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Regarding Mch

mch’s Short-Listed Application for the National Sustainability Awards

July 28th, 2026

mch is delighted to have been short-listed for, ‘Company of the Year’, at this year’s National Sustainability Awards. Below is an edited extract of our short-listed application:

Summary

At first glance, mch: positive impact is a people development firm. Its vision is to help individuals, teams and organisations fulfil their full potential, so that they can have the positive impact they want to see in the world. It achieves this vision through quality, effective and timely training and mentoring; with both focusing on better managing and leading yourself and others.

However, providing great training and mentoring to clients is only one of four equally important aspects to mch’s business operations. The other three are:

Treating people well: those who work for and with us
Having a positive impact on wider society
Working in partnership with nature

mch was founded in 2005 and attributes its sustained success to continually seeking resonance and harmony between these four aspects of business.

mch operates throughout the U.K., conducts work in mainland Europe and has one full-time employee.

For mch: positive impact, interdependence is at the heart of sustainability. Through partnering with nature, we enable leaders to have a positive impact on the world, whilst also using business to change society for the better and providing a great place to work.

Partnering with the Environment

The Formal

mch has signed up to The Better Business Act. This means the company has formally changed its articles of association, so that it is legally bound to consider the environment and wider society when it makes business decisions.

The Quirky

mch is proud to have a garibaldi fish and a wildflower meadow as two honorary company directors. mch created the meadow and in an example of repurposing for sustainability, the tonnes of gravel that were covering what is now the meadow have been given to others (including a local sports club) for their driveways.

When faced with both strategic and operational issues, it is hoped that better decisions will be made, simply by asking;

“What is best for the wildflower meadow?” Or “What would the garibaldi fish prefer?”

Strategic Impact of Partnership

The Concept of Enough

Nature seeks balance and so a fundamental consequence of being in partnership with nature is continually striving for resilience and enough, not efficiency and continual growth. mch considers this countercultural approach was key to weathering the global financial crisis in 2007-9 and COVID in 2020-21.

The concept of enough extends to mch’s training work, as it is yet to use artificial intelligence to design any of its training materials. Gaining consistently excellent feedback without using it is enough. In doing so, mch’s digital carbon footprint is reduced.

Saying No

Occasionally, mch has refused work. It has done so because, after conducting due diligence, it is not convinced the client is operating sustainably.

Being Selective

A key commitment mch has made to its partnership with nature is not to fly for work purposes. This has necessitated ceasing to work in Australia and The Middle East.

Investing Wisely – Pensions and Banking

mch believes that where business chooses to spend and invest its capital is key to sustainability. A detailed review of mch’s ethical pension in 2024 prompted a two-year search to find a more appropriate one and mch plans to share its findings with other businesses to coincide with Ethical Finance Global 2026.

Since its foundation, mch has changed its banking provider three times in search of ever more ethical banking.

Rethinking Value and Communicating the Realities and what is to be Gained

Whilst the above strategic implications of partnering with nature illustrate challenges for businesses, mch has tried to espouse the benefits too. For example, in taking the train to Denmark for work, rather than the plane, mch highlighted that you can;

‘Have breakfast in Belgium, lunch in Germany (together with a haircut) and supper in Denmark.’

This richness would be impossible by flight.

Such insights, together with the following topics have been shared:

International Travel by Train rather than Plane
mch’s four-fold approach to business and how it can be measured.
Doughnut economics.
Calculating your carbon footprint.
The Better Business Act.
The concept of enough.
Highlighting world recycling day, what you can do and its impact.
Individual vs collective action and how environmental problems are often ‘wicked’.

Standard Practices of the Partnership

“The world is moved along not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” Helen Keller

mch uses 100% renewable electricity to power its office. It measures and offsets its carbon emissions, including for cloud computing. It also adopts the 6R approach and indicative examples include:

Recycling

• Recycling printer cartridges and redundant electricals, often raising money for charities in the process.

• When overseas, bringing back all items that can be recycled in the UK, but not in the country in which mch is working.

Repair

• mch’s two work bags are 25 and 15 years old respectively. Both are still operational on account of being repaired frequently.

Reduce

• mch switches off utilities and equipment when not in use and printing is kept to a minimum.

