Meet Team Pala
Hi there, we’re Jon and Gabs. Partners in life and in business. We both have a deep belief in freedom, adventure and living life to the fullest. We set up Pala, a boutique culture-change consultancy in Sussex, to help you feel like that too…
Where it all started
It all began with a chance meeting on a beanbag at the Happy Start-Up Summercamp (it’s great fun, you should go!) in 2016. We instantly connected over a passion for living freely in our own lives, over alternative ways for kids to learn and how we can work in different ways.
A year later, we were boarding a plane together with Ivor (Gab’s then 7yr old son) to explore alternative ways of living and learning in Costa Rica. We had six wonderful months of living in the Costa Rican jungles, Ivor trying out a Montessori School, Jon working remotely and Gabrielle doing lots of yoga. That was the beginning of a longer journey of blended life, work and home-educating as a family in Central America, Portugal and the UK.
Jon’s passion for autonomous ways-of-working continued to grow, working with various international and UK based companies to help them change their ways of working. Meanwhile, seeing our little boy learn through self-led and free learning was incredible to see. We both witnessed the power of self-belief and agency right in front of us.
Together we founded Pala, to carry on building on those same shared values – autonomy, freedom and adventure. We both want to help people in companies to feel curious and courageous enough to take a leap into the unknown, and find out their full potential.
All about Jon
After studying and working at Hyper Island (an international digital creative business school) and having his life changed by reading the Maverick by Ricardo Semler, Jon knew there were different ways to work and run companies, and was determined to make that change happen.
He’s worked for over 10 years with companies, CEO’s and leaders to help them create more adaptive organisational structures, more empowering leadership skills and more autonomous teams. His brain never stops (Gabs calls it ‘the factory’) hence how he’s ended up giving three TEDx talks based on three three books he’s written. He finds it hard to get his mind to slow down, which has led him down the amazing rabbit hole of mindfulness (he describes himself as ‘Buddhish‘), spending over 40+ days on silent meditation retreats.
All about Gabs
Gabs or Gabrielle (choose what you like, but she’s not into ‘Gabby’) has a background in Social Anthropology and International Development, having working in academic, research and consultancy environments. Project/programme management and communications have often been the focus of her work, along with innovations themed programmes.
Participatory ways of working, project management and building community are all things she loves. Along with sometimes teaching yoga and bringing an all-round calming presence to the Pala team.
She loves being outdoors, walking Bodhi (our cute Golden Retriever – see below!), yoga and dancing (wherever I can).
All about Bodhi
Golden Retriever Bodhi, deserves a special mention as a our ‘Chief Joy Officer’ – keeping us walked, outdoors and feeling loved.
Why Pala?
We believe that everyone deserves to feel free.
We do, you do, we all do.
We believe people should feel free in how they learn, how they grow and how they work.
Note: We believe that when autonomy is combined with accountability, people have an inbuilt tendency to grow.
We all deserve to feel like we have choices and that we can shape our world.
When we do, amazing things can happen – we flourish and grow.
Would you like to feel like this too?
Come and find out how we can help you feel free…
Book your free discovery call
Feeling stuck? Want to talk through your situation? Not sure what’s next?
Ready to talk?
Introducing some of the maverick leaders who’ve worked with us to set their teams free and in doing so, freed themselves.
Freed Spirit
“I don't really know how to express my gratitude for the ways you've helped me this year.”
Carina Bauer
Climber, Traveller,
CEO of IMEX
Freed Spirit
“Everything we’ve done has also had a big influence on me from a personal perspective and I feel closer than ever to fulfilling the dreams that the business was made for in the first place.”
Tom McLoughlin
Runner, Kids Football Coach,
CEO & Founder of Rombald Group
Freed Spirit
"Everybody is loving it. Every time I talk to them, they are buzzing about it. They are loving the autonomy, they are loving the influence they’re having on the business."
Nick Pulley
Mountain Biker, Adventurer,
CEO & Founder of Selective Asia
Freed Spirit
“A cool mix of incredibly forward-thinking and progressive, yet with academic rigour, they have so much experience and knowledge to bring to any situation.”
James Sandford
Traveller, Linguist and
MD of Propellernet
Freed Spirit
"I've found the work we did together transformative 🔮”
Sarah Lockhart
President of Epic Records