I have recently joined Catchafire as a volunteer through the Patagonia Action Works website. Catchafire connects skilled professionals with non-profit organisations who need specific expertise rather than generic volunteering hours. What I can offer is not manual support or operational capacity. My contribution is executive coaching, leadership development, and structured thinking for people who are already doing important work, often with very limited resources. In that sense, this is a form of giving back that aligns with my craft.

For years my professional world has involved working with executives, boards, and high performing teams. The conversations are often about strategic clarity, navigating uncertainty, and learning how to think well when the stakes are high. Yet outside corporate environments there are organisations trying to influence systems that are far more consequential. Climate. Land stewardship. Community resilience. Species protection. Food systems. These are the frontier challenges of this decade. They deserve the same quality of thinking support as the senior leaders of global companies.

As I begin this volunteering path, I expect to focus my time on the environmental domain. There are countless grassroots organisations working at these edges who are deeply committed but often overstretched. Patagonia Action Works has been one of the more prominent platforms spotlighting such grassroots environmental groups. Their focus has reminded me that there is a vast ecosystem of small mission driven organisations that have more knowledge and legitimacy than they do infrastructure. These groups do not need someone to tell them how to care. They need someone to strengthen their ability to influence, to prioritise, and to act with clarity.

My role as a volunteer executive coach will not be to provide answers. It will be to improve the quality of the thinking, to help leaders interpret their environment with proportion, and to support them to make progress on what matters most. In knowledge work the greatest contribution is often not content. It is sensemaking and support.

Right now my impact stands at zero. This is the beginning. But beginnings matter. Just as the first session with a leader can set the tone for their next twelve months, the first volunteering project can set the tone for a different kind of contribution in the world. I am looking forward to the work. And to learning from the people who are already on the front line of positive environmental action.