How a hike can grow your business

What are you carrying that you no longer need to hold onto?

In this episode, John reflects on the first Grounded Man Hike and the conversations that came from stepping away from business, pressure, and everyday noise. He shares the idea behind carrying a stone up the mountain, what it represented, and why letting go can sometimes be just as important as pushing forward.

John also looks ahead to the next Grounded Man Hike in Glendalough and explains why community, clarity, challenge, and celebration are at the heart of the experience.

Interested in joining our next Grounded Man Hike? Click here for more: https://www.derunation.com/TGM-Hike

00:01:04 — The Grounded Man Hike

00:03:06 — What Are You Carrying?

00:04:20 — Letting Go at the Summit

00:05:19 — The Next Hike

00:06:45 — Who It’s For

00:08:23 — Community, Clarity & Challenge

00:11:03 — What to Expect

00:14:13 — Join the Next Hike 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And it was very powerful. Though I could feel, I could sense something there. There was a big release, and it was a mix of celebration, of belonging, and letting go as those men passed their worries over to the mountain to carry as they no longer needed to carry those things. Now, just as the final man declared what he was releasing, something magical happened. Welcome to the Grounded Man podcast by Deru. I am your host, John Douglas, and founder of Deru. This space is for hardworking men building businesses, carrying responsibility, and providing for their families who feel they should be freer. You see, the world has changed, and leading through hard work and long hours now limits a man's influence. The new way is mastering the inner game of leadership so you can carry it well, enjoy what you're building, and still feel free. Deru is leadership for the 21st century. When was the last time you hiked with other grounded founders? Now you might be thinking it's been a while maybe since I hiked, maybe I only hiked last week. But when was the last time you actually did it with a group of like-minded people? A group of people who would support you, who would listen to you, who would be willing to connect with you, encourage you, push you on, challenge you with your best interests at heart. Because that's what the grounded man hike is all about. And we have a hike coming up soon, which I'm going to tell you about very shortly. But first of all, I want to go back to the very first grounded man hike that we launched in May. And I wrote some notes on it at the time because it was fresh in my mind. So I'm going to read them off the screen. Okay. So last week seen the launch of the Grounded Man Hike, a community of male business owners who carry the weight silently and are hungry to talk about work, about pressure, about success, ambition, and their freedom with other like-minded men who are carrying similar responsibility. The Grounded Man Hike is a space for genuine connection, for good conversation, clearer thinking, and releasing the pressure. And there were 17 men showed up on that mountain that day. We started at Turlock Hill Car Park in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains, a landscape that developed over 400 million years ago from the crashing of continental plates at a time when Ireland was actually south of the equator. And these hills have been shaped through time, and the abundance of peatlands are visible across the peaks and valleys here, and they started forming after the glacial movement carved and rounded the mountains and made its way to the sea. But this is also a space where many have come to find themselves. And indeed, one of Ireland's finest spiritual centres, Glen the Loch, was a short drive away from where we met that day. And we climbed up a mountain called Tunnelgy, which has the Irish meaning of Ars to the wind. And each man on that day chose to carry a small stone with him, representing the weight he wanted to release, the pressure, the fear, whatever that might be. Because these things steal a man's ability to actually enjoy what he's built. Often men find themselves in the life that they've dreamed of. They have the business, they have the family, they have other things outside of that, but they don't feel like they're part of that dream. They feel disconnected from it because the pressure steals it. And so that's where we started. We ask ourselves three questions on the way up. What we loved about our work and enjoy, what pressure actually steals our ability to enjoy it, and what's one thing that we were leaving behind on the mountain and finally giving ourselves permission to be free from and to giving ourselves permission to become who we wanted to become. And as we walked, we broke into groups and discussed these three questions and stopped each time to share our insights and discussed what's important and what's not. Now, all the way up, imagine that you're walking up the side of a mountain, it was pure fog. So the visibility was very poor. Even as we summited the mountain, we could just about see ourselves or see our hands in front of our face. But that didn't stop the conversation from being strong. Because at the top, one by one, each man flicked his stone onto the mountaintop and declared what he was releasing and no longer carrying, and what he was giving himself permission to do instead, and giving him himself permission to be instead. And it was very powerful. I could feel, I could sense something there. There was a big