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Quite the week.

Most dramatic, moving element was Thursday afternoon and evening spent driving to and from Little Rissington, to spend time with my mother (who is very ill) and family.

Pat drugged on morphine, but as I sat at her bedside she would periodically surface with humorous or insightful one-liners. Extraordinary state of being, but so grateful to my siblings for their continuous support for our nonagenarian parents.

Strangely, perhaps, a joy and a privilege to be there. Tess and I spoke across Pat’s reclining form, reviewing our lives, knowing that she could probably hear at least some elements of the conversation. And, again, Pat would periodically surface into the flow, like a mysterious fish, and then slip beneath the water again.

One thing she said to me when we were on our own was that she had heard nightingales. I assumed that these were acoustic hallucinations from her childhood, until I discovered when back in London that there are indeed nightingales in Gloucestershire.

Here’s what they sound like.

The snow is long since gone from London, but there were still pale streaks as I drove through the Cotswolds. As I left Hill House late on Thursday evening, and walked through the yard, I was stunned by the starry, starry night sky. Went back into the kitchen to turn the lights off and just stood watching.

Then in today’s (Saturday’s) Financial Times, I came across John Gapper’s ‘Lunch with the FT’ interview with author Michael Morpurgo. Apparently poet Ted Hughes counselled Morpurgo that, when he was feeling gloomy: “Remember, if there’s one child feeling this place, stomping through puddles and looking up at stars for the first time, he won’t know a wonderful thing is happening but it will soak into his life, one way or another.”

It did, it has.

As for the rest of the week, a fascinating session with The Crowd on Monday evening, featuring Novozymes CEO Peder Holk-Nielsen. I spoke at EcoBuild conference on Tuesday morning. Bit of a nightmare getting to the ExCel site, but great people on our panel from organisations like Bioregional and the World Resources Institute.

On Tuesday, I met Candice Reffe, Chief Impact & Innovation Officer at Eileen Fisher. Among other things, she is a poet – and among the people we talked about were Gary Snyder and Ted Hughes (see below). That same evening, Elaine and I went across to South Kensington for a riveting panel discussion on Superbugs: The Fight For Our Lives at the Science Museum.

Fabulous Volans Salon on Wednesday, featuring Judy Samuelson of the Aspen Institute, and with over 20 participants, on the issue of shareholder primacy. And then my annual 2-hour session with Mike Tennant‘s Imperial College MSc students on Thursday morning – invigorating.

Then the big one, and the reason I had to come back to London, we did the third in our 3-city series of events with Innovate UK, focusing on decarbonisation of the built environment. Wonderful top floor venue provided by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) at Savoy Place, overlooking the Thames.

I chaired a panel session with Agamemnon Otero of Repowering London, Alastair Mant of the UK Green Building Council and Priya Prakash of Design for Social Change (D4SC) in the morning, and then did a after-lunch on-stage interview with biomimicry architect Michael Pawlyn. If you haven’t seen his 2010 TED talk, it is well worth a viewing.

And now off to see a great friend from California, Will Rosenzweig.

Here is a link to our latest blog for Fast Company, this time focusing on breakthrough business models – with an embedded video on the theme produced by our wonderful friends at Atlas for the Future. Co-authored with Richard Johnson, with another now in the pipeline.

Rather more personal theme in my latest blog in GreenBiz, published today. Spurred by a couple of conversations last week in which outsiders commented that Volans can be slightly mysterious at times. This is an initial attempt to lift the roof on our hive.

Sad to report that my sister-in-law’s husband, the humorous writer Michael Green, whose creative heyday was covered here by The Independent, died yesterday.

Best known for his Art of Coarse ‘Rugby’, ‘Acting’, ‘Sailing’ and so on books.

I recall reading his book The Boy who Shot Down An Airship, years before we met.

A gentle, lovely 91-year-old who we last saw a week or so ago – and who will be much missed.

How wonderful that Elaine and and her sister Christine took him to Wimereux, one of his favourite haunts, late last year – while he was still able to travel.

The format of our latest e-newsletter translates a little weirdly here, but best I can do in a hurry. And some exciting development under way.

Newsletter February 2018 Introducing Louise Kjellerup Roper, our new Executive Director I am thrilled to welcome Louise Roper to the Volans team. Danish, and a long-standing UK resident, Louise brings much relevant experience, and some new approaches and strengths to the team. She has helped launch and grow B Corps like Method products and gDiapers into Europe; working to implement Circular Economy business models and packs a punch in terms of strategy and communications. (On our lucky days, Louise brings with her Flossie, our new four-leggged “Chief Happiness Officer”). At the same time, I offer profound thanks to the inimitable Sam Lakhafor 10 wonderful years to date, with the last 4 in the Director seat. She and I have now worked together for a total of 13 years. She says she is unhooking to pursue wider interests, but there is no escape for the wicket as she will continue to sit on our Board as a Non-Executive Director. A case, perhaps, of the Hotel California Syndrome? You can check out, but you can never leave! The Breakthrough Mindset: Making the Impossible Inevitable I have devoured magazines like Wired and Fast Company more or less since they began publication. So am delighted to introduce the first in a series of Volans’ articles for Fast Company in which Richard Johnson and I spotlight five key traits of the Breakthrough Mindset. We distil some of the lessons we have learned from dozens of interviews with pioneering business leaders and next generation innovators, also summarised in this accompanying video. This work is part of Project Breakthrough, the ongoing collaboration between Volans and the UN Global Compact. We thank the Global Compact and our essential partners at Atlas of the Future for their support. Breakthrough Cities As a UCL-trained city planner back in the day, I feel life has come full circle as Volans expands its scope to embrace the urban change agenda. In recent months, in close partnership with Innovate UK, we have been exploring how business model innovation can help solve complex urban challenges. In Nottingham last November, we convened a group of SMEs and local government officials to explore new solutions for improving the city’s air quality. In Newcastle last month, we investigated challenges and opportunities linked to healthy ageing. The last in this series will be in London on Friday 9 March, where we explore ways to decarbonise the built environment. Inverting the Carbon Vortex Meanwhile, in my latest blog for the Harvard Business Review, I offer 4 ways business leaders can respond to the existential challenges posed by climate change. This year, with continuing support from Covestro, our work on Carbon Productivity enters a new phase. We aim to catalyse market drivers for a more radical (and productive) approach to reversing global warming. Lighting 10 Candles Do get in touch if you’re interested in learning more about any of the above. Meanwhile, we are pondering how best to celebrate Volans’ 10th birthday this year. Watch this space for details of how we intend to mark the occasion – and any suggestions always welcome!