Sophie Charrois

As a daughter to a toy store owner, Sophie grew up witnessing what it meant to tend a business as a family.

‘Visiting my dad’s store often felt like visiting a good friend. Business and life were intertwined, and I was part of an extended family that was not only made up of employees, but also our most loyal customers. There was trust and support, and it left me wondering ‘what if we would continue weaving an economy based on healthy familial relationships?’’

Sophie perceives the vast constellation of family businesses as holding the potential to contribute to developing a more sustainable society.

Over the past 10 years, Sophie has been prototyping participatory processes with a focus on how we relate to ourselves, our environments and each other. In this work, Sophie has been working with the questions so many people are raising such as “How can we prepare people and organisations for the complexity of our days? What does it take to respond to the emergent and present challenges in our society?”

Sophie has been president of the student network oikos International and a board member with GRLI and UN PRME. These roles have demonstrated to Sophie that we are capable of deep collaboration, and that we can all thrive in more trust-based structures and governance that are

capable of adapting to an ever-changing world.

Sophie graduated with a master’s degree in sustainability, complexity and participatory leadership with a focus on organisational development. Sophie continues her work across multiple fields including stewarding the Flowgame network, convening Warm Data Labs, and being a bridge across global networks.

All living organisms have an inherent sense of direction. Sophie helps foster a closer connection to this through the wisdom of the body, our relationship to nature, an infusion of play and creativity, and the gathering of different approaches, generations, and cultures. These aspects are woven into Sophie’s work with people and organisations across a diversity of sectors, programs (such as our ‘Where Am I Program’) and disciplines.

Sophie brings the skills to co-create ways of learning that help discover ‘what’s next for me’, designing processes for developing Next Gen family business leaders, and offering training in facilitation skills and the Art of Hosting.