I wrote the majority of the below update a few days ago (9th May 2024). On 10th May I met with a local school in my area for only the 2nd time, yet between we have so many ideas how to collaborate which interesting crosses all of my becoming intersections of international sales, people and culture, equity and inclusion, and sustainability.
My wife Jackie has said for years I should have been a teacher. I always enjoyed volunteering with NCS The Challenge in years gone by and always love the curiosity ad open minds that younger people have.
As I record this podcast today I am very mindful.
Mindful of the fact that two dear humans in my global network are facing the very real threat and impact of climate change.
One is based in India who is suffering under extreme heat, you can see more about this HERE.
Another is based in Brazil who has been directly impacted by some of the worst flooding in history, see more about that HERE.
At the same time in a perverse way, I have just come off of the phone to the assistance for my car which has two electronic keys and an automatic start-up, and it has been failing consistently the past few days. * SPOILER * it was the batteries!
This is on top of me handing back a brand new Audi company car last year after just 9 months of ownership as it had complete electrical failure three times in that period. Crazy different context and privilege, yet all underpinned by the same hyper-consumerist, late-stage capitalist collapse that is unfolding.
I just caught glimpse of an article on LinkedIn that shared that driverless car firm secures $1.05bn from, guess who? Microsoft and Nvidia (one of biggest chip manufacturers on planet).
Yet every, especially large multinational business, is running at 100mph to become more digital, to ‘be like Amazon as that is what all the next generation of buyers expect,’ said McKinsey I guess!? (I wrote a provocative piece about don’t use McKinsey, use an independent network of associates some time back.)
I am curious whether this is true, do the next generation of workers want to sit on their laptop all day buying things? I will leverage my new schools relationships to try and better understand this.
I sit in some very weird mixed emotions, honestly, as I type these words before recording.
Yes I am hurtling towards my 50s (I am 47 today), but I do not feel I am a luddite or anti-progress, I just question what progress really looks and feels like FOR US ALL, as we experience climate, political, and social breakdown.
So much of our humanity, to me, feels as if it is being outsourced to technology.
AI, ChatCPT, Salesforce, CRM etc all very clever tools and no doubt helpful in different guises, BUT TO WHAT END?
Will this Western myopic focus on growth, M&A, new technology etc help reduce the pressure on my friends in India and Brazil, and on those communities most harmed by our Western ways? almost definitely not.
Will Western so-called sustainability really be sustainable for all, or just for those Western business that wish to continue business as usual with bells and whistles?
I am not saying that there isn’t good work happening or that nobody cares, I am saying that the focus is completely off and we are hurtling ourselves off an existential cliff.
Having almost finished reading Natalie Bennett’s book ‘Change Everything,’ and having this sitting closely alongside The Big Con from Rosie Colington and Mariana Mazzucato, I do have grave concerns that Western business leaders, especially those in the extractive industries, are totally heading in the wrong direction.
As always I come back to the fact that #changeisaninside job.
As long as we think and believe that tech is the salvation in and of itself, over connection, learning, and unlearning, then we will keep heading at 100mph towards Orwell’s 1984 dystopian vision.
However before then, we all, me, YOU, we all have the choice to ask different questions, be more activist, say no more often.
Latent potential
The 100X potential that sits within you is real, it is abundant, as is the possibility for you to make a material difference in your home, your community, and in your work.
One way to realise and step into this inner potential is to journey on the Possible Futures Intro to Decolonial Sustainability which is open for registrations HERE.
If this feels like too big a step, there is an Intro to the Intro session to give you a better sense of the deep and challenging journey ahead. Find that HERE.
Everything and everybody is interconnected and interrelated, and I look forward to sharing more about the 22 books that I believe can shift our inner and outer worlds in future episodes. You can find them all on my Linktree HERE.
A personal moment of joy
In fact, one of my happiest moments of my life, EVER, occurred on Sun 5th May 2024.
The reason being that my wife Jackie joined me as we had dinner with the author of one of the 22 books that I recommend: Brave Leadership by author, trainer and amazing friend Kimberly Davies.
THIS is possibility, this is generative, this is worlds merging and forming.
The joy I felt seeing Jackie and Kimberly hitting it off as if they had known each other forever, and knowing that this was a real fusing of different aspect of my worlds, was just amazing.
Executive Retreats
Finally I am looking to speak with Executive and Senior leaders within big industry, especially within the extractive industries, to discuss openly if they and we are ready to reimagine who we are as leaders, and to what ends.
I am partnering with my good friend and international facilitator Jo Hompstead to host Executive Spaces for leaders with power to slow down, reconnect to themselves and others, and to together reimagine.
What possibility is open to us if we show up, more often, in head, heart, gut connection/integration?
What could that even mean?
Shall we connect?
My name is Garry Turner and I guide the expansion of possibilities at the intersections of International Sales, People & Culture, Equity & Inclusion and Sustainability:
email me at garryturner0@hotmail.com
Linktree — https://linktr.ee/GarryTurner
Subscribe to my substack at
International speaker on topics around decentralised organisational design, vulnerability and change is an inside job. See flyer HERE.
Support senior leaders and mission driven solopreneurs as a Thinking Partner. See flyer HERE.
Facilitator of people-centered workshops and organisational design. See flyer HERE.
Guide of 1–1 personal, transformational Exploration Spaces. See flyer HERE.
The co-creator with Jo Hompstead of Executive Spaces
Technology, climate change, outsourcing of our humanity, and possibility