Journal

Does Capitalism Have A Future In Exeter?

Preparing for MBA student pitches

Came across to Exeter yesterday by train for an MBA Speaker Series session last night, open to public, and capacity audience. Hosted by the Exeter University Business School. Spoke on a title picked by Exeter U, “Capitalism: Does It Have A Future In A Challenging World”. My answer: Yes, but …

Dinner later with Adam Lusby and Stuart Robinson of the Business School. Then this morning I had breakfast with Tim Lenton of the new Global Systems Institute – and then went on to judge MBA student pitches, before doing one myself to them for support on our Tomorrow’s Capitalism Inquiry.

Street Art

Street art

Graffiti can blight, but done well street art can enhance. That was my thinking as I walked past this wall across from Amnesty’s HQ, after a breakfast meeting today convened by the London International Development Centre (LIDC).

Urban 95 Evening – And A Dalek En Route

Spotted en route to Arup

Patrin’s turn

Virtual Reality 1

Virtual Reality 2

If the Triple Bottom Line was designed to capture value creation (and destruction) in economic, social and environmental terms, then a key part of our rapidly evolving Tomorrow’s Capitalism Inquiry involves taking our ‘trinoculars’ and turning them on the future—specifically the next deca

With the Inquiry still in exploratory mode, we are keeping all channels open. But three key themes are emerging: (1) doing business in the Anthropocene; (2) making sense of the shift in the centre of gravity of the global economy to Asia; and, (3), something of a wild card, how Adolescence—the stressful period where the world’s children will love into adulthood in the context of growing global challenges.

Some 1.8 billion people worldwide are now aged between 10 and 24. With adolescence turbulent enough in its own terms, how do we help these young people cope with wider turbulence—and help prepare them to drive more sustainable forms of development?

And in that context, thanks to a long-standing friend and colleague Patrin Watanatada, I was thrilled to take part in a fascinating event hosted by the Bernard van Leer Foundation and Arup this evening. The theme of the event is summarised in the slide below. A crucial question—and one that we will extend to the world’s adolescents, on whose shoulders the future will increasingly ride.

Letter Of Note: Kurt Vonnegut

Gaia forwarded me this link yesterday, featuring a letter Kurt Vonnegut wrote to students at Xavier High School. What a generous, playful genius.

Am reading his Cat’s Cradle at the moment – and periodically laughing out loud, something I very rarely do with a book. The first time I remember doing so was with Joseph Heller Catch 22. Strange, given that both books came out of super-dark times.

Mauricio Y Paco

Delightfully leisurely Sunday with Mauricio Bonilla Padilla and his partner, Paco

Having spent some time in Mauricio Bonilla Padilla’s company in Mexico City, when he was working with Grupo Bimbo, and having first met during one of my annual lectures at Imperial College, it was wonderful to begin to repay the debt today. He now works with C&A – and is headed to Holland next week.

Sublime Ups, And Crashing Down, In Copenhagen

Jørn Utzon, a man after my own heart

Flew to Copenhagen from Gatwick with Elaine and Louise on Wednesday, 30 January, to speak at a series of events. The really big day was February 1st, originally because it was Elaine’s birthday and because I was to do three major speeches in that one day. The news that my father, Tim, had died that morning was kept from me until after I had done the last speech.

The first event was organised by the Confederation of Danish Industry, the second by the High Level Advisory Board (with the audience including some 30 CEOs and the Crown Princess) and the third, out at UN City, a much larger event for the UN Global Compact. Though I say it myself, all three went very well indeed.

After discussion with the family back in Little Rissington, we decided to stay on in Copenhagen to complete my work visits on Monday. That night we had dinner with Louise and her son Noah, at Krogs, an extraordinary fish restaurant. And toasted Tim’s memory alongside Elaine’s birthday.

