A blogblast follows…Please enjoy this mini-series of updates with embarrasingly thin attempt at a narrative.

Almost terrifyingly, the 2030hub is already a thriving ecosystem three months after the doors opened. I wish we had a camera on the wall to live-share the diversity of the connections made, the incredible conversations happening every single day now and the life-changing projects being nurtured. As Liverpool’s Global Goals supernova we appear to be creating a gravity even Stephen Hawking would struggle to define. Spacetime is bent after all. We can see it now. It bends when great people from amazing organisations begin to convene away from silos and buzzwords and focus on impact not semantics.

I always knew the UN Sustainable Development Goals had potential as a universal language but for the first time in way over a professional decade or two it genuinely feels like we are at the start of a step-change moment. I say none of this lightly. As a long time witness to the next big thing, ranking, standard, guidance or award I became numb to the nothingness of each as the launch razzmatazz passed. The UN SDGs appear to be spinning this process on its head. Two years in still most people haven’t heard of them, but I think they will. I think everybody will.

The acknowledgement of interconnectedness between goals, the communications approach, the focus on finance, the focus also on the developed world, but most of all the direction of travel towards a city-based movement will without doubt change the world.

Anyways…Here is the news…

Apologies for the distraction

My head is very firmly stuck in 2030hub / Global Goals ‘/ Liverpool Goals mode. If you’d like to keep up with those developments please sign-up for the 2030hub newsletters here.

Here are the links to the first one in August and the latest one from last week so you don’t feel left out.

Next Up > #Employees4SDGs Twitter Chat – Wed 27 Sept – 12pm ET / 5pm UK

Join me as the host for this truly globally Twitter chat for IMPACT2030 to share and explore their freshly released set of resources aiming to align employee volunteering with the Global Goals..

I will be joined by

• @IMPACT2030 and their Interim CEO Sue Stephenson (@SueOStephenson)
• The World’s Largest Lesson (@TheWorldsLesson)
• Medtronic Foundation (@MDTPhilanthropy)
• AIM2Flourish (@AIM2Flourish)

Follow #Employees4SDGs to take part by asking your questions, sharing the learning and resources and highlighting your own best practice!

Click here for more details on the new #Employees4SDGs announcement.

The 2030hub launches a range of Liverpool based events and workshops

• 28 Sept –  2030hub inaugural ‘Social’ – with a free drink fuelled Social event, surprise catering and our amazing Liverpool friends and allies.
• 03 Oct – Intro to SDGs for Business 
• 31 Oct – Intro to BCorp (For-profit + Social mission)
• 14 Nov – Intro to SDGs for Public and Social Sectors
• 14 Dec – 2030hub Christmas Social (as Sept but with snow and baubles)

We love BCorp

I am now a proud B Leader. The 2030hub is progressing our own application for Pending BCorp status, we have our first BCorp workshop planned (see above) and we are determined to be THE northern powerhouse for this wonderful laterally disruptive perspective on business as a force for social good.

Click here for more information about BCorp UK.

and finally, a few travels and a chance to connect?

I’m shortly off to present at the European Investment Bank Institute in Luxembourg to share our SDG / 2030hub / IMPACT2030 learning on October 20th, and then onto deliver a similar themed keynote at the 7th CSR Lebanon Forum in Beirut the following week on Oct 26th.

If you are attending either event, or know of any amazing contacts in those cities it would be great to connect. Leave a comment here to arrange a chance to meet up.

Well that’s all folks. Actually, not really all, but that’s all that I feel I should spill in one go.

Last week we hosted our first event with the Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson welcoming a crowd of predominantly private sector businesses large and small to hear our plans for local and global SDG impact through our new 2030 Hub, and to hear their ideas for collaboration over the next 13 years.

This was a purposefully low key affair to reconnect with and update many we had spoken to at various stages of project development, but we still had a significant private sector heavy audience and globally influential speakers including Sue Stephenson from IMPACT2030, Libby Annat from Primark and even a few scene-setting words by a native called David Connor from Coethica.

The big noisy launch will come in early autumn but for now we are open and decreasingly quietly stirring a cross-sector silo-busting community to inform, energise, support and measure public, private and third sector policy and practice around the Global Goals.

