SIGNALS OF CHANGE

Catching social and environmental trends early

MAYBE SOME BUSINESS LEADERS ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY DEALING WITH SIGNS THAT WE ARE AT THE END OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE. PUBLIC FIGURES HOWEVER ARE STEPPING FORWARD. WE EXPECT TO SEE THIS TREND INCREASE.

SIGNALS: We have been picking up signs that public figures are openly calling for leaders, public and private, to embrace the changes that are needed for us to deal with the increasing wealth gaps and environmental damage that are a direct result of the industrial age. 

COMMENT:  Taking care of people, whatever your political persuasion or religious beliefs, needs to come first. This is the common value we all share. As we are confronted by the increasingly challenging situation resulting from the trends we have discussed in earlier newsletters. including a peak in the growth of cheap energy resources and increasing wealth gaps as well as the challenge of dealing with a crowded planet. Public figures are spokespersons for what many are feeling, and we new opportunities in involving them in CSR work.

SUPPORTING LINKS: 

Marianne Williamson is outspoken against inequalities and environmental miss-management. She is a well -know n figure in personal development circles now a candidate in the next US election.

http://www.marianne.com/

The Pope has been critical of the negative sides of capitalism

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/pope-francis-evangelii-gaudium_n_4342964.html

Uraguay president José Mujica:

“I’m just sick of the way things are. We’re in an age in which we can’t live without accepting the logic of the market. Contemporary politics is all about short-term pragmatism. We have abandoned religion and philosophy … What we have left is the automatisation of doing what the market tells us.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/13/uruguay-president-jose-mujica

Comedian Russel Brand is speaking out and writing a new book. It will  “act as a provocation; urging its readers to discard apathy and challenge the status quo”.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/14/russell-brand-new-book-on-society-politics

SIGNALS: Management thinking at a deeper level is very  much about paradigms. A crowded, environmentally challenged world where one in eight so not get enough to eat requires a different mindset than business strategists had in the 60s. But this is often what is taught.

Supporting links

Micheal Porter explains the issues in this video from Harvard Business Review

http://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value/ar/1

Seeing the simplicity in the changing paradigms: this article from Stephen Hinton Consulting

http://stephenhinton.org/2014/02/24/the-changing-of-business-paradigms/

 

WEBINAR SPECIAL

Community based marketplace specialist IBUYWESELL is teaming up with the Water and Food Award to shed light on how corporations can promote community networks to build their brand and business whilst  taking care of people and making sure they are fed.

http://csrwebinars.avbp.net/?p=65

 

 

About this newsletter:

We monitor the news flow from a wide variety of sources from the last 30 – 60 days for developments that could inform your organization’s social and environmental strategy which in turn could affect your overall business strategy.

The idea of this newsletter is to alert you to trends that, in your leadership role, you may need to be aware off. Once alerted, if relevant to you, you will start to pick up on them in other channels and can start to apply your understanding. Together with our partners we offer dialogues, training, webinars and consulting to help organizations rise to the social challenges of our times.

JOINING THE DIALOGUE: Stephen Hinton Consulting, together with the Swedish risk management organization, ISSS and the Water and Food Award offers strategists and business leaders support in framing strategies for the new, resource constrained but connected world. Building awareness is one of the first steps. Contact us through our websites for more information on how we can support you.

http://stephenhinton.org
http://ISSS.se
http://wafaward.org

NOT SIGNED UP? Click on the link to sign up to make sure you get your next newsletter straight to your in-box.  SIGN UP HERE

SIGNALS OF CHANGE

Catching social and environmental trends early

Newsletter December 2013 Vol. 1 Issue 4

About this newsletter:

We monitor the news flow from a wide variety of sources from the last 30 – 60 days for developments that could inform your organization’s social and environmental strategy which in turn could affect your overall business strategy.

The idea of this newsletter is to alert you to trends that you may need to be aware of in your leadership role. Once alerted, if salient, you will more easily be able to pick up on them in your environment.

