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Louise Sommer
Exploring Creative Intelligence, Leadership, and Learning across Cultures & History.
Welcome to my free learning space
Exploring the Art of Learning, Leadership & Culture
This blog explores how art, communication, and creative intelligence shape the way we learn, lead, and understand culture. Blending research with reflection, each post offers a thoughtful pause. A moment to reconnect with meaning, imagination, and the human experience across time and place.
Here, you’ll find reflective essays on learning, leadership, creativity, and cultural storytelling written to inspire deeper thinking and more human-centred ways of teaching, creating, and leading.
May each entry spark insight for your own learning journey.
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The Leader as a Bridge Between Cultures: When leadership becomes a meeting of inner courage and outer connection
When I teach cultural sensitivity or leadership communication, I often see this quiet fear surface. A hesitation, as if opening up to another worldview means giving away our identity, our power, our right to belong. In both Denmark and Australia, I’ve seen this happen again and again. People want to do the right thing, but somewhere deep down they think: If I make space for your difference, will there still be space for me? The paradox is this: we don’t lose ourselves by meet
Louise Sommer
Dec 105 min read
Leading from the Inside Out: Reggio Emilia and the Practice of Inner & Cultural Leadership
Leading from the Inside Out: Reggio Emilia and the Practice of Inner & Cultural Leadership explores what happens when leadership is understood not as management or control, but as a living culture of presence, belonging, and creative intelligence. Drawing on my years studying the Reggio Emilia tradition in Florence, I reflect on how a philosophy of early-childhood education became a compass for adult leadership, cross-cultural psychology, and the way we cultivate learning com
Louise Sommer
Dec 25 min read
Reggio Emilia: A European Tradition of Creative Intelligence
I grew up with Florence and her history. From my earliest visits as a child, I remember sitting alone in front of Botticelli, or walking into Santa Maria del Fiore without queues or noise, when the locals still lived in the heart of the city. I still remember stepping into a Reggio Emilia classroom on my study trip to Florence. Sunlight poured through large windows, children’s drawings and sculptures covered the walls, and the room itself was bursting with curiosity and stori
Louise Sommer
Nov 34 min read
The Leadership Manifesto
Leadership is a human capacity, not a title. It begins long before we guide others, shape systems, or influence society. It begins within It begins in how we meet ourselves. In the quiet choices we make each day. In the integrity we hold when no one is watching. We lost sight of this. We started looking outward for leadership instead of cultivating it within. True leadership is inner leadership. It is the ability to lead our inner world with awareness and responsibility. It l
Louise Sommer
Oct 313 min read
AI Is Not to Blame. What We’re Missing Is Human Leadership
This is a conversation about leadership, not the leadership of titles or positions, but the leadership that begins within each of us. It is about how we meet change, how we respond to uncertainty, and how we take responsibility for the impact of our choices. Everywhere we turn, AI is being framed as a threat, a saviour, or a force we must race to control. The real question is how we, as humans, choose to lead ourselves in a world where intelligent systems are becoming part of
Louise Sommer
Oct 54 min read
The Crisis Isn’t Artificial Intelligence. The Crisis Is Artificial Connection.
AI shows us what we’ve neglected: closeness, listening, and humanity itself. Let’s stop making AI the scapegoat for what is missing in us. We are not losing ourselves to artificial intelligence, but we are losing ourselves to artificial connection and most people don’t even notice it happening. We scroll, we click, we respond, we 'connect', yet we feel increasingly alone, unseen, and disconnected. This is not a technological crisis. This is a human crisis of connection and le
Louise Sommer
Sep 284 min read
The Empathy Gap: What Ancient Ports Can Teach Us About Understanding Across Difference
Ancient ports like Alexandria and Carthage show how empathy once thrived as a skill reinforced by daily life. Combining neuroscience, cultural history, and lessons from high-cooperation societies, Louise Sommer explores how modern systems undermine empathy — and how education, leadership, and technology can rebuild it. A thought-provoking read for researchers, educators, and leaders shaping the future of human connection.
Louise Sommer
Sep 216 min read
How ancient Malta engineered the mind for higher learning and creativity
Ancient Malta’s Hypogeum reveals how Neolithic societies engineered the brain for learning, empathy, and long-term thinking. Combining archaeology, neuroscience, and cultural history, Louise Sommer explores how past reward systems shaped human potential — and what we can learn to design better education, leadership, and social systems today. A thought-provoking read for researchers, educators, and innovators.
Louise Sommer
Sep 76 min read
Thought Leadership starts with a different kind of question
Once upon a time, blogging conjured images of travel diaries, food journals, or the early internet’s version of an open letter. But today? The landscape has changed. Blogging has evolved into something far more layered, strategic, and powerful. Yet strangely, the word stayed stuck in the past. What we used to call a “blog” is now a very specific form of professional communication; one that builds credibility, sharpens your voice, and attracts the right clients, collaborations
Louise Sommer
Jul 143 min read
The Words That Shaped Me: How a Teacher Can Open a Life, or Shut It Down
Everyone carries a story behind their eyes. A moment that closed something down. Or moment that made something possible. A memory of feeling stupid, or a memory of feeling seen. These stories are not always visible. But they’re present; in how we speak, how we learn, how we show up. And that means teaching is never just about content. It’s about creating the conditions where someone can unfold again.
Louise Sommer
Jun 304 min read
How standing in front of a multicultural class shaped my approach to education, empathy, and creative intelligence
I remember the moment clearly. I was standing in front of my very first class in Australia. In front of me sat a group of adults from six different countries and vastly different cultural backgrounds. There were 20-year-old backpackers from France and South America, published authors and artists from all over Australia, emerging entrepreneurs, and even two senior scholars who wanted to learn how to communicate their field to 'outsiders.' No pressure, right?
Louise Sommer
Jun 233 min read
Gertrude Stein: Lessons from Paris’ Most Fearless Muse & the Golden Age of Creative Living
Paris is a State of Mind. There are cities you visit, and there are cities you live in. And then there is Paris; a place you inhabit with your soul. To walk the cobbled streets of Montmartre or the Left Bank is to wander through time, brushing shoulders with the ghosts of artists and writers who defined entire epochs. One of the most iconic of them all, in my opinion, is Gertrude Stein. She wasn’t just a writer, a collector, or a cultural connector. She was a force.
Louise Sommer
May 54 min read
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