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Ian Sanders

@iansanders

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Storytelling coach & trainer for organisations.
Author of five books on working life.
Currently wrangling prostate cancer.
Dad. Lives by the coast.

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Ten days ago I spent an enjoyable hour walking around Arnold Circus and some of my favourite Shoreditch streets. My photographer friend Paul Tait was with me, taking a new set of photos for my website.

But to me right now, these are so much more than just another set of promotional pictures.

Here’s why.

Yesterday evening I spent a very different sixty minutes. It was my first time with Cancer Fitness, a fantastic organisation in Southend that runs exercise and fitness classes for cancer patients like me who have been impacted by long term treatments. I guess I was the second-youngest person in a group of twenty.

I enjoyed the experience, yet it was also a bit sobering. It was my first time being in a group defined by cancer. I struggled with some of the exercises due to muscle weakness from treatment.

So when Paul’s photos landed in my in-box this morning it lifted me. Sure, yesterday evening I was very much the cancer patient. Here in these photos I am a cancer patient too. Yet this is the version of me I recognise: in the wonderful London streets, where I’m most at home, feeling on top of the world and raring to go. I’m the business owner, the professional storyteller, the work-life guide. Life doesn’t stop for cancer. In fact, I’m more about making the most of my time than ever before. And these photos are a tangible reminder of who I really am.

🙏🏼Thanks @paultaiture by @iansanders

This is for anyone learning to navigate change, struggle, or uncertainty—and still choosing to show up with hope.

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We all know we’re going to encounter hard times. So although my talk at this year’s @thedolectures was - on the surface - about navigating life with cancer, I wanted the lessons I shared to be universal.

Ten lessons became the core of the talk: ‘Riding The Waves - a manifesto for thriving in good times and bad.’

SWIPE to read the ten.

Huge thanks to @adamjennings all round lovely bloke and design director at Contour, for bringing my manifesto to life. Adam’s been a familiar face at The Do Lectures for many years; I’m so glad I met him at a Do workshop back in 2019. Thanks Adam.

Thanks to @zesanders for her help on the wordsmithery

You can download your own copy of the manifesto here: https://www.iansanders.com/blog/riding-the-waves-a-manifesto

#dolectures #manifesto #lifelessons #cancerjourney by @iansanders

‘Jump when you want to jump.
Rest when you need to rest.’

That’s how I ended my Do Lecture earlier this month.

I’d opened my talk with a slide saying ‘So much has changed since I was last on the farm.’

I’d written that opening down in my notebook last August. So I’d been heading towards this moment for a long time.

Of course I’d been here before, speaking at Do 2015. It would never have occurred to me that I’d be invited to speak again. But when David Hieatt heard about my cancer journey, he asked me back to share my life lessons.

Who would have thought it ten years ago: ‘Ian, you’ll be back on stage in 2025. And oh, you’ll be living with cancer.’

Well we left west Wales twelve days ago but the experience is ever present in my thoughts. This week @alexlloydjenkins brilliant photographs of this year’s festival dropped.

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So here are four memories from this year’s @thedolectures courtesy of Alex.

Me closing the Do Lectures on the Saturday afternoon - wow that was a big moment; sitting on the hay bales with Zoë, lost in our notebooks; me telling the story of my two tattoos - the yin and the yang, holding two emotions at once; enjoying the late afternoon sunshine - and a glass of chilled white wine - after the last talk.

#dolectures by @iansanders

This month is my twenty-seventh anniversary of independence. Yup, it was 24th November 1999 that I first registered iansanders dot com.

I decided this anniversary was a good time to launch a new coaching proposition - ‘Fuel for Founders’.

I know it can be a lonely business as a solo founder or solopreneur. That’s why I’m launching Fuel for Founders, bringing together the value of everything I have learned in my entrepreneurial career (it sits alongside my regular storytelling projects and my work with organisations).

Fuel for Founders is for anyone who’s on the entrepreneurial journey. You might be starting out, and are looking for an experienced mentor to ease the decision-making load. Or you could be a few years down the line and are ripe for a fresh, hot take on what’s next.

What it’s not is conventional coaching. I don’t have framed certificates on the wall. Instead I’ve got a stack of sawdust to my name: I’ve been in the trenches, started ventures, failed, dusted myself off, and got back on the bike. I’ve weathered the ups and downs of self-employed life. 27 years is a lot of weather.

I love meeting people who have taken the leap to work for themselves - you’ll find all the details here: iansanders.com/fuel-for-founders by @iansanders

On Friday night Charlotte Cornfield told us that she’s always losing her guitar capos when she’s on the road. So on this trip she’d packed three, in three separate bags. But she still managed to mislay them all!