I am obviously biased but Liverpool could very well be the ideal planet-wide location for such a concept. There are arguably few other cities in the world that have the diverse socio-economic mix, international heritage, and an unbridled community spirit to ensure the Agenda 2030 moral code of ‘no-one must be left behind. People who are hardest to reach should be given priority’ is supported.

The 2030 Hub’s early development was serendipitously and eerily aligned to the Local2030 initiative currently emerging from the United Nations, aiming to make the Global Goals relevant in local contexts. We were ahead of that particular game.

We have many more big announcements in the pipeline as we roll out some world-changing partnerships, events, initiatives, ambassadors, news and services. We have more to learn than offer ourselves but sometimes you have to run before you can walk, or as a certain large sports company would say ‘Just Do It’. We have a robust 13 year plan, and that plan evolves and scales as rapidly as our stakeholders and the planet demand.

The 2030 Hub is an innovative approach to blended entrepreneurship through a physical workspace, vibrant task focused community and energised communications offer providing a fertile cross-sector ecosystem for SDG impact. The home in Argyle Street has desks, co-working, lounge, meeting room, breakout area, city centre car parking (bikes too – more please), the best organic coffee we can find and great wifi – mild apologies for the mid-narrative advert –  with access to a UN / corporate world connected global community of support, inspiration and tools.

We are targeting the private sector first, because being honest here, they have the biggest potential to make an impact – and are also the biggest part of the problem. We aspire to be the glue between the sectors encouraging making a fair profit whilst creating real impact against some of Liverpool’s own and playing our part in global social and environmental challenges.

The 2030 Hub will be shouting from the rooftops next to the Liver Birds and introducing everybody that will listen (whether they like it or not) to the Global Goals, creating ambassadors, sharing best practice, inspiring new leadership and kicking-off with research projects to map what the SDG’s actually look like across this City, and who is already making an impact that deserves some credit.

My favourite quote from last week’s event was

What have the SDGs got to do with a kebab shop in Toxteth?

…welcome to Liverpool. No verbal holds are barred. I’m not sure what the official UN answer would be, but I’m stereotypically guessing the owner of such a fine establishment may possibly be a touch sceptical. Our response would be… I’ll take one of your finest spicy chicken kebabs whilst you tell me what you want your business to be remembered for.

We have lofty aims and still need more support, but the local and global energy is both renewable and boundless. Everything is impossible until it is done for the first time.

More to come, soon.

#2030hub

www.the2030hub.com

Scandinavian countries lead from the front of a European pack of countries on UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) performance, as published in the latest SDG Index for 2017. The UK stands at a respectable 10th in the league table, with the USA floundering down at 25th.

The keyword for this year in the SDG Index is ‘spillover‘.

‘In this year’s report we note that development patterns of the rich countries
may generate adverse “spillovers” that may hinder the ability of poorer countries’ to achieve the SDGs. For example, the high consumption levels, banking secrecy and tax havens, and weapons exports, by the rich countries may severely inhibit sustainable development in poorer and more vulnerable countries. On the other hand, international development finance by high-income donor nations also directly supports the SDGs.

There is also mention of the emerging phase of SDG development around cities based agendas, with a preliminary SDG Index and Dashboard for Cities being launched in the United States. Obviously our very own rapidly accelerating Liverpool city region SDG movement will be keen to engage and learn to improve our own performance too!

Take a read of the report for yourself via the SDG Index website here.

You’re welcome. Now you don’t really have to read any further, but maybe you should watch the video though.

Want to know how to make an even bigger impact? Maximise your human capital assets. “Mobilise your people” says IMPACT2030 Chair Grady Lee.

If you employ staff (from self-employed lone-soldiers to global corporations) you have an incredible powerful reserve of usually untapped potential to change the world. Make no mistake, even the smallest individuals actions can deliver surprisingly powerful impacts.

When you know what human capital resources you have, and then align those assets with the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are great target practice, then multiply both of those through wider collaboration and effective measurement of results you create scalable global solutions. Solutions that can be shared.

Don’t ask why. Ask yourself and your business why not?

In Grady’s words “Let’s get this done”.

www.impact2030.com

@Impact2030

It could get busy around here.

The polarising struggle to argue out the sustainable consumption oxymoron often misses the point. Consuming more sustainably than we have done before has to be part of the real world incremental improvement process whilst we scramble for the step-change improvements that are really needed. Yes, that may very well not be quick enough to avoid catastrophic environmental change for many of ‘us’, but we are where we are, this is what we have, pragmatism has its uses and credit to those who are trying. Many aren’t.

