May The Best Monster Win
Pursuing perfection is delusional. But how much imperfection is acceptable?
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is gas. Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared. It won’t hurt you (handing gas canister to maniacally laughing colleague in frontbencher). It was drilled by men and women who live and work in the electorates of those who sit opposite. It’s gas that for over one hundred years has ensured - for one hundred years - that Australia has enjoyed an energy competitive advantage that has delivered prosperity to Australian businesses and has ensured that Australian industry has been able to remain competitive in a global market. Mr Speaker, those opposite have an ideological, pathological fear of gas. There’s no word for gasophobia, Mr Speaker, but that’s the malady that afflicts those opposite. But it’s that malady Mr Speaker that is afflicting the jobs in the towns and the industries and indeed in this country because of their pathological, ideological opposition to gas being an important part of our sustainable and more certain energy future.”
What a week, what a month. A racist former Queensland cop turned property and seemingly increasingly criminal private childcare industry investor was condemned to the pages of history already forgotten about. My relief that Australia didn’t vote for that quickly shifted to disinterest in a political leader who seems more content with pursuing the John Howard model of steady-state political leadership for the already-privileged over his lionisation of Labor reformists Whitlam and Hawke. A first term defined by failure of The Voice and a commitment to maintaining an increasingly unjust steady state with extremely minor edge case tinkering was hardly the kerosene for a bonfire of celebration on May 3.
Howard Lite approved 26 fossil fuel project in his first term. Chat of using a ‘huge majority’ and ‘historic victory’ seemed far fetched. I hate to be the cynic, but a political career comparable to Steven Bradbury hardly created confidence Albanese has either the attitude or aptitude to do the difficult yet necessary work required to reform the Australian economy. 25 days later he played his cards. He doesn’t. Approving the Woodside North West Shelf project is a heinous act. Commentary is rife on why so - from Woodside’s inability to deliver to the lack of free prior and informed consent from First Nations leader to the deceit over emissions and a total lack of an energy transition framework and regulatory path for the nation.
I’m interested in what now. Where to next? Trying to understand the motives of a party captured by the WA Gas Baron is a fools errand. This is imperfection. The righteousness I feel is near-overwhelming. I knew it. I told you. It’s obvious in the rear view mirror. That’s not helpful though. Nor am I perfect. Pointing my finger at the remnant Howard Lite corflutes still floating around my area and blaming who I think has neither the attitude nor aptitude for change is a mistake on my part. It’s a lot easier though, far more convenient. I can get back to my infinite to do scroll and disparage from afar in my glasshouse with no glass.
The fury of this decision is a distraction though. A diversion from a broader war. I had the remarkable privilege of spending time with the iconic Marco Lambertini this week, and he quoted Antonio’s Gramsci’s iconic line “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” We’re in the world of monsters. From autocratic lunatics to least worst choices. Gas is dying. Coal is dying. The major parties are dying. Our civilisation is fracturing. Migration everywhere is at record levels. Disasters rock landscapes and communities everyday. Glaciers collapse on villages like a blockbuster disaster movie. Move along, nothing to see here. A new world beckons. What that is, if it even arrives, is still to play out. In that space though is the war with monsters. People characterised by imperfections - greed, fear, power, self justification, cruelty, conceit, remorselessness, maliciousness, sneakiness, stonewalling, manipulation, self-centredness. I have all of those traits in me too. So who am I to point fingers? I haven’t approved a gas project that will emit 4.4 billion tonnes of pollution in the time it takes my son to become eight years older than me, but I’m certainly a very long way from Sainthood.
Imperfection is a part of living. I’ve done my best to be the perfectionist, only to ruin relationships and aspirations and torment myself in the pursuit of the impossible. Slowly I’ve come to appreciate that progress matters far more, even though the desire to strive for perfection has barely diminished. I’ve learnt that to progress involves a process of honest self appraisal - of the past and of today as a singular lived experience. The necessity to be vigorous in the The Room of Mirrors and be honest with myself about my role in what didn’t work out. Of course I’m not the one always to blame if The Mirage of Perfection remained out of reach. Spending time to reflect deeply and honestly has become a critical tool in my own life to understand where something different could have been possible if I’d made an alternative decision, and for when I messed up, to simply acknowledge, accept and fess up to that. Only then am I free to identify an alternative and to make progress the next time around.
