In The Business of Healthy Masculinity

Hello there, what’s happening in your world?In my world, I’m super excited to introduce you above and below to one of my favourite Chief People Officers, Mark Edgar, my guest on epsiode #9 of In The Business of Healthy Masculinity.Mark Edgar is a people-centric, strategic and innovative Chief People Officer and community builder with global experience developing and delivering impactful and business focused people strategies across a range of sectors. He has over 30 years’ experience building HR solutions across the broad HR agenda including transformational culture change, talent management, engagement and organizational effectiveness.Mark has run his own consulting business and is currently the Chief People Officer for Wajax where he is responsible for HR, Environmental Health & Safety and Marketing.An enthusiastic collaborator and thought leader, he is the co-founder of future foHRward – a community for HR professionals to build their capabilities and confidence in leveraging the opportunities that come from the new world of work. This includes a newsletter and co-hosting foHRsight the podcast.Mark lives in Canada with his wife and has two grown up daughters. He spends his time enjoying soccer – or what he calls football – and his RV Ramsay!You can connect and follow Mark’s work at the following:* LinkedIn* Future FoHRwardI was grateful to first meet Mark due to interactions with Hilton Barbour and Paul MCarthy, so let’s dive in.Staying conscious of our energy(energies)“The other part of it, I think, is just recognizing that the strengths we have, the healthy masculine behaviors we have, the feminine behaviors that we have, overused can become a weakness as well.” - Mark EdgarCan you remember a time when your strengths fell into a weakness after being overused?Many see me as having strengths as a super-connector, connecting interesting and inspiring humans to one another, however overdone that has led to a loss of sense of self, or oddly even a sense of loneliness in the past. I am still not fully sure how or why, but it is just a random feeling at the end of all that superconnecting.I was in a conversation with a senior chemical industry peer recently and it was a rare occasion where this person was fully themselves; humorous, listened well, was driven to build people and business, and really cared about protecting the culture of the organisation that he worked for.Indeed, this senior leader had a lot of traits that Mark exudes so it gets me thinking. How do we ensure that our peers, friends, teams, feel safe to call us in when our strengths get overused and become a weakness?We would love to hear your thoughts, and reflections.How often do you stop and reflect on your own behaviours?“I think there’s definitely benefit in helping people to think about their behavior and what is considered healthy and unhealthy and one thing that always is front of mind for me is the distinction between people’s intent and their impact” - Mark EdgarI loved this insight from Mark. Somehow, and I say this often, there is a linkage my guest on episode #2, Helen Amery, and her work helping people move from reaction (impact) to conscious response. (intent).Our businesses are often frenetic, high-pressure, ‘not much room to breathe,’ busy operations. How we can consciously slow things down to allow more creativity, curiosity, and in the end higher performance to come through is a key opportunity.What do you think, feel, or want to say when reviewing the above clip? Do let us know in the comments.Allowing ourselves to feel ….“It’s this balance of the masculine and feminine. There is no one right way of doingAnything. It’s about how do we dial up and dial down based on the situation?” - ME!To what extent are you conscious of when you are in more of a driving mode or more of a listening mode.How does it FEEL when you are being more conscious in your life?I had a very powerful example yesterday when I went to watch ‘Come Alive,’ the London musical based on the greatest Showman. Below is a picture from this wonderful experience:I was literally bursting with energy and some upset in my body at how I have been suppressed into a narrow job role for over a decade, despite offering so much for free (and after thousands of pounds invested in myself), and still being ignored, or even abused in the workplace.Creating the conditions for honesty, discomfort, and growth “I’ve been really impressed with the senior leaders that I’m dealing with everyday, the top fifty to a hundred people in the organisation, both men and women, who do have this ability to really feel a sense of being very comfortable talking about how they feel and some of the emotions around different things which I found really encouraging” - Mark EdgarI am really blown away by Mark’s comment above. Why? Because I have never worked at a company where so many leaders seem to have such high levels of emotional intelligence, in addition to being really good at their core functionality..How open are middle and senior leaders where you work with regards to talking about feelings, fears, or even just the ability to say I don’t know, but I’ll endeavour to get you clarity?Some examples where I have sought to lean into discomfort have included trying to create spaces for more radical honesty within business, as well as actively seeking to create spaces for businessmen to slow down and connect. Both remain work in profess, and this platform is indeed one lens on the latter.Please share your experience and perspectives with us to keep this conversation flowing.Integrating the macro into your organisation design“You are essentially within your organization; it’s a microcosm of society and you have to understand what’s going on in the wider world to be able to bring that into the organization and the programs and the practices that you’re running with people.” - Mark EdgarI found this super refreshing and honest of Mark when all too often we hear phrases like “ business isn’t political.” To be aware and conscious that your organisation is a petri-dish of the wider world is such a powerful, and enabling, lens to look at business through.What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts? Do let us know in the comments below.I have tried repeatedly at some organisations to try and invite curiosity around topics that are beyond just making money, and often that is met with fear, or avoidance.I accept that ‘HOW’ I go about trying to do that may at times be a little confronting, but I also feel we need to go beyond out comfort zones to truly learn something new. Thoughts?As we end this week’s update, please do share any reflections or challenges you may have as a result of listening/watching this week’s episode of In The Business of Healthy Masculinity.Don’t forget that you can reach Mark via the following means:* LinkedIn* Future FoHRwardWhat’s next?Next week I am SO excited to bring my latest instalment with international and motivational speaker, coach, and awesome human Cornell Thomas.Here is just one snippet of our amazing conversation to whet your appetite:In your cornerFinally, a short note to advise that I am here if you are looking for a 1-1 Thinking Partner that can be in your corner by voice note, virtually, and in-person, I have found 5 x 60 minutes calls + unlimited voice note communication to work the best.If you are ready to embrace the journey towards healthier masculinity, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk.With much love and best regardsGarry Turnergarry.turner@radicality.co.ukRadicality.co.uk+44 7928 979358 Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to this latest episode of In The Business of Healthy Masculinity.How are you doing and being? Hit reply and let me know.Firstly, many thanks as always to Anna Denardin for her amazing artistry and creativity, helping bring key insights each week to life.Sahana Chattopadhyay is one of THE most important voices, and most amazing human beings, that I have been blessed to meet and get to know well over the years.I have collaborated with Sahana in a number of spaces including the Hegemony Revealed and Beyond Hegemony series that we both co-hosted with polymath Trina Casey, as well as hosting Sahana on a number of my platforms previously.However, at this specific juncture in and outside of business spaces, and with my clarified focus on healthy masculinity, I am excited to introduce you to Sahana today as follows:Across generations, patterns of power and oppression reshape our realities—from colonial silences to the digital codes that define belonging today. My work lives at the seams of these stories: bearing witness to Gaza’s grief, unmasking the quiet violence of language, and inviting communities to reimagine futures beyond climate collapse and technofascism.I believe in the courage of asking difficult questions—helping others name what’s unseen or unsaid—and in unravelling the architectures that normalize suffering. My writing is woven from rigorous research and lived experience, always reaching back for dignity, hope, and the pluriversal voices that dominant systems strive to erase. Through decolonial thinking, climate justice advocacy, and collaborative dialogue, I partner with those ready to interrupt business as usual. Together, we recover the possibility of care, solidarity, and imaginative resistance—because every act of witness can open a door.I explore the following themes in my essays and articles as a gesture towards pluriversality: Decolonization & epistemicide: reclaiming deliberately erased knowledge and highlighting epistemicide as a colonizer’s tool Technofascism & digital colonization: showing how technology is devolving into technocracy to concentrate power in the hands of a few, leading to a global rise in fascism Climate justice & degrowth: advocating for planetary wellbeing and challenging extractive paradigms that underlie the entire colonial and neocolonial processes Social justice, dignity of labour & participatory democracy: placing human worth and shared decision-making at the heart of change Empire’s playbook & language manipulation: revealing how words and narratives shape power Facilitation, pattern-seeking & sense-making: nurturing genuine dialogue, seeing what unites across differences, across boundaries and borders of man-made cartographies.If you, too, are searching for ways to build worlds where justice is ordinary, I hope my words light a small, persistent lamp along your path.You can contact or follow Sahana’s work at the following:Website - https://www.pluriversalplanet.in/homeLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahana2802/Email - sahana2802@gmail.comCan we truly grow from places of comfort?I am always curious about the interplay of words, energies, thought processes etc and wonder how the above question lands with you?