Last week we saw Apple throwing its marketing nous behind Earth Day, this week we see Adidas (there is no alphabetical component here) upping its sustainability commitments and profile including ‘one million pairs of shoes made from up-cycled marine plastic in 2017.’

One million. Many people have little to no idea or the vaguest concept of the scale of industrial production, but such big numbers should make you sit up. One million pairs of running shoes made from up-cycled plastic has to be progress. Say it with a Dr Evil pinky finger to your mouth, I dare you.

“Every second breath we take is generated by the Oceans,” commented Cyrill Gutsch, Founder of Parley for the Oceans.

We are now into the territory beyond climate denial but not quite mainstream consumerism (i.e. purchasing dictated by sustainability criteria). Yet. Apple, adidas and many other leadership companies are exploring key themes such as the circular economy and the Sustainable Development Goals and momentum is building week after week. Expect to see many more innovative products and processes conveyor belted out as the market is tested for acceptance.

Companies like Interface and their work in a similar vein to Adidas’ partnership with Parley with Net-Works are also even possibly more worthy of praise as they were way ahead of the pack, but alas, carpet tiles have yet to become a dominant brand category in your face 24/7 in the way the usual suspect consumer brands have.

For disclosure. I adore my adidas UltraBOOST running shoes. For many, many years I had always shown a strong brand affinity for Nike (whom I even worked as a football freestyler and tester of prototype football boots in my non-linear career story) or Asics for great running shoes and avoided Adidas after a bad experience before the New York marathon. I explored a pair when setting out to train for my first ironman distance triathlon 18 months ago (and survived in surprisingly good shape), and instantly fell in love with the astonishing levels of comfort for a performance running shoe.

Worth noting is how the bigger consumer facing brands are increasingly pushing out high profile product and communications. We are past tipping points now and heading into consistent mass market positioning rather than the niche deep green audiences of not so long ago. I hate to admit it, but this could get boring as sustainability innovation today becomes the norm of tomorrow.

For the brand lovers and runners out there check out the shoes and vote with your wallets for a great product now combined with great provenance. You could also check out www.adidas.com/runfortheoceans as week of support around World Oceans Day, June 5 -11.

For the sustainability people, and activists wanting to look beyond the communications frontage, adidas also shared their latest Sustainability Report.

*Oh, and if anybody at Adidas or any of their close friends should read this, and need a UltraBOOST size 9 product tester, I’m your man!

I’ve roasted Apple (should that be baked?) many times, especially during the Steve Jobs era, but I had a feeling that Tim Cook would take a very different approach to sustainability. His supply chain background almost dictated it.

So, without further ado, here is Apple’s latest effort to use its brand for good, and that matters. It really matters. Watch the videos and then read why it meant so much to me.

Not your usual Apple slick, minimalistic, polished marketing advert!

Apple were the epitome of laggards, hiding away from disclosure or action whilst they focused on selling as many of their beautiful innovative tech toys as possible. Nothing new about that. Countless business still take that approach. Probably most businesses in all honesty.

But, Apple were and are one of the biggest mainstream brands in the world, with the accompanying leadership position that should elevate any authentically responsible business to push sustainability not only through their own operation and products, but also their widest sphere of influence including their customers and fans.

Five years ago I wrote a blog hoping, and predicting Tim Cook’s appointment would be a catalyst for change. Such a change was always going to take time. One tweak here, a new appointment there, a commitment to solar, a video celebrating diversity and now this. (notice I omitted Liam the recycling robot – Apple’s Howard the Duck moment)

The video above feels like a milestone moment because it shows Apple is now comfortable enough to be creative and step away from brand norms – which is very out of character – and bold. We desperately need more bold. The work has been done internally and my new hope is that this video is the start of a confident new leadership brand in the sustainability space, or should that be iSustainability?

The biggest challenge of our time is convincing the non-usual suspects to look at the issues people like me call sustainability in a way possibly only Apple could do, to change behaviour at scale.

Congratulations Tim Cook, Lisa Jackson et al, your mark has been made, but how high can you go?

Happy International Day of Happiness!

