Our approach

Wisdom and science

Our global team of practitioners work at the intersection between leadership development theory, neuroscience and ancient wisdom and offer a clear, practical and tangible pathway to transformation.

We bring a uniquely holistic view of leadership based on an understanding of the inter-connected nature of all things and the synergy of mind and spirit that is rooted in the wisdom and mindfulness practices taught by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.

The practice of mindful insight offers a pathway to individual, collective and planetary transformation. By cultivating inner peace and calming reactive patterns we experience personal wellbeing. As flourishing leaders we are able to bring compassion, understanding, inclusiveness, trust, respect and joy to others.  And then, through looking deeply, insight arises. We start to understand the roots of our individual and collective suffering and to transform that suffering into loving leadership action.

Meet The Team

Dene Donalds

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Born in London in the sixties to West Indian parents. As a young man I spent time in the Army before moving to the NHS as a clinician then as a manager. Later, I work in the private health sector as a Company Director. I also gained an MBA.

In 2001, I visited Plum Village Mindfulness Centre, and was deeply moved by the practice and teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. I was ordained into the Order of Interbeing by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2007 and as a Dharma teacher in 2016.

My consultancy offer is focused on mindful leadership to create a shift in organisational consciousness and move toward individual and collective compassion, understanding and action.

  • Co-Founding a number of UK based not for profit social enterprises, for neuro diverse communities and refugees
  • Leading nonsectarian mindfulness programmes for offenders and their staff
  • Working as a Buddhist Prison Chaplain Providing Mindfulness Drop in Cafes for Refugees and Asylum Seekers suffering from trauma and PTSD
  • Being a founding member of the Colours of Compassion mindfulness community for members of the BPOC population
  • Offering a three year programme of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction to senior clinical and leadership staff of Mersey Care NHS Trust, the largest Mental Health Trust in England
  • Leading the NHS Improving Access to Physiological Therapies (IAPT): Mindfully Valuing People Now Project, which provided accessible mindfulness resources to people with
  • Learning Disabilities, their families and workforce across the North West Region of England

Moensch Micha (Br. Freedom)

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Moensch Micha, also known as Brother Freedom, is an old soul with Croatian roots and a German upbringing. His professional journey encompasses studies in alternative medicine, work as a naturopath, and VIP guest services, however, his life took a profound turn when he stumbled upon Thich Nhat Hanh on a book cover during a period of personal healing.This encounter prompted him to reevaluate his life. He decided to leave his career, sell all his belongings, and embark on a transformative journey to Plum Village in France in 2010, where he was ordained as a Buddhist monk. In the subsequent years, he continued his monastic life at Blue Cliff Monastery in New York and Deer Park Monastery in California, serving as acting abbot and a Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation board member.
In 2024, he retired from the Plum Village community to share the teachings and practices outside the monastery. His mission has taken him to various places, including Allianz, Google, Meta, Salesforce, Siemens, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he imparts mindfulness practices. Merging Mediterranean charm with German virtues, he creates warm and safe physical and spiritual spaces. Passionate about the transformative power of applied mindfulness practices, he conveys accessible insights into understanding the mind and daily meditation practices in easy and playful ways. Known for his open-hearted approach and occasional foot-in-mouth moments, he encourages everyone not to take themselves too seriously. He offers a unique blend of ancient wisdom and modern insights, making mindfulness easily accessible.

Heather Monro

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An accredited executive coach and leadership consultant with a passion for expanding leadership consciousness, transforming the way we do business and contributing to a more joyful, sustainable and equitable world.

Born in London, I grew up in environments characterised by aspiration and the pursuit of excellence and where success was measured in academic achievements, awards, and certificates.  After graduating from Cambridge University with 1st class honours I found myself questioning if there was more to being human than chasing career success and wealth. I stepped off the career production line and went where my heart was drawing me to;  the wilderness. I spent the next 15 years as a world-medal winning athlete in orienteering, adventure racing and wilderness running.