“I’m out to disrupt the narrative of comfort that we have woven ourselves into.” - Sahana ChattopadhyaySahana shares this assertive quote as part of the following clip:What comes up for you, not just in your head, but in your body when you read Sahana’s statement above?For me it is the piercing clarity that so much of what we hold as ‘true,’ is actually an illusion. Many, many stories and experiences woven together and presented as ‘facts.’Yet Sahana invites us to shed any sense of what is ‘normal.’What does ‘normal’ mean to you today? To your organisation? Who gets to speak? Who gets shut down? Is your workplace really as ‘safe’ as you think it is?An invitation to get #curious, and to be honest as you answer these questions for yourself.For me, I feel that we can learn from a place of comfort, and that is important, but it is difficult to grow in comfort. What may you add or challenge at this juncture?We want this to be a generative conversation as much as wisdom shared.What has been done to us men in terms of conditioning, harm, and even unchecked power?“What was done to the men? They had their empathy removed, they had their creativity killed, they had their love suppressed, they were oppressed into playing a role that capitalism demanded of them, so that they could serve the system of capitalism, for the capitalistic oligarchs at the top, to gain more profit out of less” - Sahana ChattopadhyayThis statement hit me in real-time as my whole body energetically reacted as Sahana spoke, and it sparked a recent International Men’s Day post from me which you can also find HERE.I want to invite you to witness the empathy, care, and clarity that Sahana models as she delivers this message, at a time when the oligarch class as she calls them, seeks to divide us.Us men have not been allowed to care deeply, to love publicly, to honour feelings with one another. That suppression of feeling is, I am 100% sure as I have experienced it, a key root cause to so much of our worldly dysfunction, and inside the workplace.What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts? Please let us know by reply or in the comments.The myth of institutional power“The leaders at the top who dare to take a stand and say that “you know what, I’m okay to let my share prices drop but I’m not okay to let the ethos of my organization drop. How many shareholders can you please? Capital will run the moment you make one loss” - Sahana Chattopadhyay.If you are a CEO or senior leader how do you react to the above quote? In your body, not just in your head?If you got to choose how to respond rather than react (nod to Helen Amery‘s work), how differently might you receive this statement, and what different actions may result?I still hear, way too often, that ‘meeting shareholders expectations’ is more important than acknowledging harm being caused as part of supply chain activities.Are you a CEO or senior leader who has followed this thought process? If yes, please do share in the comments or let us know via DM. How we challenge the system and not each other is key.I remember meeting Garry Ridge, ex CEO of WD-40 back in 2018 in San Diego, who joined me on Episode #5 of this podcast, and I asked him the question, “As a public company, how do you manage the short-termism of the financial markets, whilst trying to protect your culture?”His direct reply was not all shareholders are for WD-40. He would only work with long-term investments and those have received the benefits with us of taking that long term view.We can all challenge the collective illusion that short-termism is healthy.Untapped collective power and intelligence within organisations “Organizations have immense power to change things because they’re already a body, a community of people who have come together. Whether it’s 200, 2000, or 5000, they already are a group of people in a place, whether online or offline, under a certain umbrella banner doing certain things. Can those certain things not be achieved differently? More consciously (not like Conscious Capitalism!)” - Sahana Chattopadhyay.Sahana speaks to THE number one reason why I still work within and serve corporate spaces, not just any corporates, but those that are part of our most unhealthy and harmful global supply chains.Organisations have some of the biggest systemic leverage available, even if not from the top-down, as much as from the bottom-up.What would you do and be different, if you let go of fear and the right to comfort for a day? Hit reply and let us know.A reminder as to the financial as well as human benefits of creating conditions where people can feel, talk about fears, and unleash their full creative potential.Inspiration of the Indian women’s cricket team“Each one demonstrated the kind of loving masculinity that is inherently there in men, that it is inherently within each one of us unless it is forcibly ironed out of us by society” - Sahana Chattopadhyay.Sahana shares this beautiful story about the Indian women’s cricket team as above which prompted a range of reflections within me, not least that accumulation and possessions do not = self-worth. They may represent external wealth, but not inner.Also, I really appreciate how Sahana reminds us how our ‘loving masculinity,’ another great way to say healthy masculinity, is innate. We all have it, it has been squashed below and inside us due to socialisation and systems that are designed to keep us small and un-feeling.Wrapping upThere is so much more I could share and about this conversation, but for now, we do hope that you got value from this update and the full conversation, and please do let us know what lands, what you may challenge, and anything else.I invite you to listen/watch the full conversation above, or on the following platforms* Apple podcasts* Spotify* YouTubeA reminder that you can reach Sahana on any of the following:Website - https://www.pluriversalplanet.in/homeLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahana2802/Email - sahana2802@gmail.comIn your cornerFinally, a short note to advise that I am here if you are looking for a 1-1 Thinking Partner that can be in your corner by voice note, virtually, and in-person, I have found 5 x 60 minutes calls + unlimited voice note communication to work the best.If you are ready to embrace the journey towards healthier masculinity, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk. Next week I have the awesome Mark Edgar as my guest, an amazing Chief People Officer and human. With much love and best regardsGarry Turnergarry.turner@radicality.co.ukRadicality.co.uk+44 7928 979358 Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,Hoping you are doing and being well?I might not be as efficient as others, but I wanted to let you know that none of my posts, EVER, are made by the use of AI. AI, like all ‘tools,’ is agnostic until humans get hold of it, however, I just feel the embodying of mistakes, grammatical errors etc is part of being human, so you’ll continue to see all of that with my posts - hope that’s okay! :)My thanks to Anna DeNardin for her amazing graphic and artistic prowess supporting this podcast.Onto today’s rich exploration with a friend and peer from within the chemicals industry. Let me introduce you to my guest today, Christophe Le Ret:Christophe is originating from Aquitaine, the native region of French philosophers Montaigne and Montesquieu who influenced his strong belief in democracy and humanism.Very early on involved in community, charity or political activities such as the French anti-racism movement “SOS Racisme” or the political movement enabling the adoption of the French working time reduction laws (known as “Aubry’s laws”), which quickly created about 400 000 additional jobs without significant financial impact on the industry, he is currently mentoring young adults to help them better understand the industry world and the roles and positions suiting their competences and personalities.Christophe graduated in chemistry at the University of Sciences of Bordeaux (France) and has spent more than 25 years occupying various marketing & sales managerial positions in the chemical industry and at materials technology and recycling specialist Umicore, a company recognized as a pioneer in circular economy, sustainable development and manufacturing of advanced materials.Christophe is convinced that a more caring society – putting the respect of human beings and the environment at the core of its values – is possible and will benefit to the whole mankind while saving the planet from a major ecological disaster.That is the reason why he had cofounded Khemia, a think and act tank acting for a more caring society, hoping it will contribute to soon make the world a better place for all.This is also why he recently joined steward-owned company Moxworld that works with businesses at the cutting edge of ecological and social innovation, helping them build regenerative solutions that put people and planet first, and scale their impact without compromising their values.You can reach Christophe via his LinkedIn or via https://moxworld.org.I was super keen to get Christophe onto the platform as not only is he a senior chemical-industry peer, he is also incredibly balanced in his modelling of masculine and feminine energies and thus he felt like a great person to have this exploration with.Asking for helpDuring my 25+ years working within the chemicals industry, I can count, honestly, on one hand the number of times I have heard a senior leader ask for help, or have received my request for help in a meaningful way.I have my own perceptions as to why that is, but what are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts?Here is what Christophe had to say:In my experience the underdeveloped ability to be vulnerable, to not have all the perfectly formed answers in hand is a major blocker to asking for help.And why would, especially us men, develop that vulnerability when we have been conditioned to ‘man up,’ ‘be strong,’ and control for generations?! As someone shared in a post recently, “Patriarchy also hurts men and boys.”Appreciating the business and personal value of operating