Conference: Find Your Epic

November 11, 2019 Ben Yeoh

The greatest of meet-ups change you. Then you go on to change the world.

Occasionally, a snowflake falls on the mountainside and an avalanche occurs.

The best meet-ups are an avalanche of ideas and a meeting of minds.

Again, I’ve been challenged by the observation that life is messy. Yet what unites and binds us as humans still remains greater than our divisions.

For all the polarization in the world, there are still places to meet. Respect. Life. Chaos. Arguments. Hugs.

I heard about an extraordinary range of commitments to long-term social and environmental value. From the country and city level – particularly the cities – but at all levels. And as we argue I hear the importance of discourse of conversation.

I heard reflections on the state of the UK union. There are real chances it might split in the future, but whatever the outcome how do can still heal and come together.

I heard very moving stories of the “Troubles”. A joke on how the people could only underplay the loss and conflict that threads through human lives. To be a “mixed marriage” is to be from two communities from different religious backgrounds. Fathers and sons died. Mothers and daughters died. Families grieved. There was a healing, a tentative wound closure – and that in the hurtling crisis that is Brexit the social cost in Belfast could well be tremendous. Sad on where we’ve arrived. Moved on how we lost and healed. Hopeful slithers as good people continue to try for peace.

I witnessed an astonishing evening of music. A classical rap fusion, led by Dessa - a female vocalist of sublime word-smith, voice and heart. It’s genre-crossing live music between a rapper and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Dessa reflected it’s not often you can wear a fancy cape out and about. I think it’s even rarer to bear witness to such an unusual music fusion. Took me to a place musically I’ve never been and like all sublime art, leaves you changed when you emerge. (A track from Dessa below).

A conference is part content. A conference is all people. The greatest meetups have the greatest people. It’s not our individual heights but our collective complexity.

I heard about how to run hospital groups in America and the pros/cons of a Medicare for all.

What it’s like to be a Burner at Burning Man and how not to die.

How to make classic rum. The freshness of sugar cane. The art of distillery. How to age gin.

What being a First Assistant Film Director is like – the person who runs the set onsite.

What it means to protect your synagogue. How Jews feel under threat.

What filming stories for Instagram Stories is all about.

What intermittent fasting is like

What it means, and how you can get to adopt in the US. And a picture of adoption and story to make me cry.

What Cities are doing, what power grids and doing, what endowments are doing in the fight in the climate emergency.

I learnt about the neuroscience of poverty, the challenges in protecting children online, what the international development community are attempting to do; the latest advances in dementia and brain research.

I discovered a community theatre practice centered around rural life in America. The hopes, dreams and challenges of farmers and the like.

I heard about book writing and Hollywood film making.

The challenges of UK special education and the ethics of Downs syndrome testing.

I ended up abseiling down the side of a hotel for charity as part of giving back. (See above)

I heard about what can make our brains better (altitude and high intensity training).

I heard about Goalball. A sport geared to those with disabilities.

… and through all of this the music, dance, food, drink, conversation of life.

The constructive clashing of life – when we humans meet in these activities they are the concentrated renewable energy that fuel our discussions - our debates - our loves - our passions - our fights - our peaces.

We argue, but we stand together.

So – it’s messy – there are questions without answers. Lines are crossed. Redrawn. Fudged. Drawn again. It’s gloriously messy and absolutely worth saving.

I know. We know. In an age where matters may seem divisive. Good people and still meeting, still connecting; listening and exchanging.

As we joke….Let it BAP. There won’t be an answer, so let it BAP.

(Do sign up to my monthly newsletter below, if you’d like to keep in touch).

Fleeting impressions of Miami

November 2, 2019 Ben Yeoh

Miami is on the front lines of climate change.

My taxi driver was from Hiati. My sushi maker was from Honduras.

I hear almost as much Spanish as English and other languages.

It’s wealthy. It has an unofficial segregation in that neighbouring municipalities might be very rich / high life expectancy next to places that are poor.

Colours are mixed as the immigrant population is high and yet at surface glance the wealth still seems mostly white. I’m guessing it might seem more mixed than it might seem but the trend of inequality is apparent at a surface glance.

The car still seems king. I’m in the financial district part and I walk out but it’s hard to get far. There are a smattering of e-scooters but it seems dangerous from where I am.

