The United Nation’s Cancun Accords, once again shed light on the topsy-turvy world of international climate change policy. Significantly, the Accords move a step closer to binding emissions targets and recognise the need for monitoring and verification, stating that “internationally supported mitigation actions will be measured, reported and verified domestically and will be subject to international measurement, reporting and verification.” Having done my time auditing forest management in Indonesia, I am heartened to see the progress made to address the crucial issue of forest conservation. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, or REDD, establishes protocols for national forest protection plans and associated monitoring through satellite imagery. Crucially it invites developed nation governments and the private sector to invest in standing forest as a carbon sink, rather than source of timber.
At the same time Cancun also recognised the urgent need to start adapting to the consequences of climate change. The insurance industry has been engaged in order to get under the skin of the risks associated with extreme weather events. This is an area into which these companies are making significant investments. The main players in the insurance industry have clubbed together into ‘ClimateWise’ to share experiences in order to gain greater insights and respond to climate change. The 2010 independent review of ClimateWise describes the actions taken by different companies in relation to the schemes ‘principles’. These refer to risk analysis methods, informing public policy, supporting customer awareness, reducing the environmental impact of the businesses, reporting and incorporating climate change into investment strategies.
The latter is interesting, as it conjoins the wider debate about the relevance or otherwise of ‘sustainability’ within the context of a company’s performance. The impact on shareholder sentiment of major environmental incidents is self evident, however, the eco-sceptics, still see it as secondary to financial performance. What happens however, when extreme weather events create havoc with retail sales or productivity, the cost of extra heating takes a percentage point off the bottom line or illegal dumping of waste leads to a legal battle, hitting reputation and adding to the professional services cost line? The insurance companies have got it right, because they see climate change and sustainability as a ‘risk’ factor, not some woolly jumpered, yoghurt knitting concept.
The move to embrace adaptation is mirrored elsewhere. While the insurance companies have a clear stake in the implications of climate change – more intense rainfall, flooding, freezing and stifling hot temperature extremes. Other financial companies are also taking it seriously. The banks, over and above their own insurance businesses, are looking at the effects on the productivity of their business clients, mortgage deals on certain properties, asset finance for snow ploughs, corporate finance for novel irrigation systems and of course the ongoing flight to renewable energy.
The venture capitalists are not immune. They are seeing a rash of clean energy, environmental services and smart grid business plans, in other words, technologies that are designed to reduce carbon emissions or help people and companies adapt to changing weather patterns. These may be rapidly mobilised flood defences, under-floor heating for roads, cloud based energy monitoring systems, smart electricity distribution and runways and drainage systems for new houses. These plans and concepts are designed to reap commercial reward from climate change and environmental regulations and associated pressure from the supply chain.
The investment banks and fund managers will be monitoring regional and national climate trends in order to assess the operating context for their portfolio companies. They will also be putting money into REDD projects and fundraising for established clean technology and clean energy companies, not to mention taking some of them into the public markets.
All this of course provides such Scottish based financial companies with a huge opportunity to grow their businesses – with a slight change in attitude towards the sustainability agenda. While their oil and gas clients will continue to flex their muscles, the value of this business is in long term decline. The value of climate adaptation and sustainability based business is on a long term growth trajectory. For those institutions that are willing to look beyond tomorrow’s bonus and whom have the guts to sell this to their shareholders [many of whom will provide a sympathetic ear], the opportunities abound. Sustainability is one foundation stone on which Scotland’s re-shaped financial future can be built.
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Thinking - the next great business idea
According to Ove Arup, engineer, designer and philosopher and founder of the eponymous company, “the ultimate immoral act is choosing not to think.” This was quoted by Professor Emeritus Peter Jones as part of his 2010 Ove Arup Foundation Lecture, “Why are three heads better than one? Or: How to prepare for a new Enlightenment.” Professor Jones holds that the “cement of society is conversation and that when we ignore or lose our capacities for conversation we are in peril.”
While views vary on what constitutes a conversation, indeed, some hold that there is no such thing, the definition given at the lecture reads thus: “Conversation is a sacred and improvisatory practice in which the duty to listen precedes the right to speak.” It is essentially a practice because the skills required to be a good conversationalist have to be learned. A duty to listen reinforces the need for participants to understand the context and display appropriate manners. Consequently, the practicing conversationalist welcomes the opportunity to approach a topic from many directions and be open to the views of others while being happy to formulate and present their own arguments.
Ove Arup brought an array of experiences and an open, enquiring mind into the world of architecture and engineering. He noted that practitioners of both were not conversing and therefore, in his view, these disciplines needed reform, with a greater emphasis on learning from each other and opening their minds to other influences. This became the signature approach of his firm, one that applies today.
While the current economic situation has further reinforced the need for architects, engineers and designers to innovate and find new business models, the need to break out of disciplinary silos and actually think and converse is crucial for all companies and indeed governments and other institutions. By this way, can organisations find a way through the economic crisis and indeed plot a route to future success.
At the micro-level, this could begin by turning business meetings into conversations. Rather than mechanistic encounters where agenda items are ticked and the senior manager pontificates, all present have been schooled as conversationalists and all enter the meeting with an open mind and desire to tackle the agenda from many quarters, to learn, to assess, to think. While retrofitting a conversational ethos onto a company can be beneficial, the ultimate gift to society will be through structural changes to the way we educate young people – from nursery to university. Only the most ardent educational ideologue would disagree that we could be doing more to empower our school and university graduates with an ability to critically appraise, to question conventional methods and to posit their own views. While there will always be exceptions, the UK educational system needs to work harder, if its aim is to nurture thinking individuals.
