Change is an inside job
What truly creates change?
In this fast-paced, productivity and outcome obsessed world, we are constantly pushed to find quick answers to often quite complex problems. We are expected to back every recommendation or decision with empirical data, and bow at the altar of evidence-based decision-making.
But here’s the paradox: you may well be setting out on a path for which there is no map and no guidelines, and only a vague destination.
How often do we pause to consider whether our current approach will deliver truly transformative change? I propose that jumping too quickly into solution mode simply addresses symptoms rather than the root cause. We then feel satisfaction that the pain appears to be gone, while remaining oblivious to the underlying problem.
Look at the ill-fated $350 billion merger of Time Warner, as they grappled with the decline of analog, and AOL, a darling of the surging internet age. Instead of unleashing “immense possibilities for economic growth, human understanding and creative expression”, as predicted by Gerald Levin, the CEO of Time Warner, the merger spiralled into job losses, SEC and Justice Department investigations, and the ignominy of the greatest failed merger in history. While the reasons are many and complex, they arise from looking through an economic lens and failing to appreciate the importance of people and culture. There was an hubristic assumption that if change made strategic and economic sense, then all else would fall seamlessly into place. However, without personal transformation, people found themselves adrift in unfamiliar environments, working alongside strangers, with starkly different worldviews.
Consider this: often the most profound changes in history come not from innovative strategy or policy. Instead, they originate from a deep, personal transformation within a leader. Change—real, systemic change—is an inside job. Mandela changed—and then South Africa changed.
The power of personal transformation
In 2010 I authored a paper that called for a ‘new global ethic’, in response to an intensifying societal demand for businesses to evolve from a profit-driven to a human-centred and purpose-driven ethos. The paper explored the significant influence leaders can exert when their personal purpose intersects with the organisational mission and societal need. It proposed an urgent need for a new breed of leader, particularly those at the helm of global enterprises who are uniquely positioned to bring about profound change and foster a more ethically grounded way of being a 21st century business.
I argued that becoming an effective leader requires mastering two seemingly contrasting, yet deeply connected, arts: becoming profoundly human, while steering a prosperous enterprise. Moreover, such leaders should serve society by cultivating this nascent global ethic within their sphere of influence. No small ask and a tall order.
Fast forward fifteen springs and the seeds are yet to sprout in the soul of many leaders, as we continue to face the same challenges—such as environmental fragility, financial instability, and crumbling trust in traditional institutions—that the paper identified.
I cited the example of Lee Scott, the former CEO of Walmart. Scott’s realisation of the societal impact that Walmart could create was deeply transformative. Inspired by the response of Walmart Associates to people in need after Hurricane Katrina, he posed this pivotal question:
What would it take for Wal-Mart to be that company, at our best, all the time? What if we used our size and resources to make this country and this earth an even better place for all of us: customers, Associates, our children, and generations unborn? What would that mean? Could we do it? Is this consistent with our business model? What if the very things that many people criticise us for – our size and reach – became a trusted friend and ally to all?
Spurred by these reflections, Scott presented ambitious environmental, product sourcing, healthcare, wages, community involvement and diversity goals. At that time, Walmart was under intense scrutiny on multiple fronts, facing criticism for their treatment of their employees and suppliers; prioritising profits over people; and an apparent indifference toward the environment or sustainability.
Yet this speech, which proposed practical actions such as eliminating excess packaging—and insisting that any packaging was totally recyclable—enhancing transport energy efficiency, and requiring suppliers to ship concentrates instead of water, had a dramatic impact on the staff, customers, regulators, and environmentalists.
One simple example demonstrates the size and scale of possibility. Scott revealed research that showed reducing the packing on one toy line from one supplier would result in ”497 fewer containers …generate freight savings of more than $2.4 million per year … save more than 38-hundred trees and more than a thousand barrels of oil.” And this in an organisation with more than 60,000 supplier relationships.
Scott set down an aspiration for Walmart, through its people, to become the best they could be all the time, responding to planetary needs in the same swift, focused manner with which they responded during Hurricane Katrina. Despite admitting they were not entirely sure how to realise such an “aggressive vision” he believed it was a noble goal worth pursuing. His transformation was remarkable. As he grasped, “there is virtually no distinction between being a responsible citizen and a successful business....they are one and the same for Walmart today.”
Despite ongoing criticism and struggles to stay the course, Walmart’s story illustrates the transformative leadership we need and the profound impact organisations can exert on both people and the planet.
The power of beauty to fuel that transformation
When I mentioned this story to Chris Gebhardt at Random Good during a recent call, he promptly asked “do you know the backstory?”
