REEL LEADERSHIP: Walk With Me
Marc J. Francis & Max Pugh | 2017 | Speakit Films ★★★★★ Leadership Insight Rating
Executive Brief
A powerful and immersive look into how mindfulness can be woven into the fabric of an organization, moving it from an individual coping mechanism to a collective operating system. Walk With Me is a masterclass in building a culture of shared awareness, purpose, and resilience. It is valuable viewing for leaders seeking to combat burnout and create the conditions for deep, collaborative work.
The Setup
The film offers a meditative window into the daily life of the Plum Village community in France, founded and led by the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. With no traditional plot, the narrative follows the monastics as they practice the art of mindfulness in every activity - from walking and eating to working and resting.
The story parallels the challenge many leaders face: how to move beyond simply introducing wellness programs and instead truly embed mindfulness into the team's culture to create a resilient, high-functioning organization.
Leadership in Action
The film offers a living case study for the four levels of organizational mindfulness. Individual mindfulness is present in every quiet, personal moment. But the film’s true lesson is in collective mindfulness. The practice of the mindfulness bell - where the entire community stops all activity to breathe together when a bell rings , is a stunning example of a system-wide ritual that subordinates individual tasks to shared awareness. It is a collective reset that dissolves tension and realigns the group to its purpose.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, provide a constant source of individual wisdom, challenging viewers to reflect on purpose and interconnection. Finally, the very existence of Plum Village as a sustainable, non-violent community is an exercise in collective wisdom - a living model of a different, more intentional way to organize human effort.
Behind the Camera
Directors Marc J. Francis and Max Pugh make the radical choice to structure the film as a meditation itself. The pacing is deliberately slow, with long, observational takes that force the viewer to abandon distraction and become present with the subjects. The absence of a driving musical score, replaced by the natural sounds of the environment, reinforces the theme of paying attention to the here and now.
Cumberbatch’s narration, reading from Thich Nhat Hanh’s early journals, provides the philosophical "why" behind the community's daily practices. This structure ensures the viewer doesn't just observe mindfulness; they are invited to experience it, making the leadership lessons feel earned rather than taught.
The Business Case
Walk With Me illustrates several dynamics critical for modern businesses. In an "attention economy" where focus is the most valuable and scarce resource, Plum Village operates with an "attention surplus." This collective focus is a profound competitive advantage, reducing errors, improving decision-making, and creating the psychological safety required for deep innovation.
The film presents a powerful antidote to the burnout epidemic. The community’s sustainable pace and emphasis on presence over frantic productivity demonstrate a model for long-term high performance. It makes the business case that slowing down strategically is the only way to maintain momentum without sacrificing the well-being of the team.
Cultural Context
Walk With Me arrived at a time when "corporate mindfulness" was becoming a billion-dollar industry. Yet, many implementations were criticised as superficial or as tools to help employees cope with unhealthy work environments. The film offered an authentic, deeply rooted alternative. It resonated with a growing cultural desire for purpose, authenticity, and a cure for the digital-age affliction of constant distraction and anxiety.
Leadership Application
- Implement System-Wide Pauses: Like the mindfulness bell, introduce a shared ritual to create collective presence. Start every meeting with 60 seconds of structured silence to allow the team to transition and focus.
- Practice Mindful Communication: Foster "deep listening" by creating forums where team members can speak without interruption. This builds trust and ensures that valuable, quiet insights are not lost in the noise.
- Model Intentionality: Leaders can model the film's ethos by moving between tasks with visible intention. Instead of rushing from one meeting to the next, take a moment to pause, reflect, and arrive fully present. This small act gives the entire team permission to do the same.
The film's enduring relevance lies in its quiet insistence that collective and organizational mindfulness is not a program to be managed, but a culture to be cultivated. It demonstrates that the leader’s primary role is to create the conditions for shared awareness, which is the ultimate foundation for wisdom, resilience, and stability in any organization.
Walk With Me
Directed by Max Pugh & Marc J. Francis and narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch
