WAY OF THE GUIDE
“A guide is humble. A guide embodies a deep acceptance of the world and of people. A guide honours all stories without judgement. A guide works in partnership with the Forest. A guide has no agenda to change people or the world. A guide trusts that the Forest knows what’s needed. A guide listens without fixing. A guide awakens the senses. A guide holds space for the relationships to flourish. A guide plays. A guide honours simplicity. A guide liberates and is liberated by co-investigating the world. A guide knows nothing. A guide forces nothing. A guide opens the doors.”
From “Way of the Guide” by Ben Page, Amos Clifford and Nadine Mazzola, Association of Nature & Forest Therapy
Welcome to Scott Poynton Guiding
I’ve been a guide all my life
I’ve guided the CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies to travel profound journeys of personal transformation that have led not only to their own company’s transformation but to whole industry transformations that people never dreamed possible.
It wasn’t me that led the transformation; it was the leaders. I just opened the doors.
I’ve guided individuals and groups on walks in forests and mountains.
Opening doors is special, privileged work indeed.
I wonder what doors await you?
Join me for a Nature experience
I organise and guide trips for families and children, individuals, CEOs, Teams and Groups…
Together, we join Forest Therapy walks, Forest walks, Big Walks, Mountain walks…
These can be short, 2-3 hour experiences, whole day or multi-day adventures…
We spend a lot of time resting and having fun, but contemplating too.
It’s your opportunity to connect with Nature. I just open the door.
I offer Technology-free, “No Phone” walks…
And I support you on Solo Forest Therapy walks too.
Anything is possible.
Take a moment to enjoy the forest’s peaceful quiet…
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In March 1999, I founded the Tropical Forest Trust or TFT.
So continued my own personal journey of transformation and work to help others find their path to transformation too.
TFT’s work, in partnership with so many great people, led to unprecedented grand transformations of entire industries, most notably the wooden garden furniture industry, the Congo Basin forest industry, the palm oil industry and the pulp and paper industry.
Together, our work protected millions of hectares of forest and enhanced the human rights of millions.
Today, TFT continues to do great work as Earthworm Foundation.
The essence of the work that I did within TFT was to help leaders to cross major Rubicon moments.
I helped them to make decisions based on who they were, rather than on their intelligence.
It was about leading from their gut, their soul, rather than their brains.
TFT pioneered responsible sourcing and was an integral part of these complex change processes that bought about unprecedented changes across entire industries.
People often ask, “How did you do it?” I answer that I played a critical part, but I certainly didn’t do it alone.
Rather, there was an ecosystem of change-makers that did it together, each of us with our own role. This ecosystem included the business leaders themselves, NGOs, me, the TFT team, Nature, communities, workers, governments, the media, associations, and so many others.
It’s absolutely clear to me that all the pressures that were bought to bear on company leaders played a critical role in the change process. But alone, it wasn’t enough to get them across the Rubicon. The pressure bought them to the banks of the river, but they needed something deeper to help them cross to the other side.
That something else wasn’t to be found in their brains. They had searched for it there, but in vain. Instead, they found it in their gut. It was their essential self that they needed to tap into to give them the courage to cross that Rubicon. My job, sitting alone amongst the leaders and their teams, was to help them travel the most difficult 50cm journey of their lives - from their brain to their gut for that is where the soul lives - and then to find the connection there and the courage to follow its guidance.
It was an easy journey for some but absolutely gruelling for so many because all their culture and education had emphasised the power of the brain and denigrated any emotion-based decision-making. As for letting your spirituality guide you, are you crazy?
That was the work I did at TFT and the work I’ve since done with others. It’s not to denigrate the brain as so many denigrate the soul. Not at all, we need our brains. But it’s to navigate first with our souls - which are our compass - and then use our brains to travel more rapidly, more efficiently, with less cost etc.
It’s about feeling first, then thinking. So difficult for so many, yet from my decades of practical experience, so essential to success and to making the word a better place.
“I believe that if I can help as many people as possible to find that connection and live from that true place inside them, then I can have a far greater impact than working project by project”
“The world could be a better place, for all of us, for our relationships, and for Nature but only if we can get connected to that inner wisdom, or as Australian philosopher and cartoonist Michael Leunig describes it, our Duck.”
Koen van Seijen is author and host of the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture podcast series. Back in May, Koen and I recorded a long and wonderful chat which he published on his podcast on June 4th. Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash