5 leadership lessons from National Geographic's former Chief Science and Exploration Officer on building a culture that backs bold ideas.
For 17 years, Terry Garcia oversaw the National Geographic Society's global science, exploration, conservation and education work — backing hundreds of researchers, explorers and filmmakers every year. What he built wasn't just a grants program. It was a culture that consistently chose curiosity and persistence over safety, and it holds real lessons for any leader trying to build an organisation that innovates rather than just maintains.
Garcia came to think of National Geographic's role as a form of venture capital for science and exploration. Instead of funding only safe, incremental work, he looked for people who were consumed by a question or mission and willing to keep going despite uncertainty — the same instinct venture investors apply to founders, just pointed at scientists and explorers instead of startups.
That mindset was shaped by his own path. Garcia spent years as a lawyer and government official before joining National Geographic, and he has said that professional achievement alone never gave him the sense of contribution he was after. Building a culture of exploration, for him, started with modelling it in his own career.