Where are you going to take a stand?

In the mix of money, ecology and transition, where are you going to take a stand?

There's an enormous financial shift going on in the world.

Ecologically orientated millennials are inheriting vast wealth from baby boomer parents who created massive industrial enterprises.

The second or third generation of family members have grown up with a more ecologically aware mindset.

We also have a barrage of digital news telling us the world is going through catastrophic impacts of climate change and I dare say you've lived through them yourself depending on where you are in the world, whether that's fire or flood.

In the last few years there's the rise of?#impactinvesting?and for-purpose investing, which seeks to have risk, return and impact factored into decisions..

And then there's?#ESG?- environment, sustainability and governance, which is a lens through which companies can see potential risks to themselves.

Many traditional #investing funds are reacting and responding to consumer sentiment, where people are clamouring to create environmentally focused investment options.

This has led to huge amounts of capital movement into things claiming to be good for the planet and good for the investor.

You would have likely seen a lot of pushback recently with?#greenwashing?and regulatory movements to stem this and even massive delistings of funds that claim to be green or impact orientated.

So greenwashing is a term given to slapping an environmental label on something when it really doesn't take care of the people or planet.?And that regulatory enforcement is picking up speed.

The flip side to this is?#greenhushing, which is also becoming prevalent in the market.

I share this not to paint a bleak picture for you, but to bring your awareness that the traditional rivers and streams of money that flow through our society are shifting.

Where there used to be torrents of money flowing into mining and resource extraction, the tributary streams from governments around the world are moving, and now associating with?#renewables,?#climatechange?and other innovations that are aligned with creating a prosperous zero emission economy.

It's happening slowly, but it is happening, and it's picking up pace.

Issues such as?#gender?equity, reduced?#finance?inequality and the entire spectrum of the United Nations, sustainable Development Goals, which used to see trickles of money going into them, are now widening into streams and in some cases, rivers.

The question I posed at the start, and that I say again, is where are you going to stand?

Which streams are you going to put yourself in the middle of?

By bringing attention to your initiative in this way, you can be an accelerant for the change you choose to associate yourself with.

You can then harness these macro trends of attention capital, and pull levers that will accelerate the impact you want to make in the world.

Question: What are you taking a stand for in your life?

Starting well

When entering a relationship with a new supplier, business partner or client, what questions do you ask, and how do you know you're on track?

"What is the ideal outcome you'd like to experience working together?"

"How will you know we've accomplished your intent?"

"What will this mean for your organisation?"

Objectives, measurement and value - the fundamentals of the game.

Question: Have you entered any recent relationships where these questions aren't clear?

Durreen Shahnaz - The Defiant Optimist

Part 1, part 2 and part 3 of 4 in my conversation with Durreen are live for you.

"We work a lot with the SMEs as they are the essence of growth of a country, and 70% of SMEs globally are owned and started by women.?If you look at it in every economy, it's quite shocking, women, in general, are half of the population, and generally, they basically have less than 10% of the income - if these are things we can tweak and fix with some financial instrument, why not?"

"I learned that the best way to make those in power feel pain was through economic pressure".

"Activism has a very strong role to play, but then from activism, it actually has to turn into action" - Looping back to protesting Apartheid South Africa.

"No joy compares to helping someone find their dignity, and showing them the source of their own power" - regarding teaching women to sign their own signature for the first time.

Thanks for reading, I really appreciate knowing you're out there, and you can let me know really easily by pressing like, and if you want to, leave a comment :)

Until we speak again next Thursday, consider what you're taking a stand for, and if you're in a stream that's drying up or becoming a river :)