from a place of healthy masculinity is well-evidenced, and was brought to life powerfully by Garry Ridge, ex CE of WD40 on episode #5.Embracing diversity of thought and a polymathic mindChristophe shared powerfully how he feels that our education system narrows or thinking too much and that we need to leverage a multi-domain approach to our personal and work lives. I found this section, personally, very profound.What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts on watching the below clip? How may intentionally learning from a different worldview or perspective help you and your organisation? Hit reply and let me know.Hear more below:There are two amazing women in my life who model this polymathic mind incredibly. One is Trina Casey, future guest and friend, and Sahana Chattopadhyay who will be my guest next week on this platform.Sahana, Trina, and I co-hosted a platform called Hegemony Revealed and then Beyond Hegemony, which is a brilliant embodiment of exactly the multi domain exploration that is available to us all when we balance our healthy masculine and feminine energies.Igniting positive change, within and outside of industryI was reminded of the work of Erica Chenoweth as Christophe and I spoke, the fact that “she has shown it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.”Using the same theory, if we could invite or influence 3% of senior and executive leaders within currently degenerative systems to re-imagine, we ‘could’ tip the system in another direction.This also, I feel, speaks powerfully to the importance of a diverse, uncomfortable, yet safe community as was discussed with Stepheni Mendez back in episode #3.What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts at this juncture?Is your right to comfort causing accidental harm, and killing creativity?This gets even deeper when we understand that “right to comfort” is one of many intersecting supremacy culture patterns that have been evidenced to maintain oppressive and divisive systems in place as per the work of Tema Okun.Back in the business world, staying in comfort is often prioritised over real growth, but this inadvertently shuts down listening, co-creation, and new ideas, especially those ‘from the edges’ that could bring huge value.Indeed Christophe shares during our conversation and in the below clip:“It’s comfortable to stay in this activity of the day and in doing things without reflection if we are doing bad things, because if you really reflect on them, you will find plenty of them, “do I need to do that really?”, “Is it is in line with my values?” and then you are In a not very comfortable position”Where are those safe and brave spaced for YOU to be honest within industry, to check in on your values alignment, to ask the question that you too rarely feel safe to ask etc?I hope that you enjoyed these clips and I invite you to listen/watch the full conversation above, or on the following platforms:* Apple podcasts* Spotify* YouTubeIn your cornerFinally, a short note to advise that I am here if you are looking for a 1-1 Thinking Partner that can be in your corner by voice note, virtually, and in-person, I have found 5 x 60 minutes calls + unlimited voice note communication to work the best.If you are ready to embrace the journey towards healthier masculinity, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk. Here is what Deborah Hartung had to say about us working together:Additionally, if you are looking for a passionate and engaging speaker to motivate, inspire, and disrupt old patterns, see what Garry Moore had to say about a previous session I delivered for him:Next week I have the AMAZING Sahana Chattopadhyay as my guest and you will NOT want to miss this one. Or any of these conversations! :)With much love and best regardsGarry Turnergarry.turner@radicality.co.ukRadicality.co.uk+44 7928 979358 Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,Did you see/hear last week’s episode with the previous CEO of WD-40 Garry Ridge?! The piercing clarity as to how much human potential and money we are leaving on the table is stark.That links so well to this week’s amazing guest, Dawna Jones.For over 25 years, Dawna has helped people become great facilitative leaders. A coach and mentor, she asks the annoying questions that helps people, teams and companies grow. Dawna blends science and insights to help people makes sense of what they are experiencing and solve big problems that affect their lives and the world.Her superpower is to spot old patterns holding people and organizations back hidden in deeper dynamics, reading the hidden feelings and reasons behind how a group acts. From there, new ways to think and make better choices emerge. She helps people restore and revive from adversity stronger and healthier, so they can handle tough challenges.Dawna is known for giving people clear ideas that show them what to do next. She rides horses, has fallen off many times and learned how to get back on, to become a better person by facing challenges in her own life.You can learn more about and contact Dawna via a variety of mediums as follows:Contact via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnahjones/ or website.Current podcast: https://shows.acast.com/insight-to-action-inspirational-insights-podcastYouTube Channels:Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DawnaJones_PodcastPersonal/professional: https://www.youtube.com/@WisdomWays-InsightsDon’t forget to check out Anna DeNardin’s amazing work, the creative genius behind this platforms artwork, graphics, and branding.Cultivating clearer ideas“The capacity to hold multiple worldviews, paradigms, whatever you want to call them, in your mind at the same time without any one of them needing to be right. And I think that’s where we start to see openings for real shifts to take place.” - Dawna JonesWhat are you thinking, feeling, or what are your thoughts?This insight alone exposes how reductive and compartmentalised every aspect of our lives are.* The narrow job spec.* The enforced ‘them and us.’* The ‘best practice.’All such innocent results of our conditioning over time.Indeed, if we zoom out for a moment we can see how every systems, every structure is designed to reduce us into particles, rather than allow us to show up in our fullness and wholeness. This isn’t fluffy, this is about personal and systemic transformation.Breaking binary“That whole business of ‘either/or,’ you’re either with me or against me. It’s so useless in an environment of complexity. It’s and. There’s this AND there’s that. Everything is connected.” - Dawna JonesWhat is possible if we strive to embrace YES/AND rather than either/or?How many more people and teams get included when we do, and what could the personal, community, and business impact as a result? I am not sure about you, but I remember being brought up on a system of education that rewarded getting the right answer, not on debating or exploration. There was only one right answer in the end.In fact this very topic came up in an amazing discussion between Zack Polanski and Natasha Devon on Bold Politics as they explored education. Find this below if interested:It is time, I would assert, to build the muscle of breaking the binary in our worldviews and within our organisations.What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts?Moving from emotional immaturity to maturityDawna speaks straight to my heart in this below clip.I operated from a place of emotional immaturity when I was younger. After being bullied aged 13/14, I did not know how to ask for help. I suppressed feelings for over 20 years as they were horrible and I didn’t know any other way to deal with that discomfort.What snapped me out of that was seeing and FEELING myself worthy of investing, when I could, in coaches and other development activities. However that wasn’t enough. Doing it in community was the exponential factor and check out my conversation on episode #3 with Stepheni Mendez as we dive deep into community.Where in your life today may you be avoiding feeling? What could be possible for you on the other side of that feeling?How may developing your emotional maturity help you be a better, more impactful leader of self and others?Engaging in the dance of masculine and feminine energiesOne of my biggest learnings over the past years has been observing how much more embodied we can become when we consciously dial up and down our blend of masculine and feminine energies, rather than feeling trapped in a hand ‘dealt to us.’To what extent are you consciously navigating these two together?Garry Ridge shared in last weeks episode that leaders need to ‘wake up’ to the importance of being assertive AND tender-hearted. Being a driven leader that builds effectively, with caring about your people.Again, yes/and, over the either/or.I hope that you enjoy this conversation as much as I did and a reminder that you can learn more about and contact Dawna via a variety of mediums as follows:Contact via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnahjones/ or website.Current podcast: https://shows.acast.com/insight-to-action-inspirational-insights-podcastIn your cornerFinally, a short note to advise that I am here if you are looking for a 1-1 Thinking Partner that can be in your corner by voice note, virtually, and in-person, I have found 5 x 60 minutes calls + unlimited voice note communication to work the best.If you are ready to embrace the journey towards healthier masculinity, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk. Here is what Rachel Bishop had to say about us working together:Next week, episode #7 will feature my fellow chemicals industry peer, Christophe Le Ret.With much love and best regards.PS - If you have got value from this update, please do share it on your platforms with those that you feel would benefit.Garry Turnergarry.turner@radicality.co.ukRadicality.co.uk+44 7928 979358 Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,I really hope that you have enjoyed one or more of the first four episodes of this In The Business of Healthy Masculinity platform with Colin, Helen, Stepheni, and/or Josh?If you have listened in, please do hot reply and let us know what you are taking away, and what you may challenge. I personally have certainly learned a lot from these conversations and I have been reminded of our innate capacity for creativity and doing good in the world, and how we can DO and BE that goodness without shying away from the worlds pain and atrocities. It’s