I have always enjoyed spending time outdoors. When I was young, my experience of the outdoors was that it represented freedom and adventure; the outdoors was an amazing playground and somewhere to explore and have fun. I’ve always had a love for the mountains and have been fortunate enough to spend time in many parts of the UK as well as time in the Alps and also the Himalayas. My love of the outdoors led to me running a small adventure activity business called Zest, which provided a range of fun weekend activities for busy professionals, as well as multi-activity holidays including several ski trips. Zest was a vivid demonstration of just how much people, on the whole, enjoy connecting with the great outdoors and the way in which it can make them feel alive. 

It was during my MSc, and as I approached my 40s, that I began to be fascinated by the emerging New Science and specifically, the insights that were being discovered in relation to complex adaptive systems (characteristics of living systems). The recognition that the world, and people, do not operate like a machine also chimed with my own views as to the conditions (environments) which enable people to learn and grow, and to flourish. The insights from living systems pointed to a very different mindset than the world of control, certainty, prediction, efficiency and linearity that is still the dominant logic in too many organisations.  It seemed to point to a very different way of thinking about leadership. With a good friend of mine, we set up an experiential learning and development business that sought to bring to life with clients  some of the principles and insights from complex living systems in the hope that real transformation might occur within their organisations. We explored tipping points, strange attractors, amplification, simple rules and initial conditions, novelty and phased transitions, and other concepts. It felt exciting to be developing a different language for unlocking human potential and how to build the conditions for sustainable success within organisations.

These ideas, and experiments, have continued to shape how I work and also led to a fascination with understanding the bigger systems within which we live and their interdependencies; economics, energy, ecology, etc.  During this period, I became more interested, and involved, in the local; community, bottom-up response to the increasingly urgent climate and ecological challenges. We clearly need leadership from business, government as well as from within communities and society.

More recently, I participated in a 10-day Vision Quest process which is based upon indigenous rites of passage and utilises the medicine wheel, archetypes, fasting, ceremonial rituals and dreamwork. I had a number of personal insights and it became clear to me that balance is what we really needed to be paying attention to and be acting from a place that recognises that we are part of, and deeply dependent, upon a bigger living system. Within my own lifetime there has been a significant trend of disconnection, certainly in the West, from the natural world which in turn has contributed to a loss of purpose and meaning in people’s lives. Paradoxically, we have a growing body of research from around the world that provides compelling evidence of the positive effects on spending time in nature. This to me points to an opportunity to get creative in exploring how we might create a circular economy and a pattern of living that places primary importance on a healthy planet.

I see nature as place of healing, inspiration and as a source of meaning and perspective. My interest is in how to rebuild our connection back to the living world in order that we work in balance with nature. I am wanting to dedicate my experience and energy into supporting a shift to being more in balance with the planet, restoring a sense of humility and to enable people to live a  life that is fulfilling and that has meaning. My belief is that intentionally connecting people to the outdoors can be a catalyst for shifting how we think and act and for opening up our imagination as to what’s possible.