Business too, is not a hotbed of thought and conversation, as the pressure to deliver on ‘key performance indicators’ takes precedence. The bigger the company, the less thought takes place as the job is driven by process and procedure. The smaller, dynamic entrepreneurial company though, is more of a cradle for silo breaking and thoughtfulness, but even then speed is more the order of the day.
For the businessman hungry for debate and conversation, there are opportunities out there, beyond the normal run of conferences and award ceremonies. For example, a desire to look beyond the here and now has been taken to heart by the Scottish urban regeneration community. An upcoming conference aims to take a creative and positive view of regeneration in the light of the economic crisis. Called Creative Approaches, the whole conference is built around ‘Moving Conversations’ which combines lively debate with film and television archive clips. The normal flood of bullet pointed slides has been replaced by rare footage and discussion, with the express aim of exploring ideas and stimulating new thinking amongst the public, private and voluntary sectors.
As Professor Jones concludes:
“Let us not further deceive ourselves into believing that, over the centuries, Governments or Instituitions or Professions have always, or even very often, put into place people and resources to promote relentless, self-critical and exploratory thinking.”
Far from being a luxury that a business cannot afford, finding the time to think might be just what all Chief Executives need right now.
While views vary on what constitutes a conversation, indeed, some hold that there is no such thing, the definition given at the lecture reads thus: “Conversation is a sacred and improvisatory practice in which the duty to listen precedes the right to speak.” It is essentially a practice because the skills required to be a good conversationalist have to be learned. A duty to listen reinforces the need for participants to understand the context and display appropriate manners. Consequently, the practicing conversationalist welcomes the opportunity to approach a topic from many directions and be open to the views of others while being happy to formulate and present their own arguments.
Ove Arup brought an array of experiences and an open, enquiring mind into the world of architecture and engineering. He noted that practitioners of both were not conversing and therefore, in his view, these disciplines needed reform, with a greater emphasis on learning from each other and opening their minds to other influences. This became the signature approach of his firm, one that applies today.
While the current economic situation has further reinforced the need for architects, engineers and designers to innovate and find new business models, the need to break out of disciplinary silos and actually think and converse is crucial for all companies and indeed governments and other institutions. By this way, can organisations find a way through the economic crisis and indeed plot a route to future success.
At the micro-level, this could begin by turning business meetings into conversations. Rather than mechanistic encounters where agenda items are ticked and the senior manager pontificates, all present have been schooled as conversationalists and all enter the meeting with an open mind and desire to tackle the agenda from many quarters, to learn, to assess, to think. While retrofitting a conversational ethos onto a company can be beneficial, the ultimate gift to society will be through structural changes to the way we educate young people – from nursery to university. Only the most ardent educational ideologue would disagree that we could be doing more to empower our school and university graduates with an ability to critically appraise, to question conventional methods and to posit their own views. While there will always be exceptions, the UK educational system needs to work harder, if its aim is to nurture thinking individuals.
Business too, is not a hotbed of thought and conversation, as the pressure to deliver on ‘key performance indicators’ takes precedence. The bigger the company, the less thought takes place as the job is driven by process and procedure. The smaller, dynamic entrepreneurial company though, is more of a cradle for silo breaking and thoughtfulness, but even then speed is more the order of the day.
For the businessman hungry for debate and conversation, there are opportunities out there, beyond the normal run of conferences and award ceremonies. For example, a desire to look beyond the here and now has been taken to heart by the Scottish urban regeneration community. An upcoming conference aims to take a creative and positive view of regeneration in the light of the economic crisis. Called Creative Approaches, the whole conference is built around ‘Moving Conversations’ which combines lively debate with film and television archive clips. The normal flood of bullet pointed slides has been replaced by rare footage and discussion, with the express aim of exploring ideas and stimulating new thinking amongst the public, private and voluntary sectors.
As Professor Jones concludes:
“Let us not further deceive ourselves into believing that, over the centuries, Governments or Instituitions or Professions have always, or even very often, put into place people and resources to promote relentless, self-critical and exploratory thinking.”
Far from being a luxury that a business cannot afford, finding the time to think might be just what all Chief Executives need right now.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Its an ecosystem Jim, but not as we know it
Amidst the ongoing talk of a ‘green’ dividend for the Scottish economy and the creation of thousands of eco jobs, I am encouraged to hear of that last week British wind farms have provided over 5% of electricity to the UK national grid over the period of a day . Over one hour on Sunday 29th August, wind turbines in the north of Scotland produced more energy, approximately 700MW, than was required by customers. Add this to the recent expansion of Whitelees Wind Farm, already the biggest in Europe, and all seems to be going swimmingly in the clean energy world. Not to mention the onward expansion of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy technologies.
Even the hardest sceptics are perhaps coming to accept that there may be something in all of this green eco stuff. Something that smells of money as opposed to freshly mown grass or wildflower meadows (prescious few of which remain alas). These same sceptics rightly pointed out that wind turbines [on or offshore] require less manpower to maintain, however, they missed the many other jobs in design, engineering, support, consultancy, IT, marketing and finance that have and will be created. While renewable have been grabbing all the glory, the green dividend will also be reaped through a whole host of other companies and organisations that will create a wide variety of jobs and add economic value in previously unseen ways – an ecosystem if you like.