That said Uber is cheap (the hotel concierge recommends it over taxis) and it seems OK to get around. Unsure about commuting from the suburbs. My google maps suggests using public transport would take 2x to 3x to get anywhere I was thinking of going. That doesn’t seem great to me.

The heat is humid and fierce. It reminds me of tropical SE Asia more than Boston or San Francisco.

The four seasons hotel has a particular clientele. I see chi-chi dogs. Very manicured people. Few non-white who aren’t staff.

I see hardly anything else. My Uber driver wasn’t convinced about climate change. “What about the rivers…?” I end up talking about the water cycle but am interested in what he thinks.

I think some of what I see from the plane will be underwater in the coming decades but with all the upfront challenges I could glimpse from some of the poor, I can see why it’s not high on their priority lists.

Climate Strike: Joy and Unease

September 28, 2019 Ben Yeoh

What are we climate striking for?

-the mechanisms of climate solutions
-what’s in a strike?
-unease but hope and courage

I’ve never been on protest or a strike. I’ve always been uneasy with the mentality of herds.

This year, I’ve met more activists both young and old, retired and starting out. They’ve pointed out the power of non-violent protests that stretches back to how the fight against slavery, for women’s rights, black rights - a whole host of social progress has been won.

As regular readers know, I have a deep held side gig interest in saving the world. I’m a creative but have a strong data side to me.

Still, I thought I should go and more fully understand what the younger voices are saying and arguing and stand with them. Plus I’m a believer in cross-silo thinking and the power of connections.

That’s a long preamble to my experience in joining the climate strikes.

A few observations struck me:

The amazing energy of crowds the rituals of chant and reply and answer. I feel sure friendships, even love formed or were made stronger. I don’t think this should be undervalued. There was a spirit and joy that showed a light side of humanity.

Events like these are much more important and informative than an average day at school or an average day at work - or any average day.

And you must go and explore something rather than not. In much the same way I am reticent about how developed country people talk about, say, hunter gatherer tribes without having met them or read primary narratives about them. (Especially as I went to go and visit some in Indonesia).

Yet that same energy did give me a touch of uneasiness.

Shouts of climate justice turned to migrant justice turned to reparations turned to the global north versus the global south. Turned to a tale of challenges in Southwark, London. (Greta is typically more focused on what the science is suggesting although can talk about inequity as well)

I ended up talking to my seven year old saying.

That’s not quite true.
It’s more complex than that.
That’s a valid point but the solutions are difficult.

And we all shout along…

The #London crowds #ClimateStrikes they shout: “Climate Justice”. The adults stand with the children. (Even if we might not all agree on the details). pic.twitter.com/J2Lh5zON5L
— Benjamin Yeoh (@benyeohben) September 20, 2019

I understand that many feel strongly about the deep inequity we can see.

The environmental damage we are doing - and my primary reason for being at the demonstrations - is one of the major if not the most major challenge of our times, although you could list many present humanitarian challenges now perhaps in a similar bucket.

But there seems to be limited regard for how far we have come (cf. Factfulness) and whether we can use any of those mechanisms for the forces of good. (If I was born a generation ago, I’d likely be dead and one of my sons likely institutionalised, so from where I’m standing we’ve had progress).

I understand my socialist friends (recall I view myself as a-political) have suspicion of market based solutions and mechanisms. This is because markets although are great at growing the pie, they tend to be poor at splitting the pie. (see Ray Dalio and earlier blogs on this).

But from the point of view of the planet, you’d want to use all the solutions you have to hand - and that would include government funding for innovation into the green economy as well as carbon taxes/dividends and performance standards plus the hundreds of projects you could enact now. A major point is that we’re not doing enough.

Still, was the rhetoric I heard better or worse than that from politicians, eg Boris Johnson or many of our politicians on the global stage? No. The young people were striking closer to the truth than Johnson, even as I could disagree about the harm/benefit of the proposed solutions.

It’s a failing of the elite to propose, articulate and execute on viable solutions.

In that sense it’s the young who give us hope and courage.

It’s also the next generation that needs to prove the last generation wrong.

I kinda hope they do.

My range of ideas and solutions that I am discussing you can see here and heavily inspired by Drawdown and other works. Although I am increasingly drawn to the idea we are underinvested in green tech solutions.

