Wayfinding Leadership

Co-authored with Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr and John Panoho, Wayfinding Leadership draws on the navigational traditions and knowledge of Pacific wayfinders to rethink how we understand and practise leadership. Hoturoa’s lived experience as a master navigator provides the narrative foundation of the book, while I bring this into conversation with leadership research and practice. John Panoho’s photography and reflections add another dimension to the journey.

At its heart, the book asks what it means to lead when the way ahead is uncertain: to observe closely, work with rather than against uncertainty, draw on multiple forms of intelligence, and find a way forward without assuming that the route is already known.

I developed The Catalyst’s Way while Leader in Residence at the Atlantic Institute, University of Oxford. It is a handbook for changemakers and a companion to my work with people seeking to create catalytic change in their communities, organisations and wider systems.

The idea of the catalyst sits at its centre: someone able to loosen what has become fixed, challenge systems that reproduce inequity and injustice, and help bring new possibilities into being. The handbook also explores the idea of the “(k)new,” recognising that what appears new to some may draw upon knowledge that has long been held by others. In this sense, catalytic change can emerge through an encounter between enduring wisdom and new knowledge.