Ideas to Change the World
I notice that many of us live in bubbles. The same people, the same ideas, the same news sources and the same thoughts flying around inside our heads. I include myself in this and no matter how much we think we have independent thinking, we are all porous and cannot help but be influenced by whats around us.
Take climate change. There’s no question it’s the biggest issue facing the planet. From the bubble I’d been living in, I’ve followed the many discussions around this with ideas focused on individual action (changing our eating habits, how we travel, the use of plastics and so on) and through to government action and setting targets.
One thing that has been less apparent to me (and probably many others) is the work of entrepreneurs working hard to figure out solutions to many of these challenges.
I’ve just returned from a week in San Francisco, in part with my friend Oli Barrett and his 10th Clean and Cool Mission where they took 15 fast growth technology companies with ideas that can change the world to Silicon Valley. To say it was uplifting and inspiring would be an understatement. Some examples:
Michael Ruggier runs Airponix, which has developed a disruptive technology to allow farmers around the world to grow nutrient rich crops independent of climate or geography. The results they are getting are simply stunning. The impact is more food from less land in a shorter time span that can be grown locally wherever you are in the world.
Insiya Jafferjee runs the Shellworks taking prawn shells and converting them into bioplastics. The impact is aimed at reducing plastic pollution.
Other companies were focused on creating more efficient battery technologies, one was focused on the creation of a biological filtration system to replace chemicals used in swimming pools, another on using technology to produce zero emission low cost hydrogen, AI was used by others to create more energy efficiency in homes, others on more effective wind and solar generation, and many more.
Yes we have challenges to tackle and it’s encouraging to feel the energy, optimism and drive from entrepreneurs with a singular focus on tackling some of the hardest problems the world faces.
It’s a big challenge and seeing each of these teams tackling different parts of the problem from different angles is uplifting.
I always remember the story of one CEO who was asked what was the hardest problem he faced and who in his team was dealing with it. His answer was no-one was dealing with it as the problem was too hard!
The answer can only be to put your best minds in tackling your hardest problems (it’s a good idea for all of us). When it comes to climate change, none of us can simply sit back and wait for others to solve it, but it is certainly very encouraging to see the work of these focused minds to tackle tough problems.
Tip: What’s your toughest problem and who’s working to solve it? Surrounding yourself with focused inspiring people could be one of the best things you do this year.
In the Spotlight
It was a privilege to meet Major Tim Peake this week. We were both speaking at the same event this week for Standard Life Investments. A super inspiring and lovely guy and amazing to see his pictures and videos from the Space Station. Great to swap books and stories.
Leadership tip of the week.
The speed at which we and our teams learn is perhaps the single most important way to stand out from the competition. Here’s one simple idea that one team used to ignite the learning “feeling” and rate inside their organisation.
One of the best things about speaking at conferences is listening to and learning from other speakers (where this idea came from). If you’re not learning and growing, you’re shrinking.
It was a real privilege to be in the amazing Principal Hotel in Manchester, having been invited back, for the second year running, to be the closing speaker on leading high performing teams for this leadership conference {and learning from the other speakers!}
PS If you like this, you can subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get these tips every week rather than just every fortnight.
Thought for the day
Nothing will bring your progress at work to a grinding halt than things going wrong at home. Work really hard to build those strong family and home foundations with a shared story, values, habits and rituals. Very rarely does this happen by accident #familyfirst
My Message for Event Bookers
Does your company have big bold goals you want to execute on and deliver this year? Do you want to improve the performance of your team (at work or at home).
Here’s my personal message for event bookers on what I can do for your audiences:
And here’s the Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 Keynotes that I deliver.
Day 1 - Charting Success - 8 Steps to Building Winning Teams
Day 2 - The New Rules of Teamwork for Effective High Performance Teams
Day 3 - Let’s Work Together - Adapting in Times of Crisis
For details of what your audience will experience, go to: https://www.casparcraven.com/
“Caspar shares the inside track on making the impossible possible brilliantly blending content with family and business to build a winning team. Caspar has the great skill of perfectly tailoring his content to align with each client’s bespoke objectives”