Perspective: Reimagining Tomorrow

Situation Critical: There are too many of us, and we are behaving too badly.

Situation Critical: There are too many of us, and we are behaving too badly.

Posted by | Oct 12, 2022 | |

Many people are telling us what is wrong with the world – but “it is what it is”. As a species, we have flourished to the point where we occupy vast portions of the world’s land mass. And the way we behave collectively is destabilising the planetary systems which sustain life on earth—the reasons for our success and the damage we are doing lie in our fundamental human nature. So, suppose we want to repair dysfunctional relationships with our fellow people, the living planet, and its fractured ecosystems. In that case, we should match our efforts to control nature with a drive to understand how to harness the better angels of our nature.

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What’s Wrong with the World?

What’s Wrong with the World?

Posted by | Jul 26, 2022 | |

There is no one answer to what is wrong with the world. To try and address all the problems we face would be overwhelming and, ultimately, futile. However, there are some underlying factors that contribute to many of the world’s woes, including climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, and pollution. One of the biggest problems is a misguided worldview. For centuries, humans have looked at the world as aresource to be exploited. This has led to a culture of unhealthy individualism, self-centredness, separatism and extreme consumerism. Another problem is modern capitalism and neoliberalism, which are founded on the prioritization of material wealth and self-interest. This has led to increasing social inequalities and a widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. It is human nature to seek comfort and security, but when this is done at the expense of others and the planet, it becomes a serious problem. If we want to create a more just and sustainable world, we need to address these underlying issues.

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No Ms Badenoch, a government is not a machine

No Ms Badenoch, a government is not a machine

Posted by | Jul 17, 2022 | |

In the Tory Leadership debate, one of the candidates, Kemi Badenoch, said that “the machine of government was “not working” and as an engineer, she was the only person who could fix it.” But although it is tempting to think of government as a machine, it leads to a number of problems. It is perhaps more accurate and useful to think of it as a conversation.

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Projects: exercises in shared intentionality

Projects: exercises in shared intentionality

Posted by | Feb 4, 2022 | , |

Since before the dawn of history, projects have been a principal human activity. Today, projects add significantly to the world’s GDP. They have become a common form of transforming the built environment and the way many organizations manage themselves in the private, public, and voluntary sectors.
Much modern project management guidance emphasizes the principles, structures, processes and techniques involved in delivering the product, service or transformation that is the project’s intended output. Also, both research and practice acknowledge that project executives should possess ‘people skills’. But despite this, too many projects still fail to live up to expectations, which results in both economic and social waste.
As a ubiquitous example of shared intentionality, projects can be thought of as an expression of our essential nature as human beings – what marks us out from all other species. So, perhaps what is needed is more careful and nuanced attention to the people, the context and the relationships that constitute the project itself.

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