Category Archives: future

Nov 18
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Paul Mason

Neo-liberalism is broken; but what can you do about it?

By | future | No Comments

Author and writer Paul Mason made a clear statement at Meaning Conference in Brighton this week; neo-liberalism is broken. The collapse of neo-liberalism is the talk of the thinking elite these days. Mason, alongside other experts and authors like Otto Scharmer are codifying the thing most of us feel in our guts.  Something is rotten in the state of Denmark – well actually, most of the Western world.  That ‘thing’ is the slow grind to a halt of neoliberalism and capitalism according to Mason et al.

Why is neo-liberalism broken, and why should you care? What has gone wrong with the agenda of the 20th century resurgence of 19th century ideas associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism? Why have policies such as privatization, fiscal austerity, deregulation, free trade, and reductions in government spending in order to enhance the role of the private sector in the economy, resulted in a wave of discontent and populist support for demagogues like Trump and the rise of right wing leaders like Marine Le Pen? Read More

May 07
1
Living beautifully with uncertainty

How to overcome fear and get comfortable with uncertainty – part 1

By | future, Resilience | 4 Comments

We live and work in volatile, turbulent and fast-paced times.  Our growing economic, social and environmental challenges mean that we are all living in uncertain times where we are continually having to re-invent how we do business and how we live.  Systemic decaying institutions surround us, we are struggling to imagine the future of work which is being disrupted massively by exponential technology, the cost of education is skyrocketing, the threats of climate change aren’t going away despite COP21, the environmental degradation and plundering of resources in the face of exploding population continues.

Where once you could comfortably sit down and write a 5 year strategy plan for business, today you’re lucky if one will stand up for 5 months.  Where once horizon scanning was looking up and ahead at a fairly steady curve, now it’s like looking at a migraine dancing in front of your eyes. Where once we had reasonable certainty in how to create and build sustainable businesses, now we have uncertainty. Where once we had a clear life and career path cut out for us, today’s young people have apparently limitless choice, and equally limitless uncertainty.

I believe these challenging times offer a wealth of new opportunities to create abundance for all life on our little blue dot, to create businesses that are purpose-led and consciously aware of maximising the opportunity for good and minimising the potential for harm.  Many people and businesses are getting involved, others aren’t.  Why? What could hold us back – what IS holding us back – is fear. Read More

Dec 15
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COP21: have we seen a step change in funding for entrepreneurs?

By | future, Inspired By Nature | No Comments

As the applause dies down in Paris, so begins the aftermath of what are apparently the most successful climate negotiations ever. What COP21 has, or has not, achieved will go some way into determining the kind of life future generations will have. We all want to be think positively about it. Politically Laurence Fabius and Christine Figueres have pulled off a major coup. It’s no small feat to get so many nations to agree to anything. It puts the credibility of the climate change community back on the map. But what is the real legacy of COP21? I think we may have seen a step change in funding for entrepreneurs at the very least. Read More

Dec 03
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15 Things I Learned from Sir David Attenborough and Tim Flannery

By | future, Inspired By Nature | No Comments

I was lucky enough recently to be accepted as a Fellow of The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. An immediate benefit of that kind honour was the chance to meet with, and listen to, Sir David Attenborough in conversation with Tim Flannery, author of Atmosphere of Hope: Solutions to the Climate Crisis.   I am no climate change expert, far from it, but I am always interested in entrepreneurial ideas and any thinking which can help to avert the potential of global warming past 2c.  Here are 15 things I learned today from Sir David Attenborough and Tim Flannery as a carbon newbie. Read More

Nov 17
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12 Top Reads on The Future of Business

By | future, Inspired By Nature, Purposeful Brands | No Comments

For anyone who believes that business has a role in tackling the grand challenges of humanity, like energy, water scarcity, food security, population, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, climate change, or even if you just believe business needs to become more purposeful, here are 10 books you can’t afford to miss.  The future of business, or maybe the future form of business, lies somewhere in all of these books.  Read More

Nov 02
1

8 Dots to Join Towards A Better Future

By | Connection, future, Inspired By Nature, Purposeful Brands | 3 Comments

Have you ever felt that there was something just out of reach of your fingers, your pen or your mind – an idea just waiting to be born? That if you could just reach out to it and nail it to a piece of paper, it could take flight and become real? Somehow amongst all the confusion and change going on I keep getting glimpses of dots joining up which offer hope of a better future.

I really think despite every indicator to the contrary that there’s something really exciting going on in the world at the moment. Something that you aren’t likely to see on the evening news or written up in your average newspaper. But nevertheless, it’s there. It has taken me two years to dig it out and join the dots in my own mind but the more I dig, the more I see and the more people on the same wavelength I connect with. It sometimes seems slow and organic, but every time I take another peek I get more and more excited that it is going to give rise to a new way of living and working on the planet – even if we can’t see what that will look like today. Read More