How did your brand come into play? And when did
you start that? And how does that relate to your
vision that you so value? Well, it's been a journey,
a development. So I think the fundamentals that
I've always wanted to achieve remain the same.
When I left the Marines, I set up Phoenix Obsidian.
And then Phoenix Obsidian morphed into Serenity
in Leadership. And Serenity in Leadership now
is giving birth to rewilding the corporate mind.
So it has been this journey. Things are... they're
in tune with each other, but it has been a development.
So Phoenix Obsidian was really picturing the
Phoenix, this beautiful bird that lives for 500
years. And it was about, come fly with me, fly
on my back, see... how things are uh from a wide
perspective um and obsidian is a is volcanic
glass so it was about um bringing healing into
business really um serenity and leadership took
that sort of idea and then said well what kind
of What kind of state do we need to be in as
things are increasingly changing? And that was
really finding a place of serenity within so
that whatever's going on around you, you have
a grounded approach where you are aware of your
own process and you're not sort of totally knocked
off your game all the time. by all the different
things that are happening around you uh thank
you sorry go on go ahead um so how how does that
um how was that journey like when you started
that brand and how long ago was that well phoenix
obsidian was born in 1994 yeah uh and serenity
in leadership came out of some work I was doing
in India. And that was in 2016. Yeah. So Serenity,
as I say, it's been a development journey. But
for me, there's a huge amount of congruence in
the thinking behind those different sort of envelopes,
if you like. What lessons did you learn in being
an entrepreneur in both the brands, I would say?
I bet you learned a lot. I think our audience
really appreciates the good, bad, and the ugly
of entrepreneurship. So when you were trying
to create that brand or creating the brand and
running with it, what are some of the most significant
lessons that you learned throughout that journey?
Well, I think the major thing is how much do
you believe in your own brand? You know, Phoenix
Obsidian was a kind of weird name for most people.
You know, a lot of people who go into consultancy,
they just use their own surname, you know, Joe
Bloggs and Co., Fred Smith and Co., and Associates.
And that was never my... way of looking at things
i wanted to see i i wanted to sort of represent
what was deep inside me and for some people that
was kind of a bit too wacky but i think really
uh the point was that i'm too wacky for you then
you're not ready for what i'm going to bring
so one of the learnings was to to have confidence
and faith in what i was presenting and it would
resonate with the right people and we could do
the right kind of work together um and you know
i i think to a lesser extent we have the same
with serenity and leadership because it's like
well who the hell who who the hell thinks that
they should be serene when they're leading you
know we all got to be macho and we're all big
ego and we're all going out there and we're gonna
win well you know life's a bit more complicated
than that um and so i think taking a stand and
saying no this is how this this is what we stand
for this is what we believe in uh if it if it's
good for you then come work with us because we
can do amazing things and if if we're too wacky
then come back in a couple of years and see if
we can then tell me more about about the the
name you chose, Serenian Leadership, and switching
from the Obsidian brand to Serenian Leadership.
What was that transition like and why specifically
did you choose that brand? Well, as I say, it
actually came out of a retreat that I did in
India. It was a darkness retreat. I spent seven
days in darkness. And that sort of gave me some
space to think and reflect. And I think that
one of the things I came out with there was a
greater sense of my own serenity. And I think...
one of the things that we reflected on during
that period of darkness was the masculine and
the feminine and how the as i saw it the feminine
is suppressed in both men and women in business
while in life in society uh in the west particularly
um although probably in most societies And I
just felt like the feminine needs to come forward.
It's not like we don't need the masculine. We
need a functional masculine. We need a functional
feminine. But people need to feel able to express
themselves, their deeper selves, as opposed to
feeling like part of me is not acceptable, so
I've got to suppress it. it's the opposite of
serene when you're doing that because you're
using a lot of energy to not be your full self
and i thought right well i want people to be
them for their full selves bring their full selves
to work uh and and feel like they can really
express themselves entirely and in order to do
that it's much easier if you're coming from a
a congruent place of serenity within you. So
I think that was the kind of thought process
that went to creating serenity in leadership.
Thank you for sharing that with me. I really
appreciate that. My next question for you, Tom,
is if you could imagine serenity in leadership
in the foreseeable future ahead, where do you
see Where do you see it going? Where are you
going with your vision? Well, I've been writing
a book for the last sort of six months and it's
nearly complete now. And the title of that book
is Rewilding the Corporate Mind. i'm doing is
developing the idea of um how um different estates
around the world are saying let nature take over
let let nature be the leader rather than having
a structured approach to farming where the earth
has been overused to the extent that it's almost
completely exhausted. And really, I then apply
that principle to leadership and the leadership
that we need for the future, which is absolutely
not the leadership that has got us to where we
are today. And you can see around the world in
various countries that the last, the death throes
of the old systems of leadership i mean typically
right now being lived out in in the united states
and so what i'm saying is that the leadership
for the future is completely different and it's
honoring where we've come from it's honoring
our own inner wisdom it's honoring people It's
absolutely not this divide and rule. It's not
about a kind of directive style which says, you
do this. It's much more about seeing a situation
as a whole system and acknowledging that we are...
We're not the leaders in this. We are part of
the system. And then you're working with the
system to bring about changes that really reflect
the deeper movement that is taking place. So
I don't know whether that sort of is really making
it clear. I think that so often in organizations,
I see leaders say, ah, there's the problem. Let's
fix that problem. And what they do in fixing
that problem is they create, they sow the seeds
of three more problems because they're not looking
at the whole system. They're only focusing in
on one thing. And I think it's really important
that we understand we have got to look at the
whole system, which means that we've got to reflect
and we've got to look at the different aspects
and how they make up the whole. And then all
this fix it, fix it. What's the solution? Move
on. Doesn't work. Doesn't work. Life is much
too complex and it's moving much too quickly.
So we need people who honor the system. not try
and break it or dictate to it because it doesn't
work. Thank you for being here today. I'm really
happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward. This
is going to get more and more fun. We'll have
more and more engagement as well. We'll invite
people to participate in the show. And thank
you for giving us your time and attention. Have
an excellent time building out your vision and
becoming a vision pro yourself.