Journal

 

After a delightful dry-run at SustainAbility’s London offices, we proceeded with the launch of our new publication, The Stretch Agenda: Breakthrough in the Boardroom. I headed to Bonn to keynote the first Bonn Conference for Global Transformation. This was co-hosted by the State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The theme: ‘From Politics to Implementation.’

The Stretch Agenda is one output of the Breakthrough program we have been working on since late last year. Originally, we were thinking of a short report, which then morphed into a White Paper and then, only 5-6 weeks back, into a ‘playper,’ a dramatisation of an extraordinary Board meeting at a fictional company, MN-Co.

After introductions at the Bonn conference by Angelica Schwall-Düren (Minister of Federal Affairs, Europe and the Media, North Rhine-Westphalia), Tanja Gönner (Chair of the Management Board, GIZ) and Friedrich Kitschelt (State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), two of us kicked off the main event with TED-style presentations: Su Kahumbu Stephanou, Creative Director of Green Dreams TECH based in Nairobi, and myself – spotlighting the launch of The Stretch Agenda. Stacks of the publication were available throughout the reception area. Several people suggested staging the ‘play’ for their top teams, which was very encouraging.

Wonderful to be in cahoots over these several days with Tell Münzing, who I worked for 9 years ways back at SustainAbility, and later a co-founder of Impact Solutions, our strategic partner based in Berlin. We had several meetings outside the remit of the conference, including a Rhine-side lunch with Jeffrey Sachs (who I knew passingly via our joint work the Nestlé CSV Council) and various people from his Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and from companies, including Richard Northcote of Bayer MaterialScience.

Not quite sure why, but I left my camera behind several times, in taxis and similar places, but each time had them returned in the nick of time. Then the case went missing and failed to reappear, despite a judicious search. Happily, however, it was found and returned by Fiona Bywaters of the Global Policy Action Plan, part of the World Future Council, where she works with Jakob von Uexküll, someone I first met when a bunch of us were in the process of forming The Other Economic Summit (TOES).

The conference was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends like Bunker Roy of Barefoot College, Alejandro Litovsky of the Earth Security Group and Ed Gillespie of Futerra. And to meet new folk, including people like Su, and Guido Schmidt-Traube and Adolf Kloke-Lesch of SDSN. In addition, Tell and I had a wonderful session with Katharina Tomoff of Deutsche Post, high in their Bonn tower.

Then back to the Ristorante Forissimo, in Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse, for a coffee. We had had dinner there on the first evening with Birgit Klesper of Deutsche Telekom, where she is Senior Vice President for Transformational Change & Corporate Responsibility. (One of these days I must compile a list of all the job titles that have surfaced in this field over the years …)

I had been struck by the beauty of the horse chestnut that graces the Ristorante Forissimo garden. After the Deutsche Post session, Tell and I decided to turn our coffees into lunch – and had a very productive brainstorming session in the dappled sunlight.

The back to London, first leg on a very crowded ICE train to Frankfurt. The following day I went along in rain to the Aviva offices at One New Change, overlooking St Paul’s, for the first meeting of the Friends Life Stewardship Committee under its new Chair, now that Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has stood down: Julie McConnell. A time of change, which is always interesting.

Then back to 2 Bloomsbury Place to do conference calls with the likes of The B Team in the US, GlobeScan in Canada and Grupo Bimbo in Mexico.

Rain continued through the day, off and on. After a fairly intensive week, something in me longs to be alongside a river, watching the wildlife. So it was strange, as I walked back home past Barnes Pond, that my eye caught sight of a large dead carp floating in the water. It looked like the ghost of a carp, or perhaps a 3D-printed version of a carp.

In any event, we had been discussing only a few days before whether there were still large fish in the Pond? As I took the picture, waiting until the duck hove in view, I noticed at least one more large shape underwater, further out. This carp had not been alone.

No question that Dubai is minded to do so, as I note in my latest blog for GreenBiz. But, as a tweet in response asked earlier today, can a green capital be built on the back of virtual “slave labour”? Like it or not, I think the answer is potentially yes – though the contrast of values should invite derision over time.

And, as I noted in my TED-style keynote this morning here in Bonn, at the first Bonn Conference on Global Transformation, my hope is that there will be plenty of competition – with Bonn among the cities determined to have a go.

Good deal of interest in our new report, The Stretch Agenda, a dramatisation of a board meeting touching on a range of sustainability challenges and opportunities. Linked to our still-evolving online resource, The Breakthrough Challenge, also launched today. Wonderful walk with Tell (Muenzing) along the Rhine this afternoon, with a glass of white wine under a giant plane tree. Then back to the conference centre for a session with Jeff Sachs, who a number of us had had lunch with today alongside the Rhine.

A furiously busy week, with several days in Leverkusen alongside Amanda (Feldman), with Bayer MaterialScience. Great meetings with their CEO, Patrick Thomas, and new CFO, Frank Lutz. They are going through an IPO and searching for a new name and branding, which has been proving challenging, though the ‘People, Planet & Profit’ proposition is likely to be central.

Fascinating couple of days, working with Stephan Koch and a small group of key BMS sustainability and related people. Then a frustrating flight back, with delayed flight, endless lines for passports at Heathrow and then almost a shutting down of the M4 into London, though my lanky, white-haired Indian driver, Lofty, managed to sneak around just before the road closed.

