A few of the things I’ve read, watched or listened to recently that have pollinated my thinking and informed my actions, with short notes on each.
Last updated October 2026.
Possible Now and the Journey From Machine Mind to Garden Mind
Jenny Hodgson, Global Fund for Community Foundations, April 2026
My notes: As aid budgets are cut, this piece points to a quieter story about what alternatives are being nurtured and are demonstrating what is possible now. It contrasts a machine mind, which assumes problems can be fixed by building something, with a garden mind, in which patterns and structures emerge rather than being imposed.
Why it caught my attention: It’s an inspiring piece which explores what it means for funders to act as stewards of an already emerging future.
Where Politics Becomes Visible: Why Behaviour Changes the Way We Understand Governance Reform
Zahed Yousuf, August 2026
My notes: Political economy analysis asks us to focus on institutions, incentives and power, but the thing we can actually observe is how people behave. Drawing on governance work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it shows how starting from behaviour changes the questions we ask and the intelligence that can be generated.
Why it caught my attention: It treats implementation as part of an ongoing inquiry, so that each new process or way of working becomes a chance to observe how people respond, and what that reveals about the landscape and the potential next steps.
Emily Gates, Clara Shim, Nishat Akhi and Stephen Gyan, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, September 2026
My notes: This review of forty-six guides to systems change sets out a shared rationale and five phases that recur across the guides – explore the situation and envision change; map systems; find leverage; navigate futures; and learn and adapt.
Why it caught my attention: It made me think that it might be interesting to review the guides to explore whether and how they pay attention to behaviour and how it is shaped by relational and political economy dynamics.
Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness and Being
Neil Theise, Spiegel & Grau, 2023
My notes: A doctor and Buddhist practitioner, Neil Theise explains how complexity theory shows things organising themselves at every scale, from cells to societies, and then brings it together with philosophy and contemplative traditions. Complexity, he concludes, turned out to be "a science of being".
Why it caught my attention: The afterword asks how we might take part in the world through small gestures, since one never knows what they might bring forth. It also deepened my sense of what the "loving" in living, learning and loving systems is about: awareness and connection. Read my summarised highlights.
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