Sustainability solutions: https://www.thendobetter.com/thinking-bigly

Under investment in GreenTech: https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2019/9/25/under-investment-in-green-tech

A thought on Factfulness: https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2018/5/23/hans-rosling-factfulness-in-defence-of-data-and-a-true-worldview

Ray Dalio on reforming Capitalism: https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2019/4/6/ray-dalio-on-reforming-capitalism

Visit to remote semi-Nomadic Wana Tribe

August 3, 2019 Ben Yeoh

Young Ben posing with blow pipe, (C) B Yeoh

Once upon a time I went to visit one of the most remote people on this planet. These people were called the Wana tribe.

Today, they are a semi nomadic hunter gatherer tribe who are transitioning to some forms of agriculture.

The tribe I visited lived deep in primary rainforest jungle in the middle of an island called Sulawesi, part of what we call Indonesia.

Map showing Sulawesi part of Indonesia. Shapes a little like a starfish.

That visit and my previous visits to India and Borneo and northern Thailand caused me to reflect on several (mis)conceptions that I still observe today.

We (being richer, dominant, more educated) know better. We believe people make “poor” decisions because they are not really “rational”. (What’s the point of a pension if you are likely to die before 65?)

That certain of our cultural myths and standards should apply to others. That the standards of the present apply backwards to the standards of the past.

That many of us really have not much of an idea of what it might be to live in extreme poverty with no running water, no toilets, no secure food, no secure housing.

What a “romantic” view of an indigenous people might look like that: although their land use is more harmonious, it’s a hard life even if it’s much less dense in land use.

It was a long time ago, now, over 20 years for me. This reflection is based on notes from my journal.

I remember that it was hot. Humid sticky and hot.

I had only a few days ago come from a culture of ritual buffalo sacrifices and great summer festivals. (Another story).

It was 1998, in the middle of my third Asian adventure (after Borneo in 1995, India in 1997) and before the fall of President Suharto.

There were mild simmering tensions between the racial Chinese and the non-Chinese, mostly Muslim, but nothing had yet exploded. Sulawesi’s population had mixed heritage. There were influences from the Dutch colonialists of over 300 years ago and Christian missionaries.

Sulawesi is home to a lost civilisation. A few stone idols reminiscent of those in Easter Island all that remains of an ancient culture older and unconnected to the one sitting on those lands today.

All of this is mostly divorced from the Wana. The Wana tribe have lived their own lives in the jungle with only the occasional trade of resin with the outside world.

We had to go and meet them in their territory.

We had a Guide. This was more than vital as within a few minutes the jungle absorbed us and we had no idea where we might be.

Manuel our guide. Note new Swiss watch on wrist. (c) B Yeoh

Our guide was Manuel. We thought he used to be a ranger, at least part time, and had helped establish some trading. The Wana supposedly had always traded resin from the jungle but until recently hadn’t settled. Supposedly, only a few years ago the tribe had worn bark clothing and little from outside although that had changed.

We brought useful tradeable items to exchange for our stay with the tribe. Aspirin, clothes, foods (instant noodles were storable, quick to cook and seemed tasty) were more treasured than “money”. The Indonesia Rupiah was a new myth for them and brought no value.

Money was of use to Manuel and we bore a tradeable item. We had an unwanted Swiss watch, I forget the brand, but it was mid-priced of the type you might receive as an unwanted 17th birthday present (can be seen in picture). A relatively unique item for the area, we part-traded it for his services. Extolling the brand and reputational values of Switzerland, which we pointed out on a map.

Cultural exchange was common. Everything took a while to do - at the shops, at the bus, walking down the street - are you Japanese? Chinese ? You live in England ? You born there ? What is Princess Diana like ? Have you met the Queen ? (The British Royalty being pretty much the only export to Sulawesi the UK had in 1998). What do you eat ? What is London like ? What do you think of (insert place) ?

Luckily, basic Indonesian is an easy language to pick up. My brain still had enough fluid intelligence to pick up enough to have decent conversations and a dictionary (these days were the early days of the internet and while Internet cafes existed they were rare).

We readied our wares and headed out to the Morowali park entrance.

The initial part was by boat. We skimmed across the water. No humans in sight. Mangroves. Water. Sky. Jungle.

A bamboo crossing. Yes, I was a little scared crossing on it. Note the flip flops of our guide.

Manuel didn’t have a back pack. The ubiquitous piece of equipment that marked out the foreign traveller. He carried our equipment by bamboo carrier. He had impressively flimsy foot wear - faded flip flops. This proved to be one above the Wana, when we found them, who were mostly barefoot.

