I am sitting on the sofa, next to one of my subtly disrupting heroes, in his house. The place where he does a lot of his work.

I feel honoured for a number of reasons: that I get to chat with him again on this podcast; that he has invited me into his home; and that he has carved out some time for me from what I imagine is a jam-packed schedule.

It is a Friday night when I chat with Dr Jason Fox, and before we start recording I do notice that there is a bit of tiredness about him; that it must have been a full-on week; and I wonder how this conversation is going to go.

I need not have been concerned. It was as if as soon as I turned on the mic something switched in Jason. He came alive as I asked him questions about what he has been up to, and even turned the tables on me to ask about my new project.

And I think that this in the key thing to come out of this conversation. That taking time to pause in our busy lives, to have questions asked of us and to ponder them without restriction, is some of the most valuable work we can do.

We all know that we are busy. Too busy. And we often feel guilty for having a good think, a coffee chat with a colleague, or going for a pondering walk. But is is precisely these types of rituals – the type that get us to slow down for long enough for empathy to build, for new ideas to form, for solutions to emerge – that will allow us to contribute our highest value work, the type that our species and planet need in order to find the unprecedented solutions to the unprecedented problems we are facing.

It is this idea about creating spaces within which we can ponder, that have led Jason to create the 1-day workshop he has called Percolate. At a time of year where people are starting to think about what they might intend for the next year, a time of year that is often even more packed with events and stuff to do, Percolate has been designed to give people a chance to pause and ponder. Instead of answers and to dos, speakers will be leaving participants with a number of questions Jason hopes will linger and shape their new year.

Jason is as warm as ever in this conversation, and I hope you enjoy listening to him again.

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