Economist and business expert John Kay has a new book out called Obliquity. The main message is that we have got too caught up in numbers and measurement, and this has left us pursuing goals whose main justification seems to be that they can be spelt out in equations. Kay calls this ‘bogus rationalisation’ and [...]
The recent volcano in Iceland that brought European air travel to a halt, prompted a few people to think about this as a dry run for a world with fewer planes. I am part of a multi-company project thinking about the low carbon world, and here are some comments posted on that project’s message board. [...]
I have been tied up with organising a conference in Oxford on business’ role as an agent in tackling climate change. Here is the blurb and you can register online. I’ll post about the conference once it’s over. What is business doing about climate change? Society wants economic growth and a better lifestyle, and it [...]
When you search on the name of your company and the first images that come up are ones with skulls, gas masks, protests, and aggressive cartoons, you know you have a communication problem. Welcome to the world of Monsanto: huge, successful, innovative, despised and distrusted. I’m not going to delve into whether Monsanto’s image is [...]
When Copenhagen winds up in a week’s time it seems pretty certain the limo we’d hoped would whisk us away to a low carbon world won’t have shown up. We may have a better idea of what a limo looks like, and we will probably know what limo companies to avoid in future. But the [...]
In the frantic run up to the Copenhagen Summit later this December, many in the business community are positioning themselves as champions of a revitalised Kyoto Agreement. Their voices lend weight to those of politicians, not least those who are concerned there won’t be a new agreement. I’m agnostic on an agreement at Copenhagen. A [...]
Remember the advert, ‘And all because the lady loves Milk Tray’? A suave hero doing the derring-do to deliver a box of Cadbury’s best selling chocolate brand to ladies in exotic locations. The iconic ads ran for 35 years until they were axed in 2003. But Milk Tray is still a Cadbury’s best seller, and [...]
Green venture capitalist John Doerr says that America must win the race to dominate the new green economy. Is it just silliness to wonder which countries in previous wars would have talked in terms of global leadership, the must-win race and the supremacy of one country’s people? What horse are we backing here?
There will be some business schools where sustainability is integrated and some where it will be a stand-alone. There will be some where it is dealt with in core courses and some where it is more likely to crop up as an elective. For the time-being, one approach won’t be better than another: it will depend on the implementation and the context.
The highlight of this week is going to see Derren Brown – illusionist, magician, hypnotist, and all round fascinating entertainer. One thing he does is give teasing hints at how he performs his craft – here’s how I do this card trick, it’s obvious isn’t it, except I just did something entirely different and you [...]