Saving the world (again), one leader at a time.

Hello beautiful people!?

Incredibly, it’s been almost five years since my last big article here on LinkedIn when I moved on from Fabriq, the energy management startup I founded back in late 2011 (long before that sort of thing was even remotely fashionable).

Fabriq was acquired in 2022 and after spending some time working on the integration into the new entity, I took time out to decompress and think about my next steps.?

New beginnings

So, here we are... just over a year later, with some big news. I am going for it again! Launching something new, I mean. But not in a way that most of those who know me (or me, for that matter!) would have imagined.?

Without further ado - please be introduced to:

www.deepdiscovery.io

And have a good scroll ... ??

So... any thoughts? What is your first impression? What sticks in your mind, and what questions do you take away from it?

“Why are you doing this (of all things!)?”, I hear you asking?

Let me try to explain...

When I started Fabriq (then EnergyDeck) in 2011, and for the preceding years as Google’s European lead for Green Business Operations, I had only one thing in mind: reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, and more generally our negative impact on the environment. The way I approached this at the time was mainly “technical”, so to say. Or better, by collecting and analysing data from the built environment (with fancy and not so fancy sensors and meters), benchmarking buildings (mostly through basic stats, occasionally with a sprinkling of AI) and identifying ways to save energy and resources (through project tracking and sharing/recommendations).?

That’s all been fine and well, and the built environment does contribute a significant share of global carbon emissions. Reducing this negative impact is as important today as it was when I started more than a decade ago, and there are a number of companies (like Deepki, now even better with Fabriq :)) that are doing great work in this space.

The world is a-changing

However, the world has changed leaps and bounds over the past decade. At a personal level, I have realised that the “problem space” is way bigger than I could have imagined. It’s not just about making buildings more efficient, saving energy or deploying renewables any longer. The environment is so much more than that. And so is the damage we’re inflicting on it, alas. This includes ecosystem destruction, extinction of entire species, highly industrialised agriculture, the mass torture and slaughter of billions of animals every year, waste (and plastics, forever chemicals and other horrible stuff) literally everywhere, polluted air, rivers and seas and on and on and on ...

But it’s not even “just” about the environment, stupid! Look at what’s happening just outside - and inside - of our borders, with refugees numbering in the millions and soon hundreds of millions fleeing war-torn and often resource-constrained countries, governments of all colours continually shifting right and curtailing more and more basic human rights. Including in the oh-so-developed West (e.g. the UK, where the right to protest has just been seriously limited).?????

And that’s before we get to actual armed conflicts in the world, the number of which has been steadily rising over the past decade. While many people are (rightly) concerned about Russia v. Ukraine and Israel v. Hamas, and maybe occasionally hear about places like Yemen and Sudan, there were a whopping 182 armed conflicts in 2022 alone, up from “only” 109 a decade earlier (https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace?insight=armed-conflict-is-common-and-takes-different-forms#key-insights).

Not looking good. Not good at all. And you didn’t actually need me in order to realise that.

It is for these issues (and many others) that a lot of people young and old these days are disheartened, depressed and experience feelings of powerlessness and even doom when it comes to our possible futures on this planet.

While I understand the overall reaction, I can’t help but feel even more psyched today to work on changing things for the better than I was back in 2011, when I “just” wanted to decarbonise the built environment.??

One for all ... all for one??

The one major difference for me compared to back then is that I realise I won’t be able to do this alone (back in the day, it felt like “if only” I could build “the Google of energy management”, all would be good; no, seriously, I did use that line a couple of times in my investor pitches... to raise a couple hundred thousand bucks at the time, oh yeah!).?

As a matter of fact, no one is able to do this alone, not even [insert your favourite mega billionaire world conqueror here - it really doesn’t matter which one]. Even if they actually wanted to, instead of buying another super yacht or mega mansion.

For this to work and to fix this place, it takes an army of people. In reality, it takes everyone ... but ... we can’t get to everyone. At least not at the beginning, and not in any reasonable amount of time.

Hence why I’m here today with the Centre for Deep Discovery.?

Somehow, this has made it to the top of my list of things to explore next and stuck there for the past 12 months. For me it’s the best way I can think of to reach not everyone, but the key people across all walks of life, and help them discover that a better world is truly possible. And by that I don’t mean a better world just for them personally or their companies (there are more than enough organisations providing that kind of support already, thanks much). But a world that ultimately works for everyone... and everyTHING. Think ecosystems, animals... bees and trees, anyone??

Then and only then will we be able to claim that we are good stewards of this planet, and not the most-developed species that ultimately destroyed it all through mindless and unlimited extraction and focusing on one’s own advantage alone. And if you think you can somehow escape from all that, here’s a hint - if the world really goes to isht and you’re not already dead, then even the fanciest bunker isn’t going to be a good place to hang out in for more than a couple of weeks or so (that’s if your security team hasn’t turned on you before and ensured they have the place to themselves).?

So, something else is needed to fix things...

Enter Centre for Deep Discovery

Now, just WHAT IS CDD??

It’s simple and complex at the same time. Hear me out...?