always YES/AND, not either/or.As we get going today, my gratitude, as always, to Anna deNardin who creates all of the artwork, graphics, and shapes language to help these conversations offer the most value to you.One embodied executive leader and human being that I value so much is ex-WD40 CEO Garry Ridge, and I am grateful that he has joined me on episode #5 of the In The Business of Healthy Masculinity podcast/videocast.A bit about Garry if you do not know him, and a reminder if you do:Garry Ridge is the Chairman Emeritus of WD-40 Company, where he served as CEO for 25 years and was ranked No. 4 on Inc. Magazine’s World’s Top 10 CEOs. He holds a Master’s in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from National University.Known globally as The Culture Coach, Garry helps leaders create workplaces where people feel safe, valued, and inspired. Through his firm, The Learning Moment, he works with executives to build cultures of trust, collaboration, and purpose. He also serves on the boards of The Gorilla Glue Company and Eastridge Workforce Solutions.A bestselling author and sought-after speaker, Garry co-authored Helping People Win at Work with Ken Blanchard and wrote the USA Today bestseller Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It. Affectionately known as The Dean of Dumbassery, he champions “learning moments,” turning mistakes into opportunities for growth.How often have you heard a CEO (ex-CEO) be so vulnerable, humble, and honest?Not so often in my experience of life! And certainly not one of a multi-thousand employee, multi-billion dollar turnover company.You can follow Garry’s work and reach him as follows:Website - https://thelearningmoment.net/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/garryridge/As the latest hype-bubble, AI, continues to take hold, I was really inspired to hear Garry’s simple algorithm for organisational culture.A simple yet effective ‘human algorithm’ for healthy impactAccording to Garry ‘Success = Will of the People X Strategy’What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts?I like to bring this similar message to life through the chronically bad global engagement stats from Gallup which show:Honestly, it makes me even more mad then when I see multinational companies, especially, laying of thousands of staff because they are not meeting an artificial number that the financial markets are looking for. Even if they are making millions or even billions in profits.Combine this unhealthy mindset with chronically low engagement and you have the OPPOSITE of what Garry and his team co-created at WD-40.Designing cultures of genuinely high-performance isn’t easy!Unlocking human potential through organisational culture is a challenge. I know first-hand as I have led a team change over 3 years that resulted in an extra Euro 6m in sales and over Euro 1.5m in gross margin by targeting a wide range of cultural interventions.At a much larger scale, Garry shares below that “if this (intentionally developing culture) was soft and easy, everybody would be doing it.”Belonging, trust, autonomy, recognition, and an active focus on reducing fear are just some of the intentional cultural focus areas that Garry advocates for.Here alone is where I witness big disconnects in too many, especially, corporate spaces today in 2025.Because you cannot tie solid metrics to any of the above cultural traits, too often they are ignored, or at best, performed.To what extent does the culture of your workplace or other groups truly foster this degree of cultural intentionality?Embodying BOTH healthy masculine and feminine traits/energyOne of the other things that makes Garry stand out as such a powerful leader, for me,is the way he models a healthy balance between his masculine and feminine traits/behaviour. This is what it means to be embodied as a human, for me at least, and as a leader and he models this so well as he explains the name of his latest book:One of the things that always makes me smile about Garry is the way he has worked with his teams to deliver brilliant outcomes, whilst never losing his humanity.This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t make tough decisions, and it doesn’t mean not being assertive, both healthily masculine traits when modelled with inclusivity and humanity.What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts?Healthy masculinity as an antidote to fear?If you saw/listened to last week's episode with Josh Allan Dykstra, he speaks to this topic directly as well in that less than 10% of executives are in flow-state. Is it just busyness, or could fear be a factor?In this above clip Garry shares some fantastic insights as to how he has learned from leading business and leadership academics and taken bits from all of them to fuse his own healthy, unique leadership style.I really appreciate how much Garry knows himself; he is willing to listen, to learn, and then has the courage, and willingness to run experiments and embed any learning, even as a CEO.What have you learned recently? How did that impact you?Wrapping up this episodeI really hope that you dive into the full 23-minutes of this conversation and we would love to learn what you take away, what sparks your curiosity, and what you may challenge.In The Business of Healthy Masculinity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.A reminder that you can follow/subscribe to the conversation at any of the following:* Apple podcasts* Spotify * Substack * YouTubeWould you value someone at your side, and in your corner?I am here if you are looking for a 1-1 Thinking Partner that can be in your corner by voice note, virtually, and in-person, I have found 5 x 60 minutes calls + unlimited voice note communication to work the best.If you are ready to embrace the journey towards healthier masculinity, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk. Here is what Paul McCarthy had to say about us working together:Next week, episode #6 will feature emotional health expert, speaker, and facilitator Dawna Jones.In The Business of Healthy Masculinity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.With much love and best regardsGarry Turnergarry.turner@radicality.co.ukRadicality.co.uk+44 7928 979358 Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,What have you learnt this week? Hit reply and let me know. :)One of the things I have learned, and have been reminded of, is the importance of us humans having the space to get into flow state, more often. That space of uninterrupted creativity and imagination. My goodness we and the planet need this from us right now.That leads me into introducing you to my next guest (see full episode above) on the In The Business of Healthy Masculinity platform, Josh Allan Dykstra:Josh Allan Dykstra is the futurist who makes tomorrow feel exciting. A keynote speaker, former tech CEO, and serial entrepreneur, he’s spent 2 decades building 5 companies and working with iconic brands like Microsoft, Amazon, CHANEL, and Genentech, with his clients employing 1M+ people. Josh pioneers the field of Future Design™, helping leaders transform from tomorrow’s passengers into its architects. He’s a TEDx speaker, author, and the trusted advisor leaders turn to when they need to build a future everyone can love.You can find out more about Josh at his website joshallan.com and you can check out his LinkedIn profile HERE.In The Business of Healthy Masculinity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.A reminder that you can follow/subscribe to these conversations at any of the following:* Apple podcasts* Spotify* Substack* YouTubeI first met Josh in-person at the WorldBlu Freedom at Work summit in February 2024, in Miami, USA, where he (far right hand side in below pic), me, and Kali (second from right) went on some major deep dives around work, systems, colonisation, and loads more! Back then, Josh was super interesting, and super clear, about the blockages of human energy that pervade our workplaces.Fast forward to this conversation, in the following clip, Josh powerfully highlights the wasted human potential, and the knock-on effect of low flow state leadership and cultures in our organisations:How often do YOU get into flow state, and how does Josh’s message above resonate with YOU, and within the leadership in your team or organisation?I keep coming back to this terrifying statistic below from the Gallup Global State of the Workplace report whenever we talk about human wastes of potential:It gets me curious. Do leaders honestly care about how engaged and productive people are? Are they disposal widgets on a balance sheet? Something else? What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts?So what can YOU and we do to get into flow-state more often, regardless of the workplace culture that we operate within?Josh also invites us to reflect upon why executive and senior leadership seems to accept a ‘human stack’ running at 10-20% efficiency all the while they are spending millions or even billions on a technology stack that is expected to work at optimum rates. What unhealthy masculine traits may be causing this blockage around humans? What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts?Looking positively forward, I absolutely LOVED when Josh shared his perspective of what he feels the original AI was all about:One other thing I would like to invite you to consider is leaning into imagining beyond death i.e learning not to be afraid of the natural end of life aka death.I appreciate that it is totally counter-cultural!Personally, it took me having testicular cancer in 2020 to truly let go of fear, and Josh and I explore in the below clip the importance of allowing death within an organisational context too:What are you thinking, feeling, and what are your thoughts in this moment? Hit reply and let me know.One thing, I feel, that can keep us in fear is the belief that everything is on us. That unhealthy masculine trait of needing to have all the answers and that asking for help is a sign of weakness. Categorically not true, but that is our conditioning.What can also fuel this is the sense of separateness. Below Josh shares that separateness is an illusion, and that we are moving towards better understanding of the entanglements that we are ALL part of:I really hope that you took away loads of value from our conversation, I certainly did!A reminder that you can reach Josh at the following:Website - https://joshallan.