A note from me

I am recharging my personal batteries at the moment. 

I really needed this break because, as well as stepping up the capabilities and scope of the Dodo Club, including the hosting of weekly webinars, I’ve been hard at work at the World Energy Congress! And of course, following Everton on TV as they finally secured their continued Premier League status for next season has required a lot of my energy! Recently, this included a most unexpected, yet deserved, victory over mighty local rivals Liverpool. 

I also had the pleasure and privilege of being the featured guest at a Science Symposium at the school of my elder grandson. It’s quite something to be trusted by offspring from another generation to make a contribution in their world, which will be judged by folks of immediate significance to them. Rather than giving a straight talk, I arranged this so that we had, together, a “Conversation on Climate, Energy and Science”. He is a remarkably mature and smart young man and, from the feedback, the event seemed to have gone very well.  I include a “proud Grandad” picture of the two of us on stage below.  

Many people at the Symposium came up to me afterwards to say they had  enjoyed our conversation. I hope that those of you who have signed up to be active members of the Dodo Club are also beginning to enjoy our conversations as they grow through our weekly webinars, and that many more readers of the Newsletter will feel encouraged to join in as well.

My Bi-Weekly Guide

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Reflections on the Development of our Dodo Community:

To build something meaningful generally takes time, which is why Patience and Persistence have been highlighted as important factors of strategic character described in previous Newsletters. Active Club membership is growing steadily, the webinar series has been initiated and the first online Course is available. There is still a long way to go but I am hopeful that this growth will continue over the coming months because the value of our interpersonal connections and the potential to generate new insights will both grow exponentially with the number of people involved.  

There are some 800 people already signed up for the free Newsletter and hence excited by the topics we engage with together, and my hope is that we will continue to excite people to dive deeper through signing up for full membership. Early members have a particular opportunity to shape where we take this community.

I have been asked about subscriptions and, to tell the truth, the current aim is simply to make the Club sustainable through covering the ongoing costs of setting things up, administering activities and paying for the platforms.  

One of the features of building strong communities highlighted in the last Newsletter was “Feedback”. Over 150 Newsletter readers have given feedback indicating what they hope the Club will cover and provide them. There is a high degree of commonality in responses, which is also wonderful as “Commonality” is one of the characteristics of strong relationships highlighted two Newsletters ago on Developing Community.  We seem to have some strong foundations to build our Club upon.

The top 5 themes highlighted in the Feedback are:

1. Scenario Practice:
   Plenty of people have some limited experience with scenario practice but a lot would like to benefit not only from my own long experience but also the experience of others. Along with the discussions we can have on the webinars and Round Tables, the intention is to provide 3 Streams of online courses, one of which will be focused on Scenario Thinking and Practice. The Foundation course that is already available online is entitled “Introduction: Scenario/Strategic Thinking and Energy Transitions” and is a good resource to get started with.
   

2. Leadership:
   Many members of the Club will have experience of leadership in their professional and personal lives, and the privileges, responsibilities and challenges that brings. They will have seen both good and poor examples of leadership we can all learn from. I bring to the party my experience as a member of the senior executive group of Shell for over 20 years, leading a European Commission High-level Advisory Group, Chairing a Theatre Group and now a broad portfolio of positions. Strategic Leadership is also one of the planned streams of the online courses, and the Introductory course is also a good place to start.
   

3. Energy Transitions:
   This is clearly one of the most significant topics of our age, with growth in energy services required to enable a decent material quality of life for a growing number of people in the world, and a dramatic shift from fossil fuels required to maintain a healthy planet. Techno-economically we know what is required for this, but our socio-political and business mechanisms are currently inadequate to coordinate and align the necessary actions. This topic has been at the centre of my radar screen for more than two decades and, again, the Club webinars and introductory course will be a good way to dive deeper into this topic.
   

4. Mutual Learning:
   It is a core intention to develop our Club as a learning community. The Newsletters, webinars, Roundtables, Masterclasses and Courses are all geared towards this. From a business perspective, one of my illustrious predecessors in Shell, Arie de Geus, pointed out that “The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage”. But there will be a much broader approach to learning than just the business perspective.
   

5. Open and diverse discussions:
   The shift from passive reading of the Newsletters to active participation in the club will bring ever-increasing opportunities to participate in discussions as membership expands.  The online platform for the Club has been designed for this.  As a starting point, while individual webinars will evolve according to the inputs from participants, this week’s and next week’s webinars will kick off with discussion of practical scenario practices and re-perceiving energy transitions.

Question of The Fortnight

Every fortnight I’ll be asking a thought-provoking question in hopes of sparking interesting and enlightening discussion.

I’d love to hear your response! You can do so by simply responding to this email.

Today’s question is:

What are some of your favourite online learning resources?

Join The Dodo Club

The Dodo Club is officially live and if you join today you get 20% off!!!

This is a space for collaboration, learning and mutual support; and I would love to see you there.

In the interest of avoiding the fate of that unfortunate bird, the dodo, this community aims to help us secure our legacies and to leave a better planet for future generations.

Dodo Clubbers will have access to weekly webinars, our community resource hub, weekly themed discussions, and Q&A sessions. Once in the community, members can access roundtable discussions mediated by, original learning material, and 1 on 1 coaching sessions with myself.

To be a part of the discussion and to have your voice heard, please join the community through the button below.