*Spoiler: Smurfs will be mentioned*

Companies are bad, everybody knows that. With the exception of a few of the usual suspects such as Patagonia and Unilever, the mainstream reputation of the private sector pretty much stinks wholesale. With trust in business, governments and even charitable organisations at an all time low, occasional pillars of resistance and hope break through the overwhelming greyness. But is that all justified?

I’m lucky, and happy. Beyond the rituals and pains of actually having to get paid for a living I’m fortunate to work in space that generates wellbeing in many ways. My day to day bounces between global and hyper local like a manic game of table tennis. I see many bright shards of hope, optimism and positive impact that seldom reach the ‘fake news’ mainstream media circus. One day I will unleash this goodness formally through ideas that have been gently simmering for many years. I promise.

My favourite current game of ping pong in my world is being played by the global (and local) IMPACT 2030 and a new very local (currently national – somewhere in Scotland I believe) kid on the block, well I say kid, but Stuart at Charging Around Britain is a touch more seasoned than that.

IMPACT 2030 makes we happy because it pushes the private sector to realise what it really should be, connected groups of people, not homogenous shark-like legal structures hell-bent on profit maximisation. Through facilitating the evolution of corporate volunteering to a more human capital investment ethos IMPACT 2030 reminds us all of the essential humanity of business and the power of impassioned employees. Into the second year of the Sustainable Development Goals during 2017 with accelerating reach, progress and new initiatives IMPACT 2030 will be very much stepping up a gear.

As for Stuart McBain, well, he is one of those entrepreneurs that just did it. Anybody that walks the walk makes me happy. Too many ‘experts’ pontificate and achieve little. After building a successful accountancy firm in Liverpool, Stuart’s next step was to jump in a car and shout out the world to become more sustainable. In the usual very entrepreneurial JFDI method of operation he set off in his new Tesla Model S to be the first to tour the UK coast in an electric car. He left on Friday and will take 23 days to travel these isles whilst visiting any sustainability hotspots on his Charging Around Britain – #Adventure1.

Stuart openly admits he has much to learn across the sustainability and renewables space, but just watching his enthusiasm as hopefully an indicator of sea change awareness providing hope for our very uncertain futures.

Profit isn’t a bad word, and there many, many great businesses and business people. Make sure you celebrate the good wherever and whenever you see it.

Enjoy and share your happiness.

Oh, and more Smurfs…

There’s no science to this list, just stand-out impact creators from across a range of CSR and sustainability related organisations that I see constantly challenging, shaping and changing the world of male dominated business and political leaders.

Change is hard. Change is not equal. Change is eternal. Change is essential.

Today I salute you all, and also the many, many other unsung women leaders fighting inequality in all its forms not hightlighted below.

I can’t possibly provide justice to this group’s achievements, passions or skills in a couple of sentences, so there are plenty of links to their LinkedIn profiles, Twitter accounts and main websites to find out more.

Who else would you pay tribute to ?

Sue Stephenson

As a leader within Ritz Carlton Hotels Sue was responsible for the incredibly successful Community Footprints programme before stepping toward a new challenge as Vice Chair of IMPACT 2030, connecting the private sector to the Sustainable Development Goals through human capital investment.

@SueOStephenson

Elaine Cohen

Elaine is the undisputed go-to-person of CSR / sustainability reporting. If that wasn’t enough her pragmatic and outspoken personality combined with a love for ice-cream should be reasons enough to keep her blog especially on your watch list.

@elainecohen

Cindy Gallop

There aren’t many people more to the point than Cindy. “I like to blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.” she  delicately suggests on her LinkedIn profile. The world needs more of this bluntness. Founder & CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld, Cindy uncompromisingly blends purpose, brand and impact – and wonderfully regular profanity.

@cindygallop

Susan McPherson

Susan has been a constant powerful voice across the responsible business spectrum. Now as Founder of McPherson Strategies, and previously with roles at Fenton and PR Newswire Susan invests, connects and amplifies a whole community including her famous #CSRchats on Twitter.

@susanmcp1

Anna Hill

A truly inspirational force of nature as an award-winning designer, artist, entrepreneur and innovator across the space and sustainability industries. As Co-Founder of the Thames Deckway concept Anna recently won praise as an Innovate UK Women in Innovation.

@Thames_Deckway

Lise Kingo

After over a generation at pharmaceutical giants of innovative responsibility Novo Nordisk, Lise then grabbed the reins as leader of the UN Global Compact with an audience of over 13,000 private sector signatories and partners. Also a very new arrival on a fun platform called Twitter.

