Founders of Tomorrow

Co-creating with the Founders of Tomorrow community

These past few moths I’ve been integrating things in myself and my business. Back in June, I attended Founders of Tomorrow for a week full of meeting interesting people, exploring complex topics, wicked problems, co-creating in a team of people, taking walks in nature and building a community of change-makers, weaving new stories. In their own words:

“Founders of Tomorrow is a non-profit initiative that brings together change-makers to learn about global challenges, disruptive technologies and intra- and entrepreneurship in order to create radical ideas for businesses and initiatives contributing to a better future for people and the planet.”

This year’s theme was Urban Futures - Rethinking & transforming cities for the regenerative era.

My intention for the camp was “To be changed.” Intentions are powerful, and this one changed me in many ways.

When I started Thought Wardrobe, my intention was to build a business that will be a force for good. Not just in the value I create with the services I offer, but also:

• which people and businesses I help and for what purpose

• the way I go about the work

• the things I teach

• the way I use my voice

• the way I use my business to promote a more just world

• the support I offer to underprivileged communities and individuals

• the partnerships I create based on value alignment

• the services and products I buy from others

• creating all of this through the regenerative paradigm, giving more than I take (to the environment, the clients, the communities).

I’ve been contemplating these regenerative changes for a while, and FOT week instilled a sense of belonging to this community of change-makers and an urge to follow-through and make the changes. I’ve let things settle over the summer and for the past month or so, I’ve been reshaping things.

1. I’ve restructured my business in order to separate it from my private self. My company is hereby officially an independent unit. Yay! 🎉 It means more stability and predictability and clearer processes and routines. Which brings me to point 2:

2. Creating this kind of company means professionalising and creating a more solid rhythm to my business. The rhythm will be circular, not linear. I’ve been acknowledging seasons in the way I live life since I was sick with stress many years ago, but now that I am my own business, I have the opportunity to actually create my own rhythm that works. There is a time to conceive (spring), grow (summer), harvest (autumn) and rest (winter). Gone are the days of the constant hustle, resisting pause and rest, and being in scarcity, the never good enough and being driven by fear. I am committed to sense the seasons my business is in and act accordingly. I am no longer expecting to deliver, deliver, deliver and I now take the time for things to mature and emerge more organically. 🌱

3. I am bringing the regenerative paradigm to all of my work. So, I am using my strategic design, leadership and coaching toolboxes to create better, planet centric futures.

   • Currently I am in Organisational Relationship Systems Coaching certification to deepen my systems coaching toolbox.

   • I am reframing and restructuring the curriculum I ran with Hyper Island in March on Human-Centred Design towards life-centred design.

   • My information diet contains more than 50% regenerative and indigenous wisdom and another 25% on systems thinking and leadership and the rest is just state of the world, culture and tech trends.

   • I am focusing on partnerships where regenerative leadership can take a central role and there is a clear purpose, desire, will and funding to support the work. I also have some exciting collaborations in the making and will be sharing more about them soon.

   • I am restructuring my yearly individual leadership coaching program to be based on a cyclical rhythm and I am integrating regenerative principles, tools and practices.

4. I am restructuring my business model so that it can be a business for good and I already do pro-bono work for causes important to me, like #blacklivesmatter. I’m also currently looking to support indigenous communities and organisations. I still need to do a detailed calculation, but the intention is that for every x amount of hours of paid client work, I will donate a percentage to individuals and communities in need that can’t afford it.

5. And last, but not least, I’ve replanted the balcony at home with bee-friendly flowers and winter greens, so I spend every day connecting to nature even if it’s 4 stories up in the middle of the city. I’m also dedicating more time in my days to replenishing my reserves of energy, doing things that make me feel alive, that bring me joy and calm down my nervous system. The botanical garden has become a place I visited the most in the past few months.

I hope to be a role model of regenerative leadership - walking the talk - so I can help my clients do the same.

It’s a change process that starts with the willingness to be changed.
If you were willing to be changed, what would you make real in the world?