2012 Essays | Exploring Values

This is the second of two essays I wrote in 2012, shortly before deciding to return to Australia.

Please provide a short personal statement (1-2 pages) describing the evolution of your personal values and professional aspirations. What steps have you taken in your career to actualise your values in your work? If you haven’t been able to do so, what has held you back?

My professional aspirations have shifted far more then my values over the course of my career. My values have remained relatively constant (even since childhood), if somewhat cliched: honesty, integrity, fairness, generosity, courage, patience... all underpinned by love. Some have really only found their face since I met my wife and my personal journey has been an interesting and sometimes bumpy one (as would anyone's I think), but the values I profess have remained relatively constant.

When I first left university, my career aspirations were quite low (in retrospect). I wanted to earn a good salary and work in a field that included both the environment and engineering. Beyond those attributes, I did not have a clear picture of where I wanted to go or the type of organisation I wanted to work in. As I had a bursary from SABMiller, I started my career making lots and lots of beer - something that achieved the engineering, and some, but not all of the environmental aspirations I had at the time.

In the autumn of 2005, shortly after realising that perhaps a career in brewing was not for me, I had a fortuitous Easter weekend with an old school friend. Over a bottle of wine, we unpacked what we wanted from life - well, work actually. And it turned out that I didn't want to work for a corporation, and I didn't want to make beer anymore. I still wanted to earn a good salary and mesh engineering and ecology, but the 'how' was clearing up a bit. By August 2005, I had resigned and moved to Australia and by October I was working for a sustainable design business looking at green buildings.

And so my career aspirations took a bit of a step up - I now wanted to work on the most awesome buildings in the world and help reduce their environmental impact. The aspiration was still predominantly self-centred, typified by a once-stated life goal to be published in The Economist. During my four years at Advanced Environmental, I managed to achieve many of these goals (although not The Economist one), and slowly came to realise that it wasn't the whole picture. I had the good salary, the engineering/environmental mix and was working for a smallish private firm... But there was a lot of resistance to broadening our offering to explore the social impacts of our designs and also to really engaging with the complexity of ecological systems. We liked our 'environment' in easily packaged energy, water and waste bites and no further complexity was necessary.

So when the opportunity to return to South Africa came about, I jumped at it (even though through the acquisition of Advanced Environmental by WSP I was now in a big corporation again). The chance to engage in a new green building industry in a country with pressing social needs meant that my aspirations took another step up - I now wanted to play a role in shaping an industry to more closely reflect my values.

This latest part of the journey has given me the chance to work on some incredible projects across Africa and to work closely with the Green Building Council of South Africa in shaping their green building tool. I have had the chance to do non-profit work informing the technical elements of the Green Star SA rating tool, to write a green lease guide, to work with a Nobel Peace Laureate on her new Centre for Peace and Environmental Studies in Nairobi and to speak at national and international conferences. My thinking has been broadened to include Biomimicry, Integral Thinking and Regenerative Design. I have wakened to the importance of resource equity, governance and peace in underpinning sustainable development. The latest chapter has seen a focus on The Future City, and the levels of complex design, trans-disciplinary thinking and technical excellence required to see it built.

As my vision and aspirations have broadened, so have I changed the place and nature of my work. Moving companies, moving countries, changing roles and building new service offerings... Each plateau in engagement/interest has led to a change and another learning curve. My biggest challenges have been finding mentors who are willing and able to shape both my technical expertise (the easy part) and give form to my values (the hard part).

And now my aspirations have shifted once again. I now want to work with and learn from the global thought leaders who are re-imagining how our built environment will be designed and constructed to best meet the needs of current and future generations. I want to work on world-leading projects, taking urban sustainability in all its breadth into account, looking to the future and understanding the past. My time back in South Africa has been focused on sharing my knowledge and experience with our African business and the local industry via the Green Building Council. Now I aspire to take a new step and find global mentors who can guide me on this continuing journey.

2012 Essays | Finding Meaning in Work

This is the first of two essays I wrote in 2012, shortly before deciding to return to Australia.

As of June 2010, 55% of Americans were “unsatisfied” or “very unsatisfied” with their jobs. And in 2011, a study of 5,000 millennials between the ages of 16 and 24 found that young people aren't focused on becoming famous or creating enormous wealth. On the contrary, their hopes for the future revolve around making a contribution to society and staying in close touch with family and friends.

Why are so few people fulfilled by what they do for a living? Why are young people today less inspired by a traditional career path? How can this situation be improved?

Modern (western) society - and especially so the USA - has emerged as a culture of individualism and 'meritoracy' where the pursuit of personal financial wealth (and lifestyle security) has dominated our cultural discourse, often at the expense of higher order values. While both individual accountability, and personal reward for expertise and endeavour are important attributes, without the broader societal values such as the collective good, environmental health, the arts (for their own sake, not just for fame and fortune) and the broadening of our understanding of the world, they have driven our society to be incredibly extractive. My experience is that being self-centred, extracting from those around you, does not lead to an especially fulfilled outcome without a hefty dose of self-delusion.

In your question, when you say 'what they do for a living', I gather what you mean is 'what they do to earn money'; and I think perhaps part of the problem is this fundamental association of 'money' with 'living'. Having the means (money) to do the things that you want to do in life is important, however many young people entering the workforce today are beginning to realise that securing the means to living well is less important than actually living well, so we are seeing a global readjustment in values and what we mean by 'living well'.

So, briefly, I think so few people are fulfilled by their careers because our culture rewards a very narrow set of values; and people, when they're honest with themselves, actually have a much broader set of values.

With respect to the 'traditional' career path, its major draw card was always long-term job security. That, and the naive belief that one's work was beneficial in helping to 'build the economy'. People would put up with an unfulfilling job because it allowed them to picture a future - educated kids, a nice house, a comfortable retirement. The global financial shock of 2007 pulled the security rug from under the feet of many people entering the workforce. Traditional careers didn't offer the security they once did, and they were soul-destroying to boot. This has been partnered by a global realisation that the institutional status quo does not serve us especially well, and has not for some time - corporations have proven themselves untrustworthy and profit has proven itself unprofitable. It's hardly surprising that people are uninspired by most of the options that are on the table.

So, what to do? Well, my first thought is to bring the 'living' back into 'earning a living'. The workplace must begin to reflect the values that most real people have (honesty, generosity, integrity etc) and not just their vices (greed and fear). When one's career feels like an extension of life, and not one's life becoming just a bit-part of a career, then we may see people get broadly more satisfied with their places of work. A work place that adds many layers and types of value - health, well being, understanding, wealth and allows others to benefit too, now that may be a place which inspires.

Another step to improvement would be to start to assess success on the basis of higher order wealth. If companies are assessed on their performance in terms of health, education, research, art and music as much as they are on financial profit, then I can almost guarantee that they would become more fulfilling places to work.

So, I believe there are some institutional changes required.

1.    To push wider reporting than simply financial (so-called triple-bottom-line accounting);

2.    To create a global balance sheet for higher order capital (social, environmental, human etc)  and make it an industry standard; and more importantly,

3.    A value shift within organisations to begin to reflect actual value rather than just financial value.