I never saw myself as a change activist, I just always did and said what I felt was right yet every time I stood up and called for change everyone nodded, everyone seemed to take notice but then went back to their day job. I decided a new approach was needed.

In March 2020, just two weeks before the first national lockdown I was asked to give a TEDx talk. I didn’t hesitate to decide its theme – the importance of unleashing the power of everyone to solve complex problems.  I called it ‘how to heal a nation’ and was a guide to getting out of old ways of working that divide us to ways of working that unite us. It was inspired by my work to understand legitimacy and trust for the post-truth world. Two weeks later, we were in our first national lockdown and a whole new world of truth and lies was born. 

My talk and the subsequent lockdown awoke a new wave of passion in me and others I work with to help people and organisations realise their potential like never before. We had found our common purpose, to heal, to include and to unite but it felt hard. So what was standing in our way?

Self doubt, years of trying, innovations that promised the earth but delivered much of the same, a fear of failing. Those blockers were causing problems we could not see or could choose to ignore before Covid hit, now they are laid bare and they keep us awake at night. Our sole purpose as a society and world has to be to work together, to heal and unite. To also rid ourselves of the noise in our head that says, this won’t work. Of course we feel comfortable doing the same thing, but we know deep down we are not fulfilling our true purpose. You may even be losing good employees, the workarounds are maybe becoming harder to manage than ripping up the old ways of doing things and starting again, yet still the old ways of working, busy, busy, busy doing lots of things that don’t really change anything stick.

My talk brought together two decades of work that has led to my belief that the way out of our complex problems is not to impose answers on people, not to assume all power in your purpose but to enable people to work together to find their own answers. They can build their own narratives and fulfil their purposes.

We must challenge but understand those who feel far away from us and, with the support of business, government and technology we can act together. 

We have seen the birth of a new wave of activism in the last few years, for example Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion and the rallying cry of the United Kingdom’s citizens to feel more empowered and less dictated to. These movements have the power to make things better or divide us further but they won’t go away. We all have work to do to see where we can connect and make those calls a call for us all to do better, to rethink how your purpose helps them. Otherwise you are ignoring a huge section of your communities, you will no longer be relevant and that is opportunity wasted, talent lost and years of strife ahead of you and your country.

People have found their voices but they took back their trust. Where does this leave organisations?

It is a complex world, even more so if you don’t know why you are here, if your workforce feels disconnected from it and if they don’t know how to bring about the change they want to see. They see millions of pounds wasted on campaigns that go nowhere, like me they see nods but nothing happens. They are looking to you for clarity of purpose, clarity about how and where they can play their part because they care and as leaders we have a responsibility to help them find it.

As leaders in business, public sector and the third sector we have a duty to rediscover our new purpose and values for these challenging times and do so together using the hundreds of ways that we have now to connect, listen and solve problems. But first you need to rediscover your purpose, and as you do so you will feel liberated, you will find powerful partners for change, you’ll hear ideas from people you never thought would help you. You will make that change, create compelling campaigns, you will keep staff engaged and motivated, you will bust through divisive and negative narratives and you will finally sleep better at night. 

So let me help you awaken the change activists within you, your teams and your organisation to unite with a purpose that matters. The world has changed, people are waiting, so what are you waiting for?