How do we proceed?

A few weeks ago, when I was in Rio for the Humanity Summit 2024 - G20 Social Official Event , I had the opportunity to go through the Museu do Amanha, or the Museum of Tomorrow. All museums are emotional experiences. The experience through the Museum of Tomorrow felt especially profound, given that I was in the city to discuss my views on our shared humanity, climate, well-being and the resonance among us as part of an official G20 side event.

The museum is designed to take the visitor through an intentional journey, from the dawn of the cosmos, through to our world and society today. At the end, it leaves us with a singular question:

How do we want to proceed?

Guiding the visitor’s reflection is a churinga, an Australian indigenous artifact representing ‘the knowledge we acquire and pass on,’ with a simple, yet provocative statement: ‘It is up to us to decide what to do with this knowledge.’

As we walk toward the end of the calendar year, most people are scrambling to close the tasks of the year and well into planning next year.

It has been a full year for most leaders working in any impact space, whether it’s climate, human rights, diversity, or (how I best like to work) holistically across all areas.

The second half of 2024 brought with it immense churn. With it, many questions: Will there be more headwinds from trade and tariffs? Will consumers spend? Will legislation stick? Are impact commitments dropping or softening? Will there be funding cuts or layoffs?

 Compounding this, the world couldn’t find $20 million / year to fund nature restoration or allocate 1% of global GDP to climate change (when each degree of global warming costs 12% of global GDP). Human beings are spending on war, though. In 2023 the global cost of military spending was $2.4 Trillion.

 A natural tendency during these times is to remain safe, low-key and on the defense. Given that the rate of global human burnout is still around 50% and among some demographics is exceeding 80%, we may see these tendencies as a coping mechanism for already over-stretched leaders.

I hope we all resist the urge to go in the predicted momentum for next year and consider how we can create a step change that gets us out of this vortex of ‘not enough progress – headwinds – play it safe – count on even less progress.’

Here are some thought starter questions:

For Enterprise Leaders (CEOs, CPOs, and all other CXOs):

• Business risk and resiliency look very different today than they did even 10 years ago, because we are already in the midst of climate change and operating in a globalized world. How can my business win big while having big impact?
• As an enterprise leader, my task is to create the future. What all do I have to gain by making my impact partners (CSOs, CDEIOs, etc.) my closest allies? What are the biggest enterprise opportunities that we have not thought of yet?

For Impact leaders:

• Put all the regulations, ratings/rankings, stakeholder expectations, and ‘the right thing to do’ aside for a minute. From a whole enterprise perspective, what all does the business seek to gain from deeply integrating and massively upgrading their focus on impact?
• Stop thinking about impact as a competitive sport. If every impact area were pre-competitive, what could be achieved through radical pre-competitive collaboration? And how what steps will you take to ratchet up that pre-competitive collaboration? 

For Solutions providers:

•  What does the largest, most impactful, most generous manifestation of your solution look like? What does this mean for your business strategy going forward and how will you get there?
• If you only entered the market because there was money to be made, what are your core values now that you are here?

For any leader, influencer, consumer, or other individual or organization who doesn’t find themselves reflected in the above:

• Climate change, human rights, diversity, equity, inclusion and other impact areas are universal. Reflect on what this means for your life, leadership, livelihood, and business, and find your path to integrating impact into whatever you do.

And then…let’s answer this question together:

How do we proceed?

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