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshallanFinally, Josh really helped affirm below that this platform really is needed, as there is a severe lack of content and dialogue around the topic of healthy masculinity, especially within workplaces.This reinforces Dr Jackson Katz message in his book Every Man, a key genesis for this platform in the first place.If you would value someone at your side for this journey of reclaiming your healthy masculinity and inner freedom, I can be in your corner by voice note, virtually, and in-person, having found 5 x 60 minutes calls + unlimited voice note communication to work the best.If you are ready to embrace the journey towards healthier masculinity, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk. Here is what Katie Marlow had to say about our time working together:Next week, episode #5 will feature the previous WD-40 CEO and awesome human Garry Ridge.In The Business of Healthy Masculinity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.With much love and best regardsGarry Turnergarry.turner@radicality.co.ukRadicality.co.uk+44 7928 979358 Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,How are you, and what does community mean to you? Hit reply and let me know.As always, I am immensely grateful to Anna DeNardin who creates bespoke artwork and graphics every week to help bring this In The Business of Healthy Masculinity conversation to life. Please do reach out to her if you would like brand, art, or graphics support.Today, I cannot wait to introduce you to a newer person in my world, Stepheni Mendez. Stepheni is the co-founder of Soul and Strategy Collective, a nonprofit supporting women in building anti-extractive, decolonial businesses. As a leadership advisor and coach, she partners with founders, executives, and emerging leaders in tech and creative industries to create high-impact, human-centered organizations. Stepheni is recognized for blending evidence-based organizational design and leadership psychology with intuitive, soul-aligned frameworks and ancestral wisdom—helping clients move beyond burnout and toward liberatory, sustainable leadership. Her work centers on challenging traditional business models, cultivating cultures of trust, emotional intelligence, and co-creation, and guiding leaders to embody healthy power that balances masculine and feminine energies. Based in the US and working globally, Stepheni is committed to reshaping the future of leadership from the inside out.You can contact Stepheni at the following:Website: soulstrategycollective.comEmail: me@stephenim.comYou can listen/watch our impactful conversation above (in substack) and on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.As a prior UX designer in the US tech space, Stepheni has a super interesting origin story which you will hear more about, however upfront, I wanted to share some of the key insights that I took away from this beautiful conversation:* An effective and impactful community is not comfortable and homogeneous, it is diverse and at times uncomfortable.* For us men, especially men that look like me, we have rarely, if ever, had to face the wrath of systemic injustice, or systemic oppression. An in invitation to get curious around that.* Modelling compassion over resentment is key to re-imagining and co-creating something better and healthier * Fight the system, not each other. This has something that has been coming up more and more for me.To what extent do any of the above insights spark your curiosity? In this below clip, Stepheni speaks to point #4 above really powerfully:For many of us men, we have been conditioned, as I was, to place our ‘worth’ on things outside of us. Our job, the money we earn, the stories we can tell about how successful we are.Yet inside, as was the case for me, we can feel empty, hollow, or even my own term, ‘spiritually bankrupt.’Despite having everything the system conditions us to have, we can at times feel soulless and dead inside. I know I have felt this.Does this resonate in any way with you in this moment?It is these feelings, as discussed with Helen Amery last week, that can be very problematic if not cleared/dealt with.In the below clip, Stepheni also speaks to this ‘outside-in’ chase:What is your experience and perception of being in community?One of the things I really loved about this conversation was Stepheni’s consistent reminder that diverse, celebration of difference is such a powerful agent of connection and change within communities. At a time when, too often, I see the in-groups rewarding one another with job progression or other preferential treatment, these groups are not growing.They are not evolving their experience of life and that is where healthier masculinity comes in for me.I am also super inspired by Stepheni’s mission to support founders and business leaders with anti-extractive and decolonial business models.This platform, honestly, is a partial Trojan horse with a similar mission.I not only imagine, but I know, that the more we have healthier masculinity role modelled in the world, the more capacity and expansiveness there is to look at our more challenging pasts and presents, with the aim of making better, healthier, more just decisions going forward.We really hope that you get value from this exploration. Do let us know what you take away, what you may add, and indeed any challenges you may bring. This is a co-created journey and we hope that you will be part of it and share this episode with your network.A reminder that you can contact Stepheni at the following:Website: soulstrategycollective.comEmail: me@stephenim.comI am here if you are looking for a 1-1 Thinking Partner that can be in your corner by voice note, virtually, and in-person, I have found 5 x 60 minutes calls + unlimited voice note communication to work the best. If you are ready to embrace the journey towards healthier masculinity, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk. Here is what Sudeep Sharma of IMCD India had to say about us working together on a wellbeing workshop:May I ask, if you get some value from this conversation or the insights shared within, please kindly give this substack a share within your networks so we can reach more people, and consider giving myself and Stepheni a follow on LinkedIn - thank you.Next week, episode #4 will feature keynote speaker and flow-state advocate Josh Allan Dykstra. In The Business of Healthy Masculinity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Why not check out my new website, designed and updated by the amazing Anna De NardinWith much love and best regardsGarry Turnergarry.turner@radicality.co.ukRadicality.co.uk+44 7928 979358 Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,May I ask, if you get some value from this conversation or the insights shared within, please kindly give this substack a share within your networks so we can reach more people, and consider giving myself and Colin a follow on LinkedIn - thank you.We have finally arrived at the start of this new podcast/videocast platform, In The Business of Healthy Masculinity. My public thanks to the incredible artist and brand expert Anna de Nardin for her support designing all of the branding and imagery that makes up this platform, and for her creative genius with the brand positioning also. Every week, Anna will be turning our collective insights into powerful graphics and imagery.I cannot recommend Anna’s work enough to anyone else that may be looking for such creative support.* Reminder as to why ‘In The Business of Healthy Masculinity’A reminder that this platform is being built to serve a need that I see within business spaces (and beyond) for more honesty, more connection, more courage, and more vulnerability, knowing and having evidence as to the human and performance benefits that results. All of this whilst valuing men’s drive, desire to build, and to provide.This platform also wants to speak to those women and other genders who take on unhealthy masculine traits to survive or to ‘progress’ within systems as we currently understand them.For those of you that are reading/watching/listening via my substack, thank you for being here. You can find our full exploration in the video above.If you are listening on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or some other podcast player, thank you.If you are watching/listening via my YouTube channel, thank you.Whilst Colin and I have had a conversation here, we always welcome your feedback, your challenges, and your perspectives. Please do hit reply or comment on your favourite platform so we can keep the conversation going, and ensure we are building community towards healthier masculinity.* In The Business of Healthy Masculinity with Colin D Smith - Episode #1I am very excited to introduce you to my first guest. A wonderful human being by the name of Colin D Smith, affectionately known as ‘The Listener.You can find out more about Colin and his work at the following:Website - https://dexteritysolutions.co.uk/the-listenerLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/colindsmith1Email - colin.smith@dexteritysolutions.co.ukHere is a bit more about Colin:Colin is ‘The Listener’, a listening skills specialist with a passion for changing the way the world listens. His listening presence enables individuals to feel heard, to think more clearly, and through learning how to listen more effectively, to transform their business and personal relationships.Colin has an innate ability to deeply listen, hold space and develop trust with people. He works privately with individuals, enabling them to express their feelings more easily, address their personal concerns, and to articulate their creative ideas.He works with business teams, facilitating the development of listening and thinking skills to improve business relationships, be more creative and collaborative, and to increase the level of psychological safety and trust.Below you will find a (beautiful I must say) clip to whet your appetite for the full 45 minute conversation:In The Business of Healthy Masculinity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.For me, this conversation with Colin, combined with my community and political activism, reinforces so clearly that we ‘need to be in the arena’ of listening and dialogue, much more often. Especially when it is uncomfortable, or challenges our own beliefs/perspectives.This clip below really speaks to this:Some of the other insights that I found super helpful, and I hope you will find value in the same include:The recent Gallup global state of workplace report yet again shows how much human potential is wasted every single day. If we, especially men, are listening more, with curiosity and with a genuine desire to co-create better, we can get so much more out of, and with people, OVERNIGHT!Following was a powerful moment for me personally in this conversation.To what extent would you agree or challenge this statement below?Shall we connect?If you would value having someone who has over 25 years international business experience coupled with over a decade of learning and cultural development and design experience at your side as a Thinking Partner, strategist, and systems thinker, let’s connect?I work with, especially men, on a 1-1 basis, and welcome connecting with you at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk or + 44 7928 979358.Until the next episode next Monday 20th October with the awesome Helen Amery, have a safe and growth-fuelled week ahead.Garry Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