The simple version (one-liner incoming, drumroll please...) goes like this:

The Centre for Deep Discovery is a new type of development programme combining state-of-the-art retreat facilities and personal coaching with mindfulness, technology education and community engagement.

There, I lifted that from the website (it’s my website, so I can do that, you know). How does that sound?

Bit of everything and nothing... I guess? That’s part intentional, and part tactical. Maybe the “slightly longer” (cough) version explains it better:?

In order to make change happen, I believe that we have to whisk the key people in this world (key in the sense that they are at the levers of power and can affect change) away from their daily routines for a short while, and help them realise that life and the world is much better if we don’t destroy it, but protect it and everything in it.

The best way to do this in my opinion is through an integrated programme that is based on “best in breed” aspects from a range of other areas, including but not limited to:

• Retreats and spiritual development lay the groundwork in reconnecting participants with nature and those around them. Love and goodwill is really everywhere, and many among us have become increasingly blind to this in their daily struggles (or plans for world domination)
• Executive education, personal and health support - this is somewhat complementary to the more spiritual side of things, and provides ways of improving continuously even on a day to day basis in the more “physical” world?
• Technology education and insights into opportunities v. challenges - we really do have godlike technology in the hands of people with primordial emotions (thanks, E.O.W.!). What could possibly go wrong, right?! But powerful it is, so let’s use it in the best possible ways?
• Community activation both in terms of connecting with peers but also considering how to best help and support others along the way. Because ultimately, communities are everything - and let it be said, they are more important than corporations, religions or entire states.
• And once all of the above is in place, you can even add things like working on or investing together in planet-positive projects run by peers or other members of the extended community - there is a lot of financial power and drive present in world leaders, which can be used - you guessed it - for good.?

?

And this is still just the beginning. The main idea is that of an integrated, holistic life-long learning and connectivity programme for people who can change the world. Ultimately that’s all of us, but we have to start at the top (because, time).?

Think initial retreat plus regular events plus online content plus a super-app to connect alumni and enable match-making around ideas, projects and investments. Because all of the great stuff in the list above is not worth much if people just take a few days out of their busy schedules and then go back and continue more or less as before.???

Hopefully this all makes sense ... at some level. But to be totally honest, even I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this yet and what shape this will ultimately take.

There are definitely still tons of options and different scenarios for development, e.g.?

• Could this be tailored to specific groups for each retreat / programme? To an extent yes, as long as the core tenets remain intact.?
• Can it be a longer retreat with more focus on e.g. spirituality (to get a deeper sense of love and connectedness with the world)? Could, yes ... but it’s not a spiritual retreat per se - there are thousands of those and I’m sure many of them are doing a good job at the personal level. Whereas CDD is first and foremost about communities and impact on the world.?
• Can it have more technology stuff and opportunities for participants on that front? Yes, maybe - but this isn’t your Silicon Valley “bigger better faster” (or "e/acc" as they call it these days) kind of tech fest.?
• Can I send my key execs and top employees to become better managers? Yes please do, but not to enable your company to extract even more resources in even more detrimental ways - this only works if you see yourself as a piece in the puzzle where everyone needs to be able to benefit for it all to fit together.???????

A work in progress ... and more progress

The exact programme outline(s), type and composition of target participants is to be defined, and will remain in iteration and continuous optimisation mode for some time. After all, something like this doesn’t exist yet (please prove me wrong - keen to see if I’ve missed anything) and so there is a lot of discovery to be made. Pun intended, obviously.?

Having said all that, one thing is very clear - there is no(t) (much) time (left), and whatever needs to be done, needs to be done very quickly. The quicker the better. So I am very much focused on pushing this out as much as possible in the quest to go for the top, figure out what works (and what doesn’t), and achieve impact sooner than later.

To that end, I am on the look-out for people who want to be part of the journey. Be that as coaches / guides / trainers, participants or investors. The aim is to get the first centre off the ground in the next 12 months or so, develop and iterate the programme and then scale it from there. That takes grit, experience and money... if you have any of these in spades, do get in touch :).?

It’s going to be a journey, that’s for sure. I expect this one will take another ten years, give or take. I would actually say “at least ten years”, but I am not sure how much time we really have beyond this initial period to turn things around. From 2035 onwards, I am afraid a number of major global tipping points will have been hit for sure - be they environmental, societal or otherwise. And no, Mars won’t be ready for you by then, so we’ll need to figure this out first.?

Of course, hope springs eternal and all that. But it’s just going to get harder and harder to fix things the longer we continue going in the wrong direction...?

So with all that said, here is to the do-gooders and the peace-lovers and the die-hards and the benevolent billionaires* who still believe we stand a chance. I am convinced it’s absolutely possible. Let’s do this together!

And now, hit me.

Yours truly,

Ben

*: If you fall in that camp and you are still reading, please do get in touch. I have a full-fledged pitch deck and business plan waiting for you. And even if you’re just a regular billionaire, I’m sure you’ll agree it makes sense to look at this from a hedging point of view. Something like a practical insurance policy against Armageddon, you know. Either way, let’s chat!