Impactful Ideas // June
As we reach the halfway mark of 2020 (yikes), we’ve been reflecting on the year so far, on what we’ve learnt, what we’ve achieved and what we’re going to focus on for the next six months. We recently defined our values, one of which we decided was ‘assume there’s always space to grow’ and these past few months have been a humbling lesson in precisely that.
We’ve gathered up a few things that have kept the team inspired, motivated and importantly, growing over the past few months.
The Black Lives Matter movement
We’ve seen a ground swell of awareness in relation to racial justice across the world, following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in the US and the death of Belly Mujinga here in the UK. We’ve been considering how we turn this awareness into concrete action and meaningful change. The Movement Cycle has been useful for us to see that this moment is within the heroic/honeymoon phase and that the real work begins now. We’re beginning to see the effects of the protests and work being done, but there is still more to do.
This illustration by Mona Chalabi compares civil rights movements throughout history and we see that consistent pressure and activism is still very much needed. This is why it’s important that you continue to explore the ways you, your organisation & your community can fight for racial justice. We wrote a blog about how to make your business anti-racist and B Corps have gathered this extensive list of anti-racism resources too, to help you get started.
Podcasts we’re listening to
RSA Bridges to the Future — Matthew Taylor, chief exec of the RSA talks to experts and thinkers to understand how the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact every facet of our lives.
Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us — Anyone familiar with Brené’s TED talk or books on vulnerability, courage and leadership will know the power of her work. Her podcast dives deep in to everything from grief to apologising to the #metoo movement to anti racism.
Ear Hustle podcast — Step into the lives of inmates of San Quentin Prison in the US. These stories shatter assumptions you might have about people in the prison system and emotionally connect you to people who seem to live a life so different to your own.
Impact resources
Impact Management Project (IMP) — IMP is a forum for building global consensus on how to measure and manage impact. All the resources they create are incredibly useful. We’ve been watching their webinars and brushing up on stakeholder involvement in the impact management process and classifying the type of impact a company has on people and the planet.
Nossa Capital Newsletter — Julianne Sloane at Nossa Data writes brilliant posts on responsible investing, ESG and sustainable business practices. We highly recommend signing up.
Inspiring entertainment
Abstract Series on Netflix — Every episode of this series is a hit. You get to meet a phenomenal range of designers including Ruth Carter a costume designer, Es Devlin a stage designer, Ian Spalter a digital product designer and one of our personal favourites Neri Oxman a bio-architect. We are reminded that the world we live in is highly designed by us humans and by nature and that we can choose to design a better, more sustainable world.
Humankind by Rutger Bregman — In order to design a better world, perhaps we also need an updated and more positive understanding of human nature. In his new book, Bregman argues for our altruistic capacity over the dominant selfish narrative of humankind. Listen to him discuss the book on Pitchfork Economics.
As summer gets into full swing and we get used to our adapted lives, we’ll be pondering how we can bring everything we’ve learnt over the past few months into our work with businesses to unlock their ability to contribute to lasting social change and environmental sustainability. If you’re a business leader looking for help, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a note at hello@impactful.world.