Signals of Change Newsletter is produced in cooperation between the Institute of Swedish Safety and Security and Stephen Hinton Consulting with support from the Open World Foundation and the Water and Food Award.

THIS IS WHAT WE SAW:

SUSTAINABILITY GREW UP IN 2013. WHAT WAS ONCE “NICE TO HAVE” AND EVEN “GREENWASHING” HAS STARTED TO MOVE INTO THE REALM OF BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING. SUSTAINABILITY, FROM BEING A MORAL OBLIGATION TUGGING AT LEADERS TORN BETWEEN SHAREHOLDER DEMANDS AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY HAS MOVED INTO THE ARENA OF RISK AND CONTINUITY PLANNING. SUSTAINABILITY IS WHAT TO AIM FOR ON THE WAY TO RESILIENCE.

For example, 2013 saw:

The Fukushama incident as evidence our industrial way of life has the potential to damage a large part of the globe.

Despite economic growth people do not get sufficient nutrition. Poverty in UK linked to twofold increase in hospitalized malnourished children.http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f7540

Warning from scientists that extreme weather will disrupt business operations more and more. See this article from the Guardian:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/dec/17/planet-climate-change-risk-drought-famine-epidemic

The economic system’s fragility will mean that despite much money being in circulation, people will not be consuming and businesses risk massive falls in sales. 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-survey-us-income-gap-holding-back-economy-0

See for example the analysis of how inability of governments to collect enough taxes for expanded government services from increasingly impoverished citizens brings economies to collapse.

http://ourfiniteworld.com/2013/12/06/diminishing-returns-energy-return-on-energy-invested-and-collapse/

 Taking all the signals from past newsletters (listed here) we suggest the following “reality check”

If you were to do one thing to have your organization respond to these signals – what would it be?  Is a tweak in operations the reasonable response – to increase a bit here, decrease a bit there? Or is a totally new approach needed?

CREATIVE LEADERSHIP.
Creativity is needed when new challenges arise and the experience of the past provides no help. Leadership can be exerted when you are confident you know enough to move forward, even if that knowledge is limited to you knowing that creative solutions are needed.

Stockholm City has taken the brave decision to focus its cultural organization – libraries, theatres, etc – on connecting citizens to sustainability in creative ways.
(Read more here) http://stephenhinton.org/2013/12/20/case-study-bringing-citizens-closer-to-sustainability-in-creative-ways/

If you want to consider taking new steps to respond the changing situation, we want to support you. As a New Year offer we are offering a 10% discount on our regular consulting rates from now to the end of January 2014. Book a free consultation meeting already now. (Link) http://stephenhinton.org/the-one-hour-free-consultations/

JOINING THE DIALOGUE: Stephen Hinton Consulting, together with the Swedish risk management organization, ISSS and the Water and Food Award offers strategists and business leaders support in framing strategies for the new, resource constrained but connected world.

http://stephenhinton.org
http://ISSS.se
http://wafaward.org

NOT SIGNED UP? Click on the link below to sign up to make sure you get your next newsletter straight to your in-box. SIGN UP HERE

SIGNALS OF CHANGE

Catching social and environmental trends early

Newsletter November 2013 Vol. 1 Issue 3

About this newsletter:

We monitor the news flow from a wide variety of sources from the last 30 – 60 days for developments that could inform your organization’s social and environmental strategy which in turn could affect your overall business strategy.

The idea of this newsletter is to alert you to trends that, in your leadership role, you may need to be aware off. Once alerted, if salient, you will start to pick up on them in your environment.

Signals of Change Newsletter is produced in cooperation between the Institute of Swedish Safety and Security and Stephen Hinton Consulting with support from the Open World Foundation and the Water and Food Award.

