A beautifully photographed journey into Nature’s rhythms — and what they reveal about how we live, lead, relate, and leave a mark.
Drawn from the time spent in the Serengeti and from a lifetime of reflection on leadership, relationship, creativity, and legacy, Footprint invites readers to see life through the wisdom of Nature.
Through short stories, photography, and reflective passages, Tom James explores four natural rhythms — Create, Connect, Grow, and Evolve — and how they shape the way we participate in life.
Footprint is not a step-by-step guide. It is a book to be experienced: read slowly, returned to often, and held as an invitation to consider the mark we leave through our choices, relationships, and ways of leading.
“Tom James offers a thoughtful and inspiring perspective on living and leading by drawing upon the timeless wisdom found in nature. Through beautiful storytelling, stunning photography, and profound reflection, he reminds us that leadership is not merely about achieving results, but about the legacy we create through our relationships, our choices, and the lives we touch. This is a wonderful book to be experienced as much as read, and its lessons will stay with you long after you turn the final page.”
— Stephen M. R. Covey
New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Speed of Trust and Trust & Inspire”
Footprint was created with space to breathe.
It’s short stories and reflective passages allows readers to move through the book in a way that feels spacious rather than rushed. The photographs are not decoration. They are part of the rhythm of the book — visual resting places that invite the reader to see, imagine, and feel the living world behind the words.
The result is a book that can be read from the beginning to end, opened at a single story, given as a meaningful gift, or returned to when a particular image, question, or reflection calls the reader back.
The Four Rhythms of Footprint
Footprint is shaped around four movements found in Nature and in human life:
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— how new realities begin.
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— how life is held in relationships
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— how capacity develops through rhythm and season.
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— how life continues to unfold, release, renew, and leave a legacy.
These rhythms are not steps to follow. They are patterns to notice — within Nature, within leadership, within creativity, and within everyday life.
Who Footprint May Speak To
Footprint may speak to readers who are drawn to Nature, story, photography, reflection, leadership, creativity, and legacy.
It is for thoughtful leaders asking what kind of conditions they are creating.
It is for artists and creative people who understand that timing, attention, vulnerability, and emergence are part of making anything meaningful.
It is for readers navigating questions of purpose, relationship, growth, change, and what they hope to leave behind.
It is also a meaningful gift for mentors, colleagues, teams, graduates, retirees, and anyone standing at a threshold in life or leadership.
Tom James brings more than forty years of leadership, entrepreneurship, and organizational experience to Footprint. As CEO of Opus Art Supplies, and through decades of working with leaders and creative communities, he has become deeply interested in the living patterns that shape people, organizations, and the world around us.
Footprint begins that experience together with story, photography, and reflection from the Serengeti.
