Today, we are learning from Rukmini Iyer.
Rukmini is a leadership and organisational transformation consultant and peacebuilder with over two decades of global experience. She works at the intersection of conscious leadership, peacebuilding, and systems change, weaving in ecocentric and decolonial perspectives.
She is the founder of Exult! Solutions, a practice dedicated to meaningful, values-driven change, and serves on the International Board of Creators of Peace.
Her facilitation integrates the SDGs and IDGs, the Work That Reconnects, and narrative and somatic practices, supporting communities, organisations, and movements worldwide.
A Rotary Peace Fellow and Vital Voices Fellow, she is committed to helping people and systems make decisions that nurture wellbeing, equity, and planetary balance.
Let's get started...
In episode 479 of the Decide for Impact podcast, host Erno engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Rukmini Iyer, a leadership and organizational transformation consultant and peace builder. Rukmini, who has over two decades of global experience, works at the nexus of conscious leadership, peace building, and systems change with an ecocentric and decolonial perspective. Rukmini discusses her work at Exult! Solution and the International Board of Creators of Peace, emphasizing the integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Inner Development Goals (IDGs).
The conversation delves into the necessity of decolonizing these frameworks and how modern systems often perpetuate inequity and violence. Rukmini shares insights on the historical roots of colonization, contextual differences in global frameworks, and draws comparisons with technological colonization. She also highlights her approach to making her consulting practice inclusive and accessible, and the importance of cultivating non-violent, equitable practices in both personal and corporate spheres.
In this conversation with Rukmini Iyer, I learned:
00:00 Intro
02:20 Explanation of why I want to learn more about colonization and decolonization of the Inner Development Goals.
06:30 Starting with peacebuilding and her experience in this work, she concentrates on dialogue and peace education.
09:30 Gandhi probably drew his inspiration for his non-violent way of living from the Jain philosophy of ahiṃsā.
11:05 Peace-building is a lot about recalling the possibility of non-violence for Rukmini.
11:50 Violence is part of life. It is natural, but is it in the service of life?
16:05 The tendency of humans to take power over others using violence, and at the same time have the free will to choose not to exercise that tendency.
16:30 One of the earliest forms of colonization is agriculture. We decided to settle on a piece of land and to make it grow what I want it to grow.
18:25 All of human history has been about exploring our relationship with power. Power over vs power with.
20:35 Examining land ownership from a different perspective.
22:45 What we call resources, the indigenous people call relatives.
25:05 Rituals that remind us that we are in a relationship with the planet, the cosmos, the plants and animals.
30:15 We need a complement to the SDGs, which speaks to the internal aspects of our psyche. That is why inner development is of great importance to Rukmini.
34:30 Working with frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals is a luxury.
36:25 To repair our relationship with life through inner development.
37:15 The main points of why there is colonization in the IDG framework and organisation - see links to resources below
44:20 The business model that makes her work accessible.
47:40 We have given a lot of power away to money.
48:50 Start sensing into the patterns of colonization.
51:50 An empowering connotation around colonization.
53:10 Creating localized versions of the IDG framework.
54:10 We allow ourselves to be colonized by technology (companies). We colonize our children.
57:35 The work of Joanna Macy - the work that reconnects.
1:04:05 The sense of guilt about colonization from the past does not serve anyone.
1:06:00 To open up the umbrella, bring in those who do not have shade.
More about Rukmini Iyer:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rukminiiyer/
exult-solutions.com
medium.com/@rukminiiyer
Resources we mention:
Inner Development Goals (International)
Inner Development Goals NL website
Caux Inner Development Goals Forum 2025 | IofC
Het boek van wijsheid – Arun Gandhi #boekencast afl 108
Jainism - Wikipedia - Jain monks take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness).
