Do Not Adjust Your Focus

In Episode 4 of Do Not Adjust Your Focus, the podcast from business reputation consultancy Blurred, Stuart talks to Matt Peacock, previously Group Director of Corporate Affairs at Vodafone, leading the company’s corporate social transformation strategy across 30 countries, becoming in the process one of the world's most sought-after experts on corporate transparency and purpose.

Matt is one of business’s leading experts on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles and operations, including a specialist passion for digital human rights. He is also a former BBC News Correspondent, working on its flagship World At One programme. 

Matt and Stuart discussed the role of mobile technology in the world and whether it is a force for good or not, given the current concerns over the impact of social media on democratic process.

But the core focus of the conversation was around corporate transparency and purpose. In the podcast, Matt talks about his worldview on corporate social purpose and how it needs to start with a rigorous risk assessment, grounding it in firm ESG principles. He explains how he and his team inculcated a culture of social purpose across the business, arguing strongly that for any such strategy to be effective it must be grounded in hard business metrics, not a moral argument.

Finally, Matt and Stuart discuss the state of our journalism and politics today and whether, if we care about understanding the world’s biggest problems and dissecting the pertinent issues, we should be worried…

You can listen to the full podcast here and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And below is a handy time-guide for topics and questions covered.

Blurred co-founder Stuart meets Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth to talk the blurring lines between education, technology, politics and business.

Education NOT for education's sake

Stuart talks to Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth. Previously Minister of State for schools in the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown Government, in April 2014 Jim stepped down from the Labour front bench in the House of Lords to take up a full-time role as Chief Education Officer at digital education company Tes Global.

They cast their minds forward to 2050, where, in a classroom, a history student is studying the period 2016-2019... and imagine what is being said about the time we live in right now.

They discuss the idea of a National Education Service, whether our schools are fit for the current and coming world, and the huge and important difference between the idea of "a school" and the idea of "schooling".

Also explored are Greta Thunbergs’s school strikes, the effect of social media on both children and teachers and - inevitably - the political crisis in which we currently find ourselves.

You can listen to the full podcast here and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And below is a handy time-guide for topics and questions covered.

Topics and time codes:

00:06 Introduction

00:46 What is the role of education today? Do we need to re-imagine what education is for a new world?

07:43 It’s estimated that a child born today will have a 50% chance of living to the age of 105. How will education change within their adult lifetime?

10:36 What are your thoughts on a National Education Service?

17:34 What’s your view on what Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is achieving at the moment?

20:42 Technology is the great disruptive force blurring the lines between all industries and ways of working – how do you feel about it in a school setting?

22:38 What about social media – we can’t doubt its toxic effect, so where do we draw the line?

24:37 Lots has been written about mental health and its effect on the younger generation, but not much attention is paid to teachers suffering from this. What can be done to improve this?

28:03 How does Tes help?

30:42 What’s your view on older first-time teachers?

33:00 How do you feel about the current state of politics?

38.17 Imagine it's 2050, in a classroom where a history student is being taught about what happened in 2016-2019: What kind of Britain are they living in, and what are the teachers telling them about what happened?

42:47 One of your other passions is the regeneration of seaside towns - why does this matter to you and to Britain in the context of our changing country? 

Stuart Lambert, founding partner at Blurred meets Josh Luber, Co-Founder of StockX, the world's first “stock market of things”. StockX is an online marketplace, initially focused on sneakers, which connects buyers and sellers using the same method as the world's stock markets. Launched in 2016, StockX is now a unicorn, valued at more than $1 billion, providing a disruptive model for the future of retail, being labelled by Quartz a "stock market for physical things that could change how capitalism works."

Josh's TED talk has been watched more than 2 million times. 

He is a self-confessed data geek, an entrepreneur who has created a billion dollar company, and someone who is passionate about reinventing the way we shop and invest.

This episode was recorded earlier in 2019.

“If you don’t have a sustainability plan, you don’t have a plan.” 

The world is facing a climate crisis. For any business, sustainability is critical, but embedding it in a company’s operational structure and culture is easier said than done. 

Former EVP for Sustainable Business and Communications at Unilever Sue Garrard knows this better than most. Acknowledging both the importance and struggle of marrying your company’s moral and business purpose is vital, but how do you realistically measure the tangible effect of your sustainability plan on the world around us?

Now pursuing a portfolio career focused on helping businesses drive change and commit to the bigger picture, Sue also tutors for the University of Cambridge’s Sustainability Leadership Institute (CISL) and, luckily for us, offers her extensive knowledge and expertise to those who are committed to bettering the planet. 

Stuart Lambert, founding partner at Blurred, sat down with Sue to chat about the need for businesses to stop seeing sustainability as a problem, and instead be part of the solution. In this episode of DNAYF from Blurred we explore the very basics on sustainability, and the imperative first steps all leadership teams should be taking to ensure their business’ sustainability plan doesn’t go bust.

• 00.07 Introduction 
• 01:08 The climate crisis – What’s the 411? 
• 03:37 Do you get frustrated at the phrase “saving the planet”? 
• 05:52 Is creating “the fear” helpful? 
• 08:03 Markets are going to control the agenda – but is policy keeping up with the markets? 
• 10:08 Can democracy ever allow law makers to make those kinds of sweeping decisions? 
• 12:18 What can we learn from China’s decarbonisation scheme? 
• 14:50 China and the US will make their bets as a state as to what to invest in - will this also be influenced by the movement from markets? 
• 17:30 If markets are driving change, individual and global businesses need to respond - Can global business turn the tide in the current climate crisis? 
• 19:54 Can the pursuit of profit be compatible with protecting the planet? ? 
• 21:40 What is the biggest challenge for companies?
• 23:06 How successful do you feel you were in growing the business @Unilever whilst decoupling its footprint? 
• 30:00 Are there any other companies (other than Unilever) that are well on that path?
• 32:48 Markets, policy makers and individuals - Can we all talk to each other and not past each other?
• 34:09 How do we all get on the same page?
• 37:46 Are you optimistic?
• 41:23 If you are a CEO, CFO, COO wanting to take positive action recognising the role your business can play in it, what’s the practical first step?