Programs

How does nature use power?
Photo by Jorge "Coco" Zavala | Amazon Rainforest – Yorenka Tasorentsi (Acre, Brazil)

We tend to think about power as finite, like a pizza. If you take 2 slices, there are only 6 left – so we think that to create a positive impact we need to “redistribute power” or “give back”.

But is that really how it works?

I spent the last 10+ years leading projects in the impact and sustainability space, analysing thousands of projects and meeting purpose-driven leaders from all over the world.

My experience is exactly what made me stop believing in impact and sustainability strategies. Or at least, in how we approach and talk about them most of the time.

Why?

Because I learnt that every social and environmental challenge we want to "solve" is the result of one or another form of abuse of power: on nature, on each other or on ourselves.

This means that:

  • we can't talk about impact, sustainability or purpose without looking at power first;
  • if we don't question and rewire our (inherited) story or power, our well-intended impact strategies will unconsciously re-create the same story: opportunist, extractive, ineffective;
  • we can only rewire our relationship with power starting from the individual and our stories – therefore, from the realm of agency and leadership.

An impact strategy is the result of our desire to grow and contribute to nature, people and the planet – and we want it to be effective and aligned with what is important to us.

My work is to help individuals and organisations approach impact strategies in a radical way – in the original meaning of the word: from the roots. With ground work on power, agency and integrity.

Any impact strategy that does not start from those roots is just another make-up exercise – or a waste of our time and desire to make things that matter.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

FAQs and details

Who do you work with?

My clients typically include founders, investors, family office members and executives – mainly in the fields of business, finance, media, and hospitality. I enjoy working with a select few who can then impact millions.

I currently:

  • coach founders, executives and investors 1:1
  • train teams and small groups
  • teach about Power, Purpose and New Leadership at the Politecnico of Milano and Bocconi University's executive programs
  • share tools and practices via my newsletters.

What's your approach?

I teach leaders to see (and use) impact and power the way nature does.

What has power to do with impact?

While you might believe that impact is about purpose statements and KPIs to measure, it's the way we see (and use) power that determines our impact in the world – individually and collectively.

In nature, power is not finite. Interactions between organisms are regenerative (boosting power and wellbeing) or degenerative (depleting it) depending on their characteristics and intentions – in a constant flow of interconnected functions. Nothing is inherently good or bad, but its application can be life-giving or life-taking.

This teaches everything we need to know about power and impact.

Most of the (understandable) confusion in the impact and sustainability space exist because we don't address the root cause of the current paradigm shift: we are not questioning wether money, technology or any other form of power are inherently good or bad. We are questioning how we want to apply them.

We are questioning the values we have been serving, and wether or not we think they are still serving us – and especially if they are serving the kind of life we'd like to live, and leave behind us.

In my experience, any individual or organisation that feels depleted, confused, restless or constantly powering through is an organism that is questioning how it's using its power(s). And how else it could use them.

This is what I help individuals and organisations with:

  • learn about how power (really) works
  • what's our current script of power, and how else we could apply it
  • develop the sense of agency necessary to shift from a degenerative to a regenerative approach to power.

Important note: all of the above phases are key to me.

I work with individuals and organisations that want to cover the full process, and I choose NOT to work with those solely interested in learning about power.

We all want to regain agency and our power – but I am interested to work only with those who also want to question the way we are conditioned to use it, and who want to use it differently.

#sorrynotsorry

What can we work on together?

Or also: what results should I expect?

Some of my clients call me Architect of the Invisible – because  together we work on their blueprints to restructure them, to then grow new forests and ecosystems from there.

I've had the pleasure of working with incredible individuals and groups, whose reclaimed power has turned into new for-impact investment theses, projects, relationships, business partnerships, and more.

With each of them, I've learned that the desires that lay at the core of our beings (and that we struggle to reconcile with) are ultimately beautiful. My goal is to allow more of that beauty, strength, and courage to pour out, serve life and become the ground for what Charles Eisenstein calls "the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible."

A final word.

The work on power and agency is an ongoing process. The game, pressure, and fear-inducing narratives these days seem to only escalate – don't blame me, I didn’t write the rules of the 21st century. But I really enjoy hacking them.

I've started to focus on power and agency specifically because my power was scattered everywhere except within myself.

It took me a decade to recognise that our obsession with impact and purpose is actually our longing to claim back and realign with the power we lose in more and more places every day – including fear-inducing narratives about the world, each other, and ourselves. That's why all of my programs have a strong focus on our sense of agency.

The programs I offer are the result of my own 10+ years of direct experience, combined with everything I wished existed when I was going through the work myself – and deliver them with what I call The Way of Nature: principles and tools informed by my decades of practice with cognitive sciences, ancestral traditions and my current collaboration with indigenous leaders.

You can see more of my background on my LinkedIn.

If you think this is what you’re looking for, reach out.‌‌‌‌