All change.

With two DMs, my life changed. 

By this time next week, I’ll be the Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer for a carbon-neutral, society-high-performance infrastructure company, that recaptures heat from edge data centres and plugs it into public swimming pools and district heating systems, while solving for aspects of scope three for resident clients. Phew, that’s a mouthful; we’ll work on that.

It’s a company that creates opportunities for its stakeholders, and it does the same for me personally.

1. I love this planet, at least, the bits we haven’t fucked up yet. I have less than no confidence in the government to be responsible stewards of any aspect of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), the factors to assess the sustainability of companies and countries. And my munching plants, wearing Patagonia or buying a Tesla won’t put a dent in the climate emergency. There is hope though. There are good companies that intentionally tear up the playbook in the industry they enter, in an urgent pursuit of a better way forward, one that’s sustainable and serves people, the planet and profit (order interchangeable). I admire these companies and know that we intend to be one. I won’t be a passive bystander, I’ll be right in the heat of the fight.
2. I love to learn, knowing the heavy benefits of life-long curiosity, and the risks if I don’t. I know next to nothing about data centres, networks or high-performance edge computing. I know even less about embedded carbon, credits, offsets or modern slavery. I will need to surround myself with expertise and learn to live. This excites me.
3. I love to be in a team. It’s been isolating, out here, coaching. Our team will grow quickly and will be onboard a hyper-growth rocket but not at the expense of being optimal. I cannot contribute to or condone a culture that’s counter-human. I won’t have to.

The big picture on the jigsaw box now looks quite different. 

I was training for an extreme 1013km ultra, and writing a related book, all to fundraise for CALM and develop content that would support people in life transitions. Everything I’ve done for the last 148 days laddered up to this purpose. Now I will commute to a studio, be in meetings, at conferences, with partners, day to day. I won’t be at home as much, instead all over the UK with clients. I need to look at all the jigsaw pieces and see which ones still fit. 

Some won’t.

Not everything will change. Sobriety, morning practice, food as medicine, and noticing; things have to be integrated.

I always had a concern that on publishing Superhumanism, one criticism that could have been levelled at my experiment was that I didn’t exist in a typical lifestyle. To a great extent, that was intentional and very much by design. Nevertheless, I respect having a two-hour morning routine can be improbable with the responsibilities of a 9-6 p.m. role in a startup. My job was health. Now it’s my job to be healthy while being part of a team solving some very gnarly challenges. And to nurture a healthy culture. 

Superhumanism will pivot.

Hopefully, the story of that, and what we build, will inspire you.

Next stop, moonshot. All change, please.