Hindsight is a great gift, but it always arrives a bit too late.

In 2013, I gave a TEDx talk titled “Be the Change You Want to See in Your Organisation”. With a nod to Gandhi, I shared a success story of leading a team to create Accenture Development Partnerships, a “not-for-loss” corporate social enterprise within one of the world’s largest commercial organisations. We challenged the notion that business is solely about profit maximisation, showing that employees craved meaning as much as money. They were even willing to take pay cuts to work for charities in some of the world’s poorest regions.

Some thought this idea was nuts, even heretical to a sector weaned on corporate largesse and poor quality pro-bono. But it worked. Accenture Development Partnerships became a magnet for top talent, providing a quarter-billion worth of services in over 80 countries. I became a poster child for the “intrapreneurship” movement. However, success came at a price.

A year after the TEDx talk, I found myself in a psychiatric hospital in Glasgow. One moment I was lining up for a selfie with President Clinton, the next I was waiting for a dose of Diazepam next to a stranger. I hadn’t seen it coming. I was successful, loved my job, had no history of mental health issues. But no one is bulletproof. Gandhi didn’t say “do” the change, or drive the change, or accelerate the change, he said “be” the change. In trying to drive change, I hadn’t learned how to simply be.

My point is this: In a world facing climate crises, war, populism, and rampant inequality, we need more conscious, connected, and value-driven leadership. But such leaders can’t emerge in a culture that glorifies long hours, demands instant responses, and perpetuates an always-connected environment that crushes the human spirit. We’re not robots. Productivity isn’t about keystrokes per day.

So, what has hindsight taught me?

That my burnout and mental breakdown were catalysts for a profound breakthrough. It was an inflection point, but also a reflection point. I resisted the corporate world’s pull and embarked on an “Eat, Pray, Love” odyssey. My 2018 book, The Intrapreneur: Confessions of a Corporate Insurgent, asked if I had gone crazy or if it was the system I tried to change.

Time brings perspective.

We talk about the global pandemic, but not enough about the silent pandemic of mental health crises in the workplace. Depression, anxiety, burnout, and quiet quitting are rampant. Should we be surprised? Instead of addressing workplace toxicity, many organisations focus on creating more resilient employees, like trying to make tougher canaries in a coal mine.

What if this mental health crisis is a symptom of a deeper issue? Have we lost connection with each other, the planet, and ourselves?

We need to wake up and slow down.

A decade after my brief stay in the psychiatric hospital, I started another crazy idea: a business decelerator on the Scottish Island of Bute, where I grew up. This reflects Bayo Akomolafe’s sentiment:

“The times are urgent: Let’s slow down.”

My goal is to create a space where art, music, and nature intersect, fostering deeper connections and breaking the cycle of busyness to cultivate a new style of leadership. This ancient land offers fertile soil for people and their ideas to thrive. I firmly believe that the future of business isn’t about producing cheaper, sleeker, and slimmer gadgets that feed an Instagram-driven materialism.

Instead, it’s about combining the technological power of AI with more of the “Artistic Intelligence” of the human spirit. 

How can we harness human ingenuity and adopt a systems change approach to address the significant social and environmental challenges of our time?

Craigberoch aims to dismantle the artificial boundaries between industry sectors, for-profit and non-profit entities, and public versus private organisations. We believe the best solutions arise from integrating the strengths of each sector.

Regardless of your stance on the “deceleration” narrative, it’s clear that our bodies aren’t designed for constant work, and we can’t keep accelerating in the wrong direction. Few have mastered this balance, and I admit that for me, it’s more about being true to myself rather than prescribing a set formula. I’m still a work in progress. However, the more I help others unlock their potential and recognise their own power, the more I become aware of my own.