The Transformational Leadership Skills & Capabilities Playbook

Your Field Guide To Conscious Leadership, Purpose-Led Leadership, Relational Leadership, Creative Leadership, Influential Leadership, Inspirational Leadership, Systemic Leadership

“Bright Flight”, Digital Nomads & The Future Of Work

The Disruption Of The Multi-Trillion Dollar Real Estate Market The built environment industry, which in the US accounts for at least 10% of GDP, with cities providing 90% of all economic activity, has long been insulated from the disruption that…

20 Ways To Be More Customer-Centric As A Leader & Organization

Customer-centricity should not be a fad or catchphrase, or even something done by a few in marketing or sales. Customer-centricity is—and should be understood as— the fundamental reason for an “organisation” to exist. Explore 20 concrete ways to become radically customer-centric…

30+ Key Innovations, Tools & Technologies To Be Leveraged In Regenerative Business Models & Operating Models

This article is part 5 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

Many of the ingredients we need for regenerative businesses and brands already exist. Discover the innovative frameworks, technologies, and tools that you can use to design and evolve a regenerative business model.

33 Powerful Principles For Leading Successful Innovation In Corporates & Multinationals

Innovation leadership within large organizations is notoriously hard. In this article, benefit from the hard-won lessons we have learned over the last 25 years as we have pioneered breakthrough innovation corporations. Leverage these 33 principles, hacks, and strategies that are proven to break through organizational immune systems and their tendency to kill innovation to empower, enable, and elevate innovation teams to unlock big, bold, and beautiful ideas that forge the future of your industry.

5 Ways Corporate Innovation Leadership Activities Are Likely To Fail

Innovation to drive topline growth through value creation has never been more important given relentless change, endless commodification, saturated markets, and the lacklustre gains of yet more cost reduction programs. Yet hard-wired immune systems in large corporations and orgs tend to kill innovation (and kill off innovation leaders) before it can take hold. Understand the 5 common ways that execs and innovation leaders fail to reap the amazing rewards of breakthrough innovation investements—and why they are then ripe to be disrupted by more agile, and often out-of-indsutry, competitors.

A Tale Of 2 Vlods: The Leadership Of Zhelenskyy & Putin and The Crucial Role of Relational Intelligence In Transformation

These two leaders of countries at war—who share variants of the same Slavic first name Vlod or Vlad—embody very different styles of leadership. One is trying to become “ruler of the world”, the other “ruler of peace”—two meanings of their first name. Using this lens, I explore why every leader must prioritize the development of their rational intelligence to lead and land genuine transformation.

Are You Forging vs. Failing the Future? Why Most “Business Transformation” And “Innovation” Will Not Future-Proof Your Organization

All my work, over the last 25 odd, years has centered on helping well-established organizations and public institutions to forge the future of their industry in purposeful, innovative, and regenerative ways. This means anticipating, and creatively and effectively responding to,…

Balance vs. Agility: Leading On The Edge

Conventional wellbeing experts put a lot of weight behind the idea of ‘achieving perfect balance’ physically and mentally. But on closer inspection this seems to be a fundamentally flawed – and, in fact, profoundly dangerous – interpretation of the scientific,…

Beyond Intellect: Leading From The Heart

Wittgenstein wrote that “philosophy is the struggle against the bewitchment of our intellect by mean of language.” By ‘language’ I take it he means all our ideas about what life should and shouldn’t be like; the beliefs we hold about…

Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice® Gem 1: The One Unified Self

Understand the Way of Transformation: the archetypal blueprint and pathway for achieving lasting, positive change in yourself and the systems you participate in

Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice® Gem 2: The Two Modes Of Consciousness

Understand the Way of Transformation: the archetypal blueprint and pathway for achieving lasting, positive change in yourself and the systems you participate in

Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice® Gem 3: The Third Way Of Creative Harmony

Understand the Way of Transformation: the archetypal blueprint and pathway for achieving lasting, positive change in yourself and the systems you participate in

Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice® Gem 4: The Four Elements Of Transformation In Self & Systems

Understand the Way of Transformation: the archetypal blueprint and pathway for achieving lasting, positive change in yourself and the systems you participate in

Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice® Gem 5: The Five Key Stages Of Adult Leadership Development

Understand the Way of Transformation: the archetypal blueprint and pathway for achieving lasting, positive change in yourself and the systems you participate in

Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice® Gem 6: The Six Spirals Of Transformational Action

Understand the Way of Transformation: the archetypal blueprint and pathway for achieving lasting, positive change in yourself and the systems you participate in

Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice® Gem 7: The Seven Steps Of The Transformation Curve

Understand the Way of Transformation: the archetypal blueprint and pathway for achieving lasting, positive change in yourself and the systems you participate in

Compassion & Kindness In Company Cultures (Leadership Trend 4)

This article is part 5 of 6 in the series 5 Must-Know Leadership Trends, Ideas & Ideals

Five critical ideas that every transformational leader, adaptive leader, or creative leader must know about—and ideally pay some attention to—to be a future-fitting and even future-forging leader of positive and lasting impact, value, and change. Fourth in the series, compassion and kindness at the core of company cultures.

