Last week, I had the privilege of attending my first Anthropy UK gathering at the Eden Project – 2.5 days with over 2,000 other leaders from across the UK and beyond, convening to explore this year's theme - how to Reboot Britain.

Anthropy Founder John O'Brien MBE's ambitious vision for this event, now in its 3rd year, is both audacious and inspirational – uniting people from business, public sector, charities, and non-profits to find common ground and a better way forward together. 🤝

Two of the key (inter-related) themes running through the programme were Kindness & Leadership, and I specifically chose to attend a couple of panel discussions that linked to these topics.

First up - one of my key takeaways was from Sir Charlie Mayfield – former John Lewis boss, now leading the Government-commissioned Keep Britain Working Review talking in a panel discussion about his Vision for Britain:

“Line managers are the key. How do we evolve how we support managers to be more supportive more of the time?”

This was encouraging to hear as we believe that Thrivall | B Corp Pending's unique new approach to leader development and sustained support is exactly the solution that is needed to meet this challenge. I have just submitted our contributed to the Discovery consultation and await further updates with interest. Click here if you want to read more and perhaps add your own contribution.

Many other legends of responsible and sustainable British business were also in attendance – here is my tribute to a few of the people I personally connected with:

🌍 First up - John Elkington – Originator of the Triple Bottom Line concept, Godfather of the Sustainable Business movement, pioneer of the People, Planet, Profit approach behind B Corp certification and the reason why I have three emojis next to my name here on LinkedIn: 💛🌍💸. It was an honour to meet and chat at the signing of his latest book.

🏢 Dr Victoria Hurth – Driving the paradigm shift to make all businesses become more Purpose-Driven Organisations with the British Standard #PAS 808:2022, working to make this internationally recognised via ISO - International Organization for Standardization . Victoria’s energy, optimism, passion and vision always lights up the room and enlivens any panel discussion.

💙 Chris Turner – Leading the fast-growing B Lab UK and B Corp movement in the UK, enabling more businesses to be a greater force for good. Great to talk about how the UK now has the largest number of B Corps anywhere in the world.

💡 Kim Polman – Founder of Reboot the Future, host of my favourite session on Human Kindness & Leadership with Otti Vogt, Paul Lindley OBE & Ritika Wadhwa - the interactive and beautifully facilitated session was truly meaningful, mindful, and memorable.

👥 Pentawen Sands Happy Camper Crew – Shoutout to Diana Rose, Morgan Woodward and Claire Esquivel-Walls for your incredible hospitality and kindness on our first night - living the Anthropy values in action! Plus Daniel Evans and Isabel Berwick for the companionship and conversations at the campsite.

🌱 Lorenzo Fioramonti and the NATIVA team – Paolo Di Cesare , Bénédicte Peillon-Russo , Juan Diego Mujica Filippi – paving the way for a better future with Benefit Corporations in Italy and continuing to foster partnerships here in the UK.

📊 Sarah Ashley from Baringa - Sharing the Economics of Kindness, a game-changer in workplace culture. Click here to read more about 🔗 Baringa's research

💛 Michael Solomon Founder of Responsible 100 – Showing kindness and understanding when I hit a wall of exhaustion, coupled with some frustration and panel fatigue on Day 2.

🔋 Matt Wood and Samantha Andrews from Millwood | Ethical and Expert Fire Safety Engineering Solutions | Proudly B Corp Certified| – Fellow B Corpers who gave me a much-needed energy boost and solidarity in my hour of need.

🎟 Alex Holliman Founder of another B Corp - Climbing Trees – Your generosity made it possible for my business partner Dan Corpe to join me at the event – thank you! 🙏

🧠 Geoff McDonald – Fellow workplace wellbeing and mental health pioneer – finally great to meet in person and to get your expert perspective on our mission at Thrivall!

🌿 Sir Tim Smit – Visionary Eden Project & Lost Gardens of Heligan founder – the perfect storyteller and host.

Plus sooo many more familiar faces and lots of new connections!

🌟 My Key Takeaways:

🔹 “You don’t find the happy life, you create it.”

🔹 “You can’t get Monday right if you don’t get Sunday right.” – from a Cardinal at the Vatican via Otti Vogt's research.

🔹 “We need the courage to do.” – Rich Roberts

🔹 “Leadership at its best is modest, quiet, encouraging.” – John O'Brien MBE

🔹 We need to go beyond the Golden Rule (“treat others how you want to be treated”) to the Platinum Rule (“understand that how I build respect and trust may differ from how you do”) thanks for the reminder Ritika Wadhwa .

🔹 We can become unkind when we think we have power over others and when under the pressure of time. – thanks Ritika again and also Paul Lindley OBE for reminding me of the Good Samaritan/Priest training story.

🔹 “It’s tough to be kind” – particularly in moments of stress and when difficult decisions need to be made.

While overall Anthropy was a hugely positive, optimistic and richly inspiring experience for me, as with any event there is always some scope for improvement. At times I felt maybe it was ‘just me’ feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by some aspects, so I have felt validated and reassured that others since shared my perspective and perhaps articulated it better than I could in these reflections:

As Patrick Andrews put it: 📝 Anthropy was at times ‘exhilarating and exhausting’ 🔗 Patrick's reflections

And in Alex Holliman’s words, at times it felt like 🐜 'Being like an ‘anteater at an aardvark convention’ 🔗 Alex's reflections

There were also valuable suggestions on how to evolve the event, bringing back some of its challenger spirit from earlier editions: 🔗 Reflections from Maria Soleil

Reflections from the beach next to our campsite in Cornwall

🙏 Thank you to everyone who made this year's Anthropy an unforgettable experience.

🤔💡Who represents the best of British business for you and who is one to watch as an emerging leader for a more positive business future for our country? 💭🇬🇧❓

Let’s celebrate those driving positive change! 🚀💙