Reuse

• mch staff travel with a reusable cup, a carrier bag and a paper bag. The latter avoids using the ones provided in food shops for the 1-2 minutes between selecting a food item and then eating it. • mch has used both second-hand laptops and phones.

Refuse

• mch refuses new phone upgrades, only replacing such equipment when they no longer function.

Rethinking

• mch helps other businesses rethink their approaches to sustainability.

Selected Impact

Since 2005, mch estimates that relative to the average company, it has used:

• 40% fewer new phones

• 20% fewer new laptops

• 500 fewer paper bags

Enabling Leaders

Through its leadership development work, mch is increasingly encouraging leaders to become more sustainability-minded. This can be through training, or by delivering development opportunities in nature. It can also be through the contracting process e.g. negotiating to travel by train, rather than plane.

mch recognises that it can be easier for businesses to partner with nature from the very beginning. Consequently, mch is developing a pro bono initiative to help entrepreneurs leaving university to consider sustainable practices.

Changing Society for the Better

mch considers that sustainability is intrinsically linked to equity and so for the last six years, it has donated over 10% of its pre-tax profits and donated over 400 volunteering hours/employee towards a more just and equitable future.

It also believes impact is amplified through collaboration and so is actively engaging with the likes of The School for Moral Ambition and People, Planet, Pint, whilst supporting the campaigns of Oxfam and the work of On Purpose.

Accountability and Transparency

mch has published social responsibility reports since it was founded in 2005. These include how it provides a great place to work and its broader stakeholder engagement.

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How Much Would It Take For You to Bring This Back from Overseas?

January 28th, 2026

[Picture: Showing approximately 30 items of paper, cardboard and plastic]

On a recent volunteering trip, I brought back the above recyclables from France. Would you have done the same, or would you have had to be paid to do so? If so, how much would you need to have been paid?

Pause for a moment to answer. If you like, you can select your amount by CLICKING HERE and then view what others have selected by CLICKING HERE.

By explaining the motivations behind my actions, this article will consider the concept of ‘wicked problems’ and the mindsets that can arise when facing them. It also aims to provide a useful perspective on crises.

Agency Being at the Root of a Crisis

My volunteering centred on assisting people who are seeking asylum from conflict and persecution. Such a situation often prompts me to consider the interplay between individual and collective responsibility. When is an issue an individual problem? When is it societal? Or is it invariably a mix of both?

As the waste bin at my lodgings started to fill up, I considered this interplay within the context of the environmental crisis. I use the word ‘crisis’ intentionally, as I find the word’s etymology helpful. Crisis stems from the Greek, ‘krisis’, which means, ‘turning point’, or ‘decision’. I find this meaning helpful when it comes to the damage humans are causing to the wider environment, as it signifies a degree of agency. We can decide to take a different turn, so our actions are more resonant with a sustainable future.

mch’s_ Four-Fold Approach and its Directors

mch’s ‘Four-Fold’ Approach to Business aims to give equal importance to the following four aspects: client service, our people, the environment and broader society. A practical application of this approach is that I used train, ferry and bike as my means of transport to and from volunteering, as these forms have the lowest carbon footprint.(1) For a business like mch, decisions relating to modes of transport are some of the most environmentally impactful it regularly has to make. Consequently, it makes sense to prioritise consideration of the environment in such decisions. However, I am not mch’s only Director. As mentioned previously, a Garibaldi fish and a wildflower meadow are also nominal Directors. For more information on these Directors CLICK HERE. Increasingly, they have advocated for prioritising the environment in other decisions. One of these is recycling.

In Calais, France, where I was volunteering, recycling locations for cans and bottles were ubiquitous. However, I couldn’t locate anywhere to recycle paper or plastic. Knowing that such options exist back home, I decided to keep all the recyclable paper and plastic that I was consuming and recycle it when I returned.

My decision to bring back my recyclable waste made me reflect on whether the decision was the most impactful. If recycling is important, would my time have been better spent writing to the local authorities in Calais asking them to expand their recycling provision? Alternatively, should my focus have been on not purchasing items with such packaging in the first place? Or should it have been on all of the above?