PEAK OIL WARNINGS HAVE BEEN AROUND TEN YEARS AND ARE NOT GOING AWAY. BUSINESS AS USUAL IS EXPERIENCING  RAPID AND PAINFUL ADAPTATION AS RISKS GET HIGHER AND THE BUSINESS CLIMATE GETS TOUGHER. FOR VISIONARIES AND LEADERS THIS DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ALL BAD. BUT ONE SOLUTION IN THE ASCENDENCY WILL SURPRISE EVEN THOSE USED TO LIVING ON THE EDGE. (SKIP TO NEXT SECTION.)

SIGNALS: A difficult business climate just got more difficult. Whilst oil dependency critics celebrate ten years since the first seminal book “the Party is Over“ by Richard Heinberg, weak signals are increasing to evidence severe failings of business as usual. Oil dependency critics predicted this was bound to happen in an economy that was designed to run on oil. From the Pope’s stance against capitalism, to out and out criticism of capitalism even from such places as the Harvard Business Review, and admissions from the International Monetary Fund that their economists were wrong, conventional logic is being challenged. We see in the aftermath of British austerity measures that, despite living in one of the world’s wealthiest nations, the number of British people turning to food banks has tripled.

COMMENT:  We see it as positive that enough signals are coming to convince leaders that business as usual is not a highly profitable energy intensive operation. On the contrary, as old models fail, leaders are required to see their organisations through through fluctuating energy prices and falling demand in general. We remind readers of the financial risks associated with reduced demand for fossil fuel: extraction requires ever increasing capital and without the case of a strong future demand, extraction could fall faster than predicted due to lack of investment.

SUPPORTING LINKS: 

The ten-year anniversary of “the Party is Over” reflections

http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/1939365-10-years-after-the-party-s-over#

The Pope’s criticism of money system

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/pope-francis-evangelii-gaudium_n_4342964.html

IMF admits it got it wrong

http://www.businessinsider.com/imf-admitted-their-economists-were-wrong-2013-1

Food banks get overrun by hungry Brits

http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/hungrier-than-ever-britains-use-of-food-banks-triples-8882340.html

Economist Hazel Henderson explains how traditional economists are rethinking

http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/914-challenging-traditional-finance-mapping-the-transition-to-sustainability

Scientific evidence that our way of living is literally traqshing the planet. Scientists call for revoltion

http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/science-says-revolt?fb_action_ids=627145717335780

Harvard Business Review article takes aim at growthism rather than capitalism

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/this-isnt-capitalism-its-growthism-and-its-bad-for-us/

Why capitalism without the money, mimicking nature is more functional

http://avbp.net/?p=1462

DOES IT HAVE TO BE ALL BAD THAT WE ARE BEING ASKED TO FACE THE END OF OUR INDUSTRIAL GROWTH PARADIGM? LEADERS ARE DARING TO STAND UP FOR WHAT MIGHT BE THE SIMPLEST YET MOST DIFFICULT TO GRASP APPROACH YET: KINDNESS.

SIGNALS: More and more initiatives are demonstrating the robustness of having kindness, compassion and human values at the centre. They are showing reasonable financial robustness, too.

COMMENT: These developments are on the one hand age-old and on the other, new to western culture. Expect that many will not quite work, but the trend has started and will continue to gather strength.

SUPPORTING LINKS

The Estonian Bank of Kindness

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/07/18/200869850/At-Estonias-Bank-Of-Happiness-Kindness-Is-The-Currency

Common Good approach to finance

Common  good finance

http://vimeo.com/79391585

The rise of compassionate management

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/the-rise-of-compassionate-management-finally

The idea that kindness can feed a whole town

(Todmorden initiative shortlisted for the Water and Food Award)

http://ediblesiliconvalley.com/2013-articles/incredible-todmorden/

JOINING THE DIALOGUE: Stephen Hinton Consulting, together with the Swedish risk management organization, ISSS and the Water and Food Award offers strategists and business leaders support in framing strategies for the new, resource constrained but connected world. Building awareness is one of the first steps. Contact us through our websites for more information on how we can support you.

