world around us, and in yourself. And a big discovery (or it may be a reminder) is that we don’t have to be passive receivers of what the world throws at us. We can take any part of the world and experiment with it, see what happens if…”
That spirit—of experimentation, curiosity, and courage—is at the heart of CoLab. We are not passive receivers of circumstance. We are, instead, a compass: guiding, not dictating; navigating complexity with purpose and care.
Rosen also speaks of unity: “When we see ourselves as part of others, and others as part of us, then the idea of a union is a logical necessity.” This, too, lies at the centre of our mission—creating the conditions for inclusion, kindness, and belonging in all that we do.
I hope that each of us will continue to find our own ways to “take any part of the world and experiment with it.” Together, through connection and courage, we can keep shaping a more hopeful world—one day, one discovery, one act of care at a time.
Read our strategy documents here.
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