"The Ease of Remembering vs The Difficulty of Imagining"

Change. It's been on my mind a lot lately. How do we change, when do we change, what needs to change and have we collectively changed?

Each week I scan (as I am sure you do) a plethora of business, societal and environmental pieces in an attempt to make sense of what's working, what's not and what's emerging.

So why the topic? If we put aside the overworked, underperforming change models of the last decade and begin with ordinary people like you and me, we realise our outdated approaches are causing unnecessary harm and lack a sense of agency, which is the golden thread that runs through all effective change.

Over the next couple of months, I'm also delivering keynotes and workshops on a number of emergent interrelated topics. I say emergent as we need to try new things and yet, it's tough for people to live with uncertainty and ambiguity. It's tough to be an "emergent leader".

The things that always spark my interest, which need deeper exploration, are more often than not rooted in both behavioural science and neuroscience. If we dig a little deeper than the symptoms of change or the evident behaviours, we can begin to understand what drives us and use this more intelligently to support us going forward.

I also pay close attention to the language we're using and what's getting the most airtime at any moment in time. For example, "The Great Resignation" is shifting to "The Great Retention" as we realise we can't stop the tide and need to get human-centred in how we lead and create the cultural conditions better suited today and into the future.

It seems we have also lost the mantra of "Hustle, Grit and Grind", which has always sounded brittle and breakable and replaced it with The Power of Connection, Emotional Agility and Human-Centred everything.

There are also a myriad of systemic approaches, which have leapfrogged into our consciousness and practices over the last couple of years; creating psychological safety for ourselves and others, nurturing cultures of experimentation and innovative thought and action and tapping into the vast reservoirs of diverse thinking and lived experience that exists in our people are just the first three that spring to mind.

We have various schools of thought, many rooted in academia and research, which are becoming more open and popularised, allowing us to develop useful 'lenses on the world' or 'mental models', which enable us to make sense of where we are and where we are going. Just think of Futures Thinking/Foresight, Complexity, Sensemaking, Human-Centred Design and Systems Thinking. I'll be talking more about all of this in my session The Day of the Swan II - 24 Hrs of Sense Making and Futures Thinking on the 26th May (next Thursday). It's open to all and you're welcome to join us .

3 Things to enrich your thinking for the week ahead

My aim each week?is to bring leaders at all levels three things that are worth knowing about, thinking more deeply about or taking action on. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this week's trio.

"The Ease of Remembering vs The Difficulty of Imagining"

I purposefully titled this edition with a quote from Harvard Psychologist, Dan Gilbert's TEDTalk titled The Psychology of Your Future Self as it sheds light on why we don't always get it right when it comes to making decisions about our future.

Most of our decisions are based on the past and the present, which makes perfect sense. Our memories and lived experiences are very much alive and part of us. On the other hand, imagining a future we want to live in may be relatively easy vs actually making the changes necessary to get there, which can be tricky.

"Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished."

"Dan Gilbert shares research on a phenomenon he calls the "end of history illusion," where we somehow imagine that the person we are right now is the person we'll be for the rest of time. Hint: that's not the case."

Thank you to April Rinne for sharing this.

There is a powerful practice in Foresight where we pull ourselves towards what we're aiming for rather than goals/strategic planning (where we take our current circumstances with us). It's something I often use working with leadership teams as it helps to untether us from the past just enough to get us moving in the right direction.

Celebrating 5,000 B Corps

"The B Corp Movement is 5,000 strong! Over 15 years ago, this movement began with a vision of a new way of doing business: one that would bring benefit not just to shareholders but all stakeholders. Today there are 5,000 B Corps across the world, 13 Global Partners & Market Builder regions, 79 countries, 154 industries and over 400,000 workers."

B Corps are certified by B Lab, the non-profit network?transforming the global economy?to benefit all people,?communities?and the planet. They measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact.

When I look back at how this movement has grown, I marvel at the speed. When I decided I needed an ICF coach qualification in 2010, I opted to get there via Consciousness Coaching? (CCI/ACTP), which subsequently led to me becoming aware of Conscious Capitalism and using the power of business as a force for good. I attended their 4th Annual Conference in Boston in 2012 and have used their ethics and principles ever since.

Going into the pandemic, there were just over 3,000 certified B Corps around the world (if I remember correctly), which says a great deal about where we are today and what we want from business in the future.

This is how the B Corp movement defines the problem, the solution and the outcome in their "Theory of Change ":

The problem

The current economic system, driven by business as one of its key actors, is failing to meet its potential and promise to create positive impact.?In fact, it creates significant negative impacts for people, communities and the planet.?

The solution

By working with other movements, coalitions, policymakers, activists, and organisations, and by catalysing our stakeholders — Certified B Corporations, Benefit Corporations, and businesses adopting B Lab’s standards — we can achieve our vision.?

The outcome

The role of business is redefined so that all businesses are a force for good — and play a leading role in positively impacting and transforming the global economy toward a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative system.

Piqued your interest? You can learn more here .

"Say Hi to the Future"

I really enjoyed this conversation between Frank Spencer , Founder, Kedge Futures and Co-Founder, The Futures School and?Ken Tencer , CEO, Spyder Works?for the?Say Hi to the Future?podcast. The conversation was broad and deep, delving into the nature of foresight, democratising the future, experiencing the future outside of space and time, the transformational nature of living systems, recovering prosperous futures through multiple ways of knowing and so much more!

"The way we think about the future directly impacts our decisions today."

Loads of great insights, including what it means to "kedge", the origins of "going stir crazy" and how to "pull yourself into the future". Frank also dives into what thick and warm data are and how Kedge has developed a much more organic Natural Foresight? Framework. All really interesting and I trust you enjoy this as much as I did.

Thank you for reading #LIFT?- I trust the 3 things explored here enrich your week ahead and beyond. Please comment and share your thoughts with us and if you know of someone else who would also enjoy this edition, why not?share it?