Martin Luther King Jr
Above all else Sally Duxfield is an Experiential Architect, which is a term that is still sometimes met with a slightly blank stare, so if you read just a little further down this page, she’ll tell you exactly what that means.
Sally’s 30+ years’ experience - including studying neuroscience, leading high performance teams, and owning/directing Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre - speak to these favourite things impeccably. In other words, she lives and breathes the things she loves the most. The way life ought to be lived.
Her top three favourite things in life are being outdoors, learning new things, and taking command of a space. So it’s really no surprise that she’s built a career in leadership training (and she’s actually bloody good at it).
Throw in a gorgeous collection of fine gins, a delicious affinity for new shoes, and a wicked amount of sass, and there you have her: Sally Duxfield in all her ineffable glory.
Experiential Architecture can be most succinctly described as the art of connecting theory and strategy with human emotion. Traditionally we have black and white leadership models on one side, and personality assessments on the other. By combining the two, it reinforces our learning, it prompts us to change our habits, and we experience the learning rather than simply reading it. Learning becomes lived, leadership is long-lasting.
"If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable." — Seneca
Steven Kotler from the Flow Research Collective describes this as uncertainty. He says, "Uncertainty creeps in everywhere, all the time. We’re uncertain about what task to do next or how to spend the rest of the day. We’re uncertain about what the next six months should look like in our business or professional life. Ultimately, all too many of us are pretty damn uncertain about the direction we want our lives to take. The issue is that this uncertainty paralyzes us and blocks us from 'Flow'. Being clear on where you want to go, and exactly how you’re going to get there, is incredibly important for flow. Without clear goals, we can’t direct our attention."
Allan Leighton has led some of the biggest retail organisations in the UK as chairman of the COOP, Asda, Selfridges and Royal Mail.
Have a squiz at this video where he talks about the execution of strategy.
It’s so true! Allan talks about those within your organisations who make ‘treacle’; rather than communicating and empowering, strategy gets fed down through either someone he refers to as ‘permafrost’ i.e., nothing ever goes past or through them, or, probably my favourite, ‘business prevention squads’. These are the middle managers who ensure that they control every piece of
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