Zo worden we de generatie van regeneratie – Henrike Gootjes
Regeneratie boek - Henrike Gootjes
Ronald Rovers
Indian Knowledge Systems - Indian Knowledge Systems - Wikipedia
Decolonising Inner Development: An Ethic for Re-Patterning Systems and Frameworks - Rukmini Iyer
Decolonising the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) - Rukmini Iyer
Joanna Macy - Wikipedia - website
IDG framework
IDG skill finder (you can purchase the Dutch version here)
IDG NL event 19 June 2025
Video of the conversation with Rukmini Iyer
https://youtu.be/B-LcKBQ8CGk
Watch the conversation here https://youtu.be/B-LcKBQ8CGk
Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome at episode 479 in the Decide for Impact podcast. Today you are listening to the conversation with Rukmini. Rukmini is a leadership and organizational transformation consultant and peace builder with over two decades of global experience. She works at the intersection of conscious leadership, peace building, and systems change, weaving in ecocentric and decolonial perspectives.
She's the founder of Exult! Solution, a practice dedicated to meaningful values driven change, and she serves on the International Board of Creators of Peace. Her facilitation integrates the SGS and IDGs the work that reconnects and narrative and somatic practices supporting communities, organizations, and movements worldwide.
A Rotary [00:01:00] Peace Fellow and Final Voices fellow. She's committed to helping people and systems make decisions to nurture wellbeing, equity, and planetary balance. Hi, my name is Erin Ing and I share my knowledge, experience, and expertise with you. I coach entrepreneurs so that they make decisions that will help them grow their impact.
This was a wonderful conversation. I learned a lot about the decolonization colonization in general, and very specific examples that really touched my heart. Actually, some of them heard in my stomach. It was wonderful to learn how she combines her peace work and her decolonization work with the inner development goals and the sustainable development goals.
So I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I do. Let's get started. [00:02:00] Hello and welcome to this podcast episode Today I'm talking to Rukmini Aish. Welcome Rini. Hi. Thank you for inviting me here. And I wasn't a hundred percent sure, but I thought we met last year at co, at the IDG For. So we saw again this each other again this year, and I sat at some point next to you saying, were you here last year?
And you said Yes. And so, oh yes, I remember. So we met last year, so that was good. I think the IDG for is a beautiful, , setting plays to have great conversations and to learn and to experience also, , slowness. In the midst of all the workshops that were going on. There's also plenty of time, I believe, where you have like, can experience slowness, , in this beautiful environment on the mountain.
So it was, it was really great [00:03:00] talking to you there and to learn about, you know, what you do a bit. , but also it was just like a nugget that I, that I learned there, that I saw you there and I thought there's so much more here that I want to talk to you about. And then you brought up this, , interesting conversation of decolonizing the inner development goals, the IDGs, , which I think is an interesting topic in general, but also specifically to me.
And I will share with you why when you watch the video and you have seen me more often, you know, I'm a white men, I come from the Netherlands, which is. Country with a history that is, has a lot to do with colonization. So there's a lot of history in our country, in, in our nation, in our, in the Dutch people, uh, about colonization.
I think maybe we are the inventors of [00:04:00] colonization, maybe, possibly, or at least about neoism. We are inventors of the way that the stock exchange is happening now, although it was by two bulbs, but it's still the same. So there's a lot of history there. Uh, I'm not saying that I'm carrying all that history.
Uh, that's not how I look at it right now. , like intergenerational history, I don't, I don't, I don't feel that part, but I still feel that I want. I, I'm, I'm longing for a better world where there's a lot more, , cooperation, , equity, so equal opportunities, , and I mean all over the planet. I know, I don't mean just the western country, I mean everybody.
And so it means also that equity close by, like in the Netherlands, there's like 1 million people living in poverty, but also equity far away. So we buy products that are produced in countries, [00:05:00] , all over the planet where we don't see what's going on and how the resources are restricted and what people need to do for that.
So we don't know between quotes about what's going on. We do, but we don't wanna see it. And this topic, this inequality topic is really, drives me, it really, it's, it's a flame in me. And at the same time, I feel like. Who am I to talk about this? This white men coming from this colonizing history. So I have a, I have a lot of reservations, uh,