This ecosystem will contain financial services companies such as the Green Insurance Company that recently announced record profits and the creation of 60 new jobs in Scotland. While the ‘green’ element of this company primarily relates to the purchase of carbon offsets of customer vehicle emissions, this business model will no doubt develop. For example, low carbon travel insurance or vehicle or business cover that prices in carbon emission or waste reductions. Other financial service providers will also emerge from existing companies or start ups. Banks’ asset finance operations will grow through funding for clean technologies, possibly building the value of waste, water or carbon savings into the lending formulae. Auditors and accountants will grow their assurance business as more companies choose or are compelled to disclose their environmental and sustainability performance. Fund managers will start to take climate change adaptation seriously and turn to the vast array of data and experience at the Met Office to draw up regional risk and investment profiles.
In addition to the finance jobs, there will be work aplenty for those that actually do the work and get their hands dirty helping to reduce environmental impacts. There will be opportunities for the entrepreneurs and companies that develop and sell technology to decontaminate water, reduce water use, recycle waste, reuse waste, clean contaminated land, monitor and scrub air pollution, monitor and reduce energy. The list goes on. These jobs will be research based, operational, marketing and financial – either in house or supporting outsourced providers.
Within and around this, there will be a growing band of companies that continue to sell food, chemicals, consumer goods and many other products or services, while taking greater control over their impacts on the environment. These companies will be users of the services and products offered from elsewhere within the ecosystem, whether it be to reduce waste or energy, for example. These companies will do so because they see the opportunity to be leaner, more cost efficient and pursue competitive advantage through greater control and disclosure of their environmental performance. While they may be responding to pressure from their own customers, they will pass this pressure up the supply chain and demand greater scrutiny of their own suppliers. Thereby the ecosystem propagates and thrives, with all parts linked to and depending on others.
Accepting the above, the green dividend could be very significant for Scotland as a home for clean technology and service companies and other companies tackling their environmental impacts. The ultimate environmental good is hard to predict, however, the need to adapt to a changing climate will be ever present anyway. Our ecosystems are changing, long live the ecosystem.
Even the hardest sceptics are perhaps coming to accept that there may be something in all of this green eco stuff. Something that smells of money as opposed to freshly mown grass or wildflower meadows (prescious few of which remain alas). These same sceptics rightly pointed out that wind turbines [on or offshore] require less manpower to maintain, however, they missed the many other jobs in design, engineering, support, consultancy, IT, marketing and finance that have and will be created. While renewable have been grabbing all the glory, the green dividend will also be reaped through a whole host of other companies and organisations that will create a wide variety of jobs and add economic value in previously unseen ways – an ecosystem if you like.
This ecosystem will contain financial services companies such as the Green Insurance Company that recently announced record profits and the creation of 60 new jobs in Scotland. While the ‘green’ element of this company primarily relates to the purchase of carbon offsets of customer vehicle emissions, this business model will no doubt develop. For example, low carbon travel insurance or vehicle or business cover that prices in carbon emission or waste reductions. Other financial service providers will also emerge from existing companies or start ups. Banks’ asset finance operations will grow through funding for clean technologies, possibly building the value of waste, water or carbon savings into the lending formulae. Auditors and accountants will grow their assurance business as more companies choose or are compelled to disclose their environmental and sustainability performance. Fund managers will start to take climate change adaptation seriously and turn to the vast array of data and experience at the Met Office to draw up regional risk and investment profiles.
In addition to the finance jobs, there will be work aplenty for those that actually do the work and get their hands dirty helping to reduce environmental impacts. There will be opportunities for the entrepreneurs and companies that develop and sell technology to decontaminate water, reduce water use, recycle waste, reuse waste, clean contaminated land, monitor and scrub air pollution, monitor and reduce energy. The list goes on. These jobs will be research based, operational, marketing and financial – either in house or supporting outsourced providers.
Within and around this, there will be a growing band of companies that continue to sell food, chemicals, consumer goods and many other products or services, while taking greater control over their impacts on the environment. These companies will be users of the services and products offered from elsewhere within the ecosystem, whether it be to reduce waste or energy, for example. These companies will do so because they see the opportunity to be leaner, more cost efficient and pursue competitive advantage through greater control and disclosure of their environmental performance. While they may be responding to pressure from their own customers, they will pass this pressure up the supply chain and demand greater scrutiny of their own suppliers. Thereby the ecosystem propagates and thrives, with all parts linked to and depending on others.
Accepting the above, the green dividend could be very significant for Scotland as a home for clean technology and service companies and other companies tackling their environmental impacts. The ultimate environmental good is hard to predict, however, the need to adapt to a changing climate will be ever present anyway. Our ecosystems are changing, long live the ecosystem.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Banging on about sustainability as competitive advantage
My brief talk at the Thrive for Business event on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility....
Over the next five minutes I will attempt to argue that CSR is ‘common sense really’, nothing more and nothing less than good old fashioned governance and a source of competitive advantage. Since we have to call it something this morning, I will refer to it as ‘sustainability’ – why use three words when one will do.
Before getting into practicalities, its worth mulling over the question of who drives the sustainability agenda. Orthodoxy says that sustainability should be embedded within the values of the business and driven from the top. In reality there will be all manner of prods and pressure from customers, peers, regulators, investors, local communities, as well as the management team and, yes, even the CEO. Then we have the activists, non-governmental organisations and elements of the sustainability industry. Here perhaps, and this is admittedly a cynical view, the agenda is less about accountability but more about an aversion to profit and the abhorrent pursuit thereof. Let’s whip the fat cats in their pinstripes and make them atone for their wicked ways!
Being a trendy concept, sustainability also comes with its own mountain of written material. However, if you ask me too much of this material can be inappropriate, boring, turgid and seemingly created to satisfy a generic audience that does not actually exist (hence no-one reads, listens or watches). This has a particular relevance in a world where communication channels are globalising and multiplying and ‘audiences’ are disaggregating.
Fundamentally, sustainability is about commercial longevity, which is more likely to be achieved by those companies that innovate, that are sensitive to the needs of their employees, customers and suppliers, that manage and mitigate their impacts on the environment and whose systems are efficient and effective, that are not afraid of making hard decisions based on a long term view, that enjoy what they do and bring stakeholders along with them.
While this is all well and good, how do customers, regulators, investors and others take a view on a company’s sustainability record when there is no official ‘standard’ against which companies can be measured. The corporates have been producing detailed Corporate Responsibility or Sustainability reports for many years and signing up to voluntary sustainability standards such as AA1000, BS8901, GRI, however, questions remain about their effectiveness as genuine tools of transparency. At the same time, the pressure has been growing on smaller companies to disclose more information on their environmental performance or their record in relation to employees and local communities.
At its basic level, this pressure is coming from a growing raft of eco, HR and disclosure regulations which drive up the costs and associated risks of non-compliance. For those companies supplying the supermarkets, take heed. The buyers may not be asking about sustainability now, but they will start doing so over the next few years. This is already happening in relation to certain products, for example, European legislation that targets imports of illegal timber. Suppliers of other products should start preparing for increased scrutiny.
Consequently let us forget sustainability, as the soft and fluffy, nice to have, lets think of it as a necessary pre-requisite for growing a business and being prepared for that moment when the legislators, customers or even financiers come knocking. From its eco-roots, sustainability has emerged blinking into the light as a full-blown source of competitive advantage, particularly in a world chasing a diminishing number of public sector contracts and fighting pressure on margins.
So while its fine for the multinationals, what about small and medium sized business. How should they respond to the pressure – if it exists for them:
Firstly, ensure that it is taken seriously at Board and senior management level. Noting here that the drive to be more sustainable may come from the top.
Secondly, seek advice. There is loads of it out there and much of it is free. Speak to Envirowise, Zero Waste Scotland, CarbonTrust, Environmental Protection Agency, Ethical Trading Initiative, trade associations and any number of other organisations. They can help with advice, audits, standard setting and contacts.
Next. Start to measure performance and put in place a simple roadmap to manage in the long term. A management system may be appropriate, it may not. Also think through the expectations of your employees – how can they help and contribute. Your customers and suppliers may also have questions, particularly where you are bidding for new work or terms of trade are changed, with greater emphasis on sustainability.
At the same time, somehow work out a means of managing and monitoring sustainability in the long term. You may not be able to afford the resources to do this in-house, but perhaps its a part-time role or one that can be economically outsourced, perhaps to one or other of the organisations offering free or low cost services.
Finally, learn how to communicate what you are doing. This will be required in order to speak and listen to your employees, however, it will also be important when customers and others come calling, looking for a concise and credible summary of your actions in relation to sustainability. By this stage you may be able to report on how you have saved on landfill costs, found outlets for waste packaging, reduced your water and wastewater bills, saved on energy costs, reduced the risk from poor suppliers and raw materials, won more work and motivated employees. You might even have developed new products and services.
Along the way, you will find and benefit from companies who have taken a similar view. If you have international ambitions, not only will it free up some cash for export marketing [through greater resource efficiency and employee motivation], it will be a fantastic calling card, since all key international markets are upping their own scrutiny of sustainability performance.
While there will be up-front cost, some of this outlay will be required for compliance purposes anyway. The rest, if spent wisely, will more than pay itself back through greater resource efficiency, lower bills, more business and a better reputation. Double dip or not, I would urge Directors of companies to revisit sustainability, not as eco-irrelevance, but as part and parcel of competitive advantage.
Over the next five minutes I will attempt to argue that CSR is ‘common sense really’, nothing more and nothing less than good old fashioned governance and a source of competitive advantage. Since we have to call it something this morning, I will refer to it as ‘sustainability’ – why use three words when one will do.
Before getting into practicalities, its worth mulling over the question of who drives the sustainability agenda. Orthodoxy says that sustainability should be embedded within the values of the business and driven from the top. In reality there will be all manner of prods and pressure from customers, peers, regulators, investors, local communities, as well as the management team and, yes, even the CEO. Then we have the activists, non-governmental organisations and elements of the sustainability industry. Here perhaps, and this is admittedly a cynical view, the agenda is less about accountability but more about an aversion to profit and the abhorrent pursuit thereof. Let’s whip the fat cats in their pinstripes and make them atone for their wicked ways!
Being a trendy concept, sustainability also comes with its own mountain of written material. However, if you ask me too much of this material can be inappropriate, boring, turgid and seemingly created to satisfy a generic audience that does not actually exist (hence no-one reads, listens or watches). This has a particular relevance in a world where communication channels are globalising and multiplying and ‘audiences’ are disaggregating.
Fundamentally, sustainability is about commercial longevity, which is more likely to be achieved by those companies that innovate, that are sensitive to the needs of their employees, customers and suppliers, that manage and mitigate their impacts on the environment and whose systems are efficient and effective, that are not afraid of making hard decisions based on a long term view, that enjoy what they do and bring stakeholders along with them.
While this is all well and good, how do customers, regulators, investors and others take a view on a company’s sustainability record when there is no official ‘standard’ against which companies can be measured. The corporates have been producing detailed Corporate Responsibility or Sustainability reports for many years and signing up to voluntary sustainability standards such as AA1000, BS8901, GRI, however, questions remain about their effectiveness as genuine tools of transparency. At the same time, the pressure has been growing on smaller companies to disclose more information on their environmental performance or their record in relation to employees and local communities.
