According to the Daoist philosophy, out of which the expressions ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ come, health and happiness occur when masculine and feminine qualities are given equal value and expression. This is as true within ourselves as within our organizations and within society as a whole. Indeed, the Daoists would say that this yin-yang balance is written into the DNA of the universe as whole.

When this fundamental complementarity of yin and yang is pulled out of balance, the result is dysfunction of some kind – hence terms such as ‘toxic masculinity’. One way of interpreting burn-out, for example, is an imbalance of yin and yang in a person’s life.

The basic quality of yin is connection, the basic quality of yang is agency; exaggerated yin leads to stagnancy, exaggerated yang leads to recklessness. But there are many other fascinating qualities on each side: and through exploring these qualities, one soon sees that gender is only a very approximate manifestation of yin and yang, and in fact men, women and non-binary genders always contain a mixture of both forces to differing degrees.

Organizations, as in western society as a whole, have tended historically to favor yang qualities: growth, figures, competition, control and hierarchy. Recent developments show how yin qualities of care, community, and meaning, are beginning to re-assert themselves. Nature, of which we are a part, will always seek to redress any yin-yang imbalance.

My job is to help individuals and organizations to understand where things are out of balance in terms of yin and yang and how to create a new balance.

Why is pleasure important at work?
What stops people having pleasure at work?
How can an organization build a pleasure-affirmative culture?
Pleasure is often contrasted with work: “work first then play”.
Given the right conditions work can we one of the greatest sources of soul pleasure available to us.

The goal of this keynote is dispel the notion that pleasure-seeking is ‘selfish’. Serving others brings a specific, deep form of soul pleasure.
Charity and philanthropy tend to be associated with guilt, duty and self-sacrifice. This keynote reframe common understanding of giving and educates people in how to use our privileges wisely and pleasurably.

General talk on role of pleasure in our lives, explanation of typology, and how to apply discipline to the pursuit of pleasure. This talk is suitable for people from all walks of life – mixture of didactic and self-help. Especially relevant to Belgian culture which tends to put duty and routine well before pleasure.

When somebody gets a burn-out, one of the worst effects is the absence of pleasure in our lives, both at work and at home. We do and do, run and run, but we never feel satisfied. Our whole cycle of stimulus and satisfaction is disrupted. Burn-out’s little ugly sister 'bore-out' is similar. James Bampfield focuses in his keynote on how to bring back pleasure and satisfaction as a goal, rather than performance of duty. James helps break unwanted patterns of behaviour and also educates people in the simple pleasures of life that have often got lost in the rat-race.