Ian Sanders

Catch Ian on DO Radio, It's Not About Trees with John Lunn 02-08 March. Tune in to DO Radio.

"When you're in the dark, sometimes you can't find the light switch. And it’s the people who love us who have their hand ready to flick the light back on."

Ian Sanders is a UK-based storyteller, speaker and author who works with leaders and organisations to help them make sense of change through the power of narrative.

His work sits at the intersection of creativity, communication and leadership — exploring how individuals and organisations can articulate who they are, why they exist and where they are going.

With a background spanning business, publishing and the creative industries, Ian has built a career helping people reconnect with their purpose and communicate it with clarity and authenticity.

He is particularly interested in the human side of work: how stories shape culture, how vulnerability builds trust, and how leaders can create the conditions for creativity rather than control.

Ian is the author of several books on storytelling, identity and work, and is a regular speaker on the role of narrative in organisational life. His perspective bridges the personal and the systemic — recognising that culture change does not begin with strategy decks, but with the stories people tell about themselves and their future.

In recent years, his own experience of serious illness has deepened his thinking about spaciousness, presence and what it means to lead with humanity in an increasingly accelerated, AI-shaped world.

At the heart of Ian’s work is a simple belief: storytelling is not performance — it is connection.

“What fuels me is helping others find their own fuel.”

DO Radio Show Notes

Storytelling, vulnerability and leading with humanity in an age of AI

In this episode of It’s Not About Trees, John Lunn speaks with Ian Sanders — storyteller, author and leadership thinker — about the role of narrative in shaping organisations, culture and the futures we build.

Ian’s work sits at the intersection of business, creativity and human connection. In this conversation, he reflects on why storytelling is not a soft skill but a leadership discipline — one that helps organisations make sense of change, build trust and rediscover purpose.

The discussion moves fluidly between systems and the deeply personal. Ian shares his own prostate cancer journey and how it reshaped his understanding of vulnerability, spaciousness and what really matters. Rather than positioning leadership as performance, he explores it as presence — the courage to be human in uncertain times.

They also explore:

Throughout, there is a quiet thread running beneath the conversation: in a world accelerating through technological transformation, the human element is not a luxury — it is the work.

As Ian suggests, perhaps the real leadership challenge is not to speak louder, but to listen better.