Leading Beyond Hierarchy

Something & Nothing Premium Sodas It’s easy to build a brand that looks different. It’s much harder to build a company that works differently. Everyone needs to stand out in a crowded market. Be disruptive. Be clever. Something & Nothing wanted more. They wanted their ethos to live in every sip and every meeting. Every conversation. Every decision. From day one, co-founders Oliver Dixon and Rupert Pugsley were clear: this wasn’t about hierarchy or ego. It was about care, cr

When articles like the recent New Yorker piece, Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? go viral, we would normally expect a big reveal: some kind of financial scandal or criminal indictment. At the very least, we look for a clear-cut villain because it’s easier to prune a single bad apple than it is to acknowledge that the soil itself might be toxic. The New Yorker profile of Sam Altman offers something far more nuanced than a criminal exposé. After a year of i

When we first shared FACT Liverpool’s experience with role mapping, the response was clear: organisations are hungry for ways of working that are more adaptive, human, and aligned with purpose. But what happens after you create your role map? The true power of a role map isn’t in the moment it’s designed, but in how it’s used, lived, and evolved inside the organisation every day. A role map isn’t a one-off restructure. At its best, it becomes a living operating system — one

Emma Henderson on Unsplash In today’s world, businesses do not operate in isolation. Every decision, every action, and every interaction sends ripples through networks that extend far beyond our immediate teams. Understanding that we are part of a living ecosystem helps us, not only survive but thrive. A regenerative business doesn’t just aim to generate profit; it considers the broader impact of its operations on people, communities, and the planet. It understands that cultu

Brandan Church on Unsplash There’s a common belief in business that you must choose: focus on profit, or focus on purpose. But this is a false dichotomy — and it’s one that holds organisations back. In my work, I see again and again that when purpose is treated as a strategic asset rather than a “nice-to-have,” businesses not only perform better financially — they create richer cultures, stronger relationships, and far more resilient systems. This is the ripple effect in acti

There is a paradox at the heart of modern leadership. We are operating in an era obsessed with dashboards, performance metrics and KPIs — yet some of the most meaningful forces that shape a regenerative business can’t be plotted on a spreadsheet. The quiet choices we make — how we greet one another, how we listen, how we respond under pressure — create ripples that influence culture far more profoundly than any policy statement ever could. And yet, they rarely show up on a pe

Jon Tyson on Unsplash For decades, we’ve been trained to admire the lone genius, the standout performer, the person who “made it” against all odds. Our systems — from school to corporate leadership programmes — have rewarded individual achievement over collective contribution. But as David Attenborough so powerfully reminds us, “Self-interest is of the past. Common interest is for the future.” In a world facing complex challenges that no single leader or department can solve

With thanks to Future London Academy for providing the visuals for this article. Check out FLA's Executive Programme for Design Leaders, where I teach a module on leadership, beyond hierarchy. The way we organise and visualise our working lives has barely changed in over 150 years. The traditional organisational chart — those familiar boxes and lines cascading down a page — dates back to 1855, when engineer Daniel McCallum designed it to map the structure of the New York & E

In Part 1 of this series, I explored why Leading Beyond Hierarchy matters and how shifting from linear org maps to dynamic, purpose-driven structures can unlock creativity and resilience. In this second part, I want to share some of the practical tools and approaches that help organisations put these principles into practice: role mapping, reimagining meetings, and evolving ways of working. Role Mapping: Aligning Work with Purpose Traditional hierarchies assume that people fi

Why Leading Beyond Hierarchy Matters: For decades, the dominant way of running organisations has been through traditional hierarchy: a CEO at the top, managers in the middle, and everyone else below. While this structure can provide clarity, it often restricts creativity, slows down decision-making, and limits people’s ability to bring their best selves to work. Research consistently shows that rigid hierarchies fail to adapt well to today’s fast-moving world. A study publish

In this fourth and final post of What the Future of Leadership Looks Like, I want to examine leadership through the lens of longevity — not merely short-term gains or immediate success, but how we steward organisations, people and the planet for many years, even generations, ahead. For regenerative business, the principle of long-term vision is not optional, but essential. Regenerative Business in a Fast-Paced World We live in a world that prizes speed. Quarterly earnings, in

This is the third post in my series What the Future of Leadership Looks Like. So far, we’ve explored creativity in leadership and the importance of connection. Today, I want to turn to how we define success — especially within a regenerative business. It’s time to rethink what “making it” really means, so that leaders can lead in ways that are sustainable, humane, and future-friendly. Why the Traditional Markers of Success No Longer Fit a Regenerative Business For many years,

Welcome to the second post in my series What the Future of Leadership Looks Like. In the first, we explored creativity and what leaders might learn from artists like Jacob Collier. Today, I want to dive into something quieter but no less powerful: connection. For regenerative business to thrive, connection is not optional — it’s foundational. Regenerative Business and the Paradox of Connection In our digital age, we’re more connected than ever. Slack, Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp —

I'm committed to guiding organisations towards regenerative business models, and some of the richest lessons come from unlikely sources. In this first of four blog posts in my series on what the future of leadership looks like, I explore what leadership can learn from creativity, music, taking inspiration from the extraordinary work of Jacob Collier. Introduction I first discovered something significant about myself in high school when I accidentally learned to play the saxop

When FACT Liverpool’s CEO, Nicola Triscott, reached out to me at the start of 2023, I was excited to combine my expertise in organisational structures and leadership with FACT’s artistic and cultural vision. I support growing, purpose-driven organisations to lead beyond hierarchy and whilst I have a toolkit of structures and practices, my main goal is to meet an organisation where they are, enhancing their ways of working together. The Vision From the outset, Nicola had a cle

Article written by Nicola Triscott, CEO at FACT Liverpool The arts sector thrives on creativity and collaboration. So why do we organise ourselves like 1950s corporations? Over the past two years, FACT has been reimagining its organisational structure, moving away from rigid hierarchies to a more fluid, purpose-driven approach that prioritises tasks and responsibilities over traditional job titles. As the sector faces increasing challenges, it feels the right time to share wh

Success. It's a word we hear constantly, yet so often, we inherit someone else’s definition of it without ever stopping to ask: Does this actually feel like success to me? In the world of regenerative business, one of the most powerful shifts we can make is redefining success on our own terms — not inherited ones. This blog is an invitation to do just that. Not to reject ambition or achievement, but to move beyond the narrow, often externalised, models of success that domin

In the pursuit of success, it’s easy to assume that faster means better, that constant output equals value, and that stopping—even momentarily—is a sign of weakness or inefficiency. But as businesses and leaders begin to embrace more human-centred, sustainable ways of working, it’s clear we need to redefine what success feels like, not just what it looks like on paper. This is the heart of regenerative business. It’s not about doing more — it’s about doing differently. And in

“Busy” has become the badge of honour in many professional circles. How often do we respond to “How are you?” with a weary “Busy, but good”? Somewhere along the way, the idea that constant activity equates to value took root — and it’s harming our people, our creativity, and our long-term success. In regenerative business, we challenge the glorification of busy and reimagine work around principles of balance, rest, and spaciousness. Because it’s in those spaces — the pauses,

In today’s shifting landscape, the role of leadership is under the spotlight like never before. Traditional models that prioritised hierarchy, financial gain and constant output are being questioned — and rightly so. As our collective definition of success evolves, leadership must evolve with it. Regenerative business is built on the principle that sustainable success comes not from extraction or performance pressure, but from balance, connection and contribution. To lead in