5 things I (re)learned in 2022
1 When in doubt professionally, trust yourself and go back to your first love
Curiosity and life’s turns led me from journalism to technology (telecoms, B2B software) roles in New York, Paris/London/Zürich and Montréal. In 2022 I made my way to the teaching profession and it’s been full circle as sharing knowledge had been my first inclination. Teaching a course on Artificial Intelligence forced me into a deep dive in a fascinating field, developing lectures on climate action have equally been a net benefit.
2 As the world seems more complex, seek ways and like-minded people to build bridges
As we embark on the first quarter of this 21st century our world faces a polycrisis (geopolitical, energy, climate, biodiversity). I’ve been seeking ways to build bridges between disciplines and analysis frameworks and turning for inspiration to practical thinkers such as Edgar Morin and Bruno Latour. My year has been spent with like-minded silo breakers and my work in academia is focused on nurturing these relationships, with the goal to collaborate on explaining complexity in novel ways.
3 First instincts are usually correct, in political and geopolitical analysis as in one’s immediate circles
I’ve been faulted by many, some close to me, some anonymous, for my cut and dry analysis. I proudly called out Putin as a terrorist when most of Europe was in appeasement mode and wrote early in Joe Biden’s term he would be a consequential President. Facts and events are panning out to confirm this and first instincts are proving correct.
4 You cannot read “all the books” nor should you try, but there are paths to capture the zeitgeist
Most of my life has been spent on trying, via print and visual media, to grasp issues and gauge where they’re leading us. Capturing the zeitgeist is an arduous task and one of the paths I’ve chosen to focus on has been newsletters. Careful curation gives you a veritable trove of links and views to go back to for reference.
5 There’s a hunger for action
My work around the COP15, the biodiversity/Nature international conference of parties, partnering with environmentally aware organizations and researchers has taught me that action is underway and the public is interested and willing to pitch in.
Onwards !
