Wayfinding Leadership
Ancient navigation wisdom for leadership in uncertainty and change
Wayfinders go beyond the known
Wayfinders learn to read changing conditions, attend closely to what is happening, and hold both the detail and the whole.
A wayfinder develops a deep understanding of self, crew, waka and environment. Rather than relying on fixed routes or certainty, they cultivate observation, curiosity, judgement and trust in relationship.
Wayfinding Leadership draws on the wisdom of traditional Polynesian navigation and brings it into conversation with contemporary leadership practice.
Getting our bearings in a moving world
Leadership rarely happens in still conditions.
Wayfinding asks how we orient ourselves when circumstances shift, information is incomplete and the old maps no longer quite fit.
It invites us to notice more, listen more carefully, remain connected to purpose and relationships, and make decisions without pretending that uncertainty can be eliminated.
A developmental journey
Wayfinding Leadership is not simply a set of ideas about navigation. It is a practice.
The book offers questions, stories and practical approaches that invite people to strengthen their powers of observation, become more comfortable with uncertainty and explore wider forms of intelligence.
At its heart is a simple understanding: we are in the waka together.
Developed together
Wayfinding Leadership was developed by Chellie Spiller, Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr and John Panoho.
The work emerged through bringing traditional Polynesian navigation knowledge into conversation with leadership research and contemporary organisational experience.
Explore the book
Wayfinding Leadership: Groundbreaking Wisdom for Developing Leaders was published by Huia Publishers in 2015.
The book is available in print, digital and audio formats.
Wayfinding continues
The questions that shaped Wayfinding Leadership continue to evolve in my work today: how we orient ourselves in complexity, how we read changing conditions, and how we draw on relational and Indigenous intelligence in a moving world.
