“I would like everybody in their lives if they can, to enter the venture field. And the venture field is positive. It’s expansive. It’s very green. It’s nature. It’s probably where your potential can be unleashed, where it can be elevated’”
Meet Phil Banfield; who founded VentureField® in 2008. Self-described worldwide roamer, thinker, reflector and deliverer of wisdom Phil steps back in time to share stories from his childhood in south-east London suburbia, his life-changing trip to Zimbabwe as a geology student, and early career in FMCG organisations.
From the summit of Snowdon and North Downs, Phil Banfield tells tales from the trails of his outdoor coaching work through the experiential programmes; ‘always outside’ coaching, ‘the journey’, ‘the mountain’ and ‘my mountain’ each with a unique approach.
Listen in to discover his life-long deep affinity for trees, the essential skill of navigation to locate oneself in the landscape and foster neurological connections, and gain an insight into his clients experiences – plus a library of useful resources!
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Our guest
Phil is a seasoned leader leveraging a career having led commercial teams in a range of businesses from corporate multinationals, to founder led start-ups and SMEs, PE funds backed businesses and international entrants in the UK.
Phil has extensive commercial leadership experience across many different sectors including FMCG, retail, publishing, biosciences, insurance, banking, medical devices and eco-energy.
Phil’s areas of focus are leadership and commercial strategy, he regularly facilitates and leads strategy, business planning and commercial learning, development and leadership programmes for companies across the world.
Phil is passionate about elevating the performance of people and businesses and specialises in transformative strategies that uses his scientific, legal and business background to uses rigour coupled with creativity to support businesses to develop insights and emergent strategies for success at the intersection of business insights and human capability potential.
Phil believes in that experiential validation boosts confidence and capability, he is an expert facilitator and coach and leads inclusive experiences that use the great outdoors, adventure and nature connection as a framework for encouraging ‘outside-the-box’ thinking, ‘outside-the-norm’ solutions, and ‘outside-the-comfort-zone’ actions.
He advocates for leadership rooted in self-discovery, strategic judgment and adaptability. Grounded in pragmatism Phil enables leaders to not just respond to change but to anticipate it, optimise skills in strategic problem-solving, collaboration, and decision-making. Phil amplifies leadership capabilities, cultivating cultures of innovation and driving commercial excellence.
Phil is a Summer Mountain Leader and a North Downs Ambassador and has travelled all over the world on various adventures including several months living in the Zimbabwean bush working as a geologist mapping a gold prospect. Phil can regularly be found leading and guiding hiking groups in Snowdonia, The Lake District, The North and South Downs and Norway.
Contact details & Resources
The Secret Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
Adventure Revolution, Belinda Kirk
Mountains of The Mind, Robert MacFarlane
A Year in the Woods: The Diary of a Forest Ranger, Colin Elford
Danny the Champion of the world, Roald Dahl
A Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs, Tristian Gooley
Wild Service – Why Nature Needs You, Nick Hayes