Conscious Leadership & Personal Leadership

How to be conscious leaders and personal leaders that show up as fully flexible, fluid, and free—ready to engage with, own, and transform all and any challenges we face in our organization and our crisis-hit world

Creative Leadership & Innovation Leadership

How to become a creative leader and innovation leader who can solve new and complex challenges with transformational solutions

Dignity (Not Just Diversity) & Inclusion (Leadership Trend 5)

This article is part 6 of 6 in the series 5 Must-Know Leadership Trends, Ideas & Ideals

Five critical ideas that every transformational leader, adaptive leader, or creative leader must know about—and ideally pay some attention to—to be a future-fitting and even future-forging leader of positive and lasting impact, value, and change. The final leadership trend is Dignity, not just Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion.

Five Essential Regenerative Leadership Capabilities

This article is part 7 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

Understand five critical skills for leaders to unlock if they want to embrace regenerative leadership and build the strength and skills to lead an organization to become a regenerative business or brand. Understand more about what regenerative leadership requires and some simple start points to build the capacity within to lead regeneratively.

How To Engage Fully In A Crisis 1: Science & Spirituality In Service Of Transformation

In this video Switch On CEO and co-founder Nick Jankel introduces Bio-Transformation Theory® and shares how it can help you to adapt in times of crisis. If you prefer to read content rather than watch, a transcript of the video…

How To Lead Systemic Change: A Brief Field Guide For Leading Systems To Be More Regenerative

This article is part 8 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

With the twin crises of climate and inequality unfolding in front of our eyes, the transformation of our economic and political systems is the hardest but most urgent and necessary challenge on Earth. Discover crucial insights on how to lead and land systemic change.

Iridescent Centrism: Insight Over Ideology For A Transformational Politics & Regenerative Capitalism

What was initially the first part of this essay was about a specific issue in progressive politics: an ideological color-blindness to the reality of antisemitism on the Left, with those on the radical side of left-wing politics blaming everyone; and…

Key Trends In The Future Of Work 2024-2025: Inspiring A Better & Brighter Workplace

Key Trends In The Future Of Work The way we work is undergoing a profound sea change, comparable in magnitude to the shift from farming to factories. This shift is transforming lives, livelihoods, nations, and the planet itself. For example:…

Leaders vs. AI: There Ain’t No Such Thing As Artificial Wisdom

Perhaps the most compelling and crucial question at the heart of our present-day anxieties about the rise of Artificial Intelligence is this: will machines ever be creative, compassionate, and wise and so transcend our capabilities as leaders (whether leaders of…

Leaders vs. ChatGPT: AI-Enabled Business Models (Leadership Trend 1)

This article is part 2 of 6 in the series 5 Must-Know Leadership Trends, Ideas & Ideals

Five critical ideas that every transformational leader, adaptive leader, or creative leader must know about—and ideally pay some attention to—to be a future-fitting and even future-forging leader of positive and lasting impact, value, and change. First up, Artificial Intelligence and AI-enabled business models, from Chat-GPT to DeepMind.

Leadership Coaching Concepts: Response-able

After the initial shock and stress of the pandemic, it is time for us leaders to start engaging fully with the post-pandemic world—for there are tougher and hitherto unprecedented challenges on the near horizon. They cannot be ignored. The planet, and her people, cannot wait.

Leadership Commitment: Learning From The Indian Classic The Baghavad Gita

In the Baghavad Gita, one of the Hindu religions greatest literary and spiritual works, the hero Arjuna is told by a wise prince Sri Krishna (a representation of the supreme being) that “when a person is devoted to something with…

Leading From the Future: The Source Of Game-Changing Ideas That Transform & Regenerate

How leaders and change makers—anywhere in the system—can create the conditions for future-forging insights and ideas to break through future-failing assumptions and habits

Leading Means Learning Forgiveness

Eric Fromm, the renowned psychoanalyst, wrote: ‘We must approach the unconscious… with a profound sense of humour.’ Why? Because we all, when we have the humility to admit it, have dark thoughts. Many of us have done dark deeds because…

Leading To A Flourishing Future With A “Regenerative Renaissance”

This article is part 1 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

Introducing the possibility of a regenerative “turn” in society and business that can bring about a sustainable, just, and flourishing future for our organization—and all life on our planet.

