I spent twelve years in consulting and corporate roles, designing strategy and leading transformations to build a greener and better future. When I temporarily left my full-time corporate role in January 2022 to go on a twelve-month sabbatical, I suddenly had more space and energy to explore different kinds of work, the kind that did not fit within the constraints of the roles I'd ever taken on and the companies and industries I'd ever worked for.

As I progressed through my sabbatical explorations, I realised that I believe the Big Human Problems that humanity is currently facing (like climate change) are opportunities for each and every one of us to grow and come together to consciously build a bright future for humanity. I’m using the words ‘grow and come together’ on purpose because I strongly believe that any kind of systemic change like the one that we need to do starts with change within each and every one of us, and then accelerates when we decide to combine our unique perspectives and strengths to do meaningful work in service of a common purpose.

In this case, that common purpose is ‘a bright future’.

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A new age is within our reach.

An age that will be similarly progressive as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, if not more. An age where our ways of being are aligned with what feels right to all living things, and welcoming of new life both tomorrow and in thousands of years.

I'm optimistic because I’ve seen incredibly competent people make huge steps forwards in solving the Big Problems of our time.

I've seen first-hand how the company I work for, National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), is inspiring its 1,000 employees into shaping crucial elements of the energy transition in Great Britain. I've seen the drive and competence of the teams that are spearheading big projects that will help the country make huge steps forward; and I've also seen the incredibly positive momentum that those teams are creating outside the ESO, in the wider industry.

I've now also seen first-hand the ambition, creativity and mindfulness with which people in the worlds of creators, solopreneurs, start-ups, non-profits and decentralised autonomous organisations are transforming our ways of working as businesses and our ways of being as humans for the better. I'll give examples of that later on in this piece.

To transition to that new age, we need more great people than ever working on those Big Problems, and we need them to work together.

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Businesses have a crucial role to play in building that bright future.

Businesses are places where people come together to work towards a common goal. When you change the mission of an existing business to - say - a mission that drives them to do a specific kind of work in service of building a better future, then you change the direction in which all the people who work in the business are headed. With one change in direction, you have a direct impact on the kind of work that those 500, 5,000 or 50,000 people are doing.

Furthermore, big successful businesses usually have a lot of influence over their industry. If they start clearly directing their work towards building a better future, they will become a beacon of meaning for customers, partners and potential employees who have a similar drive: those customers will want to buy from those businesses, those suppliers and partners will want to work with them, and those employees will want to work for them. When industry competitors and partners start witnessing this, they will feel inspired to change their direction to a more meaningful one too either because it fits the direction they were headed in anyway or simply because they don't want to become redundant in this new world.

The result is the same, when influential businesses become meaning-led - or purpose-led - their industries are likely to end up becoming purpose-led too - and suddenly, big chunks of the world are transforming themselves and the world for the better at the same time.

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More and more businesses need to become purpose-led.

Businesses are increasingly updating their missions to become purpose-led and new purpose-led businesses are being created every day to build elements of the solution to the climate change problem and other Big Human Problems. None of those businesses will solve the problem single-handedly but an increasing number of them are owning and building a piece of the solution.

I was lucky enough to witness the transition of National Grid ESO from a business that were doing great work 'as usual' to a business with a purpose-led mission and strategy which - as it stands today - is to ‘drive the transformation to a fully decarbonised electricity system by 2035 which is reliable, affordable and fair for all’. As soon as the Executive Team communicated the new strategy, I was able to witness first-hand just how much of a difference setting a powerfully purpose-led strategy can make in the enthusiasm that teams bring to work and in the passion they put into driving change... it was HUGE. Teams mobilised themselves internally to make it happen. So many people mustered every inch of energy they had and started pouring it into work, galvanised at the idea of being part of such a positive transformation in the world. And from the moment the ESO shared that strategy with the outside world, it started receiving huge amounts of applications from ambitious individuals who wanted to join the company.

The impulse to build a purpose-led business or to transform an existing business into a purpose-led business can stem from many sources e.g. a new CEO changing the direction of the company, customers demanding that a clothing business make clothes with eco-friendly fabric, investors asking for solid proof that the business is delivering against its decarbonisation targets, or even employees progressively leaving the business because they are not finding the meaning they are looking for in their work. The latter is becoming increasingly relevant as Millennials and Gen Z account for an increasing proportion of the workforce and senior leadership positions.

In all cases, the transformation will start from the inside. No transformation will happen if the businesses does not manage to mobilise people into doing the work. But it’s not the ‘business’ that will be doing the mobilising in itself either... A ‘business’ can’t direct itself. It has no agency of its own. A business is made out of individuals with unique skills, experience and perspectives - and it’s those individuals who have agency and can (first) direct themselves and (then) inspire others to work with them in that direction.

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Purpose-led businesses will only succeed if they become great places for great people to work in.

The fastest and most powerful business transformations that will lead humanity towards a better future will happen through businesses where enough inspired, driven and collaborative people are dedicating their time and energy to shaping and driving positive change.

Businesses that have a clear vision for how they want to shape a better future and a clear strategy on how to get there will attract those people. But it won't be enough to convince them to stay and do the work.

