Making good in the ruins

As we face the shortest day of the year, we find ourselves looking towards the light and asking ourselves: What do we want in 2024?

As entrepreneurs, we can often experience transitions as abrupt shifts - ending one project to initiate another.

However, there's an alternative perspective that emphasises a more gradual, intentional approach.

Rather than a sudden stop followed by a void, the idea of "hospicing" suggests gently bringing things to a close, harvesting what worked, and ritually letting go of what no longer serves. 

This helps to cultivate clarity about what lies ahead, even in the absence of a clear plan.

In this inspiring conversation, we talk to Dougald Hine, a social thinker, author, and founder of A School Called Home.

His book, At Work In The Ruins, delves into how we navigate crises, particularly the climate crisis, and the concept of endings.

By embracing the concept of hospicing and gradual change, we can nurture a mindset that fosters creativity, reduces anxiety, and encourages bravery.

This one’s for you if…

• You’re feeling overwhelmed by what needs to be done and don’t know where to start

• You need a new way of thinking that doesn’t rely on you doing everything on your own

• You’re doing something different and want to run counter to how things have always been done before

• You’re passionate about the crises we face, and want to know that you’re not alone

Here are nine takeaways from the conversation:

1. The magic of conversation

Sometimes we just need to talk things through with other people who get us. It’s why we built our community and host our in-person events.

"I think for me, there’s a lot of trust in a kind of a magic, an alchemy of what can happen when you get the right kind of space of conversation."

We’ve seen how letting people show up fully leads to creative insights and change.

2. Unlock potential with others

It’s why we hold our cohort programs, hold case clinics, and encourage our community members to share what they’re going through. Being with others triggers new ideas and new perspectives in powerful and helpful ways, which Dougald sees happen in the spaces he holds, too.

“Something happens in that dynamic, in that set of relationships, that wouldn't have happened by anyone sitting on their own being brilliant.”

3. Small enough to make a difference

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by what you know needs to be done. So we love Dougald’s reminder of what can be achieved through human-scale efforts

"Sometimes agency is actually about operating at a scale that is small enough that you can do things in informal and human ways."

Big, impressive projects often require structures that hinder agility. No wonder so many mid-life entrepreneurs quit the corporate world.

4. We’re kind by nature

Finding the sweet spot between doing good in the world and making a living means engaging with market forces out of our control. And yet, they’re not the only forces at play.

"If everyone actually behaved according to the logic of the market, everything would grind to a halt."

As purpose-led people, it’s good to remember that much of what allows society to function are the unpaid acts of communal care and support.

5. Listen deeply

When trying to find the work that’s ours to do in the world, Dougald advises us to learn how to tune in.

"Listen for the place where what calls to you most deeply meets what feels most urgent, most hungry, most alive in the world - and find the place where those two things connect. And give it time."

Our next steps can emerge from listening both inwardly and outwardly.

6. The situation is urgent, we must slow down

Our Vision 20/20 program takes place over 20 weeks, and the alumni group is now several years’ strong. We’re in it for the long haul.

"The situation is urgent, we must slow down. That’s the paradoxical principle. You cannot rush your way through allowing yourself to be changed."

While we may want things to change rapidly, long-lasting transformation requires time and patience.

7. A village, not competition

When niching our businesses, there’s a temptation to compare ourselves to others in our field and to think of them as competition. But Dougald draws on the work of Matt Weston and asks,

“What's the village that the thing that you're doing is part of? And how can you contribute to the life of that village? How do we tell a story of this, where we're just a part of something else?”

8. Tasks worth doing

Dougald offers four tasks: Salvaging the good stuff we can take with us, mourning what we can’t, discerning what was never as good as claimed, and picking up dropped threads, which means,

“.. noticing the things from earlier in the story that have been treated as old fashioned, inefficient, obsolete, that might actually make all the difference, and that you can pick up and be part of the carrying forward of.”

Using these as guideposts helps us transfer useful resources into what we’re going to do next.

9. We can create the kind of world we want to live in

The idea of hospicing projects to give them “good endings”, based on the work of Vanessa Machado de Oliveira, creates a space for new things to emerge.

“And if we can create the right kind of conditions .. then we end up living in the kind of village we want to live in rather than the kind that we might have been born into.”

Despite the challenges we’re facing, our desire and ability to flourish in community still survives.

And we can all take small steps to help make that happen.

Dougald’s ideas, reminding us of the humble moves we can make, the energy we need to let loose, the trickster energy we can unleash, the clues we can find in the artist’s way of life, and to look for something small enough to try, are inspiring and galvanising.

Do you want a place where the alchemy of conversation can occur, surrounded by a village that motivates you to realise more of your potential?

Come along to an event, join our community, or learn more about our Vision 20/20 program and find others who want to swim against the tide and build a better future.

Notes

Thank you so much to Dougald for his time. You can find his book, At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics, and All the Other Emergencies at all good bookshops. Check out A School Called Home, and subscribe to his Substack on his website.

If you’d like to find your deeper purpose at work, our next tribe of our Vision 20/20 program starts March 2024.