http://stephenhinton.org
http://ISSS.se
http://wafaward.org

NOT SIGNED UP? Click on the link below to sign up to make sure you get your next newsletter straight to your in-box. SIGN UP HERE

SIGNALS OF CHANGE

Catching social and environmental trends early

Newsletter October 2013 Vol. 1 Issue 2

CLIMATE AND FOSSIL FUEL RISK SPECIAL EDITION

About this newsletter:

We monitor the news flow from a wide variety of sources from the last 30 – 60 days for developments that could inform your organization’s social and environmental strategy which in turn could affect your overall business strategy. Signals of Change Newsletter is produced in a cooperation between the Open World Foundation, the Institute of Swedish Safety and Security and Stephen Hinton Consulting.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE MUST BE INTEGRATED IN CORPORATE RISK MANAGEMENT

SIGNALS. Weather patterns are changing, where extreme weather and unexpected changes in weather patterns undermine investments and productivity. At the same time, the scientific community is speaking with stronger voice on the likelihood that climate change is man-made. Governments are listening. The UK was the first with ”The Climate Change Act 2008”.The value of the fossil fuel in the ground may become stranded if regulations forbid its extraction for burning,

COMMENT: Now is the time, if organizations have not done it earlier, to develop a combined fossil fuel and climate risk strategy. It is also time to look for opportunities to develop the operations of the organization in step with the inevitable changes to come.

We remind readers of the financial risks associated with reduced demand for fossil fuel: extraction requires ever increasing capital and without the case of a strong future demand, extraction could fall faster than predicted due to lack of investment.

SUPPORTING LINKS: 

Comments from the Guardian newspaper on the business reaction to the recent IPCC report.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/ipcc-report-business-investor-response

Talk of creating a restrictive carbon budget

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/29/carbon-budget-talks-urgent-ipcc-lord-stern

The Swedish organization Global Utmaning invited Swedish municipalities to discuss the opportunities associated with the changing attitudes to climate

http://www.globalutmaning.se/forandrat-klimatpolitiskt-landskap-ger-sveriges-kommuner-mojligheter

Permafrost melting means buildings are collapsing in the arctic as the ground gives way (in Danish)

http://www.jyllands-posten.dk/protected/premium/international/ECE6009609/aendret-klima-maerkes-tydeligt-i-arktis/

Physical conditions could be making some countries like Iran uninhabitable

http://iranpulse.al-monitor.com/index.php/2013/07/2353/iran-becoming-uninhabitable-says-former-agriculture-minister/?goback=%2Egde_1081717_member_275661445#%21

ENERGY AND ECONOMY RAPID DECLINE RISKS MUST BE MANAGED

SIGNALS: More talk of falling over the energy cliff. Just because energy intensity ramped up as a steady increase since the beginning of the oil age in the late 1800s does not mean that energy intensity decline will mirror that development as we transition to a sustainable economy paradigm

Several research articles are warning that, as mentioned above, mounting costs of extraction along with falling demand could mean that energy intensity plummets fast causing a global economic meltdown.

COMMENT: This must be factored into all risk management plans, and the need generally to take care of people will become a much higher priority as challenges mount.

SUPPORTING LINKS: Actuary Gail Tiverberg explains her views that the risks of energy and economy working together are under-estimated.

http://ourfiniteworld.com/2013/10/14/two-views-of-our-current-economic-and-energy-crisis/

JOINING THE DIALOGUE: Stephen Hinton Consulting, together with the Swedish risk management organization, ISSS and the Open World Foundation offers strategists and business leaders support in framing strategies for the new, resource constrained but connected world. Building awareness is one of the first steps we recommend. Contact us through our websites for more information.

http://stephenhinton.org
http://ISSS.se
http://openworldfoundation.org

NOT SIGNED UP? Click on the link below to sign up to make sure you get your next newsletter straight to your in-box. SIGN UP HERE