On Saturday, we went across to London Fields, to see Simon Pemberton, an artist whose work we have enjoyed in the Financial Times. We had bought a new print of his, which is titled, ‘Preparations for the Next Life,’ showing a couple in or by a river, at night, probably in New York. I love artist’s studios, so had a field day, prowling around. Then on to Hania’s, just around the corner, for a lovely lunch, following a visit to Broadway Market which is at the foot of her road.

Have been working much of the weekend, meanwhile, on The Breakthrough Forecast, which is due to publish (or launch, given that it’s designed to be a website) in a couple of weeks, alongside our dramatised Board meeting, The Stretch Agenda.

Today, Andrew Winston came to lunch – and I enjoyed it immensely. First met him when we were both members of an HP Advisory Board, then flagged his latest book, The Big Pivot, as my top sustainable business book of 2014 in a piece I did for strategy + business. Failed to get him on a bus back to town at Barnes Pond, because they only take TfL cards now. So drove him up across Hammersmith Bridge, in a car that refused to work yesterday, needing yet another new battery. I love the Volvo V70, which must be around 15 years old now, albeit with just 45,000 miles on the clock, but there’s a gremlin in it, somewhere.

Another highlight of the week was re-reading Lionel Davidson’s stunning novel, Kolymsky Heights, first published in 1994. I must have read it around that time, though it seems to me that it was much longer ago. One of those books that continues to suffuse your brain when you’ve finished. Not surprised to see that Philip Pulman, another of my favourite authors, considered it the best thriller he had read.

Next, Philip Kerr’s latest, The Lady from Zagreb. Love his Bernie Gunther novels: have read them all. rarely read novels a second time, but could imagine reading them all a second time round. Inescapably, some of that era in my mind while in Leverkusen this week.

I flew in to Dubai a couple of days back for the second World Green Economy Summit, invited by André Schneder of World Capital – who I first met last year in Verbier.

André chaired the first session today, where I spoke alongside Raphaël Domjan, of Solar Planet, who I had first heard of when he sailed his solar vessel, PlanetSolar, around the world. Titled ‘Green Development Visionaries,’ this was a highly enjoyable session. It was followed by a panel discussion on south-south partnerships. again chaired by André. My co-panellists this time were Edem Bakhshish of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, Amal-Lee Amin of E3G, Lars Josefsson who chairs the World Economic Forum Global Advisory Council on De-carbonizing Energy, and Martin Hiller of REEEP (Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership).

Having coined the term ‘green growth’ back in 1986 (SustainAbility was originally tag-lined ‘The Green Growth Company’), and having published The Green Capitalists in 1987 (with Tom Burke, now part of E3G, as a co-author), I have been fascinated to see how the whole field has evolved. But it was truly weird to go up to the 68th floor in the J.W. Marriot hotel with Sten de Witt of TNO, to down a glass or two of Malbec, and in his case beer, and to then see ‘sustainability’ so prominently featured among the cocktails. Not really sure what to make of that …

Meanwhile, Huffington Post published my latest blog today on the B Corporation movement.

 

What a week! It began with a reception at our Bloomsbury Place office for Canadians involved in social innovation and impact investment, bringing together perhaps 25 people from organisations like The McConnell Foundation, the MaRS Discovery District and Social Innovation Generation with people from our London ecosystem, including the Bridges Ventures, the Cabinet Office and the Finance Lab. A joyous, productive Monday evening.

Then on Tuesday I streaked west to Oxford for a dinner at Balliol College, launching the 2015 Skoll World Forum, with a wonderful before-dinner grace delivered by ‘Arch’ Desmond Tutu. A wonderful opportunity to catch up with social entrepreneurs from around the world, with my table including people from the Skoll Foundation, Barefoot College, Aflatoun and Lord Sainsbury’s office, among others. Could scarcely drag myself away.

Wednesday, back in London, involved a dinner at the Foundling Museum, hosted by Generation Investment Management. A fascinating dinner, with Al Gore and I flanking Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP at table. The Museum was deeply moving, telling the story of the Foundling Hospital. This continues today as the children’s charity Coram, but was established in 1739 by the philanthropist Thomas Coram to care for babies at risk of abandonment. Among those who helped Coram realise his vision were the artist William Hogarth and the composer George Frideric Handel.

Then Friday saw the first major event for the burgeoning UK chapter of the B Corporation community, originally catalysed by B Lab. Volans has been helping build the momentum, with our Charmian Love working alongside James Perry of COOK and Panahpur. A tremendous day in Spitalfields, with much of the Volans team involved, including Richard (Johnson) handling the technical side very much like a DJ.

During the day, I did a filmed interview, which involved me roving around the area with a cameraman in tow, having a meeting with someone from the OECD who wants me to speak at a big event they’re doing in Paris in June, and a panel session at the end of the day, alongside two B Lab founders: Andrew Kassoy and Bart Houlahan. Great sense of emergence and excitement – with a fascinating mix of people I have known for ages (including Fran van Dijk Dixon of One Stone Advisors, who used to be at SustainAbility) and a bunch of extraordinary people who were totally new to me.

In all, a week that showed how many waves we are surfing, or perhaps how many different waves are beginning to coalesce into a single superwave? Very relevant as we race to put the finishing touches to our new publication, The Stretch Agenda: Breakthrough in the Boardroom. Jacqueline, Sam and I have been working on this for much of the week – and the weekend. Very excited with how it is now coming together.

Then late this morning,, up to Clissold Park for a delightful home-cooked lunch with Gaia and Paul, followed by a memorial service for Mark Lushington, with Jake (Lushington) and Hania. A delightful celebration of some I sadly never met.