Soil, Food & Metabolism of Leadership

I’ve just returned from the Blue Earth Summit, where I had the privilege of moderating panels with the COOL Farm Alliance which is an organisation providing farmers with the metrics to measure what truly matters. They began with carbon, helping farmers understand their footprint, and are now moving beyond that into biodiversity, water, and soil health — the living systems that sustain life itself.

After two days immersed in conversations about climate, nature, and leadership, I left with a clear impression: the food system is the most important system of all. If we don’t address it, everything else begins to unravel. Without healthy soil, we can’t grow nutritious food. Without nutritious food, our bodies and minds lose their capacity to think clearly, to lead well, and to regenerate.

As so often happens at these gatherings, it wasn’t the formal sessions that left the deepest mark, but the serendipitous conversations in the spaces between. In the speaker’s lounge, I found myself talking with the CEO of a rewilding organisation. I asked him what makes regeneration succeed on the ground.

He smiled and said:

“It’s all about the five Ms.”

“What are they?” I asked.

“Mindset, mindset, mindset, mindset, mindset.”

That line has echoed ever since. Every act of regeneration in soil, in organisations, in ourselves begins with mindset.

And perhaps also, with metabolism. As leaders, what’s really happening in our bodies when we make decisions? How does the gut microbiome, hydration, fatigue, or blood sugar affect not just how we feel, but what we choose?

Imagine going in for surgery, and the medical team hasn’t eaten properly, is dehydrated, running on caffeine and adrenaline. At the very moment when they need to be at their best (calm, clear, precise) the system they work in has not ensured that their nutrition, rest, and metabolism are optimal. We wouldn’t accept that in aviation or engineering, yet in healthcare, education, and leadership more broadly, we often design systems that require performance without nourishment.

At To Focus, our work in regenerating healthcare systems keeps coming back to this question: how do we ensure that the people doing the caring, leading, and deciding are themselves cared for and resourced? Burnout is not a personal failure; it’s a systemic one. Chronic overwork creates chronic conditions. If the healers are ill what hope of them healing us.

Regeneration starts with soil and with the soil within us. It begins in food rituals, in slowing down to notice what nourishes us, and in re-remembering where our energy and clarity truly come from.

As you move through the next two weeks, perhaps pause to consider:

What are the decisions you need to make?

And how might those decisions be shaped by what you eat, what you drink, your hydration, your rest - your whole metabolism?

Warm regards,

Mark