Nature-Positivity & Nature-Based Innovations (Leadership Trend 2)

This article is part 3 of 6 in the series 5 Must-Know Leadership Trends, Ideas & Ideals

Five critical ideas that every transformational leader, adaptive leader, or creative leader must know about—and ideally pay some attention to—to be a future-fitting and even future-forging leader of positive and lasting impact, value, and change. The second leadership trend is Nature Positivity and Nature-Based Solutions and Innovations.

Purpose Can Save Your Life, Your Business & Our World

Just over a decade ago, I was flying high. I was 29 years old. I ran what I believed was one of the most exciting companies in existence – a blend of ad agency, design studio, anthropology department and strategy…

Purposeful Leadership & Ethical Leadership

How to be purposeful leaders and ethical leaders that act with integrity and make sense of the world, and make decisions about what to do next, grounded in a powerful and meaningful purpose.

Regenerative Leadership & Business: The Next Stage Of Human Evolution?

This article is part 6 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

Why regenerative leadership and regenerative business might be the next stage of both human and societal development—but that to make it to that stage, we need a paradigm shift in our consciousness as leaders.

Resilience for Leaders

Bamboo is a symbol of longevity because of its durability, strength, flexibility, and resilience. It survives in the harshest conditions, still standing tall and staying green year-round. When the storm comes, bamboo bends with the wind. When the storm ceases, it resumes its upright…

Stop Solving The Wrong Problems! Why All Leaders Must Know The Difference Between ‘Technical Problems’ and ‘Transformational Challenges’

Why so many smart leaders get stuck trying to solve Technical Problems that fit existing best-practice, assumptions, and expertise—and why all genuine transformation in business and systems requires leaders to give up being smart and right so they can identify, define, and innovate around Transformational Challenges

The Future Of Business: How Enterprises Can Thrive In A Digital, Disrupted & Despairing World

In the last forty years, 1/3 of arable land on Earth has become infertile due to erosion or pollution at a time where increasing temperatures is causing global food shortages. Deaths attributed to pollution are triple those from AIDS, malaria,…

The Great Reckoning: Leadership & Innovation In A Time Of COVID, CRISPR & Climate Change

After the initial shock and stress of the pandemic, it is time for us leaders to start engaging fully with the post-pandemic world—for there are tougher and hitherto unprecedented challenges on the near horizon. They cannot be ignored. The planet, and her people, cannot wait.

The Pain & Possibilities Within Midlife Crisis For Leaders and their Organizations

With insights into adult development and deep transformational “inner work” we can consciously transform middle-age from a time of relentless pressure and disappointment into the most generative and regenerative period of our careers

The Power Of the Leadership Inquiry: How To Reinvent & Reenergize Your New Year’s Resolutions & Personal Goals For Accelerated Leadership Development

How to use a cutting-edge, brain-based approach for reframing your New Year’s Resolutions and personal leadership goals to unlock accelerated (and appropriate) leadership development—by tapping into your innate curiosity, creativity, and potential for growth.

The Return of The Sacred King: Finding & Integrating A (Re)Generative Masculinity

Before you read this poem, you may want to read my article on midlife crisis, adult developmental thinking, and transformation.   The free folk are worried, suffering, and pained Despair strikes bells of the four corners to ring Each boy…

The Rise of the Feminine in Leadership & Life

Our masculine strength, power, and rationality must be in service of feminine softness, presence, and relationship—not the other way around—to thrive in life, love, and leadership

The Secret Of 21st Century Business Success Leveraging Agility & Innovation (Which They Don’t Teach On MBAs)

In my 20s I ran a top-flight strategy and innovation consultancy. My business partner and I, with our fast-growing team, worked with C-Suite executives from over one hundred Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies to help them grapple with the…

The Top 5 Leadership Trends 2023 In The Attention Economy

This article is part 1 of 6 in the series 5 Must-Know Leadership Trends, Ideas & Ideals

Five critical ideas that every transformational leader, adaptive leader, or creative leader must know about—and ideally pay some attention to—to be a future-fitting and even future-forging leader of positive and lasting impact, value, and change.