On retirement from the pursuit of international sporting success I embarked on sharing my deepening interest and personal insight into the psychology of optimal performance to help others flourish. But after 10 years of ‘successful’ leadership consultancy and executive coaching I was restless and questioning my contribution. My clients were delighted with improvements in their personal productivity and wellbeing but the world was still heading into economic, social and ecological collapse. I realised that so many in the field of coaching and  leadership development were just helping leaders to survive in broken systems. From that moment on my mission has been to help leaders transform the systems.

I am passionate about expanding the field of leadership consciousness and reimagining the way we do business. Through my deep personal connection to nature and my own journey of opening my heart, looking deeply, mindfulness practice and conscious growth I’ve developed a ‘ruthless compassion’ and deep sense of interbeing that I bring to all my work. I love nothing more than creating a space where leaders can embrace vulnerability, grapple with questions with no obvious answers and challenge conventional operating norms. When we connect with our true essence and remove limiting assumptions, we can bring fresh ideas to life, lead more authentic and fulfilling careers and transform our organisations , thereby contributing to a more joyful, sustainable and equitable world.

  • ILM L7 PGDip in Executive Coaching
  • StageSHIFT Certified Coach (Vertical Development)
  • Mindfulness Association Practitioner Certificate
  • Working languages: English, Norwegian, Swedish

Ian Sneath

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After living in a Zen retreat centre for two years; insights come. My life path had been ill-considered. Most entrepreneurs have incredible spirit. But where is this energy directed? Are we happy right now? As an entrepreneurial business owner, caught in the world model of having & doing instead of being, I had taken a path that was hurting me & others. This wrong view came from not understanding who I was; my mind was too busy. why; because I was running into the future, away from my difficult past. Our society is perfectly set up to do this.
I have witnessed & experienced amazing transformation through mindful insight. Wisdom connection is essential to a happier life. We have become separated & individualistic which causes us disconnection. It’s a constant practice as I have not changed & have changed. Many ingrained neural pathways still exist for me to take care of. My volition now, is to empower expanding consciousness in leaders, Innovate eco, social, sustainable mindful communities & retreat centres to alleviate the separation and loneliness that has developed in our society. Assist & relieve the individual & collective restlessness by providing supportive mindful wisdom programmes to enrich life, build self esteem and help calm busy minds. With concrete practices endorsed by many neuroscientist, we can change our brain; thus cultivating more joy, love, compassion and understanding. We can then potentially start to reverse the damage done to ourselves; our loved ones; our relationships & Mother Earth.

How – To help share innate ancient wisdom through interactive mindful leadership courses. To innovate a land & Property fund so as to allow mindful, wise communities & retreat centres to flourish; to give the opportunity for us all to stop & look deeply; to find our real why; & path in life; as I have been so blessed to have been able to do.

Helping others find their real purpose is also a big passion. The joy, freedom and peace that comes with this is immeasurable. Contentment comes from within; we struggle to find contentment externally.

I discovered my spiritual leader Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh some years ago. His key mindfulness teachings are unsurpassed. Together with the experience and skills developed helps me to follow a path of wellbeing, focussed planning and increased day to day happiness with these concrete steps. This manifests from finding out what life we really want to live.

Kirstie Berridge

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Kirstie has many years of experience of managing and providing administration for charitable trusts and funds. Seeking an ever more wholesome livelihood, Kirstie is delighted to be part of the Insight Leadership team to encourage mindful transformation in the work place and wider.

Kirstie has been practicing mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh since 2015 and received the Five Mindfulness Trainings during retreat at Plum Village Mindfulness Centre in 2022. Kirstie aspires to an ever more simple life according to these teachings. Kirstie is in love with Mother Earth and enjoys all things outdoors and connected to nature.

Mark Bogues

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Mark qualified as a pharmacist in 1996. Starting out in primary care, in 2002 Mark switched to work in the National Health Service (NHS), Europe’s largest employer and the world’s largest employer of skilled professionals. After many years of working and leading within the NHS Mark worked his way up to management level, with responsibility for dispensary services and clinical trials across three hospitals at an NHS Trust that cared for half a million patients each year. As part of his management and leadership training Mark completed the “Leading for Quality Improvement / Intermountain Advanced Training Programme”.