This doesn’t come naturally to me, to be clear. I much prefer it when I can triumphantly and hyperbolically seize upon another’s misstep so as to permission the minimisation or forgetfulness of my own. Of course it’s easy to blame Howard Lite, but what action have I taken to engage practically in political action that contributes to thwarting these types of political actions? Ah yes, glasshouse with no glass.
Progressing requires honest self appraisal as well as self-discipline. What will I do next time? And the next time? Taking responsibility and having discipline are more traits I don’t like. Far easier to just be constantly busy and exist in a perpetual state of daily unmanageability. This is where I need others. I need the help and involvement and intervention of others. I can’t do this progressing by myself. I’m fortunate I can call friends who can listen and offer feedback objectively, beyond my own delusions and rush to avoid responsibility. Only with others have I been able to do this work personally. Only with others have I realised my imperfections more clearly. Only with others has my life progressed.
Howard Lite may not have that. It’s likely a threat to do the type of reflection I’m sharing about. In a zero sum-transactional-winner takes all-loudest and richest voice gets the spoils context, how can unhealthy traits and characteristics not be encouraged and required? Imperfect contexts lead to imperfect choices lead to imperfect outcomes.
Talk of collapse or total systems change or revolution or calamity paralyse. Talk of collapse or total systems change or revolution or calamity delude. On The Emergence of an Ecological Class by Bruno Latour and Nikolaj Schulz states that “nothing has come close to translate anxieties into mobilising a programme of action par excellence with what’s at stake.” Mobilising a programme of action par excellence with what’s at stake would mean doing the work, engaging with insecurity and self doubt and the resistance of even trying. It’s easier to post on LinkedIn and indicate my opinion and/or all-knowing grandiosity from the not-even-blistered fingertips of keyboard warrior’ing. It’s easier to follow routine and rationalise attending the office (again) instead of visiting Howard Lite’s office for a snap 8am Gas Baron approving protest. The imperfect choice to attend the six trillionth meeting of my career at 9am instead of protesting over a planet-busting decision is rectified through self appraisal and deciding to go next time.
There are no silver bullets in the pursuit of more safe, just and beautiful futures. There is no one way to the top of a mountain. Where is our collective theory of change though? Emissions continue to rise, fossil fuel projects keep getting approved, and my LinkedIn and Instagram feeds explode with keyboarded’ed rage. Is that progress? With honesty, does that post do anything in the pursuit of a more safe, just and beautiful future? Mine don’t. God it feels so good to keyboard away with passive aggression though. The pay off for me in spruiking my view is far more gratifying than the pains and uncertainties of real work - political action, education, seeking regulatory change and then living the 1.5°C lifestyle Lloyd Alter clearly articulates we all have a responsibility to take up. Going from a lifestyle of ~7-8 tonnes of greenhouse gas per year to around 2.5 tonnes and giving up my social media taunts is remarkably difficult. Which is progress though? I know the answer.
As seems to be becoming increasingly common in what I write, real answers and real action involves discomfort, sacrifice, difficult choices and hard conversations. From what I eat and how I travel, to how I engage with the Duty of Care campaign so that political decisions in this country are required by law to account for intergenerational equity. What can be done about de-funding pollution and destruction in this country and does Finding Nature need to become a supporter or a campaign where every Australian gets Climate Fresk’d? How to have realistic conversations about measures and indicators of success in financial service contexts, where accepting limits to growth is as fantastical to almost all others as ignoring limits to growth is fantastical to me? How to begin conversations about sufficiency and wellbeing-based economies within safe planetary limits when our dominant socio-cultural narratives and economic system relies on more stuff in all forms all of the time? When do I undertake acts of inconvenience, from jamming dry lentils in the tyres of SUVs and ridiculously sized utes to protesting to being the rogue questioner of a CEO?