She joked that it was fortuitous this gig was on Denmark Street, there are seven guitar stores here to buy a new one.

I love live music. And nothing beats the intimate experience of being one of thirty or forty people watching a stripped back performance like we witnessed on Friday at Rough Trade Denmark Street. It was a really special show, Charlotte’s first non-North American show promoting her new album It Hurts Like Hell.

Give it a listen. Thanks @charcorn @roughtradedenmarkst by @iansanders

The unplanned experiences are the best. Early evening, we’d picked up some books at Foyles and had a couple of hours before seeing Charlotte Cornfield play an in-store set over the road at Rough Trade Denmark Street.

How about an early dinner at Dean Street Townhouse? We didn’t have a reservation but I figured they’d have space for walk-ins. It was perfect. One of our favourite Soho places. I kicked things off with an Eastern Standard.

Books, a Dean St Townhouse burger and live music = pretty good Friday evening in Soho

Cheers @stevecla - it was you who introduced me to an Eastern Standard.

@charcorn was ace - check out her new newish album Hurts Like Hell by @iansanders

When we had a family trip to a sunflower farm in Writtle in August 2024, I never imagined that the selfie I took that day would become part of a World Cancer Day campaign. Sure, I would rather not have become a poster-boy for living with cancer but here we are.

Tomorrow is the three year anniversary of my diagnosis. My story, that sunflower picture and 12 other photographs featured in the 12.12.12 exhibition at the World Cancer Congress in Hong Kong last month.

I didn’t make it to Hong Kong myself but it’s good to see photos of the exhibition - I was pleased to be part of the campaign.

@worldcancerday @uicc_official by @iansanders

🍂 🚶🏻For 11 years I’ve been taking leaders, founders and solopreneurs on a one-to-one walk in London. A Fuel Safari is a walking based coaching session - ‘a walk to find your fuel.’

If you are at a crossroads in a leadership or entrepreneurial role, and unsure what path to take next, I’m opening up limited slots.

Whether you’re seeking your ‘what next’, starting a new role or dealing with a challenging landscape, a Fuel Safari gives you the space to pause and reflect. To zoom out from the day-to-day and bring clarity to your career and personal development.

I can help you:

• look at your career and working life from a fresh angle
• open your eyes to new paths and possibilities
• get re-energised about your work, rediscovering your mojo!

Fuel Safaris are currently available to book from December to February 2027.

“Ian helped me make sense of the many career contemplations I have had recently. To say them out loud, to be asked the right questions, to be challenged a little – it channelled my thoughts into a clearer action plan backed with self-belief. It was a really worthwhile session and I loved the energy brought by being on foot.” That’s what Amy told me after her Fuel Safari.

Want to know more? Get in touch ian@iansanders.com by @iansanders

If not now, then when?

"This is my time, and I can make a choice as to how I spend it."

As we look ahead to Mental Wealth Festival next week, Ian's story is a reminder that investing in your wellbeing can take many forms, from trying something new to making time for creativity and connection.

After a cancer diagnosis brought uncertainty to his life, Ian chose to spend his time doing something he'd always wanted to do.

Read Ian's full story on our blog:
www.citylit.ac.uk/blog

#MentalWealthFestival #CityLit #MentalHealth #Wellbeing #StudentStory by @iansanders

I can’t remember being at a major exhibition before, just four days after opening, and there are only four of us in the first room in the gallery.

There was a real intimacy as we were welcomed into Es Devlin’s ‘Other Worlds’ at the Design Museum, in a replica of her Peckham studio. I found the introductory film really moving.

And then we were into the main exhibit. ‘The 30 Year Desk’ was such a great storytelling vehicle for showing us the sketches, doodles and notes behind three decades of work including the 2012 Olympic closing ceremony and the 2022 Super Bowl. Another film projection ran through more of her archive, U2, Stormzy and Adele and so much more. The Atlas of her work on sale at the exhibition runs to 900 pages!

I love to geek out looking at sketches in notepads, so I loved what it revealed about her creative process across music, stage design and live events.

I came away from The Design Museum feeling so creatively ‘fed’ that I’d say if you’re stuck creatively or looking for a breakthrough on a creative project, go see the exhibition!

#esdevlin @esdevlin @designmuseum by @iansanders

Sunday 6pm swim. That was wonderful, swimming towards the sun.

…and to think, I nearly didn’t go.

Great to be in the water with Zoë and my Dad.

#leighonsea by @iansanders