San Fran reflections | Next Mingle, 3 Oct | Naming theatres | Art | My Book |
Hi
-Mingle, 3 October!
-Reflections (part 1) in San Francisco, and a little art (part 2)
-What’s in a theatre name ?
-Listen to me and Yale Sustainability Professor, Cary Krosinsky in conversation on webinar, 3pm (UK) Thurs 20 Sep
-Human Development Index and Development Goals
-UK Theatre in positive flux
Hear a new idea. Meet a new person. Come mingle, 3 October at the fabulous Unicorn Theatre, London. Come to the Mingle.
Do come! Oct 3, 6.30pm – 9pm, Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2HZ. Register free here.
“Arts/Business Mingle summarised everything I love… The possibility to meet the most interesting people and learn something new.”
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If you want to know more about what I do my in job sustainability wise please catch me and Yale Prof Cary Kronsinsky discussing all matters Sustainability. Webinar 3pm (UK) Thurs 20 September. You can register free here or listen in the archive later.
Two recent highlights from Cary. A piece on the 7 tribes of sustainability investors - mainly jargon free. And Cary highlights the force that China is becoming in sustainability, this short YouTube from Dr Ma Jun on Green Finance in China.
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I was in San Francisco this week for a conference on responsible investment, with a dose of climate action, and here start some personal reflections first with a glimpse of the city (part 1). This reflection is centred on a short visit to the Modern Art Musuem (part 2)
SF is a beautiful city on a bluesky day. It’s one the first places I travelled to by myself when I was 14. I took the Cal train in from Palo Alto about 25 years ago and wandered. I only have impressions of the vibe from so long ago, but it remains similar.
Glorious feats of engineering from bridges, sky scrapers and now rooftop floating parks. You’d be lucky to be born here. It’s not without obvious problems. Homelessness is rife.
Two images: a homeless person napping in the midday sun with Bose headphones and Nike trainers.
A suited man stepping round a homeless person coming out of an Uber.
When I first came to SF, the company Salesforce had not even been created. It now has over $8 billion in revenue and has created one of the tallest buildings on the west coast of the US.
As part of this building, salesforce has created a public park. It seems to me part of how some see the American way. Open markets, creative entrepreneurs creating enormous wealth, and as part of that creation giving back to the place and community that helped create them.
I wonder how strong this type of social contract still is - or ever was. The tower rises like a glimmering shard, the park all new, bursting with plants, toddler areas, free art and reading. Is this enough to hold the fabric of America?
Willfully turning away from the beggars, the vibrant, diverse life is still present. Boys and boys, girls and girls, boys and girls. A smattering of colour. Old fashioned cable cars trundle alongside electric low emission buses. The waiters are mainly white and cute. The bussing folk are mainly coloured and invisible along with the maids and other worker bees. You can get free wifi almost everywhere.
I’m here too fleetingly to see much else of the city, but note an awkward clash between some environmental awareness and still a huge amount of waste, plastic and limited nudging of individual choice. It's a place of huge wealth and apparent contradictions. (Further reflections on the conference including my selfie with Paul Polman (Unilever, CEO - I held the lift for him) are here, 5 mins.
A few hundred metres away, from my investment conference, stands the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I have 45 minutes to spare.
Several artists eloquently - although also esoterically make many of the points that the Responsible Investor conference are grappling with.
I also end up writing what turns out to be a poem on chatting with an employee, who are all coloured vs the viewers who are mainly white.
Voices unheard (O Uygur). Sitting in this beautiful musuem. For a short time, I hear you. This is a 4 min read looking at climate change art, race, the disappeared Uyghurs through the lens of some art work. It's a fun and at times serious reflection, on my art path not taken.
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I think we should support the Artistic Director of the newly renamed Kiln Theatre.
I examine the governance of a local London theatre (charity) and make a suggestion on Board entrenchment based on public company practice. On the subject of artistic decision to change its name, I stand with the Artistic Director and note interference from previous managements on current managements is generally poor practice in public company world.
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Quick one on ESG world, the latest UN PRI report on case studies integrating fixed income and equities is out. I and my team have a case study in it, but it runs through many of the techniques asset managers are thinking of. You can see it here (case study link) Also, the Human Development Index (here) is updated this week (the launch meeting moderator asked my question on SDGs and HDI see 7.22 on YouTube).
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I’ve re-issued my 2006 play, Yellow Gentlemen (4 stars in Time Out and is one of my more personal works about the night immigrant Tommy Lee is dying). Buy it for laughs on Kindle for the price of a coffee. I’m also learning that maybe book sales aren’t a good vehicle for raising money. I’ve only sold 4 copies at the price of a coffee - 1.99. I will perservere but some good learnings here.
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“...Through a long-term orientation and stewardship, this is the time for active investment managers to show their worth. It starts with asking the right long-term business questions. Some companies are giving us answers, but are we really listening?”
My full opinion article in the FT. (3 mins, behind paywall, but you get a free article or email me and I can send you a copy)
We've help found Focus West London, a Saturday club for autistic children. Children learn vital play, social and language skills in a fun and child-centred environment. Every child is provided with a volunteer therapist trained in a highly effective behavioural intervention. It's a difficult climate for charitable organisations like Focus, so your donation really matters.
Details are here. THANK YOU!