I woke up this morning to the tragic news that 9,000 jobs will be cut at pharma giant Novo Nordisk, over 10% of their global workplace.I could not ignore reviewing and analysing this decision in a video/podcast a) because I work in the global pharma supply chain, including supplying raw materials to Novo and b) because I know that money is not an issue in pharma, so it is a helpful case study to look at beyond ‘hitting the numbers.’ when such wide-ranging decisions are made.I have some empathy for the new, incoming CEO. These are tough decisions, however I can’t help feel that the change of guard is in part aimed to help cover the job cuts.Interestingly, he and I are ‘connected’ on LinkedIn, but he never replied to my invitation to briefly connect as the humans that we are.I think about the amazing leadership of Garry Ridge, ex CEO of WD-40 when he told the markets how he would lead, and they could decide whether to invest or not.Or Bob Chapman at Barry Wehmiller who consulted his teams to try and find a way to avoid redundancies.There are other ways to so-called lead, and what the Novo Nordisk is doing is not leadership for me, it is grounded in dehumanisation and profit over people.I also think about Kimberly Davies’ work in Brave Leadership. there is little brave about culling equally valuable human beings without dialogue.Whilst I am sad for those people, their families, and their communities, I am also super grateful that I can share examples of where leadership IS humane, is caring, and is brave.The financial markets are a law unto themselves, and as we see the same companies that fund war, funding technology, and funding pharma, we know the root cause of the global harms and mindsets start there, but we can only do what we can, and my ‘what can’’ today to offer some inside industry reflections and provocations.It is just my view, and I welcome yours.Go well.PS - If you are listening to this and your organisation could value from some radically different thinking and leadership, drop me a line. I represent 15 amazing people and organisations that can help you think through make this type of decision very differently.Radicality.co.ukgarry.turner@radicality.co.uk Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Being On The Edge.I have always felt called towards the coast.Partly the expanse of view, partly the sound of the sea, and more recently, I realise it also represents being on the edge.Far away from the in-groups.Far away from career development.Far away from care.Working within a Euro 5bn turnover corporation that works in the centre of the most extractive aspects of our global supply chains (yet goes into so much of so-called modern life), speaking up about injustices known and understood in and outside of that organisation, whilst inviting leaders to join the dot between daily business operations and global injustices is taking me to the edge, and often these days.And I am okay with that. It has taken many years to reclaim my voice, understand the interconnections of life, and reclaim my self-worth from these systems, even as I continue to be paid by the same.I will be sharing a timeline soon of my multiple attempts to engage leaders (without any success so far after over 36 months) which highlights just how difficult it is for people to speak up within organisations even if the values on the wall and the so-called safe channels are promoted, especially within multinationals.We must speak up about injustices near and far away, it is the right thing to do. And we should speak up. We can only do what we can do, but what each of us can do matters. Every drop makes an ocean and all that. 🌊 I miss the flat we had on this stunning UK coastline above, but it was a salvation for me during COVID-19 and my testicular cancer journey in 2020.Why am I sharing this?Life's messy.It's volatile.It isn't fair.It is ridiculously non-linear and counter to pretty much ever bit of our conditioning and education.Yes The Matrix was a documentary, not a movie (nod to my good friend Cornell Thomas for this insight).Yet we all have this one fleeting shot at life which disappears very quickly.So I ask you, where do you go to stop, to breathe, to reflect, to be honest with yourself and others?If you don't have such spaces, drop me a line at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk and let's so if we can co-create one for you, your team, or a wider community.Also do check out the ecosystem of Impact Partners that I would be pleased to introduce you to.Wishing one and all as safe and enjoyable weekend as possible. Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,I am trying something different - 60 second or so short videos of insight in the hope this serves you, and helps feed our collective curiosity, which are also repurposed onto the podcast too.This reflection was filmed/taken at Southbourne beach on the south of the UK, hence you can hear the gorgeous sea lapping the sand.If this message piques your interest and you'd like to connect, my details are below.Radicality.co.ukgarry.turner@radicality.co.uk. Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi you,I hope that you are doing and being as well as possible at this time?A kind request - would you please share this update/blog on your socials channels, especially LinkedIn, if you have it? In recent months I have deleted my Instagram and Twitter apps/accounts as a route to reducing the distractions in my life, and it looks like LinkedIn is trying to do the same to/for me!What is your relationship with technology / social media like today in March 2025?LinkedIn one is a tad more painful as I have a lot of relevant industry connections on there, but even so, ce la vie. Am I being invited to imagine a new relationship with tech and social media?My good friend Jo Hompstead, founder of the amazing ConnectUp, and I have had many discussions around ‘tech as a tool,’ or even as part of an artists toolbox.It is in moments like this I am reminded that technology is neither good, nor bad, it is agnostic. It is what we, and importantly, how power holders use it that dictates the outcome.WorldBlu - lead with FreedomI don’t think I have told you yet, but alongside my sales role within the chemical industry, I have joined Traci Fenton, the visionary behind the freedom at work approach, to help out with relationship and business development.I have dived deep into the Lead with freedom approach over the past 7 years, having gone through 47 of the 100 learning journeys that make up the Freedom-centered Leadership (FCL) programme, and have to say it is powerful, growth-fuelled, and totally ripe for our times as we navigate change as business as usual.If you are curious about this, there is a free webinar that you can sign up to HERE (it is a replay) to find out more about. It’s max 20 minutes and an amazing deep-dive into the impact that leading and designing with freedom in mind can have on profits, and on people.Back in the wild!On Weds 19th March 2025 I will be attending the WorkHuman LIVE event in central London which is being offered for free. Sign up at THIS LINK.Let me know if you plan to attend WorkHuman LIVE - it would be great to meet you :)This is exciting on two levels:* I have not been to many in-person gatherings like this since COVID* I will finally get to listen first-hand, and meet, a personal inspiration of mine, Harvard Prof Amy Edmonson (I was grateful that Amy joined me many moons ago on the Value through Vulnerability podcast when her book The Fearless Organization came out)One other ‘in the wild’ update is that I will be hosting the first WorldBlu Lead with freedom breakfast series on weds 26th March 2025 in central London, so if you are a CEO, CXO, or other senior leader of a company with minimum 10 employees, we would love to have you come along.Attendance is capped at max 16 people and will be facilitated under the Chatham House rule to ensure any and all masks can be removed for that precious two hours.Wishing you a safe and enjoyable start to this new week.If you have any thoughts, feelings, or reflections on this update, please hit reply and let me know - always keen to hear from you.PS - This video was recorded in my step-sons bedroom as he works his butt off at uni!About meHi, I’m Garry.I am a VP of Business Development for three companies spanning differing evolutionary states: start-up, scale-up, and a multinational corporation, the integration of which adds value to them all at the intersections of international sales, leadership, culture, and organisational design.www.WorldBlu.comgarry@worldblu.comwww.thepathfindercompany.comgarry@thepathfindercompany.comI am also founder, curator, and business developer at Radicality.co.uk, an ecosystem of transformative service providers.www.Radicality.co.ukgarry.turner@radicality.co.ukMeaningful, trustworthy, human relationships are the foundation of everything, especially as technical advancement continues to accelerate. Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hi there,A really beautiful conversation happened recently which modelled, I feel, how we can tackle the thorniest issues of our times, without being pulled into binary, ideological divisions.Listening.Care.Curiosity.Connection.I have not always been great at holding all four of these elements together, especially in more heated scenarios, but to meaningfully embed change that works for all, we HAVE to be able to get uncomfortable, but within safe spaces of intentional design.Where do those spaces exist for you today, at home, and in work?Where do they exist in our communities today?I ran an experiment with two peers, one white woman and a Muslim peer, to co-create a space that would allow for colleagues of different background and perspectives to connect, listen, and learn together.The topic was a challenging one - The Israel-Gaza war. Just seeing these words and hearing them in your mind as you read this may trigger different reactions, beliefs, stories, and feelings. They are all valid, and must all be allowed to be felt, and distilled/discerned.Yet the outcome of this 3-hour experiment was really profound. * New insights.* More understanding.* Clarity around what was really happening beyond the noise.I think about my good friend Kimberly Davis and her amazing work with Brave Leadership in these moments.We are far ALL more powerful than we know.From the INSIDE-OUT.YOU are more powerful and have far more agency than you realise.Time to reclaim and remember that power.Have a good weekend friends, sending you ALL peace and love.Hi, I’m Garry.I am a VP of Business Development for three companies spanning differing evolutionary states: start-up, scale-up, and a multinational corporation, the integration of which adds value to them all at the intersections of international sales, leadership, culture, and organisational design.www.WorldBlu.comgarry@worldblu.comwww.thepathfindercompany.comgarry@thepathfindercompany.comI am also founder, curator, and business developer at Radicality.co.uk, an ecosystem of transformative service providers.www.Radicality.co.ukgarry.turner@radicality.co.ukMeaningful, trustworthy, human relationships are the foundation of everything, especially as technical advancement continues to accelerate. Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

As we near the end of 2024, I wanted to share something deeply personal with you.I am going clubbing for the first time in a long time this Saturday 14th Dec 2024!!#NoJoke :)You may or may not know that my deepest happy place is being in a big open room with hundreds of people, most of them strangers, absolutely letting their inhibitions, thinking, and stories about who they ‘should’ be go.* How often do we allow ourselves to feel like that?* How often do you allow yourself to feel like that?* Do you allow yourself to feel at all?* Do you enjoy music?Regardless of the genre, it has that impact on you doesn’t it?It is part escapism, part release, part spiritual, part pure joy for me.Beyond words.Yet an innate knowing.A knowing that it is okay to feel 100%, unadulteratedly FREE.Indeed that IS our innate state.If you have kids or have them around you, they are pure joy.Pure freedom.Pure curiosity.That is also YOU and me.Today.Just covered up by story, experience, maybe even some fears.Will we RECLAIM that freedom and pure joy?I invite YOU to reclaim it.Whatever your version of freedom and utter expansiveness bliss is, do it this weekend.Hell, why wait until then, do it later :)My back will hurt, I should ow better, and it will be fun.See you soon, and stay safe.PS - This post does not erase the very real harm that is happening all across the world, I acknowledge it, but this weekend I say, be free.Shall we connect?My name is Garry Turner and I guide the expansion of possibilities at the intersections of International Sales, People & Culture, Equality & Inclusion and Sustainability:* Email me at garry.turner@radicality.co.uk* Visit Radicality at https://www.radicality.co.uk/* Linktree — https://linktr.ee/GarryTurner Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Possible Futures next cohort of the course opens for registration in October 2024 as I post this podcast https://possiblefutures.earth/decsustCheck out https://www.radicality.co.uk/ to learn more about this ecosystem of transformative services. Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

I wrote the majority of the below update a few days ago (9th May 2024). On 10th May I met with a local school in my area for only the 2nd time, yet between we have so many ideas how to collaborate which interesting crosses all of my becoming intersections of international sales, people and culture, equity and inclusion, and sustainability.My wife Jackie has said for years I should have been a teacher. I always enjoyed volunteering with NCS The Challenge in years gone by and always love the curiosity ad open minds that younger people have.As I record this podcast today I am very mindful.Mindful of the fact that two dear humans in my global network are facing the very real threat and impact of climate change.One is based in India who is suffering under extreme heat, you can see more about this HERE.Another is based in Brazil who has been directly impacted by some of the worst flooding in history, see more about that HERE.At the same time in a perverse way, I have just come off of the phone to the assistance for my car which has two electronic keys and an automatic start-up, and it has been failing consistently the past few days. * SPOILER * it was the batteries!This is on top of me handing back a brand new Audi company car last year after just 9 months of ownership as it had complete electrical failure three times in that period. Crazy different context and privilege, yet all underpinned by the same hyper-consumerist, late-stage capitalist collapse that is unfolding.I just caught glimpse of an article on LinkedIn that shared that driverless car firm secures $1.05bn from, guess who? Microsoft and Nvidia (one of biggest chip manufacturers on planet).Yet every, especially large multinational business, is running at 100mph to become more digital, to ‘be like Amazon as that is what all the next generation of buyers expect,’ said McKinsey I guess!? (I wrote a provocative piece about don’t use McKinsey, use an independent network of associates some time back.)I am curious whether this is true, do the next generation of workers want to sit on their laptop all day buying things? I will leverage my new schools relationships to try and better understand this.I sit in some very weird mixed emotions, honestly, as I type these words before recording.Yes I am hurtling towards my 50s (I am 47 today), but I do not feel I am a luddite or anti-progress, I just question what progress really looks and feels like FOR US ALL, as we experience climate, political, and social breakdown.So much of our humanity, to me, feels as if it is being outsourced to technology.AI, ChatCPT, Salesforce, CRM etc all very clever tools and no doubt helpful in different guises, BUT TO WHAT END?Will this Western myopic focus on growth, M&A, new technology etc help reduce the pressure on my friends in India and Brazil, and on those communities most harmed by our Western ways? almost definitely not.Will Western so-called sustainability really be sustainable for all, or just for those Western business that wish to continue business as usual with bells and whistles?I am not saying that there isn’t good work happening or that nobody cares, I am saying that the focus is completely off and we are hurtling ourselves off an existential cliff.Having almost finished reading Natalie Bennett’s book ‘Change Everything,’ and having this sitting closely alongside The Big Con from Rosie Colington and Mariana Mazzucato, I do have grave concerns that Western business leaders, especially those in the extractive industries, are totally heading in the wrong direction.As always I come back to the fact that #changeisaninside job.As long as we think and believe that tech is the salvation in and of itself, over connection, learning, and unlearning, then we will keep heading at 100mph towards Orwell’s 1984 dystopian vision.However before then, we all, me, YOU, we all have the choice to ask different questions, be more activist, say no more often.Latent potentialThe 100X potential that sits within you is real, it is abundant, as is the possibility for you to make a material difference in your home, your community, and in your work.One way to realise and step into this inner potential is to journey on the Possible Futures Intro to Decolonial Sustainability which is open for registrations HERE.If this feels like too big a step, there is an Intro to the Intro session to give you a better sense of the deep and challenging journey ahead. Find that HERE.Everything and everybody is interconnected and interrelated, and I look forward to sharing more about the 22 books that I believe can shift our inner and outer worlds in future episodes. You can find them all on my Linktree HERE.A personal moment of joyIn fact, one of my happiest moments of my life, EVER, occurred on Sun 5th May 2024.The reason being that my wife Jackie joined me as we had dinner with the author of one of the 22 books that I recommend: Brave Leadership by author, trainer and amazing friend Kimberly Davies.THIS is possibility, this is generative, this is worlds merging and forming.The joy I felt seeing Jackie and Kimberly hitting it off as if they had known each other forever, and knowing that this was a real fusing of different aspect of my worlds, was just amazing.Executive RetreatsFinally I am looking to speak with Executive and Senior leaders within big industry, especially within the extractive industries, to discuss openly if they and we are ready to reimagine who we are as leaders, and to what ends.I am partnering with my good friend and international facilitator Jo Hompstead to host Executive Spaces for leaders with power to slow down, reconnect to themselves and others, and to together reimagine.What possibility is open to us if we show up, more often, in head, heart, gut connection/integration?What could that even mean?Shall we connect?My name is Garry Turner and I guide the expansion of possibilities at the intersections of International Sales, People & Culture, Equity & Inclusion and Sustainability:* email me at garryturner0@hotmail.com * Linktree — https://linktr.ee/GarryTurner* Subscribe to my substack at *  International business development and authentic relationship building human working within and across a Euro 4bn + corporation * International speaker on topics around decentralised organisational design, vulnerability and change is an inside job.  See flyer HERE.* Support senior leaders and mission driven solopreneurs as a Thinking Partner.  See flyer HERE.* Facilitator of people-centered workshops and organisational design. See flyer HERE.