Meet the Founder: Simon Lamb, founder of Purposeful Change talks Creativity, Leadership and Business Success

This week the NTSI team spoke with Simon Lamb, Founder of Purposeful Change to obtain an insight into his unique approach to problem solving and business development

1. Your “superpower” is sparking imaginative problem-solving at the root. How did this emerge, and how do you nurture it in others?

My creativity was forged in a turbulent childhood, shaped by constant moves and the need to adapt quickly. This sharpened my ability to read people, build trust fast, and make sense of uncertainty. I believe trust isn’t always earned, but it can be given, and that mindset fosters openness and innovation. Today, I help others access creativity by challenging the false safety of overplayed beliefs, like perfectionism, and encouraging the vulnerability of learning. Creativity is a mindset, not a talent, but embracing it often means stepping into discomfort.

2. How has your theatre background shaped your facilitation and leadership?

Theatre was my refuge during a difficult time, and it taught me the discipline of surrender, presence, and meaning-making in uncertainty. Those same principles guide my work today. I use creative tools to help people explore assumptions, confront inner narratives, and experiment with new ways of being. Instead of performing for audiences, I now hold space for learners to see themselves more clearly, to re-author their stories and unlock personal transformation.

3. What are the strategic advantages and trade-offs of fusing Theory U, Lego Serious Play, and agile co-creation?

Theory U offers a powerful lens for tackling adaptive challenges, but it can become overly intellectual. By combining it with tools like Lego Serious Play and agile methods, we bridge insight and action. Lego enables people to access deep, often unspoken knowledge, while agile keeps that awareness grounded in real-world experimentation. The challenge is managing the complexity and cognitive load these tools can create, but when balanced well, the result is deep alignment and authentic co-creation.

4. What leadership principles remain constant across scale?

Across all contexts, three principles hold firm: presence, purpose, and participation. Presence is about inclusive, honest engagement with the system, including its history and trauma. Purpose provides direction and meaning, while participation ensures ownership beyond the workshop or intervention. Leadership at scale demands we understand unconscious forces and historical patterns that shape behaviour. The choreography may change with scale, but the core principles remain.

5. Can you share a success story of building internal capability?

Our work with large global organisations, like Microsoft, is grounded in building internal capacity. At one energy sector client, we helped shift from consultant-led change to a leadership journey embedded internally. By training internal facilitators and designing sustainable rituals, we created a thriving learning community that now leads its own evolution, reducing dependency on external consultants while deepening transformation from within.

6. What tools do you use to uncover root causes?

We don’t “diagnose and fix.” Instead, we create conditions for the system to see itself. Tools like systems mapping and narrative inquiry help surface the deeper logic behind stuck behaviours. We also use embodied sensing, The Leadership Circle, and coaching methodologies that explore underlying needs. Most importantly, we create psychologically safe spaces that invite honesty and vulnerability, and that’s where real transformation begins.

7. How do you balance your roles as founder, coach, designer, and facilitator?

I don’t separate these roles, I integrate them. Each one enhances the other. Coaching hones my listening, design fuels creativity, facilitation grounds me in presence, and being a founder keeps me connected to real-world leadership challenges. Leadership today requires adaptive range, knowing when to coach, mentor, or create, and embodying the flexibility we ask of others.

8. What’s the difference between ‘change’ and ‘evolution’ in a corporate system?

Change improves performance; evolution transforms perspective. While change often targets systems and processes, evolution requires a shift in consciousness. It’s not just doing better, it’s seeing differently. Vertical development expands leaders’ capacity for complexity and paradox. Unlike change, evolution can’t be mandated. It must be invited, nurtured through reflection, feedback, and shared insight. It’s not soft work, it’s the real work of sustainable leadership.

9. What cultural insights have surprised you in your global work?

Every culture offers wisdom. In India, I encountered Jugaad — resilience born from constraint. In East Asia, I saw how silence holds dignity. Aboriginal cultures reframed ownership as belonging — to land, to story, to each other. These traditions remind me that leadership isn’t about mastering culture but learning from it. The more we chase speed, certainty, and control, the more we lose what matters: connection, reverence, and responsibility.

10. What trends excite you, and how is Purposeful Change responding?

Paradoxically, I find hope in today’s polarisation. It shows us where the real work lies: not in avoiding conflict, but learning to hold it with wisdom. Technology isn’t the issue, it’s our disconnection from deeper purpose. At Purposeful Change, we support leaders to integrate AI with inner awareness, helping them evolve rather than react. We design developmental journeys that foster shared ownership and philosophical depth, not just strategic change. The future won’t be built by AI alone — it will be shaped by how deeply we remember what it means to be human.

To learn more, visit https://purposefulchange.com/