None of that is easy. Having to do another sustainability disclosure I dread and know won’t make a difference but I obediently complete is easier. Attending the six trillionth and first meeting of my career is easier than explaining my absence because I’m protesting a heinous fossil fuel approval decision. Spruiking an insight and all-knowingness on LinkedIn and attending another blah blah blah conference is easier than an act of discomfort with a colleague I lament privately as the blocker to my hopes and dreams.
Of course this isn’t easy. Of course I’m imperfect. Of course perfection is simply a myth. Of course Howard Lite is imperfect. Of course imperfection is reality now, has been and forever will be. However, I can choose differently for today and carry that into what comes next. It’s easier to nod along absent-mindedly to being reminded that Socrates stated 2400ish years ago that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” Without examination though, let the imperfections rain down upon me.
See you in the pit (and on the streets).
Nathan
A (Imperfect) Risk Parable
Effective story telling and creativity are irregularly used in contexts of financial risk management. They should be, especially in bringing to life some of the bigger philosophical and moral questions about how existing parameters and mindsets limit decision making. Pablo Berrutti has this imperfect parable for us all to contemplate.
You are driving a truck in mountainous terrain. You have a precious cargo that doesn’t belong to you but that you have a legal obligation to care for and deliver. You receive a radio call that a bridge on your usual route has collapsed during a record-breaking storm. Attempting to cross would lead to the destruction of the truck and its cargo. You pull over at an intersection to confer with other drivers heading the same way.
Some drivers believe the bridge collapse is a conspiracy designed to take away their freedom and decide to carry on. The remaining drivers identify an alternative route, which is only partly mapped with roads that run along cliff faces andfrequent fogs. The storm had caused trees to fall and other debris to block the roads. The route includes many side roads and dead ends with little signage to direct the drivers.
One group of drivers decides that if they drive at their usual speed the whole way along the new route, they should still make it on time. Mr Market, a driver with a reputation for blind risk-taking but with a record other drivers nonetheless try to emulate, leads this discussion.
Most of the group agrees to follow Mr Market at the same pace he goes. Mr Market knows that with this strategy, some trucks will fall from the cliffs to their deaths, and indeed, there is a reasonable chance they all might perish, but Mr Market believes he will survive because he has always made it in the past. The other drivers in the group, many of whom receive bonuses if they deliver their cargo at a similar or faster time than Mr Market, know this too but believe so strongly in Mr Market that they decide the lowest-risk course is to drive as close to Mr Market as possible.
Some of the drivers disagree with this approach, and a second group forms. They decide that given the seriousness of the risks and size of the uncertainties, the best strategy would be to work together so they can spot and manage hazards along the new route. Trucks of different sizes and power are better suited to wayfinding and radioing back details to determine the best path.
There are communities with expert knowledge along the route who can give the drivers advice on the hazards ahead. For the first group, the belief in Mr Market and the fear of falling behind should they slow down and ask are so strong that they ignore them. Instead, the group believe that listening to fellow drivers on the radio predicting what Mr Market might do nextis the best source of information, as to them the risk of diverging from Mr Market is greater than the risk of falling from the cliffs.
The second group recognises that while they can’t clear the fog or flatten the cliffs, they can receive valuable knowledge from local communities who understand the terrain and reciprocate by helping them to clear fallen trees, instal guard rails and warning signs for them and others to use. These drivers know that taking the time to build relationships and helping create shared value for those communities will now only allow them to befit from their insights but will also allow them to continue to use that route in future while the bridge is rebuilt.
While the first group following Mr Market, see the other drivers as competitors, as they all strive to beat Mr Market and care little for the welfare of the other drivers, the second group know that losing trucks along the way will reduce their chances of making it and so they choose to collaborate as much as legally allowed by competition laws1.
Unbeknownst to the drivers following Mr Market, the risk of further bridge collapses or landslides is greatly increased by so many trucks driving so closely together (which the local communities could have told them), meaning the likelihood of all the cargo, trucks and drivers perishing together is greatly increased.
The second group is not blind to or uninterested in the benefits that may flow from beating Mr Market, indeed many of the drivers believe that the risks Mr Market is taking means they can still beat him to the destination. However, they accept that the safe passage of the cargo they have a duty to protect will have to be prioritised, even if it means missing the bonuses they would earn for beating Mr Market.
