The Story Behind my Work

What do human beings need to experience for themselves?

For more than thirty years, across leadership, creativity, business, media and human development, I found myself returning to the same fascination.

What is it about experience that changes us?

My career took me into boardrooms and television studios, through entrepreneurship and leadership, and into moments of success and profound personal change.

Each experience changed something.

My beliefs. My understanding of myself. What mattered to me. What I thought was possible.

Together, they revealed something that now sits at the heart of my work:

We become who we are through the way we experience life.

That belief ultimately led me to create The 7 Essential Human Experiences®

The Moment Everything Changed

Like many people, there was a time when I measured my life by achievement, responsibility and the roles I played.

Then life changed.

The identity I had built no longer felt like enough.

For the first time, I realised I wasn’t my career. I wasn’t my achievements. I wasn’t even the stories I’d spent a lifetime believing about myself.

The question wasn’t:

“How do I become someone new?”

It became:

“Who am I beneath everything I’ve believed myself to be?”

I couldn’t think my way to the answer.

I had to experience my way there.

That changed the direction of my life and became the beginning of the work I do today.

Seeing a Different Pattern

Throughout my career, I’ve worked with organisations, leaders, entrepreneurs and individuals navigating growth and transformation.

I’ve directed television commercials, led broadcast strategy for one of Australia’s largest organisations, built brands and businesses and guided people through profound personal change.

Across these very different worlds, I began to notice the same thing:

People weren’t transformed by more information. They were transformed by new experiences.

Experience challenges what we already believe. It gives us new information about ourselves, creates new meaning and can change what we believe is possible.

Every experience becomes part of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.

And sometimes, when that story no longer reflects who we are becoming, we find ourselves asking:

“Who am I now?”

That question sits at the heart of my work today.

The 7 Essential Human Experiences®

Over time, I began to see that beneath our individual stories are seven experiences I believe are fundamental to being human: Authenticity. Belonging. Growth. Love. Meaning. Purpose. Safety. They became The 7 Essential Human Experiences®, my framework for understanding the experiences that shape our identity, relationships and the way we experience life. When these experiences are present, they help us develop the human capabilities we rely on to navigate life. When they are diminished, we can experience friction: uncertainty, disconnection, loss of confidence, lack of meaning or simply the sense that something no longer fits. The framework gives us a way to understand what may be happening beneath the surface and become more intentional about what happens next. Because becoming more human isn’t something we learn about. It’s something we experience.

My Work Today

Today, my work explores a question that is becoming increasingly important:

As technology becomes more capable, what do human beings still need to experience for themselves?

Through Making It Human®, I create conversations, keynotes, programs, workshops and experiences designed to strengthen human capabilities through experience.

Through Making Content Human, I help organisations, brands and leaders create stories people genuinely connect with.

Through Private Guidance, I work one-to-one with people navigating change, identity, meaning and purpose.

And through The Highland Woman®, I have created a community centred around meaningful human connection, conversation and shared experience.

Different expressions. One underlying belief:

Experience shapes who we are.

And as more of life becomes easier to outsource, understanding what we still need to experience for ourselves may become one of the most important questions we ask.

Scarlett

looking to grow

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