If you would like to deepen your understanding of men & masculinity, to better create with and speak to men, we invite you to join us in venturing to the edge of the forest, a place dense with knowing and not knowing, songs and stories, facts and mysteries.
For: Creative teams, leadership groups & organisations.
Masculinity impacts all of us (whether we like it or not), yet defining or exploring it is a challenging undertaking mired in confusion, tension and taboo.
It has become a battleground for thin, rigid and damaging narratives, a somehow bland yet unhealthy soup of ideas that either seek to cling to the past or imagine a flattened, perfect future man. Every man, it seems, is either a rabid monster or a smiling saint.
These new orthodoxies obscure the richness, paradox and mystery of what it means to be a man - and what is possible in exploring manhood.
The further we venture into the understory, exploring our (often unconscious) conditioning, societal expectations and beliefs, the more we can discover new, meaningful and nuanced stories about masculinity.
In our creative workshops, we combine our years of experience in facilitation, teaching, storytelling and creative concept development to help teams come together to explore this complex yet potent subject. It’s playful yet challenging, like frisbee in a storm, or painting on a cliff edge.
By exploring together with a blend of curiosity, care, open-mindedness and provocation, this topic of masculinity that so often divides and distances us can unite us to imagine new ways of working, creating and being together.
CREATIVE
GUIDANCE
For: Brands, Agencies, Creative teams & Storytellers
Men have a hunger. They have secret longings and unspoken desires. They have a sense that there is much more to their lives than the narrow roles of ‘man’ currently on offer, these pale imitations of their wild souls. They know there is no jeopardy or aliveness to be found wedged behind an air-conditioned desk.
We know this from years of facilitating intimate men’s circles - witnessing their hopes, fears, stories and dreams.
We know this too from observing a world with rising male suicide, loneliness & depression, predatory influencers and the drift of young men to the places that are savage, not wild.
The stories men are currently being served - narrow, two-dimensional stereotypes - don’t reflect their inner lived experience. These stories are far from the rich tales they might share around campfires and the bold images visited to them in dreams. There is more to discover.
If you wish to find a more human way to connect with men, we can guide you on this journey. By listening deeply and reaching into the well of our shared knowledge of both masculinity and storytelling, we can help you avoid alienating stereotypes and unearth something more authentic, potent and true.
We offer inspiration and insights from the obscured and unexpected places. And we help to craft tone or weave nuance into your stories, speaking with soul, sparking the embers.
IDEATION
We are a unique creative team - combining Lucy’s expertise in compelling concepts and engaging storytelling with Jindy’s deep understanding of men and the male experience, with a rich trove of cultural reference points. From strategy to ideation to execution, we offer ideas that not only cut through, but are crafted with a nuance and a power that speaks to how men really feel and see themselves.
We have curated a wider collective of creatives with a shared agility for the nuances of this topic. From strategists, to art directors, graphic designers, writers, film directors to immersive specialists, we can draw on their skills and expertise at any stage of the creative process to execute and craft the final creative.
A Creative Workshop for Zalando
We were invited to work with 23 of Zalando’s creative minds, a group that included strategists, creatives and producers. The theme of our workshop was ‘Creating Masculinity’, exploring how men & masculinity were represented in Zalando’s creative output, as well as how masculinity showed up in their creative process and culture.
- Isa Jordy,
D&I,
Zalando
D&I,
Zalando
For each of the three sections of the workshop, participants were split into smaller groups, to reflect on how the concepts showed up in their own work, relationships and culture. Finally, we came together to share the insights that had emerged.
Some weeks after the workshop, we ran a further online session for a wider Zalando audience who had not been at the workshop, giving them an overview of the session and playing back the key insights and reflections.
- Isa Jordy,
D&I,
Zalando
D&I,
Zalando
ABOUT US
We are husband and wife, creative team, strategic sparring partners and parents to Ren, our sparky, wild little boy. We share a fascination with the unfolding mystery of life and what it means to be not just a man, but human - on this planet. These explorations are not just hobbies, or even passions, but an urgent mission. We want our son (and all children) to grow up in a world where they can discover who they really are, deeply connected to their wild.
JINDY MANN
I’m a seasoned leadership coach, organisational consultant, men’s work facilitator & writer. I’ve spent over 20 years working with large organisations and startups including Deloitte, RSA, Interbrand, NHS, HSBC, Barclays Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and the Met Police Service. My life is driven by one central inquiry: “What’s really going on?”
Alongside my consulting & coaching, I am the founder of Leader Brother Son, an organisation that runs men's groups, workshops & talks, and researches masculinity & the male experience. My work and writing is influenced by both 'head' and 'heart' / masculine and feminine teachings: psychology, science, myth, sociology, wisdom traditions and storytelling.
Mens’ Work
LUCY DALE
I am a creative director, copywriter and advertising consultant with over 15 years experience in building iconic brands and helping them to communicate their true value to the world. I’ve lived and worked in London, Shanghai and Berlin at agencies such as BBH, M&C Saatchi, Anomaly, VCCP & The Adventures Of for a range of global brands including Audi, Bumble, Transport For London, AsicsTiger, Shangri-La Hotels, Ballantine’s & Zalando.
My parallel life has been one of self inquiry and inner exploration, with training in meditation, yoga, reiki and ritual design. This has influences my creative work and I use this modalities in my one-to-one branding and creativity coaching, helping founders to discover their brand using symbols, archetypes and visualisation techniques.
Creative Work
Schedule a chat here.
(*Or JUST POP a NOTE ON THE big oak tree, second branch on THE left )
WILD TWIN?
“There is an old gnostic secret that on the day you were born,
your mother also gave birth to a wild twin... It is the business of becoming a man to come back into the presence of that figure; a figure lonely in his whole body for you.”
- Martin Shaw
We’re all born with a wild twin. It’s you, but at your most uninhibited, authentic, adventurous, creative, untethered. Your wild twin says yes. Opens the door. Speaks the truth. Does the thing. Your wild twin is how you live when you free yourself from life’s duties and expectations, when you lie back and let yourself be carried by the pull of life. Our work seeks to reunite not just men, but all of us, with this old, mischievous, wild twin.