I'm a freelance community governance specialist, a facilitator, a coach, a social entrepreneur and a systems thinker. I'm inspired by emergence, coaching, the commons, sci fi, permaculture, and the power of good questions.

about me | what I’m up to | writing | coaching | inspiration

Find me 👇

🔗 www.linkedin.com/in/kate-swade

📝 corporatebodies.substack.com

📝 edgesandechos.substack.com

🐦 twitter.com/kateswade


About me

I want to bring pockets of the future into the way we live and work now. I’m really interested in the invisible underpinnings of the current system - land, and how it is controlled, data, governance, culture and power. Over the past 20 years I’ve worked with and alongside social entrepreneurs, community leaders and activists, in a variety of roles. Those roles have all been about taking a systemic approach to complex issues, bringing people together, and working with ambitious groups of people, often with limited resources. I’m a boundary spanner and love connecting people from different sectors together.

I’m freelancing now because I am really interested in the role that independent people can play as connective tissue between different worlds. I am fascinated by how we organise ourselves as humans and I’m enjoying experimenting with being in different roles in different systems and organisations. I want to bring pockets of a just, regenerative future into the way we live and work now. Despite being a freelancer I do very little work alone, and love being part of a team (currently I’m in the core team at Digital Commons Cooperative, and a proud associate of WrkWll).

Get in touch on kate [at] kateswade [dot] com


What I’m up to:

What I do falls into three broad buckets:

Thinking hard about governance and power

Research, and project scoping

Coaching and facilitation


Articles, blogs and essays I’m proud of

I love writing; like many people I find it challenging! I’m keen to do more, so get in touch if you’d like me to ponder some things for you. Here are some things I’ve enjoyed writing:

On time, abundance, and discerning porosity

Land Justice Activism in the UK - a story, and a map

Land "Value" - thinking systemically

Shared assets: inclusiveness, agroecology and municipal ownership in land use | Renewal

Creating a solarpunk future?

Building a future-proof organisation

News from Nowhere Gardens

Commons + Systems

The infrastructure for a 21st Century Commons