About The Book

…and Nature Sings

Inspired by personal observations on the natural balance and ecological rhythms of the African Serengeti, leadership specialist and storyteller Tom James adopts the power of parable to demonstrate how Mother Nature is the only teacher we need to unlock our individual potential.

... *AND NATURE SINGS*, an Invitation to Possibility, is a collection of parables inspired by a Serengeti safari some years ago. The name of this book, *AND NATURE SINGS,* came out of the harmonic music I experienced while on the plains. I had been thinking of writing a book about leadership for most of my career but it was during this magical vacation that I saw the Serengeti magnificently demonstrate the rhythm of Mother Nature, of how life really works to create possibility.

This collection of parables is written as a personal journal of stories inspired by my experience. It journalizes an account of one person at one moment of time, entranced by the daily symphony of Mother Nature in the heartland of Africa.

The stories engage with the people, wildlife and natural ecosystem, through the many unique game drives my family and I took. Each tale offers the recognition of the laws of nature of Mother Nature, the moments of clarity I experienced and how the lessons I learned on these adventures could open new possibilities in our lives, our communities and our organizations.

I spent 30 years of my life following my passion as a leadership specialist. Over that time I led and consulted organizations on the concept of creating a culture of leadership. Throughout my career, I had the privilege of working with some of the top thought leaders on the subject and I envisioned that one day I’d find a simple and enjoyable way to put what I had learned in a book. It wasn’t until we had taken the trip to Tanzania that the real teacher of how to lead our lives emerged for me. It was Mother Nature herself.

Being absorbed in the atmosphere of the wild Serengeti, away from the intense activities of home, my senses were fully alive with the songs and dance of nature. Every day I wrote my experiences of the living systems and natural processes that exist. What became most inspiring was to better understand the miraculous experience of possibility. Nature is a continuous, self-organizing, constantly evolving process that opens the door to promise.

The book explores natural processes such as cause and effect, unique purpose, interdependence, diversification, growth, natural order, balance and sustainability. Through storytelling it shows how these principles are a part of everything we do, whether we realize it or not. We live in a complex, highly interrelated ecological system and yet we may be out of sync with the music it plays for us.

Now more than ever, surrounded by danger, uncertainty and chaos, people are accepting the invitation to possibility. Real change is happening. It’s by being present, paying attention to the world around us, telling the truth and being open to outcomes that we are able to lead our lives as David Whyte puts it, ‘by connecting the inner world of soul and creativity with the outer world of form and matter.’

Through this book I strive to ignite a better understanding of the way we occupy the frontier between the known and the unknown and the way we have conversations with ourselves and others to help us gain more clarity of who we are and what we can become. I hope that this book ... AND NATURE SINGS, An Invitation To Possibility, will remind us of this miracle; that we are a very particular part of a very particular something.