@Lise_Kingo

Ellen McArthur

After a maybe not so obvious career switch from sailing to pushing circular economy thought leadership through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation she has dramatically driven awareness and understanding of one of the most crucial elements of all future business models.

@ellenmacarthur

Lucy Marcus

A true font of knowledge on all things corporate governance, ethics and leadership. Lucy is the Founder and CEO of Marcus Venture Consulting whilst also regular contributing to numerous media outlets including Reuters and the BBC. If you want a better Executive Board, and therefore a better business, ask Lucy.

@lucymarcus

Nadine Hack

As a long-time supporter of some of history’s true leaders Nadine is a global expert in engagement leadership, mentoring and executive coaching, working at the highest levels of state, multinational business and academia. As CEO of beCause Global Consulting she also convenes a powerful community of collaborative expertise.

@NadineHack

Andrea Learned

Andrea is one of my favourite sources of best practice for leaders using social media to amplify and deepen their engagement and reach. An exceptional influencer specialist through her consultancy Learned On.

@AndreaLearned

KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz

KoAnn is Founder and Chief Executive of Sustainable Life Media, the company behind the Sustainable Brands calendar of international conferences and community. Each event is a continual source of innovative concepts and practical best practice across the responsible business spectrum.

@Koann

#InternationalWomensDay

#IWD2017

So, today, I give you The Smurfs!

Now my inner-child is sated I should reveal the wonderful reason this should be shared far and wide, and not just to children (or bigger kids with jobs).

It is easy to criticise the UN for being abstract and a big part of the problem created by a global community of environmental and social institutions that have for years been preaching for us all to save the world. The response has largely been erm, nope. Not my circus, nor my blue Belgian kids characters.

There is a subtle yet hugely significant change happening. Those who are privy to the gloomy data, science and politics are actually collaborating ever more effectively with people who can translate these urgent messages into the range of tools, voices and formats needed to engage the real army. You. Your children. Your friends. Your cousins. Your cousin’s cousins. Everybody who doesn’t get the immediacy. In short, everybody.

Team Smurfs will rally behind the 17 Goals through to the International Day of Happiness on 20 March 2017. Voice actors from the upcoming animated movie Smurfs: The Lost Village will attend a celebration at United Nations headquarters in New York on Saturday, March 18 to honour youth who have already taken action to achieve the Goals in their own communities.

“We know that children and young people are some of the world’s most passionate advocates on issues that matter to them the most. We must continue to find new ways to empower them to help achieve a world free from inequality and injustice for every child. This campaign will give children and young people the platform they need to have their voices heard,” said UNICEF Director of Communications Paloma Escudero.

“The campaign message focuses on the notion that every one of us can make a difference, regardless of our size,” said Veronique Culliford, the daughter of Peyo, who created the Smurfs in 1958. “It’s an honor and privilege for The Smurfs to support the United Nations and to continue our longstanding relationship with UNICEF.”

“All of us, even a small Smurf, can achieve big goals!” added Demi Lovato, who voices Smurfette in the upcoming animated film.

Can a kids cartoon change the world? Damn right it can!

Watch it. Talk about it in work. Talk about at home too, and share it like crazy.

www.smallsmurfsbiggoals.com

#SmallSmurfsBigGoals and #TeamSmurfs

It is also hard, even with the increasing awareness, advice and efforts, to see past our preconceptions, education, life experiences and personalised media bubbles.

But, there are those that are particularly, and occasionally spectacularly adept at focusing forwards. One of those has to be Alex Steffen, who recently ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, that even inspired my own credit card into action.

Want to know what the future could look like, and more importantly how to make it happen? It is maybe easier than you think…

“I believe it’s literally true that we can’t build what we can’t imagine. The fact that we haven’t compellingly imagined a thriving, dynamic, sustainable world is a major reason we don’t already live in one.

Our challenges are epic. If building a better world seems out of our reach, then we need to become people who can reach farther. We extend that reach by embracing bigger visions. To become people capable of doing heroic things together, we have to envision a heroic future. That’s the mission: finding that heroic future, and the paths we take to get there.”

Heroic. Together. Now. Start. Be Bold. Fail. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

For more about Alex check out his website at www.alexsteffen.com