At its basic level, this pressure is coming from a growing raft of eco, HR and disclosure regulations which drive up the costs and associated risks of non-compliance. For those companies supplying the supermarkets, take heed. The buyers may not be asking about sustainability now, but they will start doing so over the next few years. This is already happening in relation to certain products, for example, European legislation that targets imports of illegal timber. Suppliers of other products should start preparing for increased scrutiny.
Consequently let us forget sustainability, as the soft and fluffy, nice to have, lets think of it as a necessary pre-requisite for growing a business and being prepared for that moment when the legislators, customers or even financiers come knocking. From its eco-roots, sustainability has emerged blinking into the light as a full-blown source of competitive advantage, particularly in a world chasing a diminishing number of public sector contracts and fighting pressure on margins.
So while its fine for the multinationals, what about small and medium sized business. How should they respond to the pressure – if it exists for them:
Firstly, ensure that it is taken seriously at Board and senior management level. Noting here that the drive to be more sustainable may come from the top.
Secondly, seek advice. There is loads of it out there and much of it is free. Speak to Envirowise, Zero Waste Scotland, CarbonTrust, Environmental Protection Agency, Ethical Trading Initiative, trade associations and any number of other organisations. They can help with advice, audits, standard setting and contacts.
Next. Start to measure performance and put in place a simple roadmap to manage in the long term. A management system may be appropriate, it may not. Also think through the expectations of your employees – how can they help and contribute. Your customers and suppliers may also have questions, particularly where you are bidding for new work or terms of trade are changed, with greater emphasis on sustainability.
At the same time, somehow work out a means of managing and monitoring sustainability in the long term. You may not be able to afford the resources to do this in-house, but perhaps its a part-time role or one that can be economically outsourced, perhaps to one or other of the organisations offering free or low cost services.
Finally, learn how to communicate what you are doing. This will be required in order to speak and listen to your employees, however, it will also be important when customers and others come calling, looking for a concise and credible summary of your actions in relation to sustainability. By this stage you may be able to report on how you have saved on landfill costs, found outlets for waste packaging, reduced your water and wastewater bills, saved on energy costs, reduced the risk from poor suppliers and raw materials, won more work and motivated employees. You might even have developed new products and services.
Along the way, you will find and benefit from companies who have taken a similar view. If you have international ambitions, not only will it free up some cash for export marketing [through greater resource efficiency and employee motivation], it will be a fantastic calling card, since all key international markets are upping their own scrutiny of sustainability performance.
While there will be up-front cost, some of this outlay will be required for compliance purposes anyway. The rest, if spent wisely, will more than pay itself back through greater resource efficiency, lower bills, more business and a better reputation. Double dip or not, I would urge Directors of companies to revisit sustainability, not as eco-irrelevance, but as part and parcel of competitive advantage.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
The ‘many’ heroes of the Battle of Britain
The 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain is rightly receiving the attention it deserves. While Scotland remains geographically distant from the airspace that saw the heaviest of the aerial combat between 10th July and 31st October 1940, we should not forget that Scottish born squadrons fought with distinction and gained their Battle of Britain honours. Both 602 ‘City of Glasgow’ and 603 ‘City of Edinburgh’ squadrons were involved in the harsh, unforgiving combat within the 11 Group sector over south-east England and the English Channel.
The anniversary brought to mind a Moving Conversation that I organised one September at Edinburgh’s Dominion Cinema, on the subject of the Battle of Britain. We preceded a showing of the 1969 film of that name with some short but telling contributions from the then Commanding Officer of 603 Squadron, a Tornado pilot from RAF Leuchars and a historian of 602 Squadron. While we could not be joined by one of Scotland’s surviving fighter pilots, we were honoured to hear from Squadron Leader Andrew Jackson, DFC, AE, MID, who had flown two operational tours, including the first bombing raids over Berlin in August 1940. These raids took place during the full heat of the Battle, at which time the Luftwaffe was dealing heavy blows to the RAF’s Fighter Command airbases and associated infrastructure. As a morale booster more than anything else, Winston Churchill ordered the bombing raids on Berlin.
Andrew Jackson described the raids in his Aircrew Association paper ‘The First Raids on Berlin’, “On the 28th August 1940, we took off from Norwich Airfield, as an advanced base from Marham to attack Berlin, on the first operation by Wellington bombers....Search lights and heavy flak were encountered on our flight, but over the actual target there was very little opposition – not what we expected. We had a clear view of the city and the marshalling yards were easily identified and attacked. Two nights later we returned to be met by numerous searchlights and well-directed and intensive flak. The enemy was learning fast!”
History shows that these raids were decisive factors in Hitler and Luftwaffe chief, Goering’s decision to concentrate their own bombing efforts on British ports and railways, thereby providing the RAF with some desperately needed relief. With the change of tactics, came greater success for Fighter Command, ultimately leading to the decision to withdraw the German invasion forces gathered on the French coast.
While the Berlin raids were astounding at that time, throughout the summer of 1940, Bomber Command continued to harass the German invasion fleet and destroy shipping in the heavily defended French ports of Dunkirk, Calais and Ostend. The role of these crews and those whom flew to Berlin during 1940, should be acknowledged, as should those of the men and women who kept the aircraft in the air, transported men and machines across the Atlantic and the UK, designed, built and tested the aircraft, designed and manned the control and radar centres, trained the pilots, manned observation posts and the many others that combined to keep the aircraft in the air and homing in on their targets. Not to mention of course, the now legendary young men of Fighter Command, whom took on the German bombers and their fighter escorts.