Mindsets, Wicked Problems and Clumsy Solutions

From my coaching work, I’ve become aware of the loaded nature of the word, ‘should’. If you take the view that we are composed of many ‘parts’ or ‘characters’, invariably the parts of ourselves that use the word, ‘should’, are not our best selves. The parts that use, ‘should’, often view the world from a perspective of fear, inadequacy and/or scarcity. I call these parts of myself my saboteurs, or alternatively my chimp.(2) Whilst their intent is positive, to the extent that their motivation is to keep me alive, they often inhibit my ability to thrive. In my case, they often surface when levels of ambiguity and complexity spike. They become appealing to listen to because they provide a (false) certainty/definitiveness with respect to my actions; what I should do.

If I recognise this, provided my saboteurs/chimp are not too strong, I can accept and be at peace with the fact that I am likely to be dealing with a ‘wicked problem’.(3) A wicked problem is one which has no definitive answer, no matter how much you analyse, experiment and reflect. The best you can hope for is a ‘clumsy solution’, one which comes from remaining playful and curious and experimenting with a variety of ‘semi-answers’. In my case, I’m comfortable with my decision. My fellow Directors, the Garibaldi fish and the wildflower meadow, are not the most talkative, but I generally get an intuitive sense they’re comfortable with the company’s actions too.

I’d be interested in your views though, so please do share what you’d do by CLICKING HERE and if you want to find out what others think, CLICK HERE.

Footnotes and Signposts

(1) The term ‘carbon footprint’ was developed by two academics, William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel in the 1990s. Interestingly, it was popularised by the petrochemical company BP. I find it curious that a framework encouraging individual responsibility for environmental impact was promoted by a company whose core operations unavoidably have a massive impact on the environment.

(2) For more information on the concept of saboteurs and chimps I’d recommend the work of Sharzid Chamine and Steve Peters respectively.

(3) For an in-depth exploration of wicked problems and clumsy solutions click here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281357989_Wicked_problems_and_clumsy_solutions_The_role_of_leadership

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Reflections on a Sabbatical

October 23rd, 2025

I turned 50 during my recent three-month sabbatical and for my birthday, my children gave me the top above, in recognition of the phrase being one I regularly exclaim. For the eagle eyed, the asterisk is a ‘conversation starter’ (another phrase I’m prone to utter). The asterisk is effectively a caveat, as I believe that if you know yourself and are comfortable with yourself, there are some things that you don’t need to have a go at to know they’re not for you.

The phrase aptly sums up the motivation for my recent sabbatical. There were no ‘once in a lifetime’ activities, or key life decisions, I wanted to accomplish. I simply wanted to find out what happens when I have three months away from paid work. Here are some of my reflections:

Privilege Can Pose a Conundrum

It was an incredible privilege to take three months off paid work and given the state of the world, I did question whether a sabbatical was the best use of the resources it would consume. Yes, I had spent over 10 years adopting a lifestyle that enabled me to save enough to accommodate so much time off, but I believe that even being able to save is a privilege. Yes, I felt tired and in need of a rest after 20 years of being primarily responsible for my livelihood: being not only the sole trainer/mentor, but also the CEO, CFO, CTO, COO, cleaner and more. At the same time, there are many advantages of working for myself and I believe that having the ability to do so is another privilege.

I don’t think and feel there is a definitive answer to the conundrum of privilege, but the sabbatical did reinforce my belief that so much of one’s privilege is an ‘accident of birth’. Where you are born, the family you’re born into, your skin colour, gender, physique/genetics are all massive determinants of privilege. Furthermore, these factors have a significant influence on the people you then meet and develop relationships with, which leads on to the second reflection.

What is Truly Valuable is Rarely Done Completely Alone

My sabbatical started with a holiday in France with seven school friends, some of whom I’ve known for over 45 years. It’s difficult to convey the love and gratitude I have for such long lasting relationships. A tangible indication though is that my daily number of laughs increased dramatically the first day we were together, then rose nearly exponentially for the remainder of our time together, only to fall back to pre-holiday levels when we said our goodbyes.