The Transformation Mindset: Leveraging Two Brain Networks For Leadership & Innovation

Develop the mindset you need to survive and thrive in the ruthlessly changing, relentlessly complex, and radically uncertain world.

The Ultimate List Of Innovation Mistakes, Failures & Killers

Most corporate innovation programs fails to deliver the outsized returns—in the form of value-creation, growth, staff engagement, and consumer/customer loyalty—that breakthrough innovation unlocks. By understanding the common killers, blockers, and obstacles to successful innovation in large organizations, corporations, and Fortune 500s, you can reduce the risks and costs, minimize wasted effort and goodwill, ensure your employees do not disengage, and delight your customers before they depart.

Truth In Conscious Leadership: Learning from Gandhi

Lies never stay hidden for very long and it actually seems that the universe is designed this way for a reason. Gandhi, who called his autobiography ‘My Experiments with Truth’, believed firmly that Truth is actually God (or whatever word…

Understanding Collaborative Leadership & Team Leadership

How to become a collaborative leader and team leader who can motivate team members to deliver—and guide diverse groups of cross-functional people to collaborate on innovation and execution

Understanding Regenerative Leadership & Systemic Leadership

How to become a systemic leader and regenerative leader who can lead lasting change across enterprises and systems to deliver a sustainable future

Unlocking Team & Leadership Potential: Psychological Safety and Trust Are A Two-Way Street

Just as a people leader must create a safe environment for their people to shine, each team member must ensure their leader or line manager is safe… not from being fired but from having fires erupt that they then need to fight.

Unlocking Uncertainty: 7 Brain-Based & Teachable Tools For Leading Powerfully In Today’s Relentless Complexity & Change

Not being able to predict with any certainty important elements of our short-term future is the new normal. And it’s is playing havoc with business (as usual)! Are we already in a global recession? Will we be by Q2 or…

What Is A Regenerative Technology? Exploring Digital Products & Services That Slow Down & Mend Things

This article is part 3 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

10 design lenses for building regenerative technologies within regenerative business models that can repair our fragmented world—and why we need ‘embodied wisdom’ and wise leadership to wield them properly

What Is Conscious Leadership?

In challenging times, we need a kind of leadership that can disrupt the status quo with as little pain and as much elegance as possible. I believe the times we live and work in demand that we focus our entire…

What is Embodied Wisdom And Why Is It Essential For Truly Transformational Leadership?

Why cultivating embodied wisdom is so crucial for our own happiness and well-being—as well as the great unlock for leading our teams toward high-perfomance and our organizations toward sustainable success and a regenerative future.

What Is Regenerative Thinking In Leadership & Business?

This article is part 2 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

It’s easy to talk about regenerative business, agriculture, or leadership. It’s less simple to define what lies at the heart of regenerative thinking. In this article, Nick Jankel attempts to define the essence of thinking regeneratively.

What is Transformational Leadership?

In our relentlessly, ruthlessly changing world, we need leadership styles that can lead us away from overwhelm, stress and damage. We need a leadership style that, instead, generates a more regenerative and thriving state. We need to do this with as little resistance and as much speed as possible.

What Makes A Business Or Brand Regenerative? 15 Design Lenses For Regenerative Businesses

This article is part 4 of 11 in the series Regenerative Leadership & Regenerative Business

15 principles and design lenses that we can all harness to lead, evolve, and cultivate regenerative brands, businesses, projects, and communities that can transform our crisis-hit world.

Who Cares Wins: Crucial Leadership Insights from the Ukrainian War (And Why You Need Relational Intelligence To Lead Transformation)

These two leaders of countries at war—who share variants of the same Slavic first name Volod or Vlad—embody very different styles of leadership. One is trying to become “ruler of the world”, the other “ruler of peace”—two meanings of their first name. Using this lens, I explore why every leader must prioritize the development of their rational intelligence to lead and land genuine transformation.

Why Conscious Leadership Demands We Intervene In Countries That Hurt Their Citizens

A hundred years ago this week, the United States entered the First World War, much to the dismay of many isolationists at home. One hundred thousand Americans died. Roughly 18 million people died overall, 7 million of them civilians. This was supposed…

Wise Leadership & Wisdom In the Workplace (Leadership Trend 3)

This article is part 4 of 6 in the series 5 Must-Know Leadership Trends, Ideas & Ideals

Five critical ideas that every transformational leader, adaptive leader, or creative leader must know about—and ideally pay some attention to—to be a future-fitting and even future-forging leader of positive and lasting impact, value, and change. The third is Wise Leadership & Wisdom In the Workplace.