Before
When the models fell short
Henrik came to the Sahara in the middle of what he calls a great transition.
“Especially in my work life, but also in my personal life, having an experience that all the tools and the way that I’ve seen the world actually came up short. The models and the traditional ways of working with leadership and management fell short.”
“And I had the feeling that there was a lot of things that weren’t explained, and, right around the corner, there was something that I needed to get in touch with to go to the next level, and unlock the potential, both in me, but also in organizations and other people.”
The Sahara was one leg of a longer alchemical journey; he had already been with a group in the Swiss Alps. But the desert pulled at something older.
“What’s really intriguing for me was the possibility to go to a place that is really, really old. Older than humankind, and maybe all life. And having a setup where it would be possible, yes, as the headline was, to empty, get all the noise away, and connect to the universe, the nature of human beings, and all life, and my own soul.”
Not everyone understood. “I remember a lot of people asked me: why didn’t you just go to the beach in Denmark? But it’s just not the same. The Sahara’s just the greatest desert on the Earth, and there’s something magical about it.”
“I have this feeling, and I also had it when I came to the desert, that I’ve been there before. I felt home. It’s a bit weird, because I’m a Scandinavian, and the heat ought to give me trouble, but actually, I truly felt home.”
What he wanted was space. “A place that is so vast, so empty. For me, some kind of portal to the universe. A place to empty, and to connect and receive.”
Asked what he feared going in, he remembers what he had written down before leaving: fear nothing.
In the desert
You have to enter it the right way
The long overland crossing is the thing he most wants other people to understand.
“The journey by bus and crossing the Atlas Mountains was really magical, and I think it’s a very important part of the journey, because you have to prepare for it, and it’s, for some reason, necessary. So you have to go through the journey to get ready to enter the desert.”
For him it had begun earlier still. “In one of the last meditations we did in the Swiss Alps, I actually got the vision of travelling across the Atlas Mountains. I got this vision of this woman dressed in white, welcoming me, and opening the desert for me – her place.”
“And this sounds really weird, but when we came there, I could actually recognise the mountains. Spot on, the ones that I saw in the meditation.”
I think it’d be kind of violating the desert if you took a helicopter and landed in the middle of the sand. You have to enter it the right way.
He is firm about this. The same applies in reverse. “You need to return to your normal life. That takes time.”
“I had moments in the desert that were transformative for me, sitting by myself. Two days. One of the experiences was that I could actually have been sitting alone for a month. No problem. I didn’t really want to go back. Don’t know where my limit would be, but two days was actually not the limit.”
Alone, he went further than he expected. “I experimented a bit with what we’ll call shamanism. Connecting with my forefathers, and my grandparents, who all passed away, and spent time with them.” What surprised him was how easily he could.
The woman in white came back, too. “The female character dressed in white: she could easily have been the vision of a goddess like Isis or Athena. And being in the desert it felt very female in all its soft curves and ultra soft sand. So, the woman symbolised the desert perfectly and created an opening to connect to something ancient. And she and her desert became a guide. We had deep conversations. Walking next to each other. I could nearly see her footsteps in the sand, and she represented all the female – in me, in humans and in life itself.”
And I felt the desert actually is clearly feminine.
After
The desert is full of life
The insight he brought home came from sitting and watching.
“Sitting in the desert, observing, and having this narrative that the desert is lifeless. Non-fertile, I’m not sure what the English word is. I thought that was how it was. But by slowing down and observing I discovered that the desert is full of life. It’s one of the most living places on Earth, actually. There’s so much life.”
“And transferring that to moments in my everyday life, just pausing and using that ability from the desert to observe and see all this more magical thing that is actually going on in an organization. The underlying life that actually makes the organization, or the change. That is not described in models. But it’s there.”
That changed how he leads.
“Being a leader is not always about intervening. Much more about not intervening at the right times. Just letting things happen. Because we’ve always learned that good leaders act. And I found out that’s actually not the case.”
“A good leader is actually the good observer, and more like a travel guide than the frontrunner. The best position you can put yourself is observing, and nudging people to do what is necessary, and evolve, and use their hidden capabilities.”
After
You cannot control an organization
The desert gave him the metaphor for the rest of it. “You can move a grain of sand, but tomorrow it will have gone another place. You cannot control an organization, and a lot of management’s about controlling. You can dig a hole, and tomorrow it’s gone. And it’s actually the same as a leader. Maybe the organization doesn’t need to get corrected at all. Maybe it will find its own way. It usually does.”
Months later, it is still working on him. “A lot more peace, inner peace. A wider picture of the world, myself, and the connection to all of humanity and the universe. I use it a lot at work. I’ve worked with my leadership group and the whole organization, trying to bring all of the learnings into the organization and into my work as a leader.”
It actually makes me a better leader and a better person. More calm, more grounded, but also a brighter perspective on things.
After
Who it is for
He is careful about who he recommends it to. “The most important thing is to have an open mind about being in a transition, because it is a transformative setup. You need to know that the person you are when you go into the desert is not the same that will come out.”
And for the ones with the full calendar: “Leave your phone at home. You need to be totally free. Nothing can be more important than you becoming a better leader.”
Would he go again? “Yeah, definitely. I would love to. There’s so much more to learn.”
“I'm really glad that I can help, and maybe get more people to get that experience. I think the world needs that.”
Henrik · Denmark
Request your place on the journey
