(re)Learning to Lead
I have now been working on my Master’s in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge for one year. As I reflect on this period and prepare myself for the dissertation year ahead, I take a step back from my busy ‘go go go’ lifestyle to ponder the reasons I am pursuing this degree after working in the sustainability field at leadership levels for 25 years.
I have a lifelong dissatisfaction with the status quo. I am not good at acknowledging ‘success’. I see achievement as a stepping-stone to the next big thing that needs do be done; this seeking to do more better has also applied to myself. I am an ardent student of self-improvement and life-long learning. I am very willing to struggle for growth and peace.
Over the last 25 years I have tried to authentically contribute to improved sustainability and quality of life in the places I have worked and the community in which I live. I have little confidence, however, that my efforts have made positive and lasting changes. I know in our ever-changing VUCA world that if I am seeking proof or certainty that my efforts are worthwhile and making a difference, I may continue to be disappointed and dissatisfied. However, I do believe there are ways to be more confident; this is why I applied to be part of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
I am ready to step into the centre of some of the most important sustainability issues our organisations, communities and global community are facing. I am ready to connect with the people who are courageously leading positive change at larger scales, having deeper impact and wider adoption. I am ready to gain greater personal resilience to the slings and arrows that can come with the business of leading change, particularly on issues of sustainability where the political temperature has been dialed way up.
One year in, I have already taken a deep dive into strategies for accelerating Net Zero Homes in Canada and collaborated in an exploration of success factors for urban rewilding projects. I have had the opportunity to hear from leaders who study, write, consult, and directly engage in the toughest sustainability transitions our society is grappling with.
Some of these leaders are changing the way we think about things.
I share with you this impressive list who have particularly inspired new thinking within me: Mark Campanale (Carbon Tracker), Dr. Tony Juniper (What has Nature ever done for us?), Sudhanshu Palsule (ReHumanizing Leadership), Giles Hutchins (Regenerative Leadership), Professor Stephan Peake (Cambridge Judge Business School), Dr. Matthew Agarwala (Bennett Institute for Public Policy), Dan McDougall (Miran Media) and Professor Susan Smith (Mistress o fGirton College, Cambridge), Professor Paul Ekins (UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources) and Cameron Brick (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands).
Some are changing the way business gets done.
I welcome you to join me in following these change-makers: James Vaccaro (Re:Pattern), Salil Tripathi (Institute for Human Rights and Business), Zoë Arden (Fellow, CISL), Richard Calland (Fellow, CISL), Dame Jo da Silva (Arup), Dr. Victoria Hurth (Fellow, CISL), Dr. Axel Kravatzky (Syntegra Change Architects), Philippe Joubert (Earth On Board) and Charlotte Sewell (B Lab).
Some are courageously innovating as entrepreneurs.
Cambridge has opened my eyes to the amazing and authentic sustainability achievements happening within large corporations, local companies, and new firms with social purpose. It is this group of people who inspire me to dig deeper into the potential of entrepreneurship to solve the challenges governments are often too slow to authentically address. Some bright lights include Kresse Wesling (Elvis & Kresse), Tristram Stuart (Toast Ale), Alexandra Knezovich (Toilet Board Coalition) and Teohna Williams (The Business Plan for Peace)… but, actually, there are SO MANY! The prospect of finding and talking to this group of people is propelling me forward into my dissertation year and the heavy research agenda it contains.
Surrounded by this new network of successful achievers, what do I hope comes next?
I hope I can continue practising my deep engagement in the world of ‘doing’ while also heeding the Cambridge advice to slow down for healthy doses of quiet reflection to regenerate and remain intentional.
I hope to make good use of what Daniel Kahneman calls ‘system 2’, taking time to see the larger systems creating the details of our present moment.
I hope to apply this new approach not only as I complete my research on what entrepreneurs are doing to be ‘nature positive’.
I also hope to use my own business (Wallace Insights) to work with organizations and communities who are attempting to tackle their own issues — issues where connecting ideas and new thinking, connecting and engaging people and connecting with nature may be the only viable path forward.
Armed with new confidence in what ‘success’ looks like, and what my role can be within it, I’m ready for the year ahead!
