My theme/word for 2022 is commitment. It’s resonating with me as it takes on other related flavours like dedication, discipline, focus, prioritisation, decisiveness, ambition. This commitment reflects in all aspects of my life, my work, the people I love and, perhaps most importantly, myself. This is going to be a fun place to explore all of the above, but to kick off, work has been top of mind.
Diving into the work I am committing to
I think, 10 years after graduating from university and possibly the same number of jobs, I’ve become clearer about what I want to commit the rest of my professional work and life to. Not so much a job or a role or industry, but I suppose a mission or vocation, my big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG). Designing, and transitioning to, an impact-led economy.
I’ve been reflecting on how I’ve ended up doing the work I am doing right now. How did I get here? Why am I here? Can I connect the dots in the reverse? I think in many ways, I can.
I studied two things for five years through school and university. A Levels in Philosophy and Economics and then a degree in the same two subjects. The more I think about it, my curiosities and passions haven’t changed for 15 years.
Philosophy: defined as a love of wisdom
Economics: defined as the production, distribution and consumption of resources, or simply who gets what and why
Combined then, perhaps, my passions intersect to think about how to wisely allocate resources in a way that is equitable and fair in the here and now, and allows all future generations (and life in general) to flourish long into the distant future.
The challenge is that we seem so far from that reality now. I won’t list all the ways in which we’re falling short of that ideal, as I imagine if you’re reading this you’re already well versed.
What I’ve been spending my time doing over the past few years is two fold. Firstly, to imagine what that hopeful, positive future might look like. I believe that in order to build better, you have to imagine and see what you want to build first. Luckily this has been a project of so many of our greatest thinkers and doers too.
We already have a number of key, interconnected models which give us that vision for a better future. One that jumps out to me is Kate Raworth’s Doughnut which combines each human’s right to a basic social foundation, including food, health, education, safety and more, as the inner constraints and Johan Rokström’s planetary boundaries as the outer limits, which define the safe operating spaces for nine key environmental indicators for a thriving planet. Between these two constraints we find a safe ring of space where we can have flourishing people and a flourishing planet.
Instead of economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive, we need economies that “make us thrive, whether or not they grow” - Kate Raworth
The Sustainable Development Goals then outline 17 layered goals at the environmental, social and economic levels which aim to wrangle us back to this safe operating space be that improving social outcomes, reducing environmental impact, or strengthening economic institutions, which the UN has given us collectively until 2030 to achieve.
If we broadly agree that that’s where we’re trying to get to (though I know that there has been critique, particularly in relation to some aspects of social inclusion within the SDGs). then the second thing I’ve been exploring deeply is how we get from where we are now to that better future. In other words the process of change and transformation.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller.
Reading the introduction to Rebecca Henderson’s Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, she describes having a ‘professional obsession with change’. That was the first time I saw articulated something I’ve always been fascinated with. What are the mechanics and levers and process through which change occurs?
As I think about it, for me, change is multi-disciplinary, and multi-level. To affect change, we need complementary skills in communication, design, empathy, leadership, education, systems thinking, research, innovation and more. And we need to affect change at the individual, local, community, organisational, national and global level.
I’ve been swimming in these waters in different ways throughout my career. Learning and development in a big corporate was an attempt to affect change through comms, design and education at the individual and organisational level. Working with communities at Escape the City and Remote Year I explored change at the individual and community level as people redefined meaningful work for themselves. More recently, Year Here and Impactful are diving into local and organisational change with a heavy focus on design, education, systems thinking and innovation.
What I often notice is a debate about where change should come from. Should it be the government who leads the charge, or big businesses, or is it people power and activism that really moves the needle? Are governments waiting for businesses to lobby them or citizens to vote for the change they want to see? Or is it employees and customers which will create a tipping point as they demand that the businesses they buy from or work for do better? Or will real change come when governments finally put legislation in place that catalyzes businesses to act? Does individual level action even matter given the scale of the challenges we face?
What strikes me about these conversations is that it seems to give each party permission to wait, which creates a system of inaction, people wait for governments, who are waiting for businesses who in turn are waiting for people. Each absolving themselves of the responsibility to take action that they deem to be intrinsically important. The truth is, that we can’t afford to wait, we need people at every level to decide, in the areas that they have influence, to act and to act now. By definition, the future we’re building doesn’t exist yet and so there have to be many first movers who aren’t waiting for permission or instruction, who are willing to come together and build a better future.
At Impactful, we work with these people in the organisations they lead and work in to create change. I’m keen to dig into what we do and how here soon, watch this space.
Through the Zebras Unite Community we bring together people from across the impact-led ecosystem to foster connections, shared knowledge and collaborate for change.
I’m also beginning to explore how we might affect change from a public policy perspective. How should our political institutions at a local, city, government and international level think about their role in the transition? More thinking on this to follow too.
And, ultimately, if we’re to think about true systems change and redesign, how do all these people and organisations interact with one another? How do we design these interactions to facilitate more of what we want and less of what we don’t? More questions than answers in many ways, so I’ve been enlisting the experts to give me their perspectives.
What I’m reading and have queued up as fuel for thought
Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato
The Future we Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Reimagining Capitalism by Rebecca Henderson
Value(s) by Mark Carney
Green Swans by John Elkington
Radical Help by Hilary Cottam
Impact by Ronald Cohen
The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton
Anything else I should add to my reading list?
Do we need to work?
Reflecting on what I’ve spent my time working on and why raised some broader reflections and exploring into the nature of work itself, its history, its meaning and purpose and the shifting outcomes of work over time. This interview with former head of the RSA Matthew Taylor on work captured me and reminded me that work can be so unique to the individual. Work can be for survival, for security, for creative expression, to afford a particular lifestyle, to provide for loved ones or create a legacy. I’ve certainly drifted between many of these.
Should we be avoiding David Graeber’s bullshit jobs? Are we in a period of great resignation or at least revaluation with our relationship to work? How will the many flavours of guaranteed income, road tested globally over the past two years and which would have seemed utterly utopic pre-pandemic, affect our expectations from work and state?
For me, this year, I’m committing to work that feels creative, allowing me to produce something I value rather than just to enable me to consume. I also want to be able to provide for and support loved ones and have some level of long term security. Work has also always been about learning for me, deepening my understanding and my ability to act and influence. If I can find work that enables the above, I’ll have done ok.
What you’ll find me writing about here
As I get into the rhythm of writing again I’m getting clearer about what I find myself drawn to write about. Firstly, diving into some of the work I’m doing as described above, all in service of imagining a better future and designing ways to get there. All work and no play though, would not be a complete picture of my curiosities and musings so I think I’ll alternate with some something a little more personal as we go!
Questions
It’s been so wonderful to hear from people as they’ve read The List and shared what it made them think about. If you feel so inclined, please to hit reply or get in touch with any thoughts. What are your themes/focuses for 2022? I’m curious about how you’ve ended up doing the work you do and what role work plays in your life. If you’re in the impact ecosystem, what are your big challenges right now and what’s inspiring you in the space?
I look forward to hearing from you! R x