A note from me

Hi Folks,

I’m glad to be able to tell you that I am well on the path to healing following the medical treatment I have been having. Unfortunately for you, this does mean that I’ll begin again the tradition of including a short video clip with this Newsletter!

Mary and I went twice to the cinema this weekend. We saw, Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh on Saturday and on Sunday watched Mickey 17 directed by Bong Joon Ho.  

I have to tell the truth, neither is enjoyable. The first, however, had me thinking long afterwards about what the director was aiming at and why the characters might be the way they are. The central character is a frightened, angry and unpleasant woman who judges and criticises everything, probably has some form of mental illness, and whose behaviour stimulates reactions that just make things more unpleasant for her. She is in a prison of her own making. The film is bleak, but it succeeds in creating a recognisably real world. 

I found Mickey 17 disappointing. It is a sci-fi, action, political satire with a potentially interesting premise and mish-mash of genres. The director gets away with this in his previous films, Parasite and Snowpiercer but to me it feels rather silly here and doesn’t really work, and there is no real engagement with any character.

We also went to a fund-raiser for the gorgeous Mauritshuis art museum in The Hague and listened to some interesting talks and chatted with friends while enjoying a walking dinner and wine. We are already donors to the Mauritshuis but they are seeking extra funding to expand their educational, research and scientific work as well as their community outreach programs. As with most art museums, the popular image is of an elitist institution for the privileged but, in fact, the current directors are mainly focused on using beauty to inform and inspire people across society and to train and show young people that there are accessible careers in the art history world. 

I was reminded of how my own good fortune is substantially a result of kindness and support when I was young from a few people in institutional settings. I scarcely appreciated this at the time but, looking back, I recognise it now.  In different ways, I also now try to support efforts that are life-transforming for at least some young people from less privileged backgrounds. So, I guess, some more changes in our future financial arrangements will result. 

The Mauritshuis has been an important feature in Mary’s life and I genuinely admire what the artistic and business directors, Martine and Arnoud, are trying to achieve and how hard they must have worked with their Board to support the direction they are taking. They are trying to ensure that it flourishes as a public good for as many people as possible.

This Newsletter builds on threads we have explored previously and also begins to consider how this kind of thinking may help us in building a better life for people with a healthy planet despite the current socio-political disruptions across the world. I hope you continue to find these Newsletters enjoyable and that they help you enrich your own personal or organisational perspectives.

I am also pleased to announce that the Dodo Club Online Course is now also available on Udemy. The course covers scenario/systems thinking for grappling with uncertainty, an introduction to energy transitions, and the development of strategic character in leadership. My hope is to make it accessible for all those looking to take active steps to improve their personal understanding of these issues.

You can find the link to access the course at the bottom of this Newsletter or through the link attached below:

The Dodo Club Online Course

My Bi-Weekly Guide

5 Building Blocks for Building a Better Communal Life (and Art)

Our last several Newsletters have considered Common Goods, which are surely the platform for a better life for people with a healthy planet. However, a drift towards neglecting these, or taking them for granted, is currently apparent in many societies. The self-reinforcing politics of resentment, fear and frustration was highlighted in Newsletter 25 along with the continuous investments that are needed to prevent recurring outbreaks.

Politically, some people will disagree with me and I will disagree with them, and that is part of a healthy socio-political process as long as there is respect for others and a willingness to engage in civil deliberation.  The significance of conflicting views and self-interests was thoroughly recognised by, for example, the framers of the US Constitution as explored in Newsletter 34. The challenge of the growing politics of resentment is that it becomes corrosive to a healthy socio-political process and provokes a very narrow conception of self-interests and a “zero-sum” mentality that undermines the maintenance and development of common or public goods.

In this Newsletter, we will draw on themes explored in previous Newsletters addressing Common Goods, Resilience, and Collaboration to reflect on what needs to be considered by those of us who wish to see circumstances that can build a better life for people with a healthy planet.  

This may appear to be a Utopian dream and yet, if you think about it, many of us already take for granted a material quality of life that would have been unimaginable for almost everybody in the world just a couple of hundred years ago. The interactions of technological development and societal collaboration have made this possible.  There may still be much poverty in the world but this is decreasing and we have the ability to maintain a decent quality of life for growing billions of people.

By now, folks will be aware of my interest in Art History, and this positive vision of future possibilities brought to my mind a spectacular painting in the local Mauritshuis.

This is a representation of paradise before ‘The Fall’ and portrays Adam, Eve and all creation enjoying perfectly harmonious relationships. And yet, for the viewer, there is also the note of concern triggered by the imminent sharing of the fruit that we know will precipitate the breaking of relationships and a harsh life ahead. In our day, perhaps this could represent consuming the politics of resentment and fear?

This painting dates from 1615 and is by two famous Flemish masters: Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder.  Rubens was one of the most important painters of his time. His skilfully made, colourful paintings became famous all over Europe. All the royal courts ordered work from him. He was a specialist in portraying the human form and painted Adam and Eve, the tree, the horse and the serpent. Brueghel was responsible for the overall composition and provided his specialities -  the plants and animals. Their collaboration created a painting of great beauty that we can all still enjoy hundreds of years after its creation.