Ambitious, driven and collaborative people are in high demand. They therefore have the power to decide in which businesses they want to work - rather than the other way around. And they'll want to work in places that value them and help them reach their full potential both as workers and humans. Purpose-led businesses will need to become great places to work if they want to attract and keep those kinds of ambitious, driven and collaborative people in their ranks, particularly the ‘corporate entrepreneurs’ who want to take it on themselves to shape and drive the big transformations that business needs. Businesses will have to create the right conditions so that those people feel empowered to play their roles in the company, are properly rewarded for their efforts, and have the space to fully grow as human beings as they do their jobs. Transforming businesses into becoming those great places to work is another one of the transformations that ‘corporates intrapreneurs’ will have (and want) to take on.

Most businesses aren't quite there yet. Some are purpose-led but not great places to work. Some are good places to work but lack that meaningful drive to build a better future.

I think we need to up our game as individuals, to become those ambitious, driven and collaborative individuals and those ‘corporate intrapreneurs’ that businesses need to drive enduring and positive change at a systemic level.

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I can help transform businesses from the inside out. One person at a time.

I can help those ‘corporate intrapreneurs’ feel inspired and empowered to shape, take on and deliver the most impactful and meaningful projects in their business and in the wider corporate world, in service of a better future. I want them to be able to do this in such a way that they flourish both in their work and as human beings while they are on that journey.

I can help those who want to be ‘corporate intrapreneurs’ and who feel they aren’t quite there yet. I can also help those who - more generally - want to up their game in how they are contributing to the businesses they are a part of… maybe they haven’t yet figured out what role(s) they can take on to make the most impact, or maybe they need to build new skills to work better with others and thrive within the business.

Here is how I intend to do this.

First, I am gathering and sharing visions that both I and others have built of a better future as well as gathering and sharing strategies and plans that existing purpose-led businesses have already committed to delivering. My aim here is to inspire people within businesses into believing that a better future can be built for humanity, that we are already on the way there, and that they can play a role in it.

One of my favourite visions is the one shared by the Long Now Foundation, which promotes long-term thinking and responsibility. And when they say long-term, they mean 'at the timescale of civilisation' i.e. we should broaden the way we think to include not just tomorrow and the next generation, but also the next 10,000 years. This aligns neatly with the concept of a 'good ancestor' mentioned by many thinkers, where good ancestors are defined as people who create things that can take generation to build and that often benefit those who come after them.

Then, I can help ‘corporate intrapreneurs’ - and people who aspire to join their ranks - level up on their skills and drive so they have more impact in the corporate world, and - importantly - so they are able to direct their work and their lives more consciously.

Corporates have a special kind of DNA compared to other businesses - and it often takes times for corporate newbies and newly-appointed corporate leaders to find their feet. More often that not, people employed in corporates are expected to behave in a certain way but are never told that it is important to behave in that way unless they have a mentor who is advising them. So people make mistakes, they trip and they learn progressively. I will share my experience of 'corporating' and how to 'corporate' well, to help accelerate that learning curve as much as I can.

Corporates that want to become purpose-led will need to make their vision for a better future clear, and they will need to shape an inspirational strategy that will empower their teams to make that vision happen. I will share what I've learned about how to build a good strategy, in a way that is applicable to projects, teams and whole businesses.

Successful ‘corporate intrapreneurs’ put themselves at work on some of the most transformational projects for their company. The size and the importance of those projects often means that they will have to check-in with decision-makers on their progress on a regular basis as well as work with people across the business to make things happen. I will share what I've learned about how to get your message across to decision-makers, how to make things happen at pace and how to collaborate with others more generally.

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I am building bridges between the corporate world and the world outside of corporates.

My unusual transition from established-corporate-leader to solopreneur-who's-exploring-another-way-of-working-and-being has allowed me to access some working spheres and different ways of being that I didn't even know existed when I was too busy working in my full-time job. I want to build bridges between corporates and the world outside of corporates.

The first bridge I am building relates to novel ways of working and organising businesses.

I have met many creators, solopreneurs and people working in decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) and what feels like 'fringe' ecosystems who are developing and testing new concepts and tool for organising work in novel ways that I think corporates would benefit from testing and probably implementing. One of my favourite discoveries is the Enspiral ecosystem, which gave birth to initiatives likes Microsolidarity and Better Work Together whom I'm currently working with.

I am also building a second bridge in the learning and development space.

I've discovered creators who have developed ways of teaching that deliver extremely high-quality learnings that students genuinely embed in their lives and start making compound interests on day after day, year after year.  Some of those courses have genuienly transformed my ways of working and even being - and it feels incredibly silly for people in corporates to not have access to them. One of my favourite creator in that space include David Perell who's taught 1,000+ people how to write online in a way that opens the door to meaningful work and a vibrant community of self-directed people.

I am building these kinds of bridges between the corporate world and the 'edge' so that corporate intrapreneurs benefit from the creative and life-changing teaching from creators from the 'edge' and so that those creators can make an even greater impact in the world through corporates.

Of course, this vision for how I want to be and work in the world will change as I progress on my journey. I sometimes (often, ahem) wake up at night with new ideas of things I could be doing, or thinking of different ways I could connect incredible people.

But in short, my aim is for more ambitious, creative and mindful intrapreneurs to be working on things that matter within corporates. And for more great people to join them in those corporates to drive positive change at pace. The more of them we have in the world, the more we increase our chances of solving climate change and other Big Human Problems in an inclusive and enduring way - and I am looking forward to working and living alongside all of you.