Recovering from emotionally immature parents, becoming collapse aware, and what the news won't tell you about climate change
A monthly digest of inspiring projects, useful resources and opportunities to create systemic change.
Good morning! For anyone new here, this is my monthly digest.
Every month I look out for interesting things to share with you from my travels and my work as a coach. I look for powerful examples of people leading systemic change, insightful analysis, creative approaches to change-making, and impactful resources.
These digests aim to provide a regular dose of inspiration and support for all the brilliant work you do. They’ll also encourage you to look after yourself and everything you need to thrive whilst you do it. I hope you find something here to deepen your thinking, lift your soul or nudge you into action.
As always, thank you for being here. Attention is a precious resource these days, and I’m grateful for yours 🧡
Gisèle Pelicot is one of the most inspiring changemakers of our time. As many of you will know, she waived her right to anonymity and a trial behind closed doors this year in a legal case against her husband Dominique Pelicot, who for nine years covertly drugged and raped her, and invited at least 80 other men to rape her whilst she was unconscious. A little over four years since the crimes were first discovered, all 51 accused men, aged between 26 and 74, including a soldier, a fire officer, a nurse, a journalist and a prison warden, were found guilty of at least one charge; 47 of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault. On her choice to waive anonymity she said, “it’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them,” and in doing so attracted worldwide media attention and forced a public debate on rape culture and women’s safety. Gisèle is profiled here as one of the FT’s most influential women of 2024, and you can read more about how the case progessed here. In the words of the global women’s rights movement she inspired, “Merci Gisèle.”
is a coach who specialises in helping founders, execs, and community leaders navigate transition with intention. He’s an expert on belonging, having spent the first 15 years of his career building and teaching others how to build community. He wrote The Business of Belonging which has taught tens of thousands how to build community-centred businesses, and he cofounded CMX which connected over 20,000 community professionals via conferences, trainings and online spaces. He writes the brilliant on community building, human connection, and consciousness. His piece ‘Dirty Fuel vs. Clean Fuel’ uses such a great metaphor to explore the themes of ambition, motivation and personal growth. A must-read for annual review and goal setting season.Eleanor Kaye is the Managing Director at Newton Venture Program, which provides venture capital training and development for aspiring and practising venture capitalists. Newton’s mission is to level the playing field for people from typically overlooked and underestimated backgrounds, ensuring that the next generation of investors represent the world we live in. In her recent piece ‘2024 has shown the power of women in tech’s collective voice’ she unpacks a tricky year for women in UK tech, and shines a light on some great examples of collective action tackling inequality in the sector.
is a self confessed “slow living fanatic”, writer and YouTuber based in the Scottish Highlands. She writes the wonderful , sharing insights and musings from life in her Tiny House, on living in nature and guidance on how to live a slow and sustainable life. I loved and related lots to this short and thought-provoking piece, ‘The person I’ve become since leaving social media.’Directed by Emmy-winning writer and filmmaker Nic Stacey, Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy is a documentary unpacking the tricks brands use to keep their customers consuming, and the real impact they have on our lives and the world.
In the upcoming board game Billionaires and Guillotines, players take on the role of 2-5 rival plutocrats vying to grab the wealth of the world before their actions trigger a revolution where they all lose a lot more than their assets. Arriving in 2025, the game was designed by
with art by Amanda Priebe, and it’s published by Pluto Books. Support the project via Kickstarter here. is a writer based in the UK who writes the Substack Bestseller For ten years she was a journalist writing for publications such as The Guardian, Quartz, VICE, NPR, Sierra, Outside Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Pacific Standard, and Lucky Peach, and she now writes this brilliant newsletter asking how to live a meaningful life in a chaotic and unstable world. If you click on anything in this issue, make it ‘How I became collapse aware’, a deeply insightful, soothing and helpful piece on what it’s like to straddle two worlds, our capitalism-driven present and a regenerative future, and how “becoming a person of place” can help us survive, and perhaps even thrive within, our modern predicament.The Stanford Social Innovation Review is an award-winning magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems, published by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford University. Practices for Transitions in a Time Between Worlds is a recent supplement to the SSIR, sponsored by Joseph Rowntree Foundation, aiming to help us imagine, prepare for and shape an unknown future. Instead of providing a roadmap, the supplement illuminates inquiries, capacities and practices that can help us usher in a better world.
Downshift is a coaching firm focused on supporting high achieving leaders through periods of burnout and transition. I really love the framing to their new annual review template, which invites us to review our year and plan for the next from a place of wholeness and enoughness, not striving. It’s been created in a downloadable Notion template, complete with guided meditation audio and a playlist to get you in the zone. I started mine today and I’m finding it much more generative than goal-oriented formats I’ve used in the past. Focused on being rather than doing, it’s a refreshing take on this increasingly popular practice.
is a Senior Researcher at the University of Oxford and Deputy Editor at Our World in Data, which is on a mission to publish the research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. Hannah is a researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme in Global Development, and an honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh's School of Geosciences and Edinburgh’s Climate Change Institute. Published this year, her first book ‘Not the End of the World’ looks at seven of our big environmental problems, and how to solve them. You can find more of her writing on her hugely popular Substack, . In this refreshing video ‘What the news won’t tell you about climate change’ she shares her “urgent optimist” mindset and explains why she thinks climate change is solvable.Vox describes itself as a “general interest news site for the 21st Century with a mission to help everyone understand our complicated world so that we can all help shape it.” 2024 Future Perfect 50 is their third annual celebration of the innovators, thinkers & changemakers working to make the future a better place. Their profiles on AI safety researchers, animal welfare activists and climate scientists to name a few - all working with different yet complimentary theories of change - make for inspiring reading. In editor Bryan Walsh’s words, “we hope you'll be inspired not just by their achievements, but also by their fundamental belief that progress is possible and that individual actions can catalyze systemic change.”
is a dear friend and collaborator. She is CEO and Founder of OverTime Leader, a consultancy enabling leaders to confidently navigate the complexities of modern business and my go-to recommendation whenever someone comes to me saying “eek, I need a people consultant, who should I work with?” - with rave reviews. I’ve personally hired Gillian and been a participant in one of her programmes and I can’t recommend her approach enough. This year she launched ScaleUp Leadership, a self-paced online course designed to take you from being unsure about your leadership approach to becoming a confident, decisive leader who is able to inspire and guide your team through any challenge. Dive into the course here.Dr. Lindsay Gibson is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with more than thirty years’ experience working in public service and private practice. Her books, including the New York Times bestseller ‘Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents’ and ‘Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents’, have sold more than a million copies been translated into thirty-seven languages. For a video exploration of her ideas, watch this interview with host of the Being Well Podcast, Forrest Hanson.
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For those of you who are new here, my name is Gen and I’m a coach working 1:1 with people who lead systemic change. Our work together helps them take on the world’s toughest problems with greater impact and wellbeing. My clients work in fields such as climate change, human rights and mental health, and they lead change in many different ways, as funders, filmmakers, charity leaders and technologists, to name a few.
At the heart of my work is the belief that each of us can make a unique and powerful contribution to a better future, and that our path to creating great change starts within. That’s what I write about here on Substack.
Sending love and light to you as 2024 comes to a close!
Gen
Thank you for featuring me on this great list! Bookmarking some of these
Genevieve, thank you for this inspiring list, and for referencing Resonant World!