What if the moment you're told you've lost your job isn't the time to narrow your focus, but to widen it? When everything in you is screaming to grab control, shore up certainty, and solve the problem immediately, what would it take to do the opposite? To put down your phone, pick up your camera, and walk into the unfamiliar streets of a city that feels both beautiful and unsafe?

This conversation with Dr. Chris McKeown invites us into a different way of understanding leadership under pressure. Chris is both a photographer and an energy consultant—a combination that might seem random until you realise that both practices are about the same thing: knowing where to put your attention, understanding depth of field, and recognising that widening the aperture lets in more light.

When Chris lost his employment contract while sitting in Havana, he didn't rush to fix it. He grabbed his camera and walked. What he discovered wasn't distraction—it was something far more powerful. The neuroscience of awe. The practice of presence. And the recognition that our nervous systems are so jacked up by algorithms, back-to-back Zoom meetings, and the relentless pressure to perform, that we've forgotten how to stop.

Here's what you'll discover:

1. How widening the aperture—literally and metaphorically—helps you lead through uncertainty more effectively than controlling every detail
2. Why forcing yourself to stop isn't a luxury but essential infrastructure for doing hard things as leaders
3. How the anterior cingulate cortex connects awe experiences to empathy, compassion, and the ability to make difficult decisions
4. Why successful CEOs all have "opposite worlds"—creative practices outside work that aren't optional
5. How back-to-back meetings compound stress in your autonomic nervous system in ways your conscious mind doesn't register
6. Why "holding space" for others might be more powerful than solving their problems
7. How Chris's photography creates lasting impact in hospital rooms—and what that teaches us about legacy beyond our presence
8. Why the simple practice of looking up activates the default mode network and changes how you think

Other References

1. The Creative Act: A Way of Being | Rick Rubin
2. The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health | Ellen Langer
3. Atomic Habits | James Clear
4. Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion | Alain de Botton
5. Stolen Focus | Johann Hari
6. Peak Experiences & Hierarchy of Needs | Abraham Maslow
7. Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)
8. Katie Hair Career Coaching
9. Katie Hair Podcast Episode
10. Te Papa Museum
11. Chris’s substack

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Creative Clarity in Old Havana

(08:52) - Widening the Aperture: Leadership Lessons

(14:24) - The Challenge of Attention in Modern Life

(19:45) - The Neuroscience of Awe and Leadership

(23:11) - The Importance of Creative Outlets for Leaders

(36:14) - The Impact of Art and Photography in Healing Spaces

You can find Chris at:

Website: nzenergyconsultants.com

Photography: chrismckeown.photography

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismckeown/

Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/

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Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/