A note from me

Hi Folks,

It’s been a couple of “bitty” weeks since I wrote the last Newsletter, so it’s difficult to decide what might interest you.  

I’ve been working, of course, with bits and pieces focused on different elements of my portfolio aimed at promoting better lives with a healthy planet, enabled by collective actions and driven by well-targeted commercial engines. For example, working with Windward, an innovative UK renewable energy company, and also supporting a really significant supply chain initiative from WBCSD (the World Business Council for Sustainable Development). I profoundly hope that this will help join up the dots from end-use activities (where the costs associated with purchasing sustainable goods are very modest) to upstream industries (where the major investments are required). We need to align the incentives and financial flows to motivate these investments.

Then there’s been the Arts. We went to a really fascinating lecture at the Bredius Museum in The Hague given by Dutch artist Jelle van de Ridder. This considered seventeenth-century art from the perspective of actual painting practice. Following deep research, he had reconstructed Gerard Dou's lost triptych “The Nursery” using the techniques of the day and the artistic approaches of the era. It was a unique lecture 'through the eyes of an artist', and helped us improve our Dutch as well as our minds!  

Spotlighting a different art, I went to a brilliant concert given by a Fleetwood Mac tribute band. It was a real reminder of the power of music and memory to stir the heart. Many researchers now believe the production of sound and communal music preceded the development of speech in human evolution and so it can reach us at a very deep level in our psyches. For my own part, I sometimes find that music, together with snatches of remembered lyrics, can be very emotionally moving and unifying with others. What about you? Perhaps this relates also to the value and power of integrating the different ways our brains attend to the world around us as explored in the fascinating book “The Master and His Emissary” by Iain McGilchrist?

This Newsletter continues to build on threads we have explored previously that aim to help you build a better life for yourself and the people around you 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 remind you that the Dodo Club Online Course is now also available on the Udemy platform. 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 Considerations for Enabling Change (and Art)

This Newsletter is being written during Easter Weekend, one of the great celebrations in the Christian calendar. It reminds us of the possibility of transformation and new life even after the darkest days and traumas, which nicely complements our current explorations of the dynamics of change. It also reminded me of seeing a beautiful painting by Fra Angelico, reproduced below, depicting the moment when Mary Magdalene first recognises that Jesus has arisen from the tomb.

This is an early Renaissance fresco at the Monastery of San Marco in Florence, Italy, which I was privileged to visit with Mary last year. It is so moving to view the many wall paintings there intended to inspire and guide the community. There are stunning works by Fra Angelico, himself a monk, most painted in individual cells for the contemplation of a single occupant. This painting is made in the form of a window for the monk to  “look through” at the wonders beyond.  

Just now, the news that Pope Francis has passed away is hitting the headlines. It is poignant that he was still able to give his traditional Easter blessing to the world just a day before his passing. I am not a Catholic and, indeed, have become suspicious of the abuses of power that often accompany religious institutions. However, this pope appears to have been a very authentic and humble man who has initiated some much-needed reforms within the Catholic church and has tried to reinvigorate its social mission. In this troubled world, he will be missed by many.

Indeed, in the previous three Newsletters, I have also noted that most people currently sense a need for change at many levels in our increasingly troubled world. In the second of these Newsletters, we focused on the simple system underlying the dynamics of change in which a gap between where you are and where you want to be sets in train a series of emotions and activities that close the gap. 

The reality, however, is that multiple factors come into play to inhibit that simple correcting cycle from going around. In the last Newsletter, we explored how the Systems Model is, in fact, also helpful in identifying and categorising the 5 different types of inhibitors that require attention.  

In this Newsletter, we will consider some of the Classes of Action that can address these inhibitors and hence facilitate progress in realising the underlying cycle that brings desired change.

Classes of Enabling Actions:

1. Action to set & maintain standards
   The danger is that performance gaps become normalised or explained away which is equivalent to closing the gap by lowering standards rather than improving performance. Hence, specific actions are required to maintain and monitor desired standards if the motivations driving change are to continue. For example, how far have many of us already normalised what is happening in Gaza and Ukraine? How stable have our humanitarian standards proved to be?

2. Action to realise quick wins
   Paralysis or suspicion of new approaches can both result from anxiety, but can often be overcome by “quick wins”. These may not address all challenges completely or take change all the way, but they can build confidence and optimism in persisting with the journey towards full transformation. Planning, achieving and celebrating quick wins can be powerful facilitators of change.

3. Action to build options, collaboration, & economic, political, & social capital
   By definition, change requires something “new”. This requires both the capacity to innovate and also the capacity for innovations to be accepted within society and then to scale. Frequently, these are both difficult challenges. To address them requires both specific innovative activity and also the preparation of fertile socio-political and economic soil in which new developments can thrive. Political polarisation and the breakdown of social trust can bring powerful opposition against developments of any character.

4. Action to minimise initial costs & promote persistence
   In tandem with the value of promoting quick wins, the minimisation of initial costs is often critical for reducing anxiety and maintaining confidence in the longer-term change journey before structural benefits can eventually be realised. Deep transformation requires persistent attention before change itself has become established and there is a “new normal”.  

5. Building blocks for a better communal life
   In considering how these four action blocks apply in different specific circumstances, and how the inhibiting factors can be addressed, it has become clear to me that developments best occur within a broader enabling context. People see “gaps” differently or prioritise them differently, or experience asymmetric costs and benefits. This broader context was the focus of Newsletter 38, which introduced this series on Dynamics of Change and highlighted Pluralism, Innovation, Realistic Optimism, Fairness and Learning/Future Orientations. These were described as the building blocks for a better communal life that can adapt to, embrace or drive desirable changes.

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 changes would you like to see?  Do the action areas highlighted in this Newsletter resonate with you, and can they help?  How?

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!

You can also follow me on LinkedIn where I host webinars, Q&A sessions and provide weekly posts discussing some of the most pressing issues of today.

To be a part of the discussion and to have your voice heard, please do follow along below!