Welcome to my journal.
Get an insight into my day-to-day work and my perspective on key issues.
Reading Ahead: Episode 4: Sustainable Leadership
I'll admit I put two guests in the same room for this episode of Reading Ahead (the podcast I host for the University of Reading) who, on paper, couldn't have come from more different worlds. Major General Nick Cowley is Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, responsible for training every officer and soldier who leads in the British Army. Daniel Tapp is a first-year undergraduate at the University of Reading, one of the very first students on our Global Sustainability Leadership Scholarship. Thirty years of leading in combat and peacetime on one side of the table; a career barely begun on the other. I wanted to know whether leadership could look the same from each end of that spectrum.
Healthy Leadership: TESCO's Golden Opportunity
Right now, the UK's largest retailer has a momentous opportunity to improve the health of the nation. The opportunity is not only to support the health of their own customers, but also those of their competitors. How, you ask?
A Resolution to an Unhealthy Problem
In December I took the plunge and invested £4.80 in two TESCO shares. You'll know that TESCO is the UK's biggest supermarket with a 27% market share. It's a really important company to the success of the British economy: employing over 300,000 people and operating over 4,000 stores in the UK alone and selling us over £50Billion of food each year (Statistica.com 2016). As the founder and former CEO of a company supplying into the behemoth, I know what clout the company has not only in the supply chain of British retail, but in what foods we eat as a nation. It's not an exaggeration to say that the decisions it takes affect us all.
Everything is Connected
I see the people with expertise of how a specific system is created and operates, of lived experience within that system, and of research and knowledge of that system. Such people must share their understandings with others to fully appreciate their connectedness, perspective and impact on each other. And of course, there is no reason the same individual people can't be in different systems: we all live our lives in a world in which all systems connect with us every day. The trick, as I see it, is to create opportunity for people to see what is.
Responding to the Unprecedented
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything: exposing the injustices and shortcomings of our society locally and globally. It has also reminded us how much we share, how deeply interconnected we are and that the decisions we take shape our reality.
It has also thrown up unique challenges to leadership. And that is why we at RFK Human Rights UK (www.rfkhumanrights.uk) brought together senior decision-makers for a webinar conversation -Responding to the Unprecedented.
Bring Humanity Back to Business
Believe it or not, businesses don't exist.
People exist. People sign pieces of paper to form companies. People make business decisions, and people receive dividend cheques if those decisions are successful. They hire and fire, buy and sell, invest and divest. Every action a company takes is a decision made by a person.
Mike Ashley, Philip Green and Matthias Muller Are Only the Start - The Whole Corporate World Is Under Review
From tax evasion to emission scandals, to executive pay and working conditions, the last twelve months have been dominated by corporate scandal.
It is an issue that soared to the top of the agenda once again on Monday, when Theresa May announced her proposals to reform corporate governance and restore trust in business and politics alike.
Food for Thought: Why a Healthy Tomorrow Can Only Be Secured by the Young Leaders of Today
Next week I am honoured to be going to Johannesburg as a Counsellor for the One Young World Summit, where 1,300 young delegates will gather from 190 countries to debate many of the world's most pressing social issues.
