Bridges to the New

I haven’t written here since last September because I have been preoccupied with the not insignificant task of figuring out how to semi-retire as well as I could and to begin to define what the new role of Chief Explorer is all about. There was a lot of the work involved in this that didn’t lend itself to “working out loud”, but I have been capturing the process as it evolved and will be sharing more about the year-long experimental process that led to me stepping back as founder to become the Chief Explorer.

Since the beginning of April I’ve been working at this new role. There’s a new website (just a couple of pages at the moment) where I have a page that describes a project developed in the first three months of this year, the Bridges to the New card deck, and there will also be the Chief Explorer’s Almanac.

The card deck emerged as an output under the banner of the Gratitude Project which I am working on throughout this year as my way of giving thanks and gratitude to those who have been on the journey and played their part in all of the work that has emerged over the years. The card deck came from a massive collection of photos that I had been taking throughout 2021 of bridges. As we came out of pandemic lockdown and had the opportunity to travel in the UK I found myself becoming obsessed with bridges. The change programme that led to my retirement from my role as Chief Executive was called The Bridge to the New as a tribute to William Bridges’ work on transitions. I wanted to go deep into the metaphor of his name. Hence the obsession with photographing bridges.

I chose 25 of these bridge photos and from that evolved the idea of a set of cards that would act as prompts for anyone who is working on something new – a project, an idea, a problem. One night in early January I was wide awake at three in the morning, with the photos and a series of questions swirling around in my head. I had to get up and write them down – and they were the rough outlines that led to the questions on the cards.

I’ve shared some of these card decks already, and I am officially publishing them today. If you would like to buy a set head on over to the shop and you can buy a set there.

The Almanac will be another blogging space at the Chief Explorer’s website where I intend to blog about the work and the journeys of the Chief Explorer and his companion and Explorer-Muse, June. There’s just one announcement of the birth of the Chief Explorer at the moment, but there will be more to come as I start to document the inner and outer journeys of the Chief Explorer. Outer journeys will take us to places in search of meaning, clarity, mystery, metaphor and magic. Inner journeys will takes us to books, audio and video that prompts ideas and searchings in the wonder of creativity.

One more thing in this update: the latest book, The Inner Fire, is almost complete. It has gone through advanced reader feedback where I received some incredibly useful ideas, edits and input. I’ve done all those edits now and just have a couple more short pieces to write. Then it’s good to go. Expect further announcements about this very soon.

Also published on Medium.