BQI Origin Story
The Big Questions Institute started as a single weekend workshop in 2019 organized by Homa Tavangar and Will Richardson. We called it “a Big Questions Institute”, encouraging participants to bring their big questions to a concept we were testing, steeped in appreciative inquiry, and based on our collective 50+ years of experience.
We had bonded a couple years earlier when we were invited to give back-to-back keynotes on one of the most epic stages – at the UN General Assembly room in New York. We each carefully prepared what we hoped would be an impactful 20-minute talk. But then one thing after another whittled away our time during the plenary session and we were each left with about 5-minutes to improvise a new keynote in front of a packed audience of leaders eager to get to the cocktail reception. This was definitely an unforgettable professional experience (!).
Looking back, this challenge was a gift. We developed not only a deeper working relationship with our host organization, AAIE, but a friendship and trust with each other that served as a powerful foundation for getting through the unimaginable challenges coming in 2020 and beyond, with a global pandemic.
Sometime after our UN General Assembly adventure, Homa called Will to discuss speaking fees. Gender pay gap is well known in every industry, and Will’s transparency and support to Homa and to principles of equity solidified our friendship. That’s when the idea of putting our skills together for our first workshop on a variety of big questions started to form.
We realized that between us, our years of work covered many “big questions” – from impacts of technology and navigating school change, to global citizenship, cultural competencies, belonging and equity, Board governance, and leadership amidst VUCA times. We could not have imagined that just a few months later the whole world would essentially shut down, resulting in each of us losing about 90+% of our business, and that one of the only remaining projects would be the Masterminds coaching cohort we co-facilitating starting in late March 2020, in collaboration with AAIE.
From there, we dedicated every Thursday morning for a couple years to facilitating calls with international school leaders devoted to sensemaking, problem-solving, and mostly, listening, as they navigated one uncertainty after another crisis. This served as one of the most powerful learning experiences any of us had ever had, and out of this and other learnings, we co-created all new materials for professional development for educators, leaders, and whole-school communities, from New Leadership Lenses to the 9 (and now 12) Big Questions, RRAGE cards, Board retreats, senior leadership capacity building, and much more.
In 2025 Will stepped away from daily work with schools and the Big Questions Institute. (Read his manifesto here.) Meanwhile, Homa is growing BQI, with a new team of brilliant, experienced colleagues, and we continue to develop new materials focused on supporting leaders through so many challenges and schools to be more relevant, just, healthy, sustainable regenerative, and joyful.
Why We Do This Work
This manifesto names the realities we’re confronting — and the futures we’re choosing to imagine together.
"Open your arms to change but don’t let go of your values."
— Dalai Lama
— Dalai Lama