THE ART OF CHANGE
“I don’t know very much about art but I know what I like,” someone allegedly said 100+ years. ago. I like art that moves me, challenges me, alters my state and my mood, that shifts my view of the world and the opportunities before me.
While we debate about how to solve problems that are actually messes, imagine that the artillery barrage of facts and data that we hurl at each other will actually soften up the landscape for conquest, and bewail both our despair and our easy retreat to despair (perhaps the ultimate expression of privilege), I’m reminded again and again of the great impact of art on the process of human being and the processes of change.
Three encounters stand out for me this year, and I commend them to you: Ministry for the Future. The Dawn of Everything, and Don’t Look Up. (And please don’t complain to me about “preaching to the choir.” Choirs move hearts and win elections.)
NATURAL LOGIC’S YEAR IN REVIEW
In a year (or two!) that has often felt like treading water, with a lot of clients “waiting”—for supply chain issues to resolve, for deals to close, for priorities to clarify—we’ve managed to deliver some interesting and hopefully valuable work: In our second foray into the burgeoning realm of climate finance, we mapped the woeful inadequacy of public funding for climate mitigation and adaptation, and speculated on new financial instruments that might help bridge that gap. We helped design an innovative innovation program for an R1 research university focused on the grand challenges of sustainability, health, and cyber-security. We continued the Living Between Worlds webinar series, with more than 500 people participating. I delivered keynotes in Lisbon, Moscow, and Mumbai and workshops challenging executives about what it might look like to “do business as though we belonged to the living world.” I continue to serve on two boards of directors and three advisory boards. And I’m getting my writing muscles bulked back up. (Connect with me on LinkedIn to see the latest.)
In the year to come, we’ll focus on working with companies that want to take sustainability seriously and take it deep (or “reset” an existing sustainability program they now realize is insufficient to the challenge); hosting a different sort of conversation with leaders and emerging leaders ready to lead in the news ways that are needed now; and developing a new enterprise that I’ll tell you more about in coming months.
And speaking of sustainability initiatives…
BSAU
A Bloomberg Businessweek investigation offers a helluva window into what some call “sustainability as usual” and what I’ve taken to calling BSAU. (tl;dr: It’s worse than you thought.) The report shows that popular ratings driving trillions into “sustainable” ESG investing have little connection with a company’s impact on the planet.
“Yet there’s virtually no connection between MSCI’s “better world” marketing and its methodology. That’s because the ratings don’t measure a company’s impact on the Earth and society. In fact, they gauge the opposite: the potential impact of the world on the company and its shareholders. MSCI doesn’t dispute this characterization. It defends its methodology as the most financially relevant for the companies it rates.” NOTE: Not “most financially relevant” for the investors and asset managers who buy and use its ratings!
My questions for you: Is your company coasting on incrementalism, happy talk and feel good-ratings? Are you?
Or is it —and you—hard at work reinventing everything—which is what it will take to lead, contribute, survive, and thrive in a world that will be very different than the one you’ve known?
Shall we talk?
Until then, with my best wishes to you and yours for a healthy, happy, and regenerative new year,
Gil
PS: My coaching offer or leaders and emerging leaders is evolving. The new page goes up next week, but if you’ve ever wondered about working with me one-on-one, and are making your plans and commitments for 2022, this would be a good time to have a look!
PPS: Check out (and subscribe to!) my YouTube channel for recordings of our Living Between Worlds zoomsalons, and some of my keynotes. And visit my blog for some provocative writings you may have missed.
Gil Philip Friend • Trimtab4Trimtabs™
CEO, Natural Logic, Inc. • Founder, Critical Path Capital • Keynote Speaker—Book me now!
Tel: 1-510-248-4940 | Cel: 1-510-435-6346 | Blog | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube channel
What might it be like if humans did business, as though we belonged to the living world?