From the moment you pick up Giles Hutchins’ new book, “Nature Works,” you know it’s special. The cover sets the tone with its night sky, sun, and magnificent tree. The four introductions from respected regenerative business leaders including Galahad Clark transformed by working with Giles build your anticipation, and even the unique typography invites a sense of something different before you begin.
Hutchins’ previous works have explored how regenerative leadership is a fundamental shift from traditional mechanistic and hierarchical leadership structures to more holistic and regenerative frameworks. His previous book, published in 2022, “Leading by Nature: The Process of Becoming A Regenerative Leader, gave us a compelling case for the practical workings of Regenerative Leadership.
Embracing personal transformation
“Nature Works” is a very different experience. This time, Giles Hutchins is focusing on the metamorphic shift in leadership consciousness required to embody that regenerative leadership. The book invites you to embrace personal transformation as a pathway to organisational transformation. It’s not just about a change in thinking, says Giles, but a transformation in sensing and being—a journey that mirrors the nature immersions that Giles runs for leaders at Springwood farm in Sussex. He describes the many experiences that can help you develop the right relationship with yourself and nature. When this alignment is embodied, says Giles, you can begin to sense and respond as a leader rather than control and manage.
This importance of transforming one’s inner nature to manifest outward changes is a central theme of “Nature Works”. Giles argues for a shift in consciousness and that a regenerative leadership journey is not for the faint-hearted. This process is not just a shift in worldview he explains, but requires a deep understanding of nature’s workings.
Perhaps this quote he shares from Iranian philosopher Saeed Hussein emphasizes a central treatise of the book
“The ecological crisis is only an externalisation of the inner malaise and cannot be solved without a spiritual rebirth of Western man.”
Saeed Hussein
If you have met Giles, you will know that he models a balance of pragmatic problem-solving from 20 years as a business practice lead at KPMG with a profound understanding of consciousness and healing with nature immersion.
Giles maintains that quantifying ecosystems isn’t inherently wrong or counterproductive amidst the call to consciousness. Instead, he views it as a tool for regeneration. He emphasises that the shift to regenerative frameworks should transcend and incorporate previous mechanistic approaches, rather than oppose them.
Reacting against mechanistic leadership, he argues, would be a mistake and would mirror the very limitations of the scientific revolution from 500 years ago.
Giles Hutchins
Metamorphic movement
The metamorphic movement in Regenerative Leadership that Giles Hutchins calls for is not a neat, linear transition but a spiralling process of reawakening. The good news is that you are given the very clear steps on this journey as the book unfolds. This process invites modern mechanistic tools to serve our evolving consciousness from an egocentric to a life-centric approach.
The worldview shift described in “Nature Works” invites us all to embark on a profound, personal, and collective transformation, recognising that healing from separateness to interconnectedness is crucial on our pathway.
“Nature Works” is not just a book but an experience that will have you thinking, feeling, and most likely challenged. Certainly curious. Let Giles guide you through philosophy, business, regenerative leadership, frameworks, and the edges of a psycho-spiritual journey. It is a must-read for those committed to leading in harmony with nature.
On a personal note, and as someone who has been on a regenerative journey for over a decade and who has experienced the alchemy of Springwood Farm Nature Immersions with Giles, I can assure you that you’ll find yourself not just changed by this work but empowered to make a profound impact on the world around you with this approach.
Other books by Giles Hutchins
Regenerative Leadership (co-authored with Laura Storm)
𝐌𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦.
Through Private mentoring, Nature’s Boardroom and The Growth Experience® Experience, I support leaders running their own companies to learn and experience regeneration so they can move from overwhelm to clarity, from over-functioning to sustainable high performance and from linear problem solving to living systems intelligence.
I also steward nature into decision-making within companies for new governance as a Wayfinder and a voice for nature in business.
At my core, I am an educator who loves to mentor, teach, share and facilitate learning in ways that are regenerative, relational and rooted in nature. Not the old expert model, but learning and experiences that help people grow from the inside out.
For 30 years, I’ve run four companies with regenerative instincts and purpose. This has given me the business acumen to understand the real pressures leaders face and the regenerative frameworks to help them work in healthier, more meaningful ways. I bridge practical business design with new ways of holding purpose, impact and responsibility.
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