andy middleton net impact presentation

Net Impact

Tomorrow’sNatural Business

Andy MiddletonCo-Founder, BCIJune 2011, London

perspective

It’s only when we take enough time to stand back from the chatter and white noise of everyday distractions that we can see the wood and the trees - the detail of what actually needs doing in relation to other things of importance - lives, family, friends, community, co-workers, ecosystems, life support systems and more.

The previous slide shows walkers and kayakers at Porth y Ffynnon, near where I live in St Davids Pembrokeshire, South Wales.

I can put a lot of my views of the world down to having lived my whole life on the edge of the world, where ocean meets land in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. As a Geography graduate and previous board member of the Park, and Council Member of the Countryside Council for Wales, it’s impossible to not see the connections in nature that are under stress, and the connections between business, government and community that are yet to be made.

Take quality time in nature. Be:

Open enough to see, think and notice

Close enough to taste and touch

Aware enough to notice what’s changing

We often seem to confuse risk with fear, mistaking the chance (usually very low) of permanent damage to fragile egos rather than the possibility (much higher) that we might make a leap in learning or action by trying something new, when the outcome was uncertain.

When the risk of what we fear is balanced against the risk of what is needed, it gets easier to understand what needs to be done, and to commit to it, head, hand and heart.

TYF introduced coasteering to the world in 1986, combining the skills of white water kayaking, climbing and surfing into a new sport that’s been tried by over half a million people.

The high energy, constantly moving landscape, cold water, wind, breaking waves and jagged rocks could sound like an unwelcome combination.

Yet, with the right equipment and a realisation that it’s not worth fighting the power of nature, it’s possible to stay safe and have one of the most exhilarating days out that you’ve ever had at the seaside.

More information on this at www.tyf.com / +44 1437 721611

http://www.tyf.com/

Nature’s

Principles

Resilient

Optimizing

Adaptive

Values Based

Life Supporti

ng

Systems Based

Levering disturbance as an

opportunity

Fitting form to function

Sensing and responding

Integrating synergies

Knowing what’s important

Working with Nature

Nature’s Principles lay out the key characteristics of nature are central to our relationship with the living systems that support all life on earth.

The outer ring, in lighter green, provides a reminder of how we can learn from, and use, nature’s teaching to make the most of each situation, working with nature rather than fighting it.

re-learning

There’s a Zen parable that emphasises the need to create space for learning:

“A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim, and then kept pouring.

The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself."It's overfull! No more will go in!" the professor blurted.

"You are like this cup," the master replied, "How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup.”

My take is that until we empty out a little of our certainty, it’s hard to find the head or soul room to realise what we could really really learn.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

The Bank of Natural Capital is an offshoot of TEEB Project, set up to examine The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. They sum up some of the challenges succinctly:

We’ve been consuming natural resources at an alarming rate. The history of post-war economic growth has been one of unsustainable consumption. Our global ecological footprint has doubled over the last 40 years. To the point that, by some calculations, if the whole human population consumed at the same rate as the developed world, we would need 4-5 planet Earths just to keep up:

* in the last 300 years, the global forest area has shrunk by approximately 40%

* since 1900, the world has lost about 50% of its wetlands

* some 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been effectively destroyed

•in the past two decades, 35% of mangroves have disappeared

The effect of trends such as these is that approximately 60% of the Earth’s ecosystem services have been degraded in the last 50 years, with human impacts being the root cause.

Maybe it’s only when we lose some of the certainty of science can we move beyond mathematics of a fern’s unfolding Fibonacci sequence of leaves and start to see the patterns from which we can find transformation and insight:•Structures that connect as well as separate•Cycles within cycles, of nutrients, energy and water•Boundaries with permeability•Elegance of structure grown from parsimonious use of material

• At TYF (www.tyf.com), the adventure guides take around 5000 people coasteering each year, climbing, jumping and swimming around the rocks and coastline of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

• On the way, they teach people which seaweeds taste best, plucked by salty fingers at the tide line. It’s easier to make the connection between nature and the rubbish we throw into our oceans when you are picking and eating unwashed the plants that grow there.

• This tasty morsel is Pepper Dulse, Laurencia pinnatifida

• Think scale when planning the action that you and organisation need to take:

• Should we be following the 3% carbon emissions reductions accepted by politicians or the 9% a year descent recommended by science?

• Do we follow the fishing industry’s take on acceptable limits to fish mining, or take a more precautious view, to rebuild fish stocks?