* Guide of 1–1 personal, transformational Exploration Spaces. See flyer HERE. * The co-creator with Jo Hompstead of Executive Spaces Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and good morning,I am not sure what happened last night/this morning but I woke up, bolt upright at 0430am exactly after what felt like hours of information download. One of the most bizarre experiences of my life so far! It was literally like I was plugged in and there were thoughts and energies around work, systems, home life etc None of it good or bad, just data. So weird!I share this as I managed to get an hour or so extra sleep before I just had to get up and move. I just got on my bike and went exploring in areas locally, roads I haven’t been up before. No music in my ears, no water with me, just an open explore, and it felt so nourishing when I got back.Body moved, mind cleared, breathes taken in.I share this, as for me, mornings are my happy space. If I can get up and out, I am set up for the day. I see people close and far from me who are sitting, almost solid for 8 hours per day, and it crucifies me to watch this as a) this is not living and b) when we are gone, within seconds our work has been re-allocated to someone else, so why do do so many act as slave to the system, a system that doesn’t love us?So my invitation to you today is, what are you going to intentionally do to ensure you are moving at least 20 minutes today? Why put this on pause and go and do that NOW? I’ll be here when you get back :)With regards to movements, it is just incredible to witness the necessary collapse of oppressive control and fear in the higher echelons of business, politics and Western elitism.The books that are available to us know to be able to see beyond hegemony (look out for today’s exploration at 0700am EST / 1200pm UK / 1630pm Indian or on the Beyond hegemony podcast with Trina Casey, Sahana Chattopadhyay and myself ) are growing in clarity and number.I share a number of them as part of the ‘21 books to change your and our world’ at the bottom of my Linktree, but I want to join dots between two of them for you and us today.The Big Con and Change Everything.I wrote a post on LinkedIn about this last night, but in the spirt of trying to make my content more accessibility, I will narrate this in this podcast, and re-share the post below:When The Big Con from Rosie Collington and Mariana Mazzucato meets Change Everything from Natalie Bennett 👇 Two incredibly important books that blow open your perspective as to 'normal' with powerful invitations to truly reimagine towards much more just, equal and healthy futures.Page 148 of Change Everything says "While Virgin Healthcare might have been operating your local GP clinic - making profit from catering to your needs - the sign above the door still says NHS.The creeping privatisation might have gone further had it not been for the cautionary tale - for the private sector as much as the public - of Hinchingbrooke Hospital. It was handed to Circle to run in 2012, and handed back by it in 2015 after a damning inspection report on the dangerously poor quality of services it was providing. Like the debacle of the 2012 Olympics - when multinational oppression giant G4S got the security contract, then failed to spend enough on staff and the military had to step in - it is a demonstration of one of the key issues with privatisation; if things go wrong on critical provision, it will always be the state that has to step in to pick up the pieces."If you want to connect to follow my wider work or to even have a chat sometime, you can find more about me and my select partners at my Linktree at https://linktr.ee/GarryTurner, as well as my LinkedIn and a range of other content and service offerings. Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

It taken me some time to get to this point, but I do feel I am at the point where it is helpful for me to share more about how I see the world based on my past 47 years on the planet, and most importantly the past 3.5 years of current and ongoing, journey of decolonisation.You see, as of 10 years ago, I was very much 0.5X version of Garry. All that early years conditioning, my Western education, the social pressures, and then into the world of (massively oppressive and regressive) work, regardless of how much money we make or things that we own.Today, from the inside-out, I talk often about being a 100X version of Garry, and I would say that expands further these days. I am not special, not at all, but I have been on a deep journey of unlearning who and what I thought I was in the world, and more recently, weaved that with an understanding of past, and as importantly, modern-day colonisation through imperialism, capitalism and other oppressive social constructive constructs.I wish to invite you to check out the Possible Futures crew if any of the above has piqued your interest, especially their Intro to Decolonial Sustainability course, as well as their Intro to the Intro course (if you are curious, but want to get some more sense of the full 5-month course) and some partner courses too like Should I stay or Should I Go?Funnily enough, I am doing and being all of this whilst holding down a day job inside one of the most extractive and harmful industries on the planet, chemicals.What all of the above means and how it coalesces will make sense over time, but for now, it is good to meet you, and if you want to connect to follow my wider work or to even have a chat sometime, you can find more about me and my select partners at my Linktree at https://linktr.ee/GarryTurner.You can also reach me at garryturner0@hotmail.com, I am looking to take on 1-1 clients as well as organisational work, and do keep out my my emerging project from HEXO Change, radicality.co.uk.Finally a picture of the gorgeous Villefrance-sur-Mer where my wife Jackie and I took 5 days of much needed downtime recently. Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe

In just the past few days I have witnessed and observed, first-hand, the ugly underbelly of our collapsing Western systems, especially politically, and in terms of extractive capitalism.I wrote recently about embodied responses - part 1 and I have a part 2 about to be published, but before then, I had to share these reflections with you.I will narrate an excerpt from the amazing B Lorraine Smith as part of this podcast as well as sharing 3 other different cases, all of which are interconnected.The one from CNBC can be found HERE.Now please, these are my personal reflections and dot-connections; I invite you to listen, internalise, constructively challenge and reflect based on your own context. My context is an integration of the following, which I shared in a LinkedIn post fairly recently:🧱consciously staying in the #chemicals and up/downstream industries to guide inner and outer change for senior leaders around beliefs, narratives, imagination and possibility.If you are a senior leader in any of these sectors and know in your heart and body (below the neck) that the next certification or company acquisition is not actually moving us towards a more just and truly sustainable world, and you want to explore what might be possible, let’s connect?💰operate within a corporate space leading over Euro 10 million of international sales and business development whilst leading on #learninganddevelopment #organisationaldevelopment and design 🌱bringing together local communities through the UKs national neighbourhood watch charity and other localised interventions From a standing start 12 months ago, we now have 3 schemes and over 315 members, over 20 of which are regularly active 🌎 acting as co-chair of the local Dartford and Gravesham Green Party as we seek to use the (broken) UK political system to drive systemic change We have over 125 members, 15 of which are regularly active - join us?💙partner to the team at WorldBlu who have an incredible #freedomatwork, democratic approach to leadership and organisational design and developmentWant to find out it more? The Leadership and Growth summit takes place across 28th and 29th Feb 2024, use code TURNER50 to get 50% off a premium ticket📚ongoing learning and unlearning as I continue my decolonisation journey which started in Oct 2020 and will see me join the Possible Futures Intro to Decolonial Sustainability online course for professionals starting Jan 2024The majority of #fear that we have from time to time can be traced back to a system of oppression called capitalism that doesn’t love you nor me, it cares solely about extraction and accumulation.👶 our first grandson Freddie is a major catalyst for naming this all so clearly. I wrote a poem to a newborn grandson which can be found HERE.Beyond Freddie however, as Matt Damon shares in the movie Intersellar, “Evolution has yet to transcend that simple barrier, we can care deeply, selflessly about those we know, but that empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight.”We have witnessed this in the most inhumane ways in UK politics over recent weeks and years.🪦from the moment we are born we are dying. That is not morbid, that is fact, so why waste a single moment of this precious opportunity at life? There is a lot going on locally and globally which represents Western hegemonic collapse and there is a lot of privilege in me being able to write this post.And I must try and use that privilege for the above purposes.Shall we connect?My name is Garry Turner and I guide the expansion of possibilities at the intersections of International Sales, People & Culture, Equity & Inclusion and Sustainability:* Subscribe to my substack at *  International business development and authentic relationship building human working within and across a Euro 4bn + corporation * International speaker on topics around decentralised organisational design, vulnerability and change is an inside job.  See flyer HERE.* Support senior leaders and mission driven solopreneurs as a Thinking Partner.  See flyer HERE.* Facilitator of people-centered workshops and organisational design. See flyer HERE.* Guide of 1–1 personal, transformational Exploration Spaces. See flyer HERE. * The co-creator with Jo Hompstead of Spaces in-person gatherings which are an emergent and co-creative space for both businesses and open groupsDigital Business Card — https://link.v1ce.co.uk/GarryTurner LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/possibilityexpander Linktree — https://linktr.ee/HexoChangeGarryTurner Get full access to In The Business of Healthy Masculinity at inbusinessofhealthymasculinity.substack.com/subscribe