release, and it was a mix of celebration, of belonging, and letting go as those men passed their worries over to the mountain to carry as they no longer needed to carry those things. Now, just as the final man declared what he was releasing, something magical happened. And I'm going to tell you what it was in a few minutes because before I go into that, I want to share and tell you about the hike that we have coming up. So on Thursday, the 27th of August, we're meeting again for the next Grounded Man hike. And we're meeting in Wicklow, and this time we're actually meeting in Glindelock, the home of that uh that spiritualness of the Wicklow Mountains that I just spoke about. And the Grounded Man hike is all about growing with freedom. And so we're going to meet at the car park there and we're going to hike and we're going to ask ourselves those questions on the day. So, what is it really about? It's about connecting deeper, it's about thinking calmer, it's about leading lighter and growing freer. Because Deru is all about success with freedom. Not just the success, a lot of performance, coaching, all that is very much driven by success. But what about the man behind that? And what about his freedom? And not just the time freedom or the money freedom, but actually freedom of in his head space as well, that he is enjoying every step of the way because we don't know how long we have here. And to work hard for freedom someday, it's a bit of a flawed idea because I've heard so many stories of guys that heart attacks, that drop dead, that something else happened just around the time that they were going to enjoy the rest of their lives. So we need a new way to work where we can actually enjoy the journey, enjoy the build as we're going along with it. And that's what it's really about. So who is this for? This is not for founders who want to network or to boast or sell their services. This is for grounded leaders. It's for male business owners and founders, people who are carrying real weight, leading other people and have challenges in leading other people maybe as well. Maybe that's half the reason why you can't enjoy it as much as you want to. But also while you're enjoying it, you want to hold on to your ambition. Because you, if if you want to, you know, just down, you know, sometimes getting the freedom means downsizing, and uh, and that means you know having less people, but then then that eats at your ambition because you have bigger ambition, you have more things you want to do. So you need to develop your leadership in a way that you can lead others well, and that leadership gives you the freedom to go on and uh keep looking for the bigger opportunities in life. And so it's really for men who value their time, their energy, and their mindset and their freedom. So if you're if this is sounding good, it's a great quote from a guy called John Moore. And John Moore, he was of Scottish origin but moved to the US when he was young. And he became known as the father of conservation. And if you ever heard of Yosemite National Park in California, uh, you have this man to tank because he's he basically was the father of all these national parks. And he had a quote that said, Going to the mountain is going home. And so I think there's great, there's there's it speaks to the soul in that. That there's something that when we return to nature, we always learn more about ourselves than we just see what we see. We always feel different after. It always reminds us of who we are behind all the noise of the world, you know. But there's four reasons why you should come. And you know, these reasons really feel feed into helping you ground yourself so that you can grow your business better. Uh, and the first one is community. You're gonna have genuine conversations, honest conversations, good connection with like-minded people who are gonna be there to challenge you and support you. Next is clarity. I'm gonna set you some questions that you you probably haven't asked yourself before. And that that will give you the clarity to separate what the business actually needs from what you actually want. Um so you're gonna walk away with clarity on the day. There's also gonna be challenge in it, not just the physical challenge of walking up a mountain and testing the legs, but those questions are gonna challenge something deeper within you. Maybe something in you that you know is there, but you haven't given it much attention, and you're gonna give it more energy and focus that day and know yourself better behind it all. And lastly, then is celebration. I believe leadership is a privilege. And now some days I know it feels like a burden and just pure pressure, but it is a privilege to get to lead other people, to get to be the one who motivates them, to who inspires them, who brings them along, who builds that team. It's an amazing privilege. And so we need to celebrate that more. And we celebrate that by taking the day out of the business, going into nature, getting the fresh air, being surrounded by good company and good conversation. So there are the four reasons for community, for clarity, for challenge, and celebration. And if you're a little bit hesitant about coming on the day, just remember who else is coming. They're grounded leaders, they're men like you who are building a business. And on the last hike, we had a few people who said coming on that event uh was was just just coming on the event alone was getting outside their comfort zone. But at the end of the day, here