Answering the Call: The Genesis of Sacred Futures

This is Part 1 of the Attuning with Nature Series.

In our first article, I share my journey from investment banking to founding Sacred Futures, born from a deep recognition that new ventures needed a different way of coming into being. Follow the transformation from Fly Parallel Studio to Sacred Futures, and discover how I was led to a methodology which honors the ecology of life in organizational design.

Over a decade immersed in the financial sector, I found myself standing at an edge. Even though my textbook career over the last ten years has been in the financial sector, my way of working is as a designer. The designer perspective – the ability to see possibility in constraints, beauty in complexity – has always been a part of me, even as I navigated the structured world of finance. As I’ve matured in my understanding of systems and structures, I now realize that the supposed divide between business pragmatism and creative nurture is itself an artificial construct, a story we had chosen to believe.

What I witnessed in the business world troubled me deeply. Despite their innovative spirit and genuine desire for positive impact, new ventures were consistently emerging from environments of scarcity and fear. These new ventures, despite their aspirations for positive change, were being birthed into environments of scarcity and fear. They were driven to scale before finding a rhythm wholly respectful of its living neighbors in people, place and planet. This cycle, therefore, perpetuates the very problems businesses think they are trying to solve. The designer in me knew there had to be another way.

In 2020, this recognition crystallized into an experiment called Fly Parallel Studio – a virtual venture incubator that dared to ask: What if we could create organizations with the same tender attention that nature brings to all new life? Not through forced acceleration or artificial constraints, but through patient nurturing and attentive care? What if these businesses were launched by leaders aligned in heart and in practice with ancient wisdom found in nature? Fly Parallel Studio became a protected space to explore how we could envision a different way of bringing new enterprises into being.

The Natural Evolution

And so we did a test run with a fantastic enterprise – Space On Space, a media company bringing slow storytelling for purpose-driven brands and artists in a fast pace world. Emily, founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine reflects on venture incubator.

"Soulful, extremely thoughtful, brilliant and innovative. When I was in business school, it felt like everyone was taught to launch as fast as possible. But Charity's approach was so intentional and brought wisdom to my strategy. She helped me create a balance in my work process, integrating breath and intentionality to the otherwise structured business development process." - Emily Logan

After this and other coaching engagements, I went back to the drawing board. I wanted to find a pathway for bringing this approach also to the financial sector in the launching of new investment vehicles in the impact investing world. What emerged from this inner retooling was Sacred Futures and centering living systems and heart-aligned work in the practice itself. What I found was that regardless of the industry, sector, mission, leaders were longing for protected spaces where new organizational forms and methods of work could develop organically. I saw nature’s wisdom in rhythms and patterns to be the guide for all of us.

The leaders who seek us out share a common vision. They recognize the limitations of traditional organizational models built on mechanical, extractive principles. They're ready to pioneer new paths but often find themselves asking: What does a truly regenerative organization look like? How do we build something different with tools we've never used before? They sense that the traditional rush to market, the pressure to conform to conventional models, often results in enterprises that struggle to embody their true purpose. They come to us ready to participate in a more intentional process of becoming.

Holding Space for Emergence

Our response evolved into what is the Sacred Futures Approach. Like skilled birthworkers, we understand that each enterprise, and the leaders of these ventures, goes on a unique journey of emergence. We create conditions where purpose unfolds naturally and where structure develops in harmony with function. Building adaptive organizations requires more than just new strategies – it demands a fundamental shift in how we perceive and participate in organizational life.

Our work spans three interconnected domains:

• Organizational Architecture: Through our Living Charter™ Journey, we help founders and leaders nurture organizations that embody their deepest purpose;

• Capital Innovation: Our advisory services guide capital stewards in reimagining how investment can flow in alignment with natural systems; and,

• Regenerative Business Design: We architect business models that grow like healthy ecosystems, enhancing the vitality of the ecosystems they touch.

Guardians of New Possibility

At its heart, Sacred Futures exists to demonstrate that a future-proof enterprise is an adaptive organization, and an adaptive organization is a flourishing ecosystem. We serve as organizational architects, helping leaders craft blueprints that are as organic and true as the natural systems they seek to honor. When pressure mounts and tension builds, we step in as re-imagineers, offering another way forward. And as guardians of emergence, helping leaders create protected spaces where new possibilities can take root and flourish.

We understand organizations or business enterprises not as machines to be optimized, but as living systems to be nurtured through and for the people and places they interact with. Our approach weaves together innovative organizational design with nature's time-tested patterns, creating a new paradigm for how enterprises can come into being. Through this work, we are helping to write a new story of what business can be – one that recognizes and honors our fundamental relationship with nature and with each other.