Founders Path to Ozadi
Both of us grew up with nature, but when it was time to start our careers, nature went missing...Here is the story of how our experiences shaped the movement of integrating nature with work.
Rolando Balli
I grew up with the mountains as my backyard in the foothills of Albuquerque, New Mexico. My father incorporated nature into the homes he designed and built. There are boulders and waterfalls inside his house.
I lived in Panama the summer between junior and senior college year and loved the rainforests and archipelagos. Through my first office work experience I realized a corporate career was not where my soul belonged.
I had my first ‘working from home’ job with Dell Latin America and was so target driven that I would sometimes forget to eat. 9/11 was my wake-up call for more meaningful work and I became a Winning Culture leader in my organization and started my love with cycling in the Texas Hill Country. I became passionate about building better work-life environments and engineered the Dell Connected Workplace Initiative.
Hooked on transforming work cultures I was … burnt out! Whilst sharing best practice at a work-life conference in Seattle, I was captivated by Mt. Rainier. I summited Rainier soon after and stepped off the corporate ladder to climb mountains. Back surgeries got in the way so I started part-timing at REI to later create an construction company focused on building outdoor living areas.
Walking the Camino De Santiago in Spain made me wonder if I could find the perfect blend between career AND adventures.
Philip Vanhoutte
My first work experiences as post and delivery man were largely outside and most enjoyable. University and DJ years were mostly indoors.
Early in my career I suffered chain-smoking colleagues, darkened Executive Briefing Centers and dull cubicles, not to speak of stressful commutes to polluted cities. But in Scandinavia I discovered ergonomics and the power of nature for work.
A 2007 Work Topology study informed me that creative work is nearly impossible indoors! That kicked off experiments in agile working, winning “most productive” workspace awards and led to the Smarter Working Manifesto. During an Italian lakeside vacation, it dawned on me that I was immensely inspired … for work. This started my quest to blend more outdoor into work … rebelling against meetings in windowless spaces. I selected riverside office locations am Rhein in Koln, sur la Seine in Paris and championed the design of a benchmark biophilic workspace near Amsterdam.
The Ozadi Call to Action
If you want to get free guidance on how to start integrating more nature into your work routines visit www.ozadi.net. We are also recruiting Inspirers to share best practices; if you are interested in being showcased or want to connect with us directly to get more information on Ozadi, contact us at info@ozadi.net.
It’s time for the nature of work to be Working with Nature.
Join the movement…
Share the movement….
Be the movement that changes the way the world works!