We are now in a difficult world at a difficult time of fierce volatility and disruption.  Violent, highly-industrialised conflict is occurring in Ukraine and Gaza (e.g. see the Gaza Special Newsletter), and both international and domestic governance relationships have been thrown into turmoil by the newly elected and powerful President of the United States and his team.

Both supporters and opponents of the President’s actions would at least agree that change in the world is necessary. Some years ago I captured my insights of relevance to this in a “Dynamics of Change” model that I find helpful. This 3-layered model builds from a description of the basic underlying dynamics up to the inhibiting factors and then finally the facilitating factors that can unleash deep-rooted change. We will explore different aspects of this model in more detail in subsequent newsletters but it is helpful to start with a summary of the main factors I believe are crucial building blocks for change that can bring a better communal life. These reflect themes of Common Goods, Resilience and Collaboration from some earlier Newsletters.

The following 5 factors appear essential for enabling constructive change:

1. Pluralism
   Different parties will inevitably begin by holding different views on even what needs to be changed, never mind what actions will be best suited to achieve it.  If change is to be widespread and deeply rooted, then an effective process is needed to respect and engage different views and deliver sufficiently aligned support for effective action.  As noted in Newsletter 34, political process is more important than individual outcomes and the strength of a consensus is directly related to the breadth of representation and the depth of deliberation.  The significance of pluralism was also highlighted in our summary of Elinor Ostrom’s insights into managing common pool resources (Newsletter 35), in the mindsets identified for initiating transformative collaborations (Newsletter 37), and in actively celebrating diversity as a constraint on the politics of resentment and fear (Newsletter 25).  

2. Innovation
   For change to happen, obviously something needs to be different. This may be a technological development, or a business model development, or a socio-political development, but something “new” will always be an element of change and this needs to be generated somehow and somewhere.  Having processes that generate innovation and experimentation are important building blocks for change as noted in our consideration of Transformative Resilience in Newsletter 31 and the Collaboration Pipeline in Newsletter 7. 

3. Realistic Optimism
   It is human nature to be anxious about changes and, additionally, change generally involves a period of disruption when things may get worse before they get better.  A realistic degree of optimism needs to be cultivated to maintain the patience and perseverance necessary for achieving desirable outcomes.  Quick wins can make an important contribution to this, e.g. see Newsletter 12.  It is important for the optimism to be realistic, however, and for people to be nothing other than brutally realistic about the existing situation.  This could be described as embracing the “Stockdale Paradox” as also described in Newsletter 12 and mentioned in the Gaza Special Newsletter.

4. Fairness
   A sense of injustice can be one of the most powerful drivers of human behaviour, leading to deep resistance to any changes that are perceived to be unfair.  The significance of arrangements and sanctions that are perceived as fair is a central pillar in the principles highlighted by Elinor Ostrom for the self-management of common pool resources (Newsletter 35).  As highlighted in Newsletter 36, inequalities in wealth that are perceived to be unfair have a huge impact on social fragmentation and the willingness of people to participate in delivering and maintaining common goods.

5. Learning and Future Orientations
   The backdrop to each of the factors highlighted above is a set of orientations  - an openness to, and encouragement of, learning, a willingness to embrace improved narratives, and caring about the conditions of others as well as yourself, now and in the future. The importance of these types of orientations have been highlighted in several previous Newsletters e.g. on Transformative Resilience Newsletter 31 , Anti-fragility Newsletter 32 , the Learning Ethos Newsletter 27, and the Gaza Special Newsletter. 
   

These orientations and building blocks need to embedded in collective activities with broad support. Many of these orientations, however, can also be related to the five personality traits that have been found to be deeply rooted in the psychology of individuals, such as “Agreeableness” and “Openness”. Support for these orientations will, therefore, vary across populations. Collectively, we need to recognise that people can have significantly different personalities and society must still function as effectively as possible in the face of this diversity. As noted previously, “Pluralism” is also an essential building block for constructive change.  

Higher “agreeableness” brings greater empathy for others and future generations so better supports change that benefits communal living, while people with lower “agreeableness” have a narrower short-term focus on their individual self-interests.   As a personality trait, “agreeableness” is not completely fixed but has a degree of malleability and can shift to an extent according to experience.  Living through difficulty and experiencing the kindness of others can, for example, increase the trait.  Hence, there is the potential for positive reinforcement – a “kind” society encourages greater “agreeableness” in individuals which generates more empathy and acts of kindness.  Conversely, the opposite trend can be amplified as society and individuals become more cold or cruel. 

To me, this insight is yet another reason for resisting the drift towards the politics of resentment, frustration and fear.

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 have examples of significant constructive social change that exhibit the significance of the 5 building blocks for facilitating/enabling change highlighted here?  Are there other building blocks you believe that have not been covered?

The Dodo Club Online Course

The Dodo Club is Waiting!

The Dodo Club is my online course which has been built for collaboration, learning and mutual support.

In the interest of avoiding the fate of that unfortunate bird, the Dodo, this course aims to help us secure our own personal legacies within scenario planning and the energy transition - and to leave a healthier planet for future generations.

You can access the course through Udemy using the link below!

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