I’m current exploring ways of advising, initiating and/or leading institutional interventions that accelerate the evolution of our global society toward a sustainable footing.
To find out what I’m currently doing, please see my now page.
What does that mean?
My purpose*. Part of a generation that puts global society on a sustainable footing, based on a ‘living system’ paradigm-in-action.
- People have capabilities they need to choose how they want to thrive.
- Social and planetary systems no longer over-whelmed.
My role*. Be part of the ‘innovation function’ we need to accelerate the evolution of how society is organised, meaning:
- The interplay of economics, law, politics and more that set the operating context for activities, both formally economic and beyond, of individuals and organisations.
- The dominant beliefs which are expressed in that interplay.
What’s next*. Make strategic contributions to institutional intervention(s) that accelerate that evolution by testing ways to put a ‘living system’ paradigm into practice.
By ‘institutional intervention’, I mean an organisation that is a systemic effort to evolve towards living systems-in-practice. It could be single issue or wide-ranging, large or small, existing or new. The key thing is that it is testing and demonstrating a way of being that is deeply rooted in a living system paradigm, and so, if successful, opens up a path to a sustainable footing.
And my ‘strategic contribution’ could be advising as a consultant, initiating as an entrepreneur or leading as a senior executive.
*=my current understanding, which I’m sure will evolve with experiences.
My story. My career direction comes out of working at Forum for the Future, the independent non-profit working globally with business, government and other organisations to solve complex sustainability challenges, from 2003-2016.
For the last few years I’ve been leading Forum’s work with business, especially on how companies can be more successful by creating a sustainable future. I’ve also been a member of the Senior Management Team, part of setting strategy, making operational decisions, and running the Sustainable Business team.
For the last two years I’ve been a Policy Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy in the University of Cambridge. I was asking ‘what is the role of business in the transition to a global sustainable economy?’.
David Bent 
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David,
I listened to an interview with Jeremy Rifkin on French Radio yesterday and was quite taken by it. At the same time I quickly found myself searching “is Rifkin credible ” which is how I found your article. I too would like to believe that things will evolve in this direction but it sounded a bit empty and preaching to a conquered audience.