Atelier WeekNotes w/c 19 Feb 2024
Taster sessions. Transformational Governance. EHF Drinks: London. SoSS / Transformative Pathways (working title). Outputs: Jonathon Porritt; Paul Miller. UCL Module: 4(a) Sustainable Entrepreneurship.
I am writing newsletter of #weeknotes of starting the Atelier of What’s Next (a studio for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future). For my rationale for starting the Atelier see here.
Normal WeekNotes service nearly resumed. The insights below were generated over the last 3 weeks (the last WeekNotes was a tale of interacting with the NHS; funny to read and write but excruciating to experience). Again, family reasons means my time over the last week has been compressed. The insights will be in bullet points, hopefully not too cryptic.
One of those family reasons is a positive one. In memory of my late wife, Jo, I did the 10km London Winter Run for Cancer Research UK in a personal best of 46:41 (no one more surprised than me to knock 5 mins off my previous PB). As I type, people have very kindly donated £1,616. If you feel moved and able, you can contribute here.
This week covers:
PRIORITIES
1.Offering-challenge-resourcing fit
Taster sessions
2. Organising for abundance
Transformational Governance
0/DETECTING
EHF Drinks: London
INITIATIVES IN THE ATELIER
SoSS / Transformative Pathways (working title)
Recent outputs
Powerful Times: Jonathon Porritt, campaigner and writer.
Innovation for Sustainability: Paul Miller, ‘Tech for Good’ VC.
UCL Module: 4.(a) Sustainable Entrepreneurship and the route to commercialisation.
How can the Atelier of What's Next be of service to you, and your purposes? We'd love to hear from you. Perhaps you have a challenge or idea to put in the studio. Maybe one of our existing topics appeals to you. What if you love to make new things happen by being part of the studio? Or if you have feedback or comments that would improve this deck. Either click the button below or email davidbent@atelierwhatsnext.org.
Priorities
1.Offering-challenge-resourcing fit
Taster sessions
A leadership development outfit has invited me to run a 90 minute session in their bimonthly programme of 'interesting things for our clients'.
On the call I tested an idea: using 60 mins as a taster of an Atelier process, and the remainder for Q&A and reflections. Answer was positive.
A chance to test one Atelier process, and force myself to develop at least one taster, which can then be re-used another time.
WHAT NEXT. Set a date. Choose what Atelier process to turn into a taster, with a diverse range of companies for this first audience.
2. Organising for abundance
Transformational Governance
During a catch up, this group was mentioned as a key place in the UK NGO landscape which is asking similar questions to 'how can the Atelier of What's Next organise for abundance?'.
The term is not precisely defined anywhere in the public materials (understandable for an emerging field), and not given a broad brush sense (not acceptable, in my view). So, it is all a bit cliquey and in-crowd.
But the notion is that how decision are made, how groups are organised, how thing are governed -- governance -- is a crucial, upstream part of our situation. The status quo is reinforced by using the same governance. A different future can be both generated and pre-figured by different governance. (Hence my interest, both governance of the Atelier, and as something which is likely to come up as a initiative of itself, and as a part of any initiative that enters the Atelier.)
WHAT NEXT. Figure out how to be part of the in-crowd. Which is, use the Slack a bit.
0/DETECTING
EHF Drinks: London
I hosted the quarterly-ish drinks of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF), a community of 500+ innovators, entrepreneurs and investors committed to Aotearoa New Zealand as a basecamp for global impact. (I am a Fellow.)
EHF was originally set up to draw Silicon Valley-esque entrepreneurs and investors into Aotearoa New Zealand, though that shifted over time to change makers in a wider sense (which let me in). Still, the geographical bias, for those outside Aotearoa New Zealand, is US West Coast, with India, US East Cost and Singapore close behind. Few people from the UK (about 8 of the 500); a sign, perhaps, of the desire of the EHF founders to look to New Zealand's future, not its past.
All of which is a long way of say, there was one other person. But what a person!
Shannon Service is an investigative journalist who uses documentary films for impact. Here latest film exposes slavery in fishing fleets in South East Asia.
