Journal

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.