A note from me

Mary, my artist wife, and I have just returned to our home in the beautiful city of The Hague from a break at a “happy place” for the broader family in gorgeous rural France. We spent some time there with various generations of family from my mother to our grandchildren and both new and long-standing friends. It’s hard for me to believe this, but that includes a close friend who I’ve known for somewhat more than 50 years! Where does the time go? I promise you, we had some wild reminiscences as he remembers my teenage indiscretions better than I do!

While away, one of the things I reflected on was what I see as my personal purpose in this current phase of my life after years as a corporate executive. Building from my long experience, I hope to help people and organisations make wiser decisions in the face of the radical uncertainties they are facing, including when grappling with issues of decarbonisation and energy transitions. I also reflected on the beautiful nature that surrounded me and how we want to hold on to that beauty in the face of the changes that are happening, whether that is the heat waves we experienced in France or the fires and floods that were happening elsewhere.

I am following this sense of purpose by advising various organisations already, but I’ve also become increasingly aware of how lots of individual people are grappling with all kinds of different uncertainties and might benefit from a little experience and guidance, as well as being able to learn from each other’s experiences.

So, I was inspired to start this newsletter. I hope it will help you with some fresh insights and also wise approaches that have been honed through rich experience, whether you are wrestling with national, organisational, family, or personal uncertainties. I guess we all want to flourish and build attractive and resilient pathways into the future. That’s certainly something I hope for with my family, friends and colleagues.

My Bi-Weekly Guide

The Importance of Strategic Character and How to Build It

The importance of strategic character became increasingly evident as my career progressed. So much so, that I created a mnemonic for it.

What is strategic character?

I broke it down into 5 primary characteristics remembered by this phrase:

So Heroes Can Practice Purpose

S - is for Scenario and Systems Thinking.

It’s important to consider how different choices may play out in the future and, although we can try our best, we can never be certain. Strong currents in the world always generate counter-currents and it is impossible to know in advance which will prove more powerful. That’s why you’ve got to explore multiple outcomes to make the wisest decision possible.

H - is for Humility.

It’s important to recognise that different perspectives are extremely valuable. You need to listen to, understand, and involve other people to achieve your objectives, and it’s also important to remember that decisions and outcomes will affect other people too.

Humility is about understanding that there is more to the world than I can see alone and more than just myself at the centre of attention.

C - is for Curiosity, Creativity, Courage, Confidence & Collaboration

Each of these words are self-explanatory. They’re important characteristics to build and ones that we sometimes need to be reminded of. We easily tend to let these characteristics fall by the wayside if we don’t use them and practice them.

P - Patience and Persistence

Nothing happens overnight, but a lot can happen in a few years. If you’re patient and persistent you can achieve a lot. Having a long-term time horizon is so important for making real change.

P - Purpose

If you have a sense of purpose, it motivates you to continue to work towards a greater thing. It fuels that patience and purpose because it’s so easy to get disheartened and give up if we don’t see the expected results immediately.

All five characteristics build strong strategic character.

Some may be overlooked, which can have an impact down the road. It’s important to identify team members with strategic character, as well as focus on elements you may be weak in.

Building strong strategic character can yield exponential results in the future.

By focusing on each of these characteristics, you can strengthen as an individual and build teams that make an impact. Ones with strategic character.

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:

Do you think about your legacy, and what kind of legacy would you like to leave?

Join The Dodo Club

I’m building a community and, of course, it’s called The Dodo Club.

Why? Because we all want to avoid the fate of that unfortunate bird. And by sharing some of the insights I’ve picked up over my four decade long career - including as Head of the Shell Scenarios team - I’m going to help you do exactly that.

I am building a space where we can have interesting and enlightening discussions on relevant topics that can have genuine impact.

I plan to host live, interactive seminars, run forums on relevant topics, and create a bank of materials that can be drawn from in times of uncertainty.

We’re still in the early stages of building, but if this sounds like something that might interest you, I’d be honoured if you would sign up below: