When the Light Came Up over Uluru

By Ivanka Menken

I used to wonder when the transformation was going to happen. You know the one, the thing everyone talks about in EO. The moment where everything shifts, where you see things differently and something in your brain goes… click.

I remember being at my first Regional Leadership Academy (RLA) in Greece, sitting through sessions, absorbing content and quietly thinking, When is this promised transformation happening?

Then, right at the end on a ferry, in a simple conversation, not a keynote, not a workshop, it happened. A click.

It wasn’t loud, it wasn’t dramatic but it was undeniable. In that moment, I rediscovered my purpose and I understood why certain things had always frustrated me. I saw clearly where I created value and where I didn’t. 

Then everything shifted.

You Don’t Plan Transformation

That experience stayed with me, because it made me realise something important.  You don’t plan transformation, you don’t schedule it into an agenda and you don’t deliver it through slides.

Transformation happens in the spaces in between.  In conversations, in moments of discomfort and in environments that make you feel something.

So when it came time for me to help lead the Regional Leadership Academy at Uluru in the centre of Australia, I knew I didn’t want to create just another event. I wanted to create the right conditions for transformation.

Connection Before Content

From the beginning, I had a very clear vision, it was connection before content. I didn’t want people arriving, sitting in a room and being “taught.” I wanted them to feel something first and our location really delivered this for us.

We designed a story, that started in the dark, sitting under the stars, sharing a meal, listening to ancient stories, connecting to country. There were no distractions, no structure, just presence.

Then we woke before sunrise, still in the dark and moved into another space. There, we listened to personal stories about connection, seasons and life and slowly, as the light came up, Uluru revealed itself.

Out of the darkness, it wasn’t just a view, it was a moment.

Creating Space for Something Deeper

Over the following days, we continued that arc. From deeply immersive, almost sacred experiences… to more familiar, even “touristy” ones all design to create contrast.

From listening to stories… to creating our own, through art and reflection. Each experience was intentional. Not to teach, but to open something up.

Not everyone consciously “got it.”, but that’s the thing about transformation, it doesn’t always happen in the moment you expect.

Sometimes it lands later, sometimes it lands quietly and sometimes it shows up as a shift you can’t quite explain yet.

The Unexpected Truth

One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned through EO is this. The most transformational experiences don’t come from perfect environments. They don’t come from five-star hotels or polished presentations, they come from moments where something feels different, unfamiliar, uncomfortable and real. 

Where you’re just a little outside your normal world, because that’s when your thinking changes.

When the Light Comes Up

I went to RLA in Greece wondering when transformation would happen. In the presence of Uluru, I understood something very different.  You don’t wait for transformation, you certainly don’t force it, you create space for it.

My goal was to design an experience that connects people, to each other, to themselves and to something bigger. Then, at some point… the light comes up and everything looks different.  And when it does, you realise… sometimes all it takes is the right place, the right people and the courage to sit in the dark long enough for the light to reveal something new.

I want to acknowledge Heidi Merchant as she worked so freaking hard and to our Regional Chair Kim Liddell. The 3 of us were the core visionaries behind this RLA.