25 Years of TetraMap: Growing a
Global Forest
25 Years of TetraMap: Growing a Global Forest
Twenty-five years ago, Jon and Yoshimi Brett created something simple yet profound: a way of seeing people that honours difference as design, not defect. What began as a metaphor rooted in nature has grown into a global movement, touching one million lives across 45 countries.
A Nature-Based Vision
TetraMap is a way of understanding the nature of behaviour itself. Using the tetrahedron, nature’s strongest and most stable structure, it reveals HOW relationships emerge and evolve in any living system: in people, teams, organizations, and ecosystems.
TetraMap shows us that diversity is how nature creates strength. When different elements work together, they create something greater than the sum of their parts. It’s about seeing ourselves AS nature, not separate from it. The same principles that create healthy ecosystems create healthy human systems.
This philosophy is distilled in one simple formula: Diversity + Interdependence = Synergy.
Or put more simply: 1+1=4.
Our Founders’ Mentality
Jon and Yoshimi Brett have always been focused on the interdependence between people and planet, inspired particularly by the work of Richard Buckminster Fuller. Their East/West partnership and love for each other have continued to grow and evolve over four decades.
Jon reflects: “Yoshimi and I created TetraMap as a metaphor for the nature of behaviour to help people discover for themselves HOW people are different. It is a simple tool which also applies to the behaviour of systems and can help us develop eco-centric approaches mimicking the emergent evolution of Nature.”
Yoshimi shares: “Alongside Jon, I co-created TetraMap. Now ‘retired’…we’re thrilled to have the space to crystallize lessons learned from TetraMap and to apply those lessons in support of Nature. Our intentions are to help leaders embrace the mindset that we ARE Nature. When we heal Nature, we heal ourselves.”
What Made TetraMap Spread
From the beginning, Jon and Yoshimi created more than a product—they created a system that could grow organically. An engaging learning experience. Simple and elegant resources. A framework that could be systematized and replicated while maintaining its integrity.
This approach, guided by experiential learning pedagogy —make it simple, make it engaging, make it relevant, make it enjoyable—has led to thousands of Certified TetraMap Facilitators carrying this work into communities, organizations, and classrooms worldwide.
Roots That Run Deep
TetraMap has flourished because of lasting relationships and committed partners who have helped it grow across cultures and contexts.
Since our founding days, we acknowledge Kataraina Pipi, who has shared indigenous wisdom from the Māori world of Aotearoa New Zealand, gifting us with perspectives that deepen our understanding of nature, interdependence, and ancestral intelligence.
Raymond Yap Pik Hwee, whom we met in London 20 years ago, has been instrumental in developing our long-term partnership with the Singapore Armed Forces and amplifying TetraMap’s value across South East Asia. Raymond continues to show up with enthusiasm and dedication every day.
Louise Duncan’s perseverance and commitment to developing the brand and business has been essential to why TetraMap continues to shine its light. Her unique energy and presence over much of our 25 years has brought consistency, persistence, and tenacity.
To every facilitator, client, partner, and community member who has supported us, bought into our vision, and made a difference in your teams and organizations—please know each of you is a gift. You are appreciated, valued, recognized, and loved. We are deeply grateful.
Celebrating Together
In 2025, we marked this milestone by gathering our global community—in person in Berlin, London, and Singapore, and online (twice, to embrace timezones from Australasia to the UK and Europe, South East Asia, and the Americas).
Thank you if you helped organize, showed up, or contributed in small and large ways—it was amazing. Humbling to be part of, an honour to share, and collectively so proud of us all.
We cannot name every single person and client who has supported us, bought into our vision, and made a difference in your teams, organizations, and communities. Please know each of you is a gift—appreciated, valued, recognized, and loved. We are deeply grateful.
Looking Forward: The Next 25 Years
Where most organizations focus on growth, TetraMap focuses on ecosystems.
As Madelize Bekker, our Managing Director, reflected in our 25th anniversary celebration:
When Jon and Yoshimi created TetraMap, they didn’t set out to build a product. They set out to build a way of seeing people. A reminder that people are diverse by design. That difference is not something to fix or fear—but something that strengthens us.
One of the great lessons of the last 25 years is this: TetraMap grows where relationships grow.
Our Shared Vision
When we imagine TetraMap in ten, twenty, fifty years, we don’t see a big corporate organization. We see a global forest—rooted, connected, interdependent.
We see:
- Regional partners growing their own ecosystems
- Facilitators equipped and confident to make real change
- New voices, new markets, new stories of impact
- Governance shaped like a tetrahedron—strong, simple, stable
And we see TetraMap standing for something the world deeply needs: a way of leading that is relational, regenerative, and grounded in nature.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to the next 25 years of growing together.