Every organization has its own culture with its own assumptions, routines, relationships, and unwritten rules that shape how people work together. If you want to understand why an organization functions the way it does, or why change sometimes feels so difficult, you need to take the time to understand the system as a whole.
That's one reason I was drawn to anthropology. I was fascinated by the idea that people can't be understood in isolation. The study of anthropology takes a holistic view of human behaviour and asks us to consider how culture, economics, politics, relationships, and environment all influence one another. It encourages us to step back and see the whole system.
Looking back, I've carried that perspective with me throughout my career. Whether I was serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, working in organizational development, or now coaching leaders, I find myself asking the same questions: How does culture influence behaviour? What creates the conditions for meaningful change? How do people learn? And I am still passionate about it.
At one point I realized that organizational development was, in many ways, anthropology for organizations. Instead of studying communities, I was trying to understand workplaces. Every organization has its own culture, its own way of making decisions, solving problems, and responding to change. Once I began seeing organizations through that lens, I realized the important role that leadership plays in our life.
One of the most important lessons I've learned over time is that we never really observe organizations from the outside. It's easy to imagine that, as consultants, facilitators, or even leaders, we arrive, assess what's happening, and then decide how to help, but organizations don't work that way.
The moment we walk through the door, people begin responding to our presence. They start thinking differently because someone, out of curiosity, is asking questions and listening to the answer. Conversations shift. New connections begin to form. Before we've made a recommendation or facilitated a workshop, the intervention has already begun.
For me, it's an important reminder that understanding and intervention aren't always separate stages of the process. By the time we're gathering information, we're already influencing the environment we're trying to understand.
This changed the way I approach organizational development. Rather than beginning with solutions, I begin with curiosity. Before recommending change, I want to understand how people experience the organization, what assumptions they're operating from, what behaviours are rewarded, and how the culture and values shape the decisions they make every day.
That perspective also shaped how I came to think about leadership development. People often assume that learning happens because someone stands at the front of a room and shares their expertise, but my experience has been different.
Whether I was working in the military, teaching anthropology, or facilitating leadership programs, I found that the most meaningful learning happened when people had the opportunity to think together, challenge assumptions, and discover insights for themselves. My role wasn't to provide every answer, but rather to create the conditions where better questions could be surfaced.
The role of a facilitator is not simply to transfer knowledge. They help people make sense of their own experience, improve self-awareness, connect ideas, and learn from one another. In many ways, it's another expression of the same anthropological mindset: understand first, then help people move forward together.
This is one of the reasons I find myself returning to mindset whenever I facilitate programs at The Humphrey Group. Before we talk about communication techniques or presentation skills, I think it's important to consider how we're entering the conversation in the first place, how we want to show up.
Are we approaching it with curiosity or certainty? Are we trying to understand or simply trying to persuade? Are we paying attention to the people and the system around us, or are we focused only on delivering our message?
For me, that's why mindset isn't just the first concept we introduce, it's the perspective that shapes everything else. Vision becomes clearer because leaders have reflected on what matters to them. Audience-centeredness becomes more authentic because they're genuinely interested in understanding the people they're speaking with. Even tools like The Leader's Script become more effective because they emerge from thoughtful inquiry rather than simply following a template.
The tools matter. But it's the mindset behind them that allows leaders to use them efficiently.
When I look back across my career, I see the same questions showing up in different contexts: How do people learn? How do cultures evolve? How do organizations create the conditions for meaningful change? Those questions first drew me to anthropology, but they've stayed with me everywhere I've worked.
Perhaps that's why I continue to begin in the same place I always have: with curiosity. Before trying to solve a problem or change a system, I want to understand it. Because the moment we enter an organization, we become part of its story. And the better we understand the people, relationships, and culture around us, the better equipped we are to help shape what comes next.
Curiosity can help leaders look beyond what’s immediately visible, challenge assumptions, and uncover new possibilities. Explore how coaching at The Humphrey Group creates space for greater awareness, reflection, and intentional growth. Explore Executive Coaching.