Briefing No. 20 - Summer Edition
WHAT WE'RE READING
On the Greenwood Place bedside table
The Good Ancestor
The need to draw on our capacity to think long-term, writes Roman Krznaric, has never been more urgent, whether in areas such as public health care (planning for the next pandemic on the horizon), to deal with technological risks (AI-controlled lethal autonomous weapons), or to confront the threats of an ecological crisis whether nations sit around international conference tables, bickering about their near-term interests, while the planet burns and species disappear.
At the same time, businesses can barely see past the next quarterly report. What can we do to overcome the tyranny of the now?
A HEALTHIER RELATIONSHIP WITH HISTORY
"For me it begins with truth-telling. If you don't know your history, you can't really begin to understand what your obligations are, what your responsibilities are, what you should fear, what you should celebrate, what's honourable and what's not honourable."
We included a link to Bryan Stevenson's recent New Yorker article in Briefing 19. However, we wanted to return to Bryan's thinking again, and found this conversation about truth and reconciliation in the US particularly rich.
ART & FREEDOM
"Freedom is a pretty strange thing. Once you've experienced it, it remains in your heart and no-one can take it away." Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei is China's most famous international artist, and its most outspoken domestic critic. Against a backdrop of strict censorship and an unresponsive legal system, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry tells the story of a dissident who inspires global audiences and blurs the boundaries of art and politics.
HOW TO INNOVATE
"Innovation is not an individual phenomenon, but a collective, incremental and messy network phenomenon."
The latest book by Matt Ridley (author of the Rational Optimist) is a collection of stories about innovation - how inventions turn into things of practical and affordable use to people.
Innovation, Ridley argues, is always a collective, collaborative phenomenon, involving trial and error, not a matter of lonely genius. The collaborative, iterative development of social good is fundamental to Greenwood Place's work, and to the work we seek to encourage across our community.
ROCK DUST AS A CLIMATE SOLUTION
Spreading rock dust on farmland - a practice that is compatible with existing farming techniques - could suck billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air every year, according to the first detailed global analysis of the technique.
THE TECH NONPROFIT PLAYBOOK
Our friends at Mulago shared this guide - created by tech for good investor, Fast Forward - to creating and scaling organisations that apply tech to social problems. It's full of great nuggets.
EVENTS
Our next roundtable will be a cross-continent conversation on wellbeing and COVID recovery. Dena Batrice, Chris Underhill MBE, and Mark Williamson will help us to explore how we can protect and promote mental health at this pivotal time for communities. Give us a call if you would like an invitation.
AND FINALLY...
We're delighted to announce that Greenwood Place has become a certified B Corp. B Corps are companies that use the power of business to solve social and environmental challenges. We are proud to be part of the growing community of B Corps aiming to redefine success in business.
Find our more about the B Corp movement here.