Despite this experience and training Mark was aware that he and the caring organisations that he worked for still had much to learn when it came to their capacity to embody inner and outer compassionate leadership. In 2014 Mark had the opportunity to deepen an existing practice of meditation and mindfulness on retreat at a Zen monastery and mindfulness practice centre in France. It was here that Mark would have many of the insights that would deeply influence the course of his life. When Mark was offered a one year internship to live and practice in the monastery, he recognised the importance and value of this once in a lifetime opportunity and went on to spend the next six years living and learning how to cultivate mindfulness and live from an ever deepening insight of interbeing.

While in the practice centre Mark worked in many teams including the organising teams for a number of retreats, including the International Business Retreats of 2017 & 2019.

Since returning home in 2020, Mark has worked to bring this insight back to his career in healthcare. In January 2023 Mark will graduate from the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Certification Programme (MMTCP) offered by the Awareness Training Institute and the Greater Good Science Centre at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a course leader for the introduction to mindfulness course, “Be Calm; Be Happy” and regularly facilitates opportunities to learn and develop mindfulness.

  • BSc (Hons) Pharmacy
  • NHS Management & Leadership Experience
  • Six Years Residency in Plum Village, France (Monastery & Mindfulness Practice Centre)
  • Member of the Order of Interbeing – OI (2016)
  • Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Programme – MMTCP (Graduate January 2023)
  • Course Leader “Be Calm; Be Happy”

Tan Tran

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In 2008, when working as a leadership consultant, Tan began to be in touch with the mindfulness practices in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh after a big personal multi-crisis. Since then, he has been studying, practicing, and sharing mindfulness in this tradition and lately including other mindfulness approaches, such as MBSR, SIY, MBSP. Naturally Tan combine the mindfulness practices with his professional role as a leadership consultant since 2008, and has shared this approach with many individuals and organizations, including United Nations, General Electric, Salesforce, Heineken, L’Oreal, Manulife,… He has also translated books on mindfulness & leadership by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Otto Scharmer and Robert K. Greenleaf. At the moment, Tan lives at a mindfulness practice collective house in France with his companion and friends. Tan speaks Vietnamese, English, French and Norwegian.

Gavin O’Driscoll

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  • Gavin O’Driscoll has practiced mindfulness for over 15 years. Two years ago he completed a five year monastic training programme in Plum Village, a mindfulness practice centre based near Bordeaux in France, under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Gavin is extremely interested in how ancient wisdom can help us to lead happier and healthier lives in a very fast paced modern world with many commitments. Gavin is in the final stages of completing a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training programme, a two year intensive training program led by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield through Sounds True and the U.C. Berkley Greater Good Institute. Through this programme, he was able to expand his understanding of teaching Mindfulness Mediation with tools for body, heart, mind and community. It also provided a wonderful opportunity to deepen his own spiritual practice and acquire skills that apply mindfulness and self-compassion to relationships, conflict, trauma, organisational wisdom ad societal change. Importantly he developed the skills necessary for leading groups and teaching a wide range of mindfulness practitioners with cultural sensitivity. Although Gavin has trained in the field of Psychology in the past, he is also currently training as a Psychosynthesis Psychotherapist, a therapeutic approach that focuses on personal growth & development and integrates many aspects of the human experience, including spiritual, emotional, cognitive and physical aspects. In summary, Gavin has the following experience:

    • Over fifteen years of experience practicing mindfulness and teaching in a variety of setting and cultures
    • Completion of a five year Monastic Training Programme from a Mindfulness Practice Centre (Plum Village) under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
    • Final phase of completing a Mindfulness Teacher Training Programme with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach accredited by U.C. Berkley Greater Good Institute
    • Currently training as a Psychosynthesis Psychotherapist (a psycho-spiritual modality)
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