Our people
Martin Sandbrook
Hello, my name is Martin and I am on a mission – in partnership with the Schumacher Institute – to free as many people as possible from the constraints of the ways of thinking which currently dominate our lives and work .
My aim is to help people and organisations to deal with the world just as it is – messy, unpredictable and complex – rather than trying to shoehorn the world around them into an unrealistic version of how they’d like it to be.
My work follows two inspirational thoughts:
EF Schumacher: ‘We need to look at the world and see it whole’ (the true meaning of sustainability)
Donella Meadows: ‘To change the way we act, we need first to change the way we think’
I believe we need to understand and deal with the world as interconnected, interdependent and complex. As humans we are part of this whole and we need to connect, work and develop in harmony with the world – not against it. Inspired also by my brother Richard, who was a founder of Friends of the Earth, this is how I believe we make sustainability real.
My Story
All my working life has revolved around management and leadership. Over the years, I have worked in the public, private and third sectors. I’ve also been a university lecturer.
Back in 2008, I was at Bath University taking my Masters in Responsibility and Business Practice. It was a life transforming experience for me, especially when I had a major ‘ah-ha’ realisation: that the world really is complex, and that it makes little sense to keep trying to simplify things as a route to fixing them.
This was truly a moment of liberation for me.
I wished I had realised this – and all that has flowed from it - at the start of my working life. Oh, how differently I would have done things.
Now I am on a mission, by offering training courses, to share my liberation with others.
To get a feel for what I say and how I say it, see the online video course here.
To learn with me, join me for a one-day introductory course here.