My name is Allan Rhodes, I consider myself an Organisational Gardener helping founders startup and scaleup their initiatives.

I view life through the lens of being a gardener and of gardening. I will not claim to be an expert gardener, but rather a person who has discovered through gardening a metaphor to explore how we can cultivate new ways of collaboration. This section shares my professional journey up till now as a Chief People Officer for a scaling, self-managed organisation in the UK. This is the soil that nurtures my roots, from which the rest of this website grows.

Explore resources in English (y Español) on coaching for leaders and the future of work.

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A Little Bit More About Me

I am Mexican-English. Born in Mexico City to a Mexican mother and an English father. I have lived mainly in Mexico and now in England, but I have also had residence for at least a year in New Zealand and France.

I am the husband of Mariana, father to Luna, Thiago and Oliver, and a brother, uncle, cousin and friend.

A lifelong student, my academic background is in Business Administration (Tecnológico de Monterrey), a Diploma in Consulting (Universidad La Salle) and a Master’s in Tourism, Recreation and Parks Management (Lincoln University); although I consider myself more of a self-taught individual interested in subjects like ‘Teal Organisations’, the future of work, and shared governance.

I have had the opportunity to travel to over 25 countries around the world and I enjoy being constantly on the move, either on foot or by bicycle.

Experience

Professionally, I have transitioned to new careers every 10 years in a very successful way. For example:

1. I have been an educator (a secondary and university professor, and also an educator for at-risk youth);
2. I have been a consultant in tourism planning for protected natural areas;
3. I have been a vegetable grower since childhood, but more intensely since an experience in France (2016 – 2017);
4. I consider myself an ‘Organisational Gardener’, accompanying teams and organisations to reinvent themselves (initially through my company Ouitopía, the Latin American movement Reimagina2030, and now as Chief People Officer).

The first 25 years of my professional life were spent working in the social and environmental sector in Mexico as an educator, entrepreneur, consultant, facilitator, and above all, an innovator. I co-founded the organisation Caminando Unidos, which works with children and young people from marginalised areas in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.

In 2000, I started an ecotourism portal called Ecoturismolatino.com; later, I completed my Master’s in Tourism, Recreation and Parks Management in New Zealand, which then led me to work for the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP).

In 2009, I started a consulting company specialised in tourism planning in natural protected areas called Ecoturismo Genuino, completing 10 years of existence in 2019, and it has currently merged with the civil association Red Turismo Sustentable y Desarrollo Social, A.C..

In 2016, my family and I lived for a year in an intentional community in France that operated under the shared governance system of Sociocracy.

Starting in 2018, I began my journey as an “Organisational Gardener”.

In the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, I proposed a Latin American initiative called Reimagina2030, connecting companies, organisations, communities, and movements that work on the new paradigms of work.

Evolving Personal Purpose

My professional career began in the educational environment. First at universities with a national presence in Mexico like Universidad LaSalle or Tecnológico de Monterrey, where I taught subjects like history, intercultural communication, and economics, among others; as well as participating in a civil association that works with at-risk children and adolescents on issues of literacy and school regularisation.In my work as an ecotourism sector consultant, I had the opportunity to collaborate with dozens of teams of protected natural area managers, community cooperatives, and environmental Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Mexico, Panama, Brazil, and Chile.

Later, I collaborated with companies and organisations to contribute to the reinvention of teams. My own personal transition, which began with a sabbatical year in an intentional community in France being a gardener, which led me to train in different methodologies and tools to accompany myself, the organisations where I worked, and the neighbourhood where I lived. This is how I have trained and become certified in shared governance systems like Holacracy and Sociocracy, and in tools like Business Model You, Business Model Teams, and the Business Model Canvas; while also using Appreciative Inquiry as my frame of reference in the processes I am currently undertaking.

Recently, I changed country, industry, and role, working for a commercial insurance brokerage firm in the United Kingdom. First with the role of “Head of Organisational Development,” which evolved a couple of years later to “Head of Learning and Organisational Development,” and was finally promoted in my third year (2025) to the position of Chief People Officer (CPO).

My personal evolving purpose adjusts as I discover my reason for being. In 2020, my “personal purpose” revolved around re-imagination, which I summarised as “Re-imagining Life.” Now in 2026 (a few months before turning 50), I am redefining my purpose.