• Do we design for the long term or convenience?

biodiversity

ecosystems

carbon

sea level

water

population

resources

debtenergy

fish oceans

soil

• Here’s a story about scale, featuring Tyler Bradt, a white water kayaker who like waterfalls, and this a sketch of one he ran a couple of years back



189’

The red circle highlights Tyler’s run, river right on the Palouse Falls

Tyler set a new world record at 189’

Ten years prior to this, the record stood at something like 69’

We can have little idea how far it’s possible to go until you dream, then plan, then commit.

Off the west coast of Ireland, people have been surfing for a couple of generations.

One wave, called Aileen’s, was only discovered a few years back, nestled under the towering Cliffs of Moher in County Clare.

The surfers who ride giants like these all started in 1’2’ waves, falling off every time they tried to stand up, and getting back on their board each time until they stood for the first time, and then the second.

It take guts, practice, teamwork and commitment to ride slabs of moving water as big a small block of flats, but the journey always starts on the beach, learning, in small waves, not giving a damn what other people thinking of you, falling off. Failing. Learning.

COCA, Caerhys Organic Community Agriculture is a CSA project near St Davids in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

Local households sign up to the scheme, paying £30 a month to the farmer, Gerald Miles and have to commit for a minimum of six months up front. That way, Gerald knows that everything he plants is already sold; once the scheme gets 75 households signed up - it’s about halfway there now - he’ll be able to get his son Carwyn back onto the farm, full time.

The advantage for the cooperative’s members are:

Organic food

Locally grown

Minimum food miles

Minimum packaging

Fresher

Up to 40% cheaper than Tesco.

Here’s the scale question: how many schemes like this would be the optimum number for the supply of seasonal fruit and vegetables in the UK?

A few years back, I had some stickers made that said “Show me the plan - you’ve got 1000 days to start carbon descent”

Climate science shows that western economies need, en masse, to be on the carbon reduction curve by around 2014 to give developing nations a few years of lag before they too start to reduce carbon emissions.

Unless we understand the speed at which we need to be moving to get the results that make most sense, we risk a dawdle towards a start line that’s becoming ever more critical.

Like it’s cousin Scale, there’s no reason to be scared of Speed providing that you’ve done the homework and training, and that must start now if you’re not already flying...



The Guardian, 8 June 2011



The Guardian, 14 June 2011

Here are two recent headline reasons why speed is important

1.The UK government are missing 12 our of 13 carbon emissions targets. Even in Wales, which has the most ambitious targets of any UK country, the targets are set at about 30% of the level recommended by Professor Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre of Climate Change Research, one of the Welsh Government’s scientific advisers.

2. Around half of FTSE 100 companies do not have emissions targets. I shudder to think what that figure turns into when it’s expanded to the FTSE 500, or all companies in the UK.

• Here’s one reason why speed is important - the UK government are missing 12 our of 13 targets that would have been too low in the first place.

• How many allotments do we need?

• When I asked a group of local authority allotment officers this question recently, many of them had never thought of the question before.

• Until you know how far you want to travel by when, it’s pretty difficult to plan the journey, and know when to start....

• R.10 is shorthand what we call ‘The Real 10/10’.• R.10 describes the preconditions and precursors for change,

and what ‘good would look like if we were serious about change.

• In the world of adventure that I’ve partly lived in for the last 30 years, one criteria of R.10 that’s always been part of the plan is “keep everyone safe, and get home in once piece”. Barring a few bumps and scrapes, it’s worked so far.

• Why is it then, that when we’re planning for sustainable transformation, goals are set so low that even if successfully rolled out across all organisations, there still wouldn’t be enough progress to do the job that’s needed.

Results focus

Compliance Confidence

Performance

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Consciousness

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9business

Too many businesses and public sector organisations are stuck in a process of ‘ticking the boxes’ of goals and targets based on compliance - driven by fear and short termism.

Fear and comfort drive the setting of incremental goals that show steady, small steps forwards with little respect to what actually needs to be achieved.

Small steps reduce the risk of failure, learning or dramatic improvement.

Results focus


Performance

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Consciousness

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old schooleco

Many environmental groups and activists have deep levels of insight about a) what’s wrong in the world, b) what would work better.

Their challenge is often a lack of the skills that are required to engage with business and public sector leaders who are charged with making greater returns on multi-million pound budgets.

We need to find more effective ways of leveraging the knowledge, insights and commitment of people and groups who know what’s wrong, and help them frame the practical steps that will help business and government organisations make rapid progress towards a genuinely sustainable future.

Results focus


Performance

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Consciousness

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9The Real 10 performance good

enough for the journey ahead

The Real 10

A quality of outcome that’s good enough for the scale and speed at which we need to move:

•Effective delivery

•Conscious quality

•No fear

Our opportunity is to work out what ‘good’ looks like, then back-cast the pathway, rather than start where we are and make only small steps.