I confessed both ignorance and curiosity.
Why did the world’s largest retailer decide to become the world’s greenest retailer?
Marc Gunther, writing in Fortune Magazine, revealed that Rob Walton, the Chairman of Walmart at the time, influenced Scott’s conversion to the cause. Walton’s story is significant, for during the preceding couple of years, he had immersed himself in nature, in locations as diverse as Madagascar, Brazil and the Galápagos Islands. On a journey to Cost Rica, accompanied by a growing sensitivity toward the environment, Walton was confronted not simply by the need to change the way industry works, but by the influence he, and by extension Walmart, could wield in propelling a pivotal shift. Rob Walton was ready to face the question, and drew Scott into the dialogue.
an epiphany as the fulcrum of the future
The combination of tight diaries and airless offices work to stifle innovation and big picture thinking, in contrast with big skies and the open air, which lifts our minds and hearts to entirely new levels of perspective. The serenity, the expansiveness, and the timeless beauty of nature create the perfect canvas for deep work, deep thinking and deep change. The lack of distraction, and interaction with nature, provides soil for the germination of fresh thinking and the emergence of new mental models.
Rob Walton, certainly, experienced such a catalyst. Enraptured by natural beauty, he perceived things through a new lens and asked a different set of questions. Such an epiphany, a moment when the eyes are opened, cannot be wrangled, willed or workshopped. What is within our control, though, is crafting the conditions for an epiphany to occur.
I don’t show CEOs and their teams how to work smarter, harder or faster. Nor do I advise them on strategy, stakeholders, or structure. Instead, I lead them on immersive retreats, to a place of great natural beauty, and create the conditions for them to have a ‘light bulb’ moment that can catalyse a paradigm shift in their thinking.
This is the fulcrum upon which change pivots. It does not occur when sitting in a workshop listening to talks about change, or plastering post-it notes on the plaster. Those activities have value, but only after the epiphany: they do not cause it to happen. Absent any epiphany, where the light shines into the crevices and cracks of your well-crafted world, the only shift is in emotions: an optimistic feeling about working together toward a brighter future. But an epiphany offers a new vision of the future, one which you are able to articulate it in a simple, yet sublime manner. That is the power of beauty.
Scott was already concerned about the pressure on Walmart to address their environmental and employee record. However, as Gunther reports, until that time criticism was considered an opportunity to raise the drawbridge and strike back at the critics.
But then Scott had his own epiphany: two, in fact. The spark was lit after Hurricane Katrina, when he asked that insightful question:”What would it take for Wal-Mart to be that company, at our best, all the time?” The second, which fanned the spark into a flame, occurred when his granddaughter was born, prompting him to contemplate the impact of his actions across the generations.
Having had his own transformation, Scott set out to transform the business. Workshops can identify steps to improve employee relations, and pinpoint areas to possibly reduce environmental footprint. But an epiphany transcends this. It shines light on a new future: “we will become the greenest retailer on the planet”. Suddenly, everyone shares a deeper purpose, a clear and compelling why that drives action. Instead of battling against entrenched systems and processes, they are now guided by a beacon that illuminates a way forward, unleashing initiative and enthusiasm. While this may seem a mere gear change, a slight shift in the alignment of the cogs, it actually signals a radical shift in thought and act.
The power of nature
This story serves as a template for the transformation that needs to occur not simply in countries, companies and communities, but in the people who lead those institutions. In order to rise to the challenge before us, we need to plumb the depths within us. The bedrock of the work I undertake with leaders remains unchanged, albeit more urgent: become the best person you can become, become the leader the world needs you to be, and lead the transformation of your company, country or community. Together we can foster a new humanity, a new Renaissance. Personal transformation is the cornerstone of this work. Unless each of us evolves, then it’s all empty rhetoric, and most likely misguided rhetoric.
Immersing yourself in nature is not a retreat from the world. On the contrary, it’s a forward march toward self-discovery and transformation. It lays the groundwork for significant shifts in thought and action, catalysing often radical organisational changes which is rooted in a deep, personal understanding of the world and our place within it. Scott's story illustrates that epiphanies don't just change individuals: they send ripples of change through entire institutions.
What can you do? Seek nature, immerse yourself in its timeless wisdom and transformative power. Let its beauty, breadth and grandeur engage with you and catalyse a change that will radiate outward, influencing and inspiring change in others—be it an organisation, a community, or an entire nation.
That is the essence of an epiphany and the impact of immersion in nature: to nurture profound and enduring change. Therefore, the question you need to ask yourself is not what can you do for nature, but what can nature do for you?
Great reflections. I enjoyed this piece.