Strategy That Begins with Place
Roots & Futures works at the intersection of people, systems and decision-making.
We support organisations to strengthen their strategy, clarify direction and design future-ready change — rooted in local context, lived experience and long-term responsibility.
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Place Nutrition™
Leadership & Decision Making
Future Thinking
Collaboration & Facilitation
Led by experience,
not abstraction.
Roots & Futures is founded by Lauren Thompson, a place-first strategist with internal government and private sector consulting expertise working across the East Midlands.
Lauren brings together strategic thinking, ability to naturally convene and deep government insight that supports organisations to navigate complexity with clarity, care and confidence. Working closely with leaders looking to reinvigorate tired strategies, she focuses on taking an organisation from vision to action within 100 days to make the desired positive impact.
Her work focuses on human-centred strategy bringing place, sustainability and people to the forefront of classic strategy design to prevent communities from being left behind by government and business.
Lauren is the creator of the Place Nutrition™ framework and is building “The Common”, an approach to deliberative democracy that uses art and music as the primary feedback mechanism.
Photo by Colin Park, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph Britain and Ireland / Wikimedia Commons
Who We
Work With
Roots & Futures works with organisations and leaders who value depth, integrity and long-term thinking.
This includes:
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Government and Public Sector bodies
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Businesses across the Midlands
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Leaders and Place Specialists
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Artists and Makers across the East Midlands
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Join us.
Get involved.
ONLINE ∙ FREE
14TH APRIL 2026 ∙ 6PM
Having Your Voice Heard as a
Citizen of Derby and Derbyshire
Join Roots & Futures to help co-create a framework for real citizen engagement and deliberative democracy across the region.
Join us online to share your thoughts and shape the future of Derby and Derbyshire!
SEPTEMBER 2026
LEADERSHIP COURSE
100 Day Strategy Spark Leadership
Course
Lauren Thompson's signature course for leaders navigating their first 100 days, a strategic reset, or growth. Places now forming.
MARCH 2027
EXCLUSIVE RETREAT
Executive Leadership & Investor
Retreat - Derbyshire
An exclusive retreat for executive leaders and investors set in Derbyshire.
More details to be announced.
Join the waitlist to be the first to know.
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