While we were visiting the glorious Design Museum, where we were blown away by many things, including their unbelievable exhibition of chairs, I heard from Chris Sveen, CSO at UBQ Materials, where I’m on the Advisory Board. We were invited to meet him and Glenn Frommer, who I think I last saw in Hong Kong, to dinner at Veve – a truly ravishing vegetarian restaurant. During the course – or perhaps I should say many courses – of the evening Glenn and I discovered a shared interest in SF bands, including The Grateful Dead.

Opposite the Design Museum

In the Design Museum

Winging it

Selfie in a distortion field

Catching my eye

Probably my favourite chair

Wasps – or are they hornets?

He’s on his cell phone – is the little one on top, too?

Saddle up, ET

I still remember when our front bedroom window was swarming with 40-50 stag beetles, back in the 1970s

After Veve, Chris, Glenn, Elaine and I

Reception desk at Confederation of Danish Industry

After the UNGC event out at UN City

Weekend walking

Damp ballscape

Diver across the street from our hotel, 71 Nyhavn

A sort of portly, flying zebra

Thrills and spills

Loved this mysterious photograph in the David Collection of Islamic Art

Zeitgeist window out at Novo Nordisk

Ensign Flies At Half Mast For Tim

Our father Tim died yesterday morning, aged 98. He was surrounded by loved ones, including our mother, Pat (see below).

I, sadly, was in Copenhagen, doing three speeches in one day. For decades I have travelled with the sense that one or both of my parents would die while I was travelling.

Here is a picture of the ensign flying at half-mast at the Capel-le-Ferne Battle of Britain memorial site over a replica of Geoffrey Page’s Hurricane.

More on this before too long, but a big tree has fallen in our forest. [And the BBC Radio 4 item picking up on this quote is some 13 minutes into this link.]

Here is one of the bigger stories from his extraordinary life.

And here is the love of his life:

ADDENDUM

Since this post, obituaries have appeared in many places, including The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Daily Express. I was happy that the Express used this quote from me:

Speaking from Denmark his son John last night told the Daily Express: “My father grew up in a different world. An only child, sent away to school when he was six, he jumped at joining the RAF shortly before the war. He would later stress that, while he was one of The Few, they in turn were supported by The Many. The ground crew, radar plotters, the merchantmen and tanker crews running the gauntlet of the U-boat wolf-packs. And, critically, the ordinary Britons who endured the Blitz.

“In recent years, he was an extraordinary ambassador for his generation – indeed there has been an amazing outpouring of gratitude over the internet since his death was announced and the RAF ensign went to half-mast at the Battle of Britain memorial.”

Out Of Comfort Zone In Old Coal Mine

Panorama of part of Zollverein plant

Detail, with delightful rusting

Ditto again

And again

The shooting/filming zone – cushions like insect eggs being laid, but in a favourite colour

Setting up for the shoot

Baratunde and Gator, in one of the few warm spots, the café where we had a wonderful lunch

Joined by Gianna

Across to Essen, via Düsseldorf Airport, yesterday. Then a very cold day’s filming today for Covestro’s new media campaign. Delighted to be able to spend some time with Gianna Heintges of Covestro – and to meet Baratunde Thurston, who interviewed me on camera in various spots around the old Zollverein coal mine, and Gator Halpern of Coral Vita, who is working to regenerate coral reefs, profitably. Enjoyed myself immensely.

Baratunde, Gator and I

Conservation Is Now A Thing

My long-gone friend and colleague Max Nicholson would be shocked rigid to see what is happening with the Sixth Great Extinction, but at the same I suspect he would relish some of the news. Learned today that my long-standing colleague at SustainAbility, Kavita Prakash-Mani, now also a member of the Volans Board, has been appointed WWF’s new Global Conservation Director. My heart lifts.

Also in recent news on the conservation front, I have been asked to renew my term on the WWF UK Council of Ambassadors, and to join the Board of Conservation X Labs – delighted to accept in both cases.

Wildlife projected me into environmentalism and sustainability. Now it seems, conservation is becoming a real Thing in my life. Pay-back time?