There was also an incredible ease in such an environment. I could go seamlessly from whole group activities to sub-group activities to solo activities. Yet even solo activities were not truly solo. Being able to run up an alpine mountain was made possible because several of my friends took charge of the location of our holiday. My ability to have a sauna, was due to one of my friends searching and securing accommodation that had sauna facilities. Bringing it back to work, when I looked round the dinner table each night, I saw several people who have repeatedly supported mch over the last 20 years: one has done the company’s financial accounts each year, several helped refine mch’s branding and website. In terms of mch’s four-fold approach to running a business, volunteering in Calais after the holiday was greatly aided by two friends being willing to drive to and from France and drop me off in Calais.

A Tweak to the Usual Way of Doing Things Can Provide Real Insight

As just intimated, immediately after the holiday, I spent a week in Calais in Northern France, volunteering with two charities that assist refugees who are stranded there. This is something I have done over half a dozen time before. On all previous occasions though, I volunteered for between one and three days. Volunteering for six days may not seem significantly more than three, but the added time proved remarkably insightful. For example, I experienced the incredibly transient nature of volunteering from a new perspective. Over a five-day period, 35 people volunteered with one of the charities I was with, and of those, only seven volunteered for all five days. This meant that on the fifth day, I was genuinely one of the most experienced volunteers. Managing to operate with such a transient workforce gave me an additional level of respect for the organisations concerned.

When Philosophy Meets Practicality Tensions Can Arise

The big experiment of the sabbatical was a 10-day silent ‘retreat’. Interestingly, the organisers used the word ‘course’, rather than ‘retreat’ and on reflection, I quite agree with them. Indeed, for me, the word ‘retreat’ is a complete misnomer, as the experience proved a full-on battle between one way of thinking/living and another.

The course is likely to be the subject of future posts, but a key insight was that whilst I agreed wholeheartedly with much of the course’s philosophy, I couldn’t ‘get on board’ with the one size fits all approach to practicing/living it. For example, the premise that suffering is invariably caused by craving or aversion sits very well with me. So too does the belief that a more peaceful society depends on individuals becoming more equanimous with their thoughts and feelings. What I wasn’t so sure about was whether a regime with the following characteristics was the best way to start practicing such a philosophy:

Wake up at 4.00am and conduct 12 hours of meditation/instruction
Have no contact with the ‘outside’ world: no phones, no TV, no radio, no newspapers, no leaving the premises
Have no reading or writing materials
Conduct no exercise, other than walking
Adopt complete silence with fellow participants and act as if they are not there

I certainly felt a sense of irony that what I had to work hardest at being equanimous about on the 10-day course was the disappointment and unhappiness at being on the 10-day course!

Ambivalence is Still a Reaction Worth Reflecting Upon

At the beginning of the sabbatical, several people asked what I was most looking forward to doing/experiencing. My consistent answer was;

“I’m really interested to find out how I’ll feel when I return to work. Will I be eager, or reluctant to return?”

The reality is that I’ve been neither. I felt and thought next to nothing about work whilst on sabbatical. Consequently, when the time came to return, there weren’t any feelings and thoughts to reflect upon. I felt ambivalent, albeit from the perspective of genuinely enjoying my work and finding it both rewarding and purposeful. In some respects, I found this disappointing. Practicing the equanimity encouraged on the 10-day course though, I’m approaching such ambivalence with curiosity and a belief that such a feeling will not last forever. To this end, it may prove most interesting to reflect on how I feel three months after returning from sabbatical. Furthermore, it has been interesting to reflect on the feelings and thoughts I have had during the sabbatical, and these may also be the topic of future posts.

To conclude, if you are in the privileged position where a sabbatical is possible for you, I would recommend considering it. After all, if you don’t have a go, you’ll never know!*

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Making Business Better with Formality and Quirkiness

November 21st, 2023

mch has always tried to operate a four-fold approach to business. We believe sustainable success lies in resonance and harmony between:

Providing a great service to clients
Treating people well: those who work for and with us
Having a positive impact on wider society
Minimising mch’s negative environmental impact

How we formalise this approach is detailed in the Corporate Social Responsibility reports we publish every year. mch is committed to sharing the steps it is taking to develop its four-fold approach further. In keeping with its culture, these steps can be both formal and quirky. Here is an example of each: