Ripples Series #1
WHEN LEADERS STEP OUTSIDE
by Paul Rodwell
Former diplomat turned nature-based leadership coach.
The first thing I notice when people step outside is this: shoulders drop, curiosity returns, and a quiet connection grows.
After years working in hospitality, diplomacy and crisis prevention, I’ve seen a lot of human behaviour — and I’ve come to learn that nothing shifts people as quickly or profoundly as nature does.
That matters right now, in a world where so many of us are running ourselves ragged and leaving a wake of exhaustion and disconnection behind us.
We’re living through a poly-crisis of disconnection — from nature, from each other and from our own inner compass. And it’s showing up everywhere: in leadership, teams, communities and families.
But the natural world is always there, ready to welcome us back into the wider web of life.
A life spent in many worlds
My professional journey has taken me from places that impress — luxury hotels like the George V in Paris and the Ritz in Madrid — to places that humble, like the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Running the iconic Explora Lodge in Atacama changed me — and the many people, including world leaders, who we hosted there.
In that vast, elemental landscape, people arrived tight and left spacious. Day by day, you could see their nervous systems recalibrate.
Later, as a British Diplomat in Portugal and then Spain, I saw how humans respond under pressure, loss, uncertainty, and crisis. I carved out new approaches to prevent serious incidents overseas — work I loved for its complexity and humanity.
But somewhere along the way, the walls began to close in. I found myself increasingly indoors, increasingly compressed, increasingly cut off from the environments that nourish me.
So I stepped away.
Not because the work no longer mattered, but because I needed to widen the lens of what “leadership” and “service” could look like.
The moment the door opened
A conversation with my friend Elsa Selva pointed me toward an emerging field of leadership: nature facilitation. Her description — embodied, joyful, rooted in place — made me curious.
From the first moments of Change in Nature’s facilitation training, something clicked: Ah. Yes. This is how humans are meant to learn. And this is how I’m meant to work.
It gave me permission to let nature lead, to trust the land as a co-facilitator, to loosen my grip on control and invite something more alive.
And it was — unexpectedly — wildly fun. Mischievously so. It felt almost naughty that something so transformative could also be so joyful.
It reminded me that joy isn’t a distraction from deep work; joy is often the doorway into it.
Why this is for everyone - not just “facilitators”
When people hear “nature-based facilitation,” they often picture forest school or outdoor education.
But the truth is, the leaders and professionals who most need this work are those navigating mounting complexity, influence, and responsibility — the people whose decisions shape communities, organisations and ecosystems.
Nature has a way of stripping back ego, widening perspective, and reconnecting us with what truly matters — whether you’re a CEO, a policymaker, a diplomat, a founder, a team lead, or someone quietly holding things together behind the scenes.
This isn’t about leaving your profession to become “an outdoor facilitator” (although you can do that too).
Whatever field you’re in, it’s about remembering how to lead like a whole human again — one who knows they are part of the wider fabric of life.
That’s the work I’m doing now in the Balearic Islands: supporting leaders to reconnect with nature, purpose and themselves.
You can find me at paulrodwell.com or on LinkedIn.