Results focus


Performance

1

8

7

10

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The Real 10 performance good

enough for the journey ahead

Consciousness

3

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old schoolactivists

business

education

In the world of education, whilst there is much good work happening around eco-schools, insufficient time is spent developing the practical skills that future employers need - the ability to make things happen, to improve performance, increase effectiveness and reduce cost.

TYF’s work in education focuses on two main strands:

In nature - reconnecting children and students the power, simplicity and complexity of natures’ beauty, design and ecosystems

In the classroom - working with local employers to develop and delivery programmes that make change happen through application of analysis, creativity an project management to real issues, real time.

The 5E Cycle

13 April 2023 BCI Framework

Explore

Envision

Empower

ExecuteEvaluate

Nature’sPrinciple

s

Explore

Exploring:

What does best look like in your industry, worldwide?

Who is doing the most radical thinking, and where is it taking them?

Where else is change emerging in approaches to waste, procurement, engagement and effectiveness?

In what ways are the approaches of government, business and SMEs different?

How does nature do what you do?

Evaluate



This car was crowd-sourced by Local Motors www.local-motors.com

It took 1/100th of the investment normally needed for a new car, and was delivered from concept to the road in 1/5th of the time.

Evaluate how good you really are, compared to a) the competition, b) what’s already possible elsewhere, c) what’s needed.

Work out how fast you’d need to change and what it would mean if you chose to respond to what is needed rather than what is asked for.

Make a list of the people in your organisation who already have the skills and attitude needed to drive change. Behavioural change specialists work on 10% of employees being ‘on it’ for change to succeed, to figure out who the one in ten are who can deliver what’s needed.

http://www.local-motors.com/

Envision

Maggie Doyne, pictured here, was a 20 year old traveller who discovered the dire state that education had been left in Nepal following the recent Maoist uprising. Now 23, she’s just finished building her second school, for which she raised all of the funds.

When setting a vision, start at R.10, rather than where you are.

Enable

1. David Allen is author of the 2m-selling book “Getting things done”. Watch his talk at www.dolectures.com for insights into better ways of making things happen.

2. Recognise the impact that the fear of looking stupid / silly can have on a team or organisation’s ability to think beyond the normal, an then make it happen.

3. A combination of setting clear, values-driven direction and creating an environment where the idea of mistakes making people ‘failures’ is itself consigned to the waste bin.

4. Connect with the growing power of the globally-connected Applied Improvisation Network to tap into practices that help move from ‘yes, but’ to ‘yes, and’ and turn literally everything that happens into an opportunity rather than a threat or a distraction.

http://www.dolectures.com/

Execute QuickTime™ and a decompressor


When you’ve decided what you’re going to do, do it. Half-leaps don’t normally work that well.

It’s OK to change direction (unless you’re in mid air without a parachute)

Most of all, make Do happen.

The One Club

In technology uptake, commentators say that there’s a 1:9:90 ratio of pioneers, early adopters and followers.

I’ve seen it said many times that once around 10% of a population / group of employees to be on board with a new idea or direction, then progress is pretty much assured.

So. If you run an organisation of 75,000 people (Unilever size) or a couple of million (Walmart size), then this idea would see you with 7,500 or 200,000 employees geared up with the knowledge and imagination skills to generate insights into R.10 futures. Zero waste? Relocalisation? People living within their means? Halving consumption? Making things last twice as long.

If you haven’t got 10% on board, start with the first 1% - 750 people or 10,000 and then build quickly from there.

Make sure that any time you’re running a critical strategy meeting that 10% of those in the room are from your 1% population.

1% of your employees

Eco Govt Money Social

5

4

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TYF/BCI Resilience Quotient

Next stage:

Commit to TYF’s Resilience Audit that will tell you the capacity of different people in your organisation to imagine post-conventional futures, tell the story of why they’re important and bring new ideas in.

Compare the insight of different departments

Compare yourself to other organisations.

social know how

nature’sgenius &price

business smarts

designfor keeps

There are no accountants in nature....

Shift your focus from a measurement and reporting-led, conventional and compliance-driven model to one centered on design.

Bring the best of social insight, biomimicry, systems thinking and business practice to the table at the start.

There are no accountants in nature because life is designed to optimise conditions for life, in both the short and long term.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now”

WH Murray

Andy Middleton

1 High St

St Davids

Pembrokeshire

Wales

UK

SA62 6SA

01437 720879

[email protected]

www.tyf.com / www.tyf-design.com / www.ecosapiens.co.uk / www.dolectures.com

http://www.tyf-design.com/

http://www.ecosapiens.co.uk/

http://www.dolectures.com/

andy middleton net impact presentation

Business

life support systems

power of nature

developed world

famous zen master

university professor

zen parable

visitors cup

overflowing cup