Images of jungles evoked wonder. An alien otherness full of tactile shining greeness, the pictures hypnotised us.

The reality was visceral but remarkably different. Hot, baking hot. Humid, an immediate sweat-inducing drenching dampness.

The rainforest was noisy. An intermittent cacophony of sounds, to my ear there was a background layer of insects, so wide a variety they would always remain unknown.

This was punctured by the percussive movement of larger creatures and the swishing interaction with the vegetation which seemed to grow before our eyes.

It was fascinating and alien to a city dweller yet soon turned to intermittent boredom.

The vegetation swiped at you from underfoot from overhead from left and right, forwards and backwards. The heat and noise were omnipresent.

Everything was curious and worth examining. Several species lived there and no where else. I could have stayed a whole day in a 50 metre radius and not have been bored. Stopping was not an option for us. We needed to make progress, tramping on so it became a form of endurance and the banal pattern of foot-in-front-of-foot only broken by yet another quasi-spectacular sight: a large poop from a jungle cat (pretty rare), a complex spider web; vines you could cut water from (Manuel pointed this out in case of emergency; stay by a water source and hope the rangers come and find us); poisonous things, spiky things; enormous ants.

That’s pretty much why I have few-to-none pictures of the jungle depths. I was carrying black and white film. I wasnt going to waste any film on greenery. I think I have a handful on a contact sheet somewhere, but I haven’t managed to pull them into a digital archive. Not until recently has the technology been cheap and swift to scan at enough detail, and my negatives are sitting in a show box somewhere.

This is a glimpse of someone else’s trek in that same jungle (pict)

Five hours in, we came across two Wana fishermen, right in time for lunch. We had a meal with them. Looking back, I wonder how strange it might seem, these complete strangers emerging from the jungle to share a meal. I don’t know what Manuel would have said and I haven’t noted that we spoke. Even if I had the words, a place like London would be challenging to describe. We ate freshly smoked fish both barbequed and in a stew. It was delicious.

We set off for more walking.

We make it to site. There were no Wana. I noted in my journal: “Nomads! Darn, Wana”

The Wana are semi-nomadic. They up and leave when they feel they have taken enough from their site. (Typically every 3 years or so). Although the tribe I visited was possibly transistioning to a more permanent village structure - I had the impression when meeting them later that maybe they hadn’t fully decided.

Manuel wasn’t worried. He gave the impression that this site was still used by hunters from time to time and it was quite possible we wouldn’t see any Wana here but it was too far to make it to the main village site in one day.

I recall being moderately concerned as I wasn’t sure this was the deal he originally suggested, but I suspect we were never going to get to the village in one day.

Manuel took his machete and cut down segments of nearby bamboo. You could fit an apple in the cut out segments. Manuel showed us how they made a makeshift pot to boil water in.

We had water-purifying tablets with us. We used them and boiled water for several minutes to be sure. Water illness could kill or hospitalise us. We brought instant noodles (chicken flavour I think, a little yellow paste of mono sodium glutamate and flavourings) which after hours of walking tasted somehow amazing. The bamboo made chop sticks for eating and my respect for this fast growing renewable resource has remained high ever since.

Regular chores and activities were laborious. Toileting, finding a suitable place, covering; making fire, cleaning, washing - all these functions taken for granted at home take significant time and effort.

There is a notion that in the quest to raise living standards by developed nations standards, we are destroying nature and traditional ways of living, to the detriment of affected cultures. Part of this narrative is true, in the sense that our destruction of trees and forests continues and that European nations, at first contact, brought much death, disease and destruction (for instance, in Australia and in places like Indonesia). The Wana way of living is in one sense less intense and more harmonious with their environment. The Wana have stories and shamans, they play in leisure time, they wake with the sun and sleep after its setting. Despite all that, Wana life struck me as hard. There is food, but they worked hard for it. Items and chores we take for granted, they spent a great deal of time and effort on.

We borrowed the raised huts for a roof and we had our sleeping bags but there was no running water. Buzzing insects and the night time noise of the jungle - often more noisy than the day started from sun down around 6.30pm. I played a game of hang man by candlelight, my first proposed word was “lynx”. I’ve always played to win.

The sun rose and rose us. There was not much changing, I prefered to sleep in long clothes to reduce mosquito attacks. There was a routine for toileting but who would bother with make-up and tooth brushing?

It was a few hours more to the village and we travelled what Manuel saw as a path, but I saw as simply jungle.