Which group would you choose to join?
This Newsletter & The Expanding Finding Nature Universe
As you can tell, the format of this edition is different. I’m working through some ideas on how to evolve what is one of my favourite things to do each month. Writing is a tool that helps me to discover insights hidden in my experience and to showcase the brilliance and relatability of everybody in this community. I still aspire to my dream job of my 20s as a magazine editor!
Finding Nature is also pivoting from pure creative endeavour to that of actual enterprise. I’m getting help and guidance on things like a website (finally), branding, colours, typography, while I’m seeking support through an upcoming intervention on myself to support an aspiration of product market fit for a novel, unique and memorable way of using experience, story telling and community building as a platform of change.
So, if you need anything like:
Engaging and entertaining your colleagues, clients, customers or investors on any and all topics of sustainability and change making;
Creating and capturing stories and why sustainability matters for your organisations;
Designing and curating an upcoming event or conference;
A moderator or organiser of messy systems work and difficult relationship brokering;
Anything climate resilience and adaptation and the intersection with vulnerability, finance and the science; and/or
Sessions that create new mindsets and perspectives, and use innovation tools to better understand and define problems with ideation baked in.
Get in contact through this platform, on LinkedIn or Instagram.
Events & Experiences
Finding Nature x ziranjiti Finds Nature - Ants, Ants, Everywhere
Join us with the incomparable Guy Williams as we explore, connect, learn, look, eat and discover at Western Sydney Parklands.
Each new season we head somewhere away from human interference to do what we desire to do more of - be in nature with great people to feel belonging and get nourishment. For this edition Guy has a morning of ants, ant colonies and ant politics lined up.
If you’re looking for a great time out, this is for you - and kids are welcome. Plus, Gus_tronomy is on the food.
7th June, 9am, Western Sydney Parklands
Philosophies of Change: Working Against, With or In Organisations for Impact
Join us for the next Supper Club with two legends of our field - Cris Parker and Richard Boele. We’ll be exploring the ways both have sought to affect change working inside as employees, working outside as advisors or working against as activists. Our work is all about change, and understanding the mindsets and theories of change is essential.
Eating Country to Save Country
45 of Sydney’s finest and most ambitious change makers came together on May 21 to understand and then participate in how they can play a role in supporting and being of service to Perry’s Aboriginal Corporation. The gifting of a native pepperberry only found on the peaks of Barrington Tops inspired a night of collaboration, learning and creativity. What could we as a group of Sydney based professionals do to bring this taste and aroma to more people?
With Gus_tronomy delivering on the food and Pablo Burrutti on the beer - both infused with the flavours of the pepperberry, folks were hungry and thirsty to offer their knowledge and expertise!
From here, we’ll work away on our ideas, checking in and building communities of action, and looking forward to our future expeditions to the Hunter Valley, Southern Tablehands and Southern Highlands where we’ll be repeating our efforts to play a small role in supporting the re-awakening of a 65,000 food story.
A big thanks to Marook and Joe Perry for their trust and openness in this endeavour, and to Chris Andrew for his faith and confidence. This is a great honour.
Finding Meaning & Being of Service: How Your Unique Design Can Contribute to a Sustainable Future
Difference making. Professional contentedness. Being of Service. This and more was explored with the one and only Richard Burton on Mat 12 at Spotify.
In pursuit of more just, safe and beautiful futures, we all need to understand our potential and help to unlock it. Richard delivered, unsurprisingly. Clear, direct and informative, he outlined his method of professional development - his meaning and the purpose of meaning, his SIM identification and definition process and five levels of career. Each unlocks new insight, requires honesty and a desire to make change in self to be the change we hope to be in the world.
A new lunch time format of 60 minutes, 60 people and a lot of positive reviews. Expect more of these in the future.
“Today was great. Really valuable session in forcing reflection and table engagement.”
“It was excellent - I’ve met many a coach in my time, I haven’t heard one as clear and practical as Richard. Really appreciate it!”
“Too cheap for what it delivered!
Podcasts
Another month of brilliant conversations - the energy transition, economic injustice, First Nations self determination and real allyship, and how to start over (four times.)
Nice work Nathan.