Bridging the language of divide

The Australian Climate Leaders Coalition are 50 CEOs working to meet their net zero target, representing $588BN in revenue, 949,000 employees and with 147.2Mt of reported annual emissions.

They’ve built a guide ‘Nature Starter - Practical steps to integrate Nature into business strategy’ (and if you’re not aware of TNFD start with this link).

When they did a series of interviews with CEOs and Boards these are some of the things they heard, and I stress this was with those inclined to be focused on nature and net zero, so there would be thousands who are comparitvely way off the mark;

"We don't have the capability or the frameworks to undertake seeing our nature impacts"

"How many CEOs know what a biome is, or what ecosystem services are or how to value it?"

"TNFD is written from a nature perspective, not a business perspective"

"Net zero people talk to us about regions and locations, this doesn't work for us, we need to talk about revenue classes"

"Some of us have complete reliance on the natural environment through our supply chain, so high dependency, but we have low control over those suppliers"

"it's a mugs game waiting for regulation, we all know embedding nature into business is a long game that we need to build, it's not a switch we turn on"

"The real mission is how do we decouple business growth from our nature impact?"

"Stewardship can't replace integrating nature into business decisions."

"People want practical case studies on nature."

"We want to demonstrate that we've sized up the link back to revenues, then do a nature risk assessment and the physical risks impacting the environment, then show what we think is a more sustainable outcome for nature, and then have a transition plan for how to get to that"

"Don't jump straight into 'we're goint to offset it' - look at how we're going to fundamentally change our core businesses, to make us resilient for generations to come"

Question: If you’re a specialist in the science, an innovator or financial partner, how are you talking to your potential customers and engaging your stakeholders? Are you speaking to them in language that divides, or meeting them where they need you?

Choosing Trusted Advisors

10 years (and 4 days) ago today, I was studiously paying attention to the late and great Andrew Lesnie ACS ACS;

You’d likely know him from his work, as Director of Photography for The Hobbit and every Lord of the Rings movie, I am Legend, King Kong, Doing Time for Patsy Cline, Babe and several other movies.

Over the course of the Masterclass we were separated into teams, given actors, a full setup of cinema cameras and lighting, and then after blocking (arranging how people would move through the scene), rehearsing and filming the piece, we gathered to explain our choices;

It was a great day, and part of several Masterclasses I did through the Australian Cinematographers Society, as well as certifying in ‘Feature Film Production, Cinema Directing and Line Producing’ through the Hollywood Film Institute, as well as Screen Studies and Filmmaking Summer School at Trinity College with the University of Melbourne.

Since then I’ve directed my own sets and managed teams remotely in several countries;

The best bit about it all is that these days we have cameras in our pockets, and most folk you’re likely to want to deal with from a business and investment perspective have high-speed internet access to watch your material.

Though remember this:

If you stick to the fundamentals of visual cinema language, people will be comfortable watching your material - they’ve been trained for a century on what feels ‘right’.

And if you’re speaking in a way that divides, your message won’t spread.

Question: What is your strategy to engage your key stakeholders, and are you taking steps to give them the right messaging that means they can work for you, rather than slow you down?

How can you use activity-based costing as a powerful lever for change?

Did you know Universities, the Royal Australian Navy and the US Navy have been working on this with Lea Patterson from the Pilbara Group ?

Fresh from presenting on Sustainable Management at 美国亚利桑那州立大学 , we talk through modelling base operations and running fleets of ships through our oceans, and finding out the true cost of teaching for Universities throughout Higher Education in Australia, North America and Canada.

And how would you tackle forecasting the decommissioning of bp 's global fleet of oil-rigs?

Join me for part of 1 of 4 in this tour de force of data integration, building models that drive business change, the importance of quick iterations, stakeholder engagement, and a few of the slogans that keep IT people awake at night, like 'data integrity' ??

Click here or the image to watch the video on LinkedIn.

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