That night at the Dominion Cinema left an indelible mark, confirming the debt of gratitude that we owe men like Andrew Jackson, whom accepted the need to act in the interest of their country while forging unbreakable bonds with their Squadron colleagues under the greatest of pressure. While historians continue to debate the Battle of Britain’s significance in the great scheme of the Second World War, in this 70th anniversary year we should remember the Fighter Command’s ‘few’ and the those from other arms of the RAF, working in the air and on the ground. I will leave the last word to Andrew Jackson, “Britain was saved from invasion by the Royal Air Force, and that was what the Battle of Britain was all about. The young men from the UK and overseas stood side by side, risking all, with many paying the ultimate price in violent death. We owe them a huge debt!”
Sadly, Squadron Leader Jackson died in 2009. We owe him and his generation a huge debt.
The anniversary brought to mind a Moving Conversation that I organised one September at Edinburgh’s Dominion Cinema, on the subject of the Battle of Britain. We preceded a showing of the 1969 film of that name with some short but telling contributions from the then Commanding Officer of 603 Squadron, a Tornado pilot from RAF Leuchars and a historian of 602 Squadron. While we could not be joined by one of Scotland’s surviving fighter pilots, we were honoured to hear from Squadron Leader Andrew Jackson, DFC, AE, MID, who had flown two operational tours, including the first bombing raids over Berlin in August 1940. These raids took place during the full heat of the Battle, at which time the Luftwaffe was dealing heavy blows to the RAF’s Fighter Command airbases and associated infrastructure. As a morale booster more than anything else, Winston Churchill ordered the bombing raids on Berlin.
Andrew Jackson described the raids in his Aircrew Association paper ‘The First Raids on Berlin’, “On the 28th August 1940, we took off from Norwich Airfield, as an advanced base from Marham to attack Berlin, on the first operation by Wellington bombers....Search lights and heavy flak were encountered on our flight, but over the actual target there was very little opposition – not what we expected. We had a clear view of the city and the marshalling yards were easily identified and attacked. Two nights later we returned to be met by numerous searchlights and well-directed and intensive flak. The enemy was learning fast!”
History shows that these raids were decisive factors in Hitler and Luftwaffe chief, Goering’s decision to concentrate their own bombing efforts on British ports and railways, thereby providing the RAF with some desperately needed relief. With the change of tactics, came greater success for Fighter Command, ultimately leading to the decision to withdraw the German invasion forces gathered on the French coast.
While the Berlin raids were astounding at that time, throughout the summer of 1940, Bomber Command continued to harass the German invasion fleet and destroy shipping in the heavily defended French ports of Dunkirk, Calais and Ostend. The role of these crews and those whom flew to Berlin during 1940, should be acknowledged, as should those of the men and women who kept the aircraft in the air, transported men and machines across the Atlantic and the UK, designed, built and tested the aircraft, designed and manned the control and radar centres, trained the pilots, manned observation posts and the many others that combined to keep the aircraft in the air and homing in on their targets. Not to mention of course, the now legendary young men of Fighter Command, whom took on the German bombers and their fighter escorts.
That night at the Dominion Cinema left an indelible mark, confirming the debt of gratitude that we owe men like Andrew Jackson, whom accepted the need to act in the interest of their country while forging unbreakable bonds with their Squadron colleagues under the greatest of pressure. While historians continue to debate the Battle of Britain’s significance in the great scheme of the Second World War, in this 70th anniversary year we should remember the Fighter Command’s ‘few’ and the those from other arms of the RAF, working in the air and on the ground. I will leave the last word to Andrew Jackson, “Britain was saved from invasion by the Royal Air Force, and that was what the Battle of Britain was all about. The young men from the UK and overseas stood side by side, risking all, with many paying the ultimate price in violent death. We owe them a huge debt!”
Sadly, Squadron Leader Jackson died in 2009. We owe him and his generation a huge debt.
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
The Transparency Express
As we enter a period of concern over a double-dip recession, the poor old small business continues to fight on in the economic trenches. While the bankers continue to party and play the Government like salmon in the Tweed, the case for corporate sustainability would seem to be somewhat weakened. While the orgy of recrimination around the so-called climategate scandal has muddied the waters around global warming, the fundamental logic for companies to do something about waste, resources and energy remains, regardless of what the carbon footprint brigade or climate-sceptics might be arguing.
At its basic level, small businesses have to respond to a growing raft of eco-regulations which drive up the costs and associated risks of non-compliance. By being prepared, there are opportunities to save money, earn revenues, win new business and increase value.
For those companies supplying the supermarkets, take heed. The buyers may not be asking about sustainability now, but they will start doing so over the next few years. This is already happening in relation to certain products, for example, European legislation that targets imports of illegal timber. Suppliers of other products should start preparing for increased scrutiny.
Rather than consign sustainability to the pending tray, this is the pefect time to address it, in preparation for that moment when the legislators, customers or even financiers come knocking. From its eco-roots, sustainability has emerged blinking into the light as a full-blown source of competitive advantage, particularly in a world chasing a diminishing number of public sector contracts and fighting pressure on margins.
Having recognised the logic, how does the small business proceed if it wishes to take sustainability out of the box marked ‘eco-freak’ or ‘tree hugger’. Here are some tips:
Firstly, ensure that it is taken seriously at Board and senior management level.
