I Was Named a Top Thinker in My Field. I Quit it All to Become a Nomad

For years, I rode the wave of corporate success. The stages were big, the applause was constant, and the accolades seemed to stack up endlessly.
My obsession with workplace experience and corporate culture led to the label “Mr. Employee Experience,” being applied to me—a title that catapulted me to international stages and boardrooms. My books, talks, and ideas on employee experience made an impact globally, positioning me as a thought leader in the field. To most, I’d made it. But that’s only part of the story.
What most people don’t know is that, in the middle of the whirlwind, I hit a wall. I still remember the period of time that rocked me, and it just so happened to be one of the most successful periods of my career. In 2021, I was recognized by Thinkers50—dubbed the “Oscars of Management Thinking” by The Financial Times as one of the world’s top emerging management thinkers. I was also a finalist for the Distinguished Achievement Award, which was won by Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix.
I’d finally broken through as a top management thinker, and then finally, I started to get some recognition from my chosen profession—human resources—after being named one of HR’s Most Influential Thinkers by HR Magazine with the awards taking place at one of the most famous historical buildings in the world, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, U.K.
Yet, all of this felt like something of a culmination of a journey—an ending of sorts. Instead of trying to shake this feeling off, I embraced it and the feeling only intensified. Is this it? I wondered. It wasn’t burnout. It was something much harder to articulate: I’d outgrown my own story.
In that moment, I realized I needed to step away, not just from the high-profile events, but from the entire structure my life was built on. I needed freedom—not the kind you read about in books, but the kind where every day could bring a completely new horizon.
So, I began dismantling the life I’d built. I gave up a lot of things including my job and apartment in 2017, donated my suits, let go of possessions I once thought I couldn’t live without, and started my own business in 2018. I wanted to see what was left when I stripped away the symbols of “success.” I wanted to see who I really was.
This was the first spark of the freedom and autonomy I was seeking, and it progressed to a complete life redesign. After giving away my rented apartment, I opted to invest money in an alternative lifestyle rather than buy a conventional house.
At first, going nomadic felt like leaping off a cliff. There were no boardrooms, no carefully curated agendas, no standing ovations. Just me and the vastness of the unknown. I started to work from everywhere including remote places where Wi-Fi was a luxury and meetings didn’t exist.
As a nomad, I believe freedom, adventure and community are all important elements of a positive lifestyle. A typical day will involve movement, meditation, some form of exercise, work on my core business—as well as speaking, coaching, researching and writing about the employee/human experience, time spent working in nature forestry, social time with friends/family—and enjoying all the moments that this simple/minimalist existence brings.
I found something I’d lost—an appreciation for unfiltered human connection, and importantly, the great beauty of life. Sitting atop a mountain, simply being, and immersed in peace was a joyous experience. It felt more real than anything I’d ever done and was something I wanted to deeply design into my life. My connection to the planet and to nature was restored, and this only resulted in an ever-deepening set of questions about the human experience.
What struck me was that I hadn’t abandoned my purpose, I’d just found a new way to live it. I still continued my work and to follow my mission of helping companies create positive employee experiences, but the delivery focused to high impact speeches and coaching via in-person and virtual methods rather than the constant 9-to-5 hamster wheel. This enabled me to truly embrace the experience of existence without fixing myself to any one physical location, and it worked.
Leaving my career trajectory wasn’t about walking away from success, it was about finding a definition of success that felt right for me. My days of chasing rainbows were over—I was the rainbow. This new life isn’t about renouncing my past, but about blending it with experiences that go far beyond any corporate role. I’m no longer just “Mr. Employee Experience.” Now, I’m a nomadic soul, a wanderer, fully at home on the open road. This is who I was always meant to be, and incidentally, this simple life is what helps me deliver even more impact in the world.
Now, I spend my time moving between and beyond three countries: Wales, England and France in my van. In the warmer seasons, the modes change as I am often found camping in hammocks, car roof tents, and all manner of nomadic residences. For me, it’s been the most fulfilling season of life so far.
So, here I am, somewhere on a road that’s always changing. The accolades may well be a thing of the past, but I’ve discovered something far richer: the freedom to live on my own terms, and most importantly, to enjoy the human experience.
Ben Whitter is the author behind the acclaimed Employee Experience trilogy, which includes Employee Experience (2019), Human Experience at Work (2021), and Employee Experience Strategy (2023). His thought leadership has been featured by The Times, The Telegraph, BBC, Forbes, The Financial Times, and The Economist. Ben is widely recognized for his groundbreaking research on employee experience (EX), and shares his expertise through executive coaching.
All views expressed are the author’s own.
Do you have a unique experience or personal story to share? See our Reader Submissions Guide and then email the My Turn team at [email protected].