I have absolutely loved every brief and shining moment of editing Dumbo Feather these past 12 months. My connection with the magazine began in 2015, when, adoring the content, I offered my services as a proof reader. I wanted to honour the magazine by eradicating every typo; now as editor I understand what a challenge that can be! Moving into our collective, collaborative future, Dumbo Feather will be honoured as an artefact of connection that will never be less than what it has been, because it isn’t printed a few times a year. As a nature lover, the silver lining is to keep more trees in the ground. But I adore holding the magazine, what it represents and the lives it has touched. Thank you to our community for your messages of love and inspiration. Like you, I will feel its absence immensely.

This final issue of Dumbo Feather explores the theme of leadership for a hopeful future. In the following pages, we examine what makes a leader, how they lead and from where we might draw our inspiration for guidance along our own paths. Because in order to live right into the future that’s unfolding, we need new ideas about, and expressions of, leadership. Nobody has all the answers so maybe we can practice the lost art of deep listening as a starting point. In theory I’m up for all of it and in practice, some days are better than others.

Our work at Small Giants continues in the form of the Small Giants Academy. If you want to gather more practical and philosophical knowledge and spend more of your time with like-minded souls invested in shaping our world for the better, head over to our website to learn more about how we can work together. The unique storytelling that Dumbo Feather offers the world will continue on our podcast. We will reach out to our community in the coming months with more information about it. We will also continue to share hopeful stories online.

My hope is that, in the pages of this final print issue of Dumbo Feather, you will identify a version of leadership that speaks to you and reflects how you might lead in your world. But also, to allow the space to reflect on how we might simply do the work of engaged citizens: to deepen loving ties within our communities, remove the ego and pile on every effort towards the greater good. A good society is what the world needs now. It is what Small Giants – Dumbo Feather’s parent company – is committed to, and that is a vision of the future that I can commit my life to. I hope to join you there.

With love, and hope, and a life-affirming touch of sorrow,
Kirsty