The number eighteen has always carried significance in my life. I was born on the 18th, and the number eight (八号 – Bā hào) is considered the luckiest number in Chinese culture.
Given that China has played such a significant role in my life over many years, it feels rather fitting that Oxyfen’s website went live on 18 June.
Before anything else, a heartfelt thank you to Jayde Maasdorp and the Wild Heart Design team for bringing the site to life from scratch. Your creativity, commitment and hard work are deeply appreciated. From small beginnings come exciting possibilities.
The genesis of what we hope will become a trusted and meaningful brand belongs largely to my co-founder, Naomi Holdt.
One day, while we were discussing our vision for helping organisations thrive, Naomi was trying to articulate the idea that we wanted to breathe oxygen into companies. In the process, she made a rare parapraxis – what Freud would have called a Freudian slip – and said “Oxyfen” instead of “Oxygen”.
Just one letter different. But sometimes one letter changes everything.
We both loved it immediately. The name felt alive. It felt as though it had been waiting to be discovered.
As swimmers, the connection felt even more profound.
Naomi is sleek, strong and fast in the water.
I, on the other hand, possess the frame of a retired rugby player and the aquatic grace of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. If you’ve ever watched a Staffordshire Bull Terrier swim, you’ll understand that “practising drowning” is not an entirely unfair description.
Around that same time, I learned something fascinating from a swimming article. When we feel the urgent need to breathe, it is not because we are running out of oxygen.
The sensation is largely driven by rising carbon dioxide levels in the body. The need to expel carbon dioxide creates the reflex that draws fresh oxygen in.
That idea stayed with me.
A fen is a type of wetland, often grouped with bogs, swamps and peatlands. They are rich in carbon and can sometimes be a little earthy and aromatic.
Yet beneath the surface, fen water is often remarkably pure. Peat-rich soils also happen to produce some of the world’s finest whisky – at least in my admittedly biased opinion.
Our visual brains immediately connected the dots.
Many organisations do not need more ideas, more initiatives or more pressure. Often, they first need space to release what is no longer serving them. The confusion. The misalignment.
The communication breakdowns. The unresolved tensions. The accumulated carbon dioxide.
Only then can fresh oxygen enter.
That became the essence of Oxyfen.
Helping leaders and organisations identify what is constraining them, release what no longer serves them, and create the conditions for new energy, clarity and growth.
Our work is rarely about providing pre-packaged solutions. In fact, one of the greatest challenges in explaining what we do is that there is no template.
Every organisation is different.
Every leadership team is different.
Every challenge is different.
We do not arrive with a cookie-cutter process or a rigid methodology. Instead, we arrive with curiosity, experience, insight and a commitment to discovering what is truly happening beneath the surface.
Because every organisation has two lives.
The one we can see. And the one we have yet to discover.
That is where the real work begins.
It is also why we are so grateful to the organisations and leaders who have trusted us. Many have partnered with us before knowing exactly what the journey would look like. They trusted that together we would uncover something valuable, meaningful and worthwhile.
And we have.
One conversation at a time.
One insight at a time.
One breakthrough at a time.
I am reminded of a conversation we had with a highly accomplished entrepreneur and CEO – a man who had built multiple successful businesses and whose impact extended far beyond the organisations he led.
After listening to us describe our vision, he smiled and said:
“John, I would probably engage a seasoned business operator like you, or a highly qualified psychologist like Naomi. But together, I think you’re onto something very special.”
His words stayed with me.
Because Oxyfen is not simply about Naomi or me.
It is about the synergy that emerges when different perspectives meet.
It is about combining organisational experience with psychology, leadership with neuroscience, strategy with human behaviour.
Most importantly, it is about the courageous leaders who are willing to say:
“Let’s discover. Let’s learn. Let’s understand. And let’s do so without fear.”
Today is a proud day for our small but determined company.
Our website is live, the journey is only beginning, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has chosen to walk part of that journey with us.
Thank you for reading.
John & Naomi