In 1996, a young man named Han Junjia stood beside an SY-class steam locomotive in Zhangjiakou, China. He leaned out of an open window to read signals because there was no technology to do it for him.

Twenty-six years later, Han stood beside a Fuxing bullet train. A machine that travels at 350 km/h, controlled by a single handle.

Han Junjia retired with eight licences, a career spanning the full arc of modern rail.

Much business conversation focuses on being outcomes driven, delivering value, thinking strategically, taking responsibility, accountability, ownership, … getting results.  And rightly so.

I’ve worked with the Frogs for more than 10 years of my career now. It has been a joyful and satisfying ride. It started at Staples (now winc), where it was a collective belief that the quality of our leaders was key to our commercial success (made my job easier!). So, as National Organisational Development Manager, I got to work building the best Leadership Development Program (LDP) to serve our high calibre people. Vibrant Frog were our go-to partners – they designed, facilitated, and adapted our LDPs over 7 years.

Well, they might be, but that’s not their job. So, what is their job? (Excellent question.) At a macro level, there’s probably a spectrum from ‘questions only’ at one end to ‘a bit of everything’ at the other. ‘Questions only’ does what it says on the tin. But what, in practice, does ‘a bit of everything’ mean?

(But is that the most useful question?)

I’ve never found it easy to describe nor to translate. I really don’t know why. And yet, you’ve gotta be clear on what you do so you can sell it, right? Perhaps, more specifically, I find it difficult to describe the power and value gained from it. I’ve yet to meet a client who declares after our work together “Yes, I knew that was going to happen, as it did in that way, and with that impact.”

The Frogs play in the leadership + culture space. This hasn’t traditionally prompted conversations about sustainability policy + practices with clients – as businesses or as individuals. In fact, we used to tiptoe around it – each to their own, right? We’d focus on how to boost their leadership or shift their culture. Yet it felt a bit ‘off-kilter’ – like we weren’t bringing our whole selves (and our value of ‘responsible’) to the work. Because we’re a bunch of ex-scientists, budding forest managers, and purpose-driven youngsters (that’d be the Ops Rock Stars); our collective social heart has been pumping more powerfully for a while now.

Every crisis brings opportunity, forcing us to act radically, at least in the short term. COVID-19 has seen countries around the world shut down their borders and economies to defend against the pandemic. Governments are delivering huge temporary monetary injections to help people and organisations stay afloat.

Action on Purpose coming to you – ‘intimate + personal’ via your device

The Frog’s purpose – to infuse business with the skills and positive energy to change the world – seems globally pertinent just now. Our time has come.

“It is rare to get a real ‘feel good’ experience that also delivers on business results.”

Some years ago I was lucky enough to spend time taking groups of people to PNG, on leadership programs; working with them to test themselves against the backdrop of mud, mountains, rain, leeches, going steeply up and coming steeply down. Never a breeze. Never ‘ho hum’.

At the moment, most organisations (and the leaders within them) are spending far too much time on the bicycle and not nearly enough time on the frog. Let me explain why…

In his excellent book Intelligent Leadership, Alistair Mant describes organisational systems as populated by ‘Frog’ thinkers and ‘Bicycle’ thinkers.

Why is it that the same situation can bring about learning and growth for one person, while for another it leads to depression?

When I came across Chip Conley’s excellent book “Emotional Equations” I was struck by the simplicity and power of his first equation:

Despair = suffering - meaning.

It gives a practical way to think about events in our work and our life, and how we react to them.

Probably. But often we don’t. Even the important stuff.

Can we run or cycle or swim or walk or kayak on our own? Yes.

Can we join a gym, get a personal program and work out? Of course.

Do we know it will be good for our health, fitness and mental state? Absolutely!

So why doesn’t everyone have a fitness regime they stick to, and live in a state of optimum vitality?