Leading by Nature – A radical new handbook for regenerative leadership from business transformation strategist, author, speaker and leadership advisor, Giles Hutchins
“A truly exceptional and timely book that redefines the locus of power in relationship to leadership; leadership that seeks harmony and alignment with nature. Giles reminds us to bring awareness/presence to everything that unfolds. This book is the teacher we all need.” Sue Cheshire, Founder and former CEO of The Global Leaders Academy
Climate change, Covid and conflict have resulted in an increasingly dispersed multi-generational workforce that is crying out for meaning and belonging. The unrelenting pace of these leadership challenges is demanding an evolution in organizational thinking in response.
Giles Hutchins latest book Leading by Nature goes right to the heart of this approach, informed by the regenerative systems in the natural world to inspire practices, tools and techniques that will help us lead organizations capable of transforming and thriving in a fast-emerging future.
“Leading by Nature is THE handbook for regenerative leadership. A must-read for every business leader who genuinely cares about the future of humanity.” Jayn Sterland, CEO of Weleda UK
Rampant inequality, structural racism, the climate emergency, the COVID crisis, and conflicts such as Ukraine, all share an underlying root which, when dealt with, can improve the health of our organisations, society and wider fabric of life on Earth. This underlying common root – the Mother of all our problems – is human consciousness.
The former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, was spot on when he said in his address to US Congress that, ‘Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better, and the catastrophe towards which this world is headed, whether it be ecological, social or a general breakdown of civilization, will be unavoidable.’
In the same vein, systems scientist Donella Meadows researched system interventions, and observed that the highest leverage point at which to intervene in a system is the mind-set/consciousness/worldview out of which the system arises.
And yet how much of our activities on ESG, circular economics, social inequality, sustainable business, wellbeing at work, and such like actually enable a shift in consciousness?
Unless we address today’s dominant yet out-dated worldview and the leadership logic that flows from it, then all our best endeavours for new ways of working and more sustainable, ethical and inclusive business models will be short-lived.
“Leading by Nature gets to the heart of the shift in leadership that is now required to create a sustainable future for humanity.” – Richard Barrett, Director of the Barrett Academy for the Advancement of Human Values.
Leading by Nature is a fundamental departure from the traditional mechanistic management theory that much of today’s mainstream leadership and organizational development (L&OD) is rooted in. Instead this living-systems approach takes its insight from the way life works, and perceives our organisations as living-systems full of complex processes of human relating. By unlocking self-and-system consciousness within us as leaders, we can better sense and respond to dynamics at play across the organization-as-living-system, enabling future-fitness amid these volatile and metamorphic times.
Machine Worldview Living-Systems Worldview
Dominator culture > Partnership culture
Parent-child > Adult-adult
Control-manage > Sense-respond
Disempowering > Empowering
Unnatural > Natural
Life-denying > Life-affirming
“I love this book and it is one to go back to time and again to full appreciate its inherent wisdom, directing us into Leading By Nature not as a destination but as a path well-travelled. Drawing its insights from many fields, including Appreciative Inquiry, Adult Development, Systemic and cutting-edge Organizational thinking, Jung and his collective unconscious along with Eastern philosophies – it challenges us to move from a constraining, mechanistic approach. How exciting and thank goodness!” – Eve Turner, Chair, APECS, co-founder Climate Coaching Alliance, author Ecological and Climate-Conscious Coaching – A Companion Guide to Evolving Coaching Practice.
“Leading by Nature is a powerful book for people who are serious about regenerative change, people who recognize that outer transformations grow from inner transformations, and understand that adopting techniques without understanding their scientific and philosophical foundations is a trap. Giles lays out a pathway that both guides and educates in what Ursula Le Guinn called the critical work of relearning our being in the world.” – Pamela Mang, co-founder of Regenesis Institute & co-author of Regenerative Development and Design
The time has come to get radical and deal with the root problem, the very way in which we engage with reality.
Author of four previous books, Giles Hutchins, draws upon over 25 years experience in leadership and organizational development, and over 10 years of executive leadership coaching and regenerative leadership practice to apply an approach to next-stage future-fit business. This is a must-read for leaders interested in leading thriving organizations amid the increasingly volatile times ahead.
You can purchase the book either direct from the publishers Wordzworth or from Amazon and other channels.
You can also listen to the podcast series where Giles Hutchins interviews CEOs of pioneering organizations pushing the envelope toward life-affirming regenerative business, here at Leading by Nature.
Giles Hutchins is an author, speaker, business transformation leader and CEO coach. He has written 5 books on regenerative leadership and how organisations can learn from nature to become more resilient and future-fit. He is a senior advisor for a number of leading organisations and business schools on the future of business, and has worked in organisational change for over 25 years. His international practice is anchored at Springwood Farm amid ancient woodland in Sussex, UK. His latest book is Leading by Nature.
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