Everything you have ever tried to change — a team dynamic, an organizational culture, a pattern that keeps reasserting itself no matter how hard individuals work — exists inside a system. And systems have a remarkable capacity to absorb individual effort and return to their original shape. Not because you weren't skilled enough. Not because you didn't try hard enough. Because you were working on the symptom, not the structure.

This practical changes that.

See the System. Change the System. is a nine-session learning practical that builds the systemic fluency every woman needs — not as an abstract intellectual exercise, but as a practical leadership capability that changes what you see, what you understand, and what you are able to do next.

What you will learn to see

Systems are not mechanical. They are social, relational, and deeply human. They are made of structures, yes — but also of habits of thought, identity dynamics, informal power networks, and narratives so normalized they have become invisible.

You will learn to read beneath the surface of any organizational challenge using tools including iceberg analysis, stakeholder power mapping, and systems archetypes. You will develop the capacity to distinguish between symptoms and root causes — and to identify the leverage points where thoughtful intervention actually produces lasting change.

What you will learn to see specifically as a woman

Here is what most systems thinking courses leave out: the system looks different depending on where you are standing inside it.

Women in organizational life are navigating a specific and well-documented set of structural dynamics that have nothing to do with individual capability. The credibility tax — the additional proof of competence routinely required before authority is granted. The authority-warmth bind — the persistent cultural expectation that competence and likability are in tension, and that you must manage both simultaneously. The invisible labor of making others comfortable with your power. The informal networks built on access that was never designed to include you. The way "this is just our culture" is so often a description of accumulated preferences of whoever has held power — presented as neutral, experienced as constraint.

These are not personal problems. They are structural ones. And you cannot change what you cannot name and see clearly.

This practical names them. Clearly. Without apology.

What you will learn to do

Seeing the system is the beginning, not the end. The second half of this practical focuses on intervention: how change actually moves through complex, interdependent systems, and what women who understand that can do strategically, relationally, and with greater leverage than force alone ever provides.

You will leave with a systemic map of a real challenge you are currently navigating, a set of intervention strategies grounded in your specific context, and — perhaps most importantly — a fundamentally different relationship to complexity. One in which difficulty is no longer a sign that something is wrong with you, but information about the system you are working to evolve.

What this practical includes

• 9 weekly live sessions via Zoom, guided by Dorian Baroni and Lilia Abreu Mawson

• Frameworks drawn from systems thinking, Theory U and two decades of organizational change work with women leaders across sectors

• The Resilience Layer™ — six foundational capacities that allow you to stay grounded, clear, and effective during the disorientation that systemic change always produces

• Peer learning and accountability partnerships using the case study methodology

• A resource library of tools you will use long after the practical closes

• A one-on-one advisory session with Dorian or Lilia 3 months after the program ends

Who this is for

Women who sense that the obstacles they are navigating are larger than any individual relationship or personal skill gap. Women who want intellectual rigor alongside genuine community. Women who are ready to stop adapting to systems that were not built for them — and start understanding how to change those systems instead.

Women at any career stage. Across sectors. Across geographies.

Dates

Fall 2026 | Exact dates to be announced - Join the WAOC Newsletter to be the first to know.

Tuition & Access

WAOC programs are designed so that no woman self-selects out before she even begins.

We believe transformational learning should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford full price — and we also believe that the women in this community are resourceful, generous, and honest. So we put the decision in your hands.

Every program is offered at three tuition levels. The difference is what you're able to contribute toward someone else's seat. Choose the level that's true for your current situation. No application. No justification. No guilt.

🔹 $850 — Access Rate For women navigating financial constraint, career transition, or working in the nonprofit or social impact sector. This rate exists because you belong in the room.

🔹 $1,100 — Solidarity Rate For women with steady income who are ready to invest in their own growth. This is the rate that keeps the program sustainable.

🔹 $1,450 — Sustaining Rate For women with financial stability who want to do more than show up — they want to make it possible for someone else to show up too. Choosing this rate directly funds access for another woman.

All three rates include full access to the program, the community, and every resource we offer. What changes is not what you receive — it's what you make possible. We trust you.

Note: If none of these rates works for your situation right now, reach out before you walk away. We may have options. We'd rather find a way than lose you.