We arrived. The Wana are unsurprised and cautiously welcome. They indicated that they see a handful of tourists a month and there was a routine of sorts for treating us. We spent the rest of the day and the next half day hanging out at the village.

The man on the left is an elder, the women are preparing the bitter local root. (C)

The routine for tourists (or maybe we deserve the more authentic sounding title of “traveller” as we had brought items to trade and stories) started invariably with the blow pipe (see picture top).

After dinner, dishes are cleared and the family sleeps in the same space.

The Wana still used this very skilfully to hunt. A hapless tourist stood a slim chance of hitting any target and only a moderate chance of shooting a dart out properly at all. Still, I dutifully attempted a shot and posed like a well-behaved tourist.

The Wana had started cultivating some fruit and vegetables although hunting and gathering were still a large part of their diet and day. I asked to try the local food. The women were hard at work preparing it and the translation was that it was a type of root vegetable like cassava.

It was deeply bitter and fairly disgusting. My face revealed this to much amusement from the women. With chatterings of “we told you you wouldn’t like it”. There was only simple conversation in English/Indonesian as Wana linguistics were tough.

I tried to ask whether anyone from the Wana would leave and I think I received a reply along the lines of “where would we go?”

Cigarettes both clove and western had already been brought to the village and were valued by children and adults alike. The girl on the right wasn’t part of the boy gang.

The children were at turns shy and curious playing a peeking hide and gawp. The boys more assertive and keeping to themselves more. Smoking was a cool behaviour. One boy was making a toy.

After finishing the food preparation of a couple of hours, there was lazing about and mild gossiping waiting for men to arrive for the meal.

The maleo egg. Sunny Side up. Note the very large yolk. (c)

As an honoured guest having brought useful gifts, I was offered one of the local foods. This giant birds egg. The size of a small melon or grapefruit. It was served in a sunny-side up type of way and for an egg lover like myself, it was delicious: yolky, creamy, sweet.

Later, I found out this was the egg of a maleo bird. A rare bird that only lives in the Indonesian jungle with perhaps around 10,000 birds left. (I note collecting eggs in some parts of Indonesia was only banned in 2004).

The maleo buries its eggs in the warm sand by the river banks. It thinks to fool predators by digging many false holes. This work fails to trick Wana who simply watch until the real egg is laid. The egg is so large with a sizeable yolk such that a baby maleo bird can almost fly from shortly after birth to help it escape predators. I think it’s likely I remain in a small group of only a handful of humans who’ve ever eaten a maleo egg.

Despite the hardships, I don’t think I would have said the Wana were much unhappier than many peoples I have met.
Although, what happiness? (Eudomonia fufilment, or hedonistic joy?)

Did the Wana work more or less hard than a city dweller? I’m unsure. There certainly was much hard work associated with daily living and I couldn’t say for sure on the work/leisure split.

Accidents and health problems, I could see were very dangerous. Small injuries could be fatal. Diets and food supply were not secure. Sanitation was open. Clothing was not well supplied (I was told then that until recently it was mostly made from bark) although the weather meant plenty of clothes were not necessary.

(To me the observations on food insecurity anecdotally back up the “gorging gene” theory. Supposedly, our hunter-gatherer forebears opportunistically bloated themselves on sugars or fats as food supply was insecure. I could see that would be a good idea for the semi-nomadic Wana, particularly pre-tourism)

The Wana had few artefacts and items. The blowpipe was noticeable. The huts had pots and the like but nothing like you’d see away from the jungle. It’s a stark contrast to our consumer and material world. Wana stories are still told orally. There’s no schooling and I don’t think the village was literate. I didn’t see a single book.

The Wana children were curious about my pens and pencils and one child drew a circle in my journal. I tore out several pages to give to the children. I made a flapping origami bird (useful travelling party trick) that was a delight.

I could see that privacy, as we know it, was rare. Families and extended families slept together. Manuel our guide slept with a Wana family and we had one of the only spare outlying stilted huts.

Children would sleep with parents until they were going to move out. As speculation, I wonder if perhaps part of this is more hardwired today than we might imagine – like the gorging gene. It would seem to me that if hunter-gatherer bands were always this intimate, the instincts of some children to want to sleep with their whole family for some time may be built-in. (The extremes of co-sleeping are laughed about in Western society now, but it is commonplace in many other cultures and countries).