Secondly, seek advice. There is loads of it out there and much of it is free. Speak to Envirowise, WRAP, Zero Waste Scotland, CarbonTrust, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Ethical Trading Initiative, trade associations and any number of other organisations. They can help with advice, audits, standard setting and contacts.
Next. Start to measure performance and put in place a simple roadmap to manage in the long term. A management system may be appropriate, it may not. Also think through the expectations of your employees – how can they help and contribute. Your customers and suppliers may also have questions, particularly where you are bidding for new work or terms of trade are changed, with greater emphasis on sustainability.
At the same time, somehow work out a means of managing and monitoring sustainability in the long term. You may not be able to afford the resources to do this in-house, but perhaps its a part-time role or one that can be economically outsourced.
Finally, learn how to communicate what you are doing. This will be required in order to speak and listen to your employees, however, it will also be important when customers and others come calling, looking for a concise and credible summary of your actions in relation to sustainability. By this stage of course, you will be able to report on how you have saved on landfill costs, found outlets for waste packaging, reduced your water and wastewater bills, saved on energy costs, reduced the risk from poor suppliers and raw materials, won more work and motivated employees. You might even have developed new products and services in response to the green, eco, ethical or sustainability agenda – whatever you wish to call it.
Along the way, you will find and benefit from companies who have taken a similar view, which can only be a good thing. If you have international ambitions, not only will it free up some cash for export marketing [through greater resource efficiency and employee motivation], it will be a fantastic calling card, since all key international markets are upping their own scrutiny of sustainability performance.
Like all management and process change, it is not easy. The plethora of support agencies can be confusing, however, in Scotland many of these agencies have been consolidated – which helps.
While there will be up-front cost, some of this outlay will be required for compliance purposes anyway. The rest, if spent wisely, will more than pay itself back through greater resource efficiency, lower bills, more business and a better reputation. Double dip or not, I would urge Directors of small companies to revisit sustainability, not as eco-irrelevance, but as part and parcel of competitive advantage.
At its basic level, small businesses have to respond to a growing raft of eco-regulations which drive up the costs and associated risks of non-compliance. By being prepared, there are opportunities to save money, earn revenues, win new business and increase value.
For those companies supplying the supermarkets, take heed. The buyers may not be asking about sustainability now, but they will start doing so over the next few years. This is already happening in relation to certain products, for example, European legislation that targets imports of illegal timber. Suppliers of other products should start preparing for increased scrutiny.
Rather than consign sustainability to the pending tray, this is the pefect time to address it, in preparation for that moment when the legislators, customers or even financiers come knocking. From its eco-roots, sustainability has emerged blinking into the light as a full-blown source of competitive advantage, particularly in a world chasing a diminishing number of public sector contracts and fighting pressure on margins.
Having recognised the logic, how does the small business proceed if it wishes to take sustainability out of the box marked ‘eco-freak’ or ‘tree hugger’. Here are some tips:
Firstly, ensure that it is taken seriously at Board and senior management level.
Secondly, seek advice. There is loads of it out there and much of it is free. Speak to Envirowise, WRAP, Zero Waste Scotland, CarbonTrust, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Ethical Trading Initiative, trade associations and any number of other organisations. They can help with advice, audits, standard setting and contacts.
Next. Start to measure performance and put in place a simple roadmap to manage in the long term. A management system may be appropriate, it may not. Also think through the expectations of your employees – how can they help and contribute. Your customers and suppliers may also have questions, particularly where you are bidding for new work or terms of trade are changed, with greater emphasis on sustainability.
At the same time, somehow work out a means of managing and monitoring sustainability in the long term. You may not be able to afford the resources to do this in-house, but perhaps its a part-time role or one that can be economically outsourced.
Finally, learn how to communicate what you are doing. This will be required in order to speak and listen to your employees, however, it will also be important when customers and others come calling, looking for a concise and credible summary of your actions in relation to sustainability. By this stage of course, you will be able to report on how you have saved on landfill costs, found outlets for waste packaging, reduced your water and wastewater bills, saved on energy costs, reduced the risk from poor suppliers and raw materials, won more work and motivated employees. You might even have developed new products and services in response to the green, eco, ethical or sustainability agenda – whatever you wish to call it.
Along the way, you will find and benefit from companies who have taken a similar view, which can only be a good thing. If you have international ambitions, not only will it free up some cash for export marketing [through greater resource efficiency and employee motivation], it will be a fantastic calling card, since all key international markets are upping their own scrutiny of sustainability performance.
Like all management and process change, it is not easy. The plethora of support agencies can be confusing, however, in Scotland many of these agencies have been consolidated – which helps.
While there will be up-front cost, some of this outlay will be required for compliance purposes anyway. The rest, if spent wisely, will more than pay itself back through greater resource efficiency, lower bills, more business and a better reputation. Double dip or not, I would urge Directors of small companies to revisit sustainability, not as eco-irrelevance, but as part and parcel of competitive advantage.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Diamonds are For Every Business Cycle
I woke up this morning to the headline BBC news that veteran supermodel Naomi Campbell was to appear before a war crimes tribuneral for accepting gifted blood diamonds from disgraced former dictator Charles Taylor. Leaving aside the questionable editorial policy from the twenty somethings in Auntie’s newsroom, thoughts of carbon based gems were floating around when I read the obituary of Tom Mankiewicz, screenwriter on my favourite Bond film, Diamonds are Forever.
It was the first Bond film that I watched at the cinema, transfixed by the moon buggy and frustrated that I never owned the Corgi, or was it Dinky, version. I think too that it was the first screen violence I can remember witnessing, particularly the scene where Bond sends diamond smuggler Peter Franks to his death with the aid of a fire extinguisher. Brutal in the extreme, but I emerged suitably shaken, not stirred.
