Wolf Born

(aka Randal Newton-John)

Regenerative business consultant

Workplace mind/body coach

Corporate shaman

To bring the world back from the brink of environmental collapse, a seismic cultural shift needs to take place. Everyone plays a part: individuals, community, government and business.

Changes in consumer habits, sustainable production, new technologies, and recycling will all be part of the solution. But the key to all this, is the willingness to change. This willingness can be necessitated by catastrophic events, or it can happen more gently through the conscious transformation of belief and attitude.

For centuries, humankind has believed that we are separate from nature, that the earth is a resource to exploit. This has led us to push the natural resources of the planet far beyond its capacity to sustain us. Yet, for thousands of years before this, indigenous cultures were able to live sustainably. This came from an understanding that we were not separate and above nature, but part of it.

My role is to work with organisations to help bring about that change in belief.

The benefit for organisations is not only an ethical one, or just to meet customers and regulators’ expectations. When we understand that nature is within us and align our way of working with nature, it improves the way we relate to each other. The helps to reduce stress and workplace conflict, improves decision making, and increases trust and psychological safety.

What is regenerative business?

For the last couple of decades, at least, we know that businesses need to become sustainable. That is, that the way we produce goods and services must, at the very least, be an environmentally neutral exercise. What we extract or how much we pollute needs to balanced with remedial actions, so that the destruction of the planet does not get any worse.

Over the past few years we have seen the concept of ‘regenerative business’ start to emerge

A simple definition of regenerative business is one that seeks to improve nature and communities, to go beyond a zero sum game of not making things worse, and tip the scales towards improving the world. To grow more trees than we cut down, to pull out more carbon from the atmosphere than we put in, to support eco-systems so that threatened species can populate and thrive.

And regenerative business is also often tied to improving social outcomes and the wellbeing of communities.  I see the end game of a regenerative model as the improvement of the environment, but as we understand ourselves as being part of nature, we can also find better ways to work together and live in community.

What is a Workplace mind/body coach?

The modern workplace is driven by the intellect, particularly for administrators, management and office -based professionals. While emotional intelligence is talked about more often nowadays, our emotions can still be dominated by the unrelenting pace of the mental processing required. Attention to the body and its wisdom is given even less attention. I believe in the importance of balancing mind, emotions, body and our intuition. I draw upon many years of experience in Eastern practices and counselling to help individuals better find this balance. I incorporate mindfulness, somatic integration, breath work, energetic awareness (energy=’chi’ in taoism or ‘shakti’ in tantra) and meditation. These practices create a more open, relaxed and balanced state of being, and can help to better manage stress or workplace conflict, improves mental clarity, decision making and overall vitality.

What is a Corporate Shaman?

A traditional shaman is as a healer and guide within indigenous communities. A corporate shaman uses techniques used by shamans, with the aim of guiding organisations into alignment with nature. I am not an indigenous person. However, I have studied shamanic practices for three decades. I have also worked as an Executive for over a decade. I see myself as a bridge between these two very different worlds and my role is to adapt ancient practices to make sense to a Western mindset while being cognisant of business realities.

I offer a ‘shaman in residence’ program which can form a foundational step towards changing culture around nature. For more information, follow the link below

About me

I have over a decade’s experience as an Executive in mental health and disability services and more than twenty years teaching Eastern modalities, particularly Tantric and Taoist practices. I combine my deep understanding of Western organisational management and leadership with indigenous (shamanic) practices and Eastern precepts of mindfulness, impermanence and emptiness. I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Professional Writing) and Graduate Diploma in Health Science (Sexual Health).

Working within organisations

I work with organisations that want to make a difference to the planet but are not working directly in the environmental protection space. I lead organisations towards a transformation in culture so that nature is at the core of their values and aligned with their business purpose. This is primarily about working with people, not necessarily with specific environmental projects. My work involves:

• Education on our current global imbalances from nature, and how it has affected humanity and the environment. Understanding how ‘outer nature’ (the environment) can be connected to our ‘inner nature’ (our beliefs, attitudes, thoughts and feelings both individually and collectively) as understood by indigenous communities and Eastern practices
• Coaching in embodiment, connection and mindfulness in the workplace. As a trained and experienced counsellor, I can address personal concerns that arise from the work
• Practices that help to disarm the ‘armouring’ of individuals and systems in the workplace, to promote trust and psychological safety
• Balanced decision making that involves the body, mind, emotions and our intuition
• Self-organisation: Where applicable, assisting organisations towards a self-organising structure, including: ‘non-action’ in management, crafting helpful rhythms and resonance, balanced decision making, nurturing trust, and thriving within uncertainty

Articles

The Uncertainty Principles

In Western management, uncertainty is governed by the processes of ‘risk management.’ It is generally handled through systems including environmental scanning, risk analysis, treatment and planning. This is analogous to playing a game of chess, where we try to predict the potential moves of the ‘opponent’, and shore up our defenses against loss and losing.

But we exist in a world confronted by new and existential risk: climate change, peak resource and population, war and pandemics, artificial intelligence, to name a few… Using the chess metaphor, this is akin to the chess board expanding its size or new pieces being added that have unknown properties. And risks are also increasing in places that were previously considered low risk. For instance, the power of an individual to damage the reputation of a company through social media is like the pawns being able to turn into knights at a moment’s notice.

While traditional risk management processes may hold some value, as risks become more complex from an ever increasing array of variables, concrete forms of risk management lose their potency.

To navigate this whole new level of risk we need to change our notion of risk management to a more general navigation of uncertainty. That is, to not only accept constant and accelerating change, but to befriend it and use it to our advantage, much like a sailor learns to set sails towards the uncertainty of the wind.

Uncertainty does not necessarily mean chaos. The notion of the inherent uncertainty of nature has been understood by Eastern philosophies for millennia. Tantra and Taoism understood that order and harmony can still be achieved but we must observe the subtle nature of reality rather than be lost in material form or mental structure.

Both modalities observed the human being as both material and immaterial. In the immaterial world, the state of uncertainty, order and harmony can be obtained through working with the inner energy systems of the human being, commonly known as the chakra system in Tantra, the meridian system in Chinese medicine or the ‘Dan Tians’ in Taoism.

I have developed a set of basic principles that adapts Eastern precepts for organisational leadership and management.

The key principles for navigating uncertainty are:

• Give space for the body and gut feelings; they are our best guide in uncertain times
• Mindfully observe discomfort before you act. Find resolution rather than create new solutions
• Rekindle a sacred trust in humanity, of which you and all of us are a part
• Foster interactions that generate emotional pleasure, building a sense of home
• Free systems from unnecessary weight, allowing you to navigate quickly and decisively
• Learn about structure, harmony and uncertainty from nature
• Come back to yourself to balance and recharge

For a more detailed explanation of these principles follow the link: