Bob Stilger, PhD, is Founder and Board Chair of NewStories, a nonprofit that works alongside communities, organizations, and leaders navigating disruption and profound transition—strengthening the relationships, learning, and collaborative capacity needed for regenerative futures to emerge. An activist-scholar exploring social change, leadership, and community building, Bob’s work has taken him into communities across North America and around the world, helping people build the lives and communities they want.
Bob sees disruption and collapse as gateways to creativity. How will we each find the courage and clarity we need to stand up and step forward in these times? In his book, AfterNow, Bob shows how collapse can be a gateway to creativity and illuminates the patterns, practices, and actions that give birth to a life-affirming future. For the first decade of this century, much of Bob’s work focused on creating translocal learning communities in the Global South. From 2010 until 2017, the heart of his work was with communities in Japan creating a “new normal” before and after the devastating Triple Disasters—earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear explosions—of March 11, 2011.
Bob is frequently called to places where change is present: communities after climate or social disasters, organizations in times of upheaval, people who know they must change their lives. His work is to co-create the spaces and places where people, communities, and organizations can create their own future—spaces where curiosity, respect, and generosity are present and permeate the field. His work calls him to North and South America, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and southern Africa.