Childhood memories aside, I did not realise it at the time that this was Connery’s comeback to Bond, after the Lazenby interlude [not as wooden as given credit for], lured back with a $1 million fee and $10,000 a week wages. Quite a sum at the time, but infinitely more value than your average SPL or Premier League showman.
While not wishing to venture into ‘best Bond’ territory, it struck me that those of us in business in Scotland could take a page or two out of the book of Connery to guide us going forward.
First lesson, he started local, but built a global phenomenon. Starting from his milk delivery days in Fountainbridge, Connery pursued and ultimately realised his vision. It took him six years from his first film part to his breakthough in 1962’s Dr No. He accepted the small parts, dealt with the inevitable crap, but kept his eye on the prize. A lesson for all budding entrepreneurs!
Secondly, he grabbed the opportunity and ran with it. Bond might not have made him. He might not have been in the right place at the right time. We might have hated his interpretation. He played the legendary spy his way and it worked. That combination of clarity, sophistication, looks and ruthlessness won the fights, the girls and the audiences. While there may be something here for the entrepreneur to emulate, its more about the strength of character to move away from home turf and mix it with an alien culture, in this case Hollywood, and not be cowed or manipulated. Surely this must be a fantastic example of internationalisation.
Having made it to the big time and secured his cash cow, Connery then realised that there must be more to life. More product with which to grow his personal brand. He was not afraid to step off the Bond bandwagon and negotiate the maze of undoubted crazy offers and ridiculous roles. As David Thompson has put it, he has made strange film choices but he retained and retains public affection. Something brands aspire too. The lesson here being the need to accept failures as part of the baggage of ambitious business. Just keep the faith and the successes will come.
We then return to Diamonds are Forever. Our hero was not afraid to change his mind and take the money, and while this may have been death to brand Connery, in fact turned out a cracking performance in a cracking film. Opportunism is an oft underated trait. Although, the less said about Never Say Never Again, the better.
After 54 years in the film business, Connery has globalised and has reaped the rewards thereof. The Bond brand or franchise continues without him, but he helped to make it what it is. He remains the best Bond in my book and an icon in his home country and has helped others from Scotland to commercialise and promote themselves, particularly in the USA and used his influence to help those less fortunate. He made the most of his talent, pursued his vision, globalised, made mistakes, worked extremely hard and earned his place in the A-list.
Diamonds can be forever for those of us struggling to make our mark in business, with the right ambition, staying power and hard work. Just beware strange men bearing free gemstones – there is no such thing - they always come with responsibilities and consequences attached.
It was the first Bond film that I watched at the cinema, transfixed by the moon buggy and frustrated that I never owned the Corgi, or was it Dinky, version. I think too that it was the first screen violence I can remember witnessing, particularly the scene where Bond sends diamond smuggler Peter Franks to his death with the aid of a fire extinguisher. Brutal in the extreme, but I emerged suitably shaken, not stirred.
Childhood memories aside, I did not realise it at the time that this was Connery’s comeback to Bond, after the Lazenby interlude [not as wooden as given credit for], lured back with a $1 million fee and $10,000 a week wages. Quite a sum at the time, but infinitely more value than your average SPL or Premier League showman.
While not wishing to venture into ‘best Bond’ territory, it struck me that those of us in business in Scotland could take a page or two out of the book of Connery to guide us going forward.
First lesson, he started local, but built a global phenomenon. Starting from his milk delivery days in Fountainbridge, Connery pursued and ultimately realised his vision. It took him six years from his first film part to his breakthough in 1962’s Dr No. He accepted the small parts, dealt with the inevitable crap, but kept his eye on the prize. A lesson for all budding entrepreneurs!
Secondly, he grabbed the opportunity and ran with it. Bond might not have made him. He might not have been in the right place at the right time. We might have hated his interpretation. He played the legendary spy his way and it worked. That combination of clarity, sophistication, looks and ruthlessness won the fights, the girls and the audiences. While there may be something here for the entrepreneur to emulate, its more about the strength of character to move away from home turf and mix it with an alien culture, in this case Hollywood, and not be cowed or manipulated. Surely this must be a fantastic example of internationalisation.
Having made it to the big time and secured his cash cow, Connery then realised that there must be more to life. More product with which to grow his personal brand. He was not afraid to step off the Bond bandwagon and negotiate the maze of undoubted crazy offers and ridiculous roles. As David Thompson has put it, he has made strange film choices but he retained and retains public affection. Something brands aspire too. The lesson here being the need to accept failures as part of the baggage of ambitious business. Just keep the faith and the successes will come.
We then return to Diamonds are Forever. Our hero was not afraid to change his mind and take the money, and while this may have been death to brand Connery, in fact turned out a cracking performance in a cracking film. Opportunism is an oft underated trait. Although, the less said about Never Say Never Again, the better.
After 54 years in the film business, Connery has globalised and has reaped the rewards thereof. The Bond brand or franchise continues without him, but he helped to make it what it is. He remains the best Bond in my book and an icon in his home country and has helped others from Scotland to commercialise and promote themselves, particularly in the USA and used his influence to help those less fortunate. He made the most of his talent, pursued his vision, globalised, made mistakes, worked extremely hard and earned his place in the A-list.
Diamonds can be forever for those of us struggling to make our mark in business, with the right ambition, staying power and hard work. Just beware strange men bearing free gemstones – there is no such thing - they always come with responsibilities and consequences attached.
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