are some of the things that those those men had to say. It was an excellent day with very hard, honest, hardworking group of like-minded men. It was so different, it gave my week a focus and I'm ready for tomorrow. And I felt more like a Saturday than a Thursday. So I want you, there is a bit of challenge in this. Maybe to even come to this event, it is a challenge for you and to get you outside your comfort zone. So maybe that's all the more reason to do it. Because if you're excited about by this and want to come, you're gonna have an amazing time. If you're nervous about coming, you're gonna have the best time because you're gonna have put yourself first, and that's giving yourself energy first before everything else comes along. And that in itself is an achievement and something to be recognized. So this is really for men who carry a lot and want to carry it lighter. And so some of the details on the day is as I said, we're meeting in Glendeloch on Thursday, the 27th of August. Um, we're gonna go for our hike, we're gonna ask you those questions, go to have some lunch as well, have lunch booked. Um, so everything's on me for the day. And then we're gonna do a grounded leader reset after lunch and we'll be finished by three o'clock. Um, now the only thing is the spaces are limited because I want a good energy in the group on the day, you know, and that does not that doesn't mean that your energy, if your energy is feeling a bit dipped or low that you shouldn't come. I don't mean that. I mean good minds there on the day, people who want to, you know, who get the idea that leadership, you know, should be a privilege. It is your caring nature, you care for other people, and whether that's your team or your clients, you care for them. So I want to I want to protect that environment, if you like. Maybe environment's a better word and energy. So I want to protect that environment. So that's why it's a select group of men, limited spaces. And also today it's free. There's no charge for this, which you might be saying, this is this is crazy to get all this organized and all this, and it's it's free. But it's not about the money for me, and that's why I left it that way. But I am I I would appreciate a donation. We're raising money. We raised over 2,000 euro just from the hike the last day. I'd love to raise that or more again for the Children's Health Foundation who support Crumlin and Temple Street and Tallinn Connolly. And so we're giving back as well. So that's part of the celebration, is that we're giving back to our society. So that's it. If you're interested in joining, you'll see a link below this. And I want you to click on that link, fill in your details, and they'll come through to me and I'll contact you, and we'll have a quick interaction and we'll we'll we'll see you there on the day. That's it. So I want to bring back, go back to that story I was telling you about because remember, as I said, as we're getting to the top of the mountain, it was all foggy, we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces, but everyone ficked their stone on the top of the mountain to carry that weight and release that and give themselves permission to let go, permission and permission to be somebody who they actually truly are inside. So, as I said, as the last man did this, as he declared what he was releasing, something magical happened. Because what happened on top of that mountain that day was the fog parted. Now, we could not see a thing in front of us. Within seconds of that man flicking his stone at the top of the mountain, the clouds cleared. I don't know what happened. I don't know what kind of a divine intervention there was that day. Um, but within seconds, that's the sun was shining on our backs, and instead of looking at clouds, we were greeted by a 360 view of the Garden of Ireland, Wicklow, look overlooking the Irish Sea, the mountains, other counties all around, and so much more. Uh, it was almost as if it was meant to happen that way. So it was amazing. And then we sat perched above Loch Auller, which is the heart-shaped lake, for some lunch. Uh, we broke bread together and we didn't really want to leave. No one wanted to leave at that stage, but uh, we had an agenda to stick to. So we went back in, we got our lunch, and we had a reset and we walked away feeling, as I said, feeling like a Saturday rather than a Thursday, enjoying the week, ready for the week, feeling motivated, energized. So if this resonates with you, I want you, I want to see you there on that day. Um, especially if you've been following on the podcast, you know what this is all about, you get the the content, you you understand that there's something about it resonates, you're gonna love this day. This is what it's all about getting out there. So hope to see you there. Click on the link below and hopefully we'll chat soon. Take care. Thank you for listening to this week's episode. The wisdom here doesn't come from me, it actually comes through me, from the men like you that I walk alongside. And if the conversation today landed and you would rather live it rather than just listen to it, I want to invite you to the grounded man hike. It's a day in nature with a small group of founders and leaders, men who carry a lot and want to carry it lighter. And there's no slides, pitch or agenda, just honest conversation and open ground. The link is in the description below. Leave your details and I'll be back to you personally. Thanks for being here, and I'll see you next week.