The Independent Mind Digest: June 2025

“As we jostle for space on this planet, for position and place and name, and agonise about missteps and paths lost, and feel the fragility of our hopes and all that we hold dear, I think of the hare, stepping lightly on the earth, taking cover if the wind blows. We are not so dissimilar. If we do not achieve all upon which we have set our hearts, or are beaten back by headwinds stronger than our desires, we too can lay up a while, watch the glitter on the grass, and renew our strength.”

Chloe Dalton, from Raising Hare, Canongate Books, 2024

Welcome to June's edition

• Free: Coffee in an Online Thinking Environment
• Great Thinkers: Nate Hagens on "Cultural Mitochondria"
• Time to Think: The Thinking Partnership course in the Cotswolds, Sept/Oct 2025
• Core Skills for 2030: The 2025 World Economic Forum survey
• In print: Two new book contributions from me for 2025

Free: Coffee in an Online Thinking Environment

Every other month I facilitate a session where anyone can come along to develop their skills and their own thinking, meet others and create a Thinking Environment.

Because these are times when we need higher quality thinking than ever before. And because it's always good to create time to think, to "watch the glitter on the grass and renew our strength".

Some people have been coming along for years, others come for the first time, and often return. All you need is some understanding of the Thinking Environment, a desire to develop your capacity to listen and think, and a private space. It's completely free.

When? From 09.30am to 10.45am GMT, every other month on a Monday. The next one is July 28th. See the link below for other dates during 2025 and 2026



Great Thinkers

Nate Hagens

Nate is a systems teacher, writer, thinker and speaker on the big picture issues facing human society. He's Executive Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF) which assembles roadmaps for understanding how human societies might adapt to "lower-throughput" (slower, less energy hungry and lower consumptive) lifestyles.

Nate hosts the podcast The Great Simplification, in conversation with experts on energy, ecology, government, technology, and the economy to provide a systemic view of the world around us. I've been hooked since the first episode in January 2022, even more over the past year as he's shifted from concerned but intellectual curiosity to something far deeper and more connected to the web of life. This really resonates with my own journey, and his work has been a source of great comfort as well as learning to me.

Nate also produces Frankly, brilliant, short reflections and explanations (c20 minutes) of aspects of the Great Simplification - this one is a show stopper:

10 Qualities That Could Change the Future: The Seeds of New Cultural Mitochondria

In it Nate explores 10 traits that might help to shape the way we move through and address "the human predicament". We discussed these traits in a monthly group that I host for members of the Climate Psychology Alliance, finding it thought-provoking, moving and certainly something we shall revisit, individually and collectively. Once you've watched it, you might want to share it too. 



Time to Think: The Thinking Partnership programme in the beautiful Cotswolds

“If only I had more time to think!”

“I'd like some time to think about it”

“Please, just let me think!”

“Can you just try to understand?"

We instinctively know that having time to think is important. And that means allowing our minds to imagine, meander and journey, not to jump straight from A to B. It involves working out how we feel about something and listening to ourselves because it's often the best way to find clarity and discover what we really want, to think about others' perspectives and to make decisions we won’t regret.

We also know that it’s even better when we have someone with us, listening, encouraging, and understanding us. Feeling understood makes us feel good, more confident, and more attuned, activating brain regions associated with reward and social connection. Conversely, not feeling understood makes us feel frustrated, disconnected and rejected, activating neural regions associated with negative affect.

So this is an invitation to a journey, an exploration, a quest. This is the inspirational Thinking Partnership course, where you’ll take your listening skills to new heights and explore courageous, authentic thinking, placing Generative Attention at the heart of all your listening.

Whether you're a coach, a parent, a teacher, a leader - or anything else - this course will help you to improve how you listen, the quality of your relationships, and your own capacity for independent, creative, courageous thinking!

When? North Cotswolds near Moreton in Marsh, 7/8 October and online on 7 November, 09.30-16.30 GMT.

There are now just 3 places available - feel free to contact me for a discovery call to find out more

Core Skills for 2030



I've only just seen the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Survey 2025, published in January this year, and it's interesting to see that by 2030 analytical thinking remains the most sought after core skill among employers, with seven out of 10 companies in 2025 considering it essential. This is closely followed by resilience, agility and flexibility.

I was also interested to see that systems thinking, considered core by just c18% in 2023, rises to 40% for 2030. And environmental citizenship is seen as an emerging skill, not even featuring in the 2023 survey.

What might this research mean for you, your work, your organisation? What new approaches will be needed to develop these skills, particularly given the rise of AI systems that present both opportunities and threats to how we think for ourselves, as ourselves, with our whole selves?

Personally I think there will be a growing emphasis on whole brain thinking and skill building through understanding and attuning to the systems of the natural world - what do you think?

For these charts see page 43 in the 2023 report and page 41 in the 2025 report.



In Print

I'm delighted to have contributed to two new books for 2025.

A chapter for #Richphobia, the fifth book from One Day in 2050, and my first foray into Climate Fiction ("Cli Fi"). The book offers a futurist and critical version of capitalism and wealth inequality, with contributions from over 25 voices. It's a Creative Commons publication; launch date tba.

A case study for Mamood Ahmad's A New Introduction to Counselling & Psychotherapy, a groundbreaking book that encompasses an introduction to self-development, theory, skills, and practice in counselling and psychotherapy, taking a systemic approach that embeds the implications of the client in context or "whole-person practice". This includes essential, yet often overlooked, dimensions of people's lives, such as social context, culture, identity, diversity, neurodiversity, embodiment, knowledge, worldviews, power dynamics, intersectionality, and trauma-and harm-informed approaches. Launch date in September, tba.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this edition of the Independent Mind Digest.

If you would like to explore how I could help you, your team or your organisation, with this or any other subject, with coaching, facilitation, keynotes, short talks, workshops, listening circles, conversation groups or anything else, please get in touch.

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