A few years ago,
A farmer decided to take to one of my local rivers with his digger and dredge it.
He scraped the banks clean of vegetation and turned this meandering river into a straight stretch with barren banks.
This particular river is a site of special scientific interest and a special area of conservation that flows out onto ancient and rare Lammas meadows.
It's a truly special place,
But it came as no surprise that many people applauded his efforts.
Dredging is a hot topic in an area with so many rivers.
Any attempt to educate the dredging advocates about the mechanics of water flow and what creates flooding is a tough one.
So it came as quite a surprise to them when the farmer in question was jailed for his actions,
Given a hefty legal bill and an order to repair the damage.
The river he dredged is among a very small minority that have been largely left to make their own way through the land.
It is one of the last wilder rivers on this island I call home.
Only three percent remain untouched.
This is a staggering statistic given the number of watercourses we have.
River channelisation,
That's the process of deepening and straightening rivers,
Has long been seen as the solution to flooding.
Thankfully this is now changing at a policy level,
But in the eyes of people the refusal to dredge rivers pits them against the environment.
It perpetuates a perceived division.
River channelisation is a metaphor for how humans feel threatened by nature and how they need to control it.
It's also symbolic of how disconnected we are becoming from our true natures.
A wild river is ever-changing.
Its course through the land changes continually.
It has no notion of land ownership as it edges this way and then that.
It is in communion with the land as it flows.
A wild river shapes the land because it is held by the land and that land knows what it needs to be true to itself.
Sometimes still and deep,
Sometimes bubbly and shallow,
A wild river twists and turns.
Now and then it takes a shortcut as the land makes way for it and when it needs to it flows out beyond its banks and shares stories and nutrients with the land.
Its channels branch and reconverge and new streams join the flow as it makes its way through the land to the sea.
A wild river is not one many of us would recognise today,
Just as we do not recognise the wildness in ourselves.
The straight,
Deep rivers we have created are not alive in their true form.
We make them thoroughfares for water we want to remove from the land as fast as possible,
With little thought for their role in the land.
These rivers are no longer rooted in nature,
Just like us.
And because we are disconnected from nature,
So are our endeavours and creativity.
We are being called back to our wildness.
We can find it in so many simple ways and when we do,
We can begin to rewild ourselves and rewild our land.
The realm of business is an expression of the culture we have created.
It stands to reason that it must be one of the first places we begin this rewilding process.
A restoration is needed where wildness is celebrated.
Nature needs to find a place within business,
Not as an afterthought or an add-on,
But a central role as a teacher,
Advisor and role model.
We can learn a new rhythm from nature.
We can let go of the old ideals of productivity and profit on an exponential upward curve.
We can find nourishment.
We can find life.
Nature's role is not to teach us how to mimic it.
We are nature and our businesses are nature.
They are,
And we are,
Unique species fulfilling purpose in the whole.
What we have to turn to nature for is its clues to rediscovering our own truth and creative powers.
For this reason,
I believe all entrepreneurs need to spend time in nature as part of their business day.
This time becomes a remembrance that leads to the restoration of purpose.
In the process,
The ideas of being less than or at the mercy of external forces begin to dissipate,
And incredible creative power begins to surge.
Hope lies in those moments away from the tools of productivity.
Gone are the channels that we must live within,
And we begin to wind our own way through the landscape of life.
We respond to the land that holds us and find our path.
We become a unique species with a unique role to fulfill.
Our businesses become tools of healing,
And the nature of all business begins to change.
It's a natural flow where the constructs of society hold no sway,
And the future of life is created.
A simple act of rebellion,
Stepping away from the workplace,
Has the power to create businesses that are part of nature,
And a true reflection of self.
Such is the power of nature to show us how to love life and work.