"Ghost Fleet follows a small group of activists who risk their lives on remote Indonesian islands to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen who feed the world's insatiable appetite for seafood. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai abolitionist, has committed her life to helping these "lost" men return home. Facing illness, death threats, corruption, and complacency, Patima's fearless determination for justice inspires her nation and the world." (IMDB)
Had an amazing conversation about how documentary film trumps newsprint for impact, and using those emotionally-resonant narratives as a spear-point in systemic shifts through changing rules, norms and more.
WHAT NEXT. Step up my EHF activities. (I'm hoping to go over to Aotearoa New Zealand in August for both work and a holiday with my children.)
In the Atelier
SoSS / Transformative Pathways (working title)
Concept. Use the horizon-scanning and sense-making techniques being developed on the State of Sustainable Shipping for similar situations. All posts with this project here.
Latest. Step: 4/DEVELOPING.
The last few weeks:
Learning about using the Cynefin's Sense-Maker, which claim to be the "first and original distributed ethnographic approach to sense-making, SenseMaker® allows for large-scale capture of the ‘subject’ into a quantitative framework where the ‘subject’ becomes their own ethnographer. SenseMaker® combines the scale of numbers with the explanatory power of narrative."
We will be using Sense-Maker to gather insights from people across the maritime and shipping industries.
Learning in-depth current practice in technology roadmapping, at least as articulated by Cambridge professor Robert Phaal.
Speaking with several differnt people about applying the SoSS/Transformative Pathways (working title) to their situation. Hoping to create the next wave of users, quickly following on from the current shipping pilot.
Coming up with a starting list of futures and system change experts, who can be (unpaid) critics of the method.
WHAT NEXT
Finish designing the Sense-Maker element of the pilot.
Finish designing the rest (using the right elements of roadmapping and more).
Finish getting the contact group of experts together.
(Not much then,...)
Recent outputs
Powerful Times: Jonathon Porritt, campaigner and writer
You can listen to my interview with Jonathon here: webpage, Apple, Spotify, elsewhere. Notes:
Jonathon Porritt is a sustainability campaigner and writer (website, Twitter, Wikipedia). After years in the Green Party (while working full-time as a teacher), in 1984 he became director of Friends of the Earth in Britain and then co-founded Forum for the Future in 1996. (One of the other co-founders was Paul Ekins, who I interviewed for Powerful Times here. I worked with Jonathon when I was at Forum, 2003-2016.)
Jonathon was also Chair of the UK Sustainable Develop Commission for nine years (2000-2009) and Chancellor of Keele University (2012-2022).
He has been at the forefront of sustainability, in business and also government, for the last 30 years. We spoke in November 2023, just after he had, in his own words, extricated himself from the roles which had been very present in that time, including stepped back from any role in Forum.
For Jonathon, at the heart of sustainable development is this very simple, but massively powerful notion of intergenerational justice. That is still provides the rationale for everything that he does and allows him to envision ways in which 8 billion today and 10 billion people in the future could live reasonably good lives in the future.
One telling reflection: a focus on positive solutions for the last 30 years has put Jonathon’s anger on hold, and he now feels that has been problematic. He’s moving back into campaigning, being less reasonable with those who deserve our anger, and also still constantly absorbing in the solutions to the problems we face.
Innovation for Sustainability: Paul Miller, ‘Tech for Good’ VC
You can listen to my interview with Paul here :webpage, Apple, Spotify and elsewhere.
Paul Miller (LinkedIn, personal website) is Managing Partner and CEO of Bethnal Green Ventures, which is “Europe’s leading early-stage tech for good VC”.
Our conversation covers how to run a ‘Tech for Good’ VC, including having a selection process that works, and investing in ambitious, leading-edge companies.
This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters. You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.
Note that at about 33 minutes there are some pauses because our internet connection went down.
UCL Module: 4.(a) Sustainable Entrepreneurship and the route to commercialisation
I am doing a weekly key insight from the Masters module I co-teach on 'Innovation and Sustainability in Business', collected under this heading.
The latest is on 4.(a) Sustainable Entrepreneurship and the route to commercialisation here. It covers:
Steps in the entrepreneur journey.
Not just the ‘heroic’ entrepreneur.
What is different for sustainability-related entrepreneurs?
The kinds of support in the ecosystem.