The Wana had skills and knowledge that surpass city-dwellers in many respects. I could see that most acutely through the blowpipe but even in their knowledge of the area, the gathering and hunting techniques, and the like. There was enough resource for Wana to typically stay in an area for a few years before moving on.

I believe there is debate on what ancient humans may have done, when we were all mostly hunter-gatherers. Some tribes probably roamed constantly. Some like the Wana were likely semi-nomadic. I didn’t hear the Wana origin stories – I have since looked a few up, there are not many anthropological studies on the Wana – but they have their own tales.

Knowing what we do about various societies and cultures today, it strikes me that there must have been thousands and thousands to hundreds and thousands to maybe millions of complex cultures like the Wana. I’m inclining towards what Harari (and others) suggests in Sapiens that Empire and Religion and Money have been substantial unifying forces – and I could see that in the way the Wana have mostly avoided all three of these forces.

They had their own culture. Money was not useful to them, trade and barter was better and the empires of the Dutch etc. had passed them by.

Now there is a small tourist trade and I believe a battle over land rights with the Indonesian government.

These people would likely be classified as deep poor although until recently money would have been mostly meaningless to them. I can see how some benefits of secure food and health would be very valuable. A literacy to record their stories would I think be useful – although maybe that’s my perspective. Many of the items of a western life, they could continue to do without and certainly not at the cost of a loss of their habitat.

I had a wash in the river. This was the only running water. I reflect now on the amazing infrastructure we have for clean-to-drink water. A piece of life we take for granted.

We trek out the next day. This fleeting visit would hardly be remembered by the Wana. We were moderately welcome interlopers. Our trade gifts useful, my origami paper bird a novelty that probably lasted longer than the memories of us. Did I give as much as I took ? In terms of experience, I took much more – a view on life and a way of being which is on the way out – a set of impressions that have lingered – an insight into what it might mean to be human – how I might relate to this remote and hardly touched tribe of humans – to try and understand what it might be to be human – to be understanding of how others might live – to not take the challenges or achievements of humanity – at least for a small moment – for granted.

More photos below, including their tough feet and babies in their carriers.

Read about one of my only experiences of racism here: https://www.thendobetter.com/blog/2019/3/30/racism-pressed-duck-and-a-family-tradition

Or, a few lessons that autism has taught me:

https://www.thendobetter.com/blog/2017/7/15/autism-lessons-taught-me

Extel 2003 to 2018, for SRI, Responsible Investing.

June 15, 2019 Ben Yeoh

This is the 2018 IRRI Survey results - published by Extel Surveys and SRI-CONNECT. I snuck in at 20 for “most positive contribution to sustainable investment and corporate governance in 2018”

This survey has its origins in the Extel survey, where the first survey was done in 2003. I won the no. 1 slot back in 2003 for best sector analyst for integrated SRI analyst.

Now that RI, ESG, Sustainability and its adjacent areas such as green finance and the like, has on the face of it taken off I reflect that we’ve achieved some things, but not as much as we might have hoped for.

Zurich travels

June 15, 2019 Ben Yeoh

I was in Zurich this week. Embarrassingly I had to fly rather than train due to cost (£150 flights vs £400 trains). The carbon offset for this strikes me as far too cheap (at £8 only). Zurich struck me as a wealthy thriving happy city.

Outside the office of a large Swiss insurer I spotted this. And it’s one of the reasons I am hopeful because “smart cities” design can have a big impact.

Combining that with a small number of policies in 7 countries would impact half the problem. And in 20 countries 75% of the problem. This is some of the evidence behind Thinking Bigly.

In London, I attended for a time one of the largest Responsible Investor conferences and met a few companies. Lots of new faces along with many old timers, some back for the first time in years. Still virtually no practicing portfolio fund managers in the room. Hmmm.

The growth of the conference is telling. Has the conversation moved on ? In some ways, it has. In many ways, it has not. And in that observation, in my view it reflects the wider trends in business and society. Still lots of committed smart people. Made me think of my over 15 year efforts in RI and what we’ve achieved or not achieved.

Trip to Brown University

March 16, 2019 Ben Yeoh

Back to School! I give a guest lecture at Cary Krosinsky’s Brown University class on Sustainable Investing. Great questions from a curious class. The next generation are building on the generations before.

It was my first time to Providence. On a snowy blue sky day, it held a beauty of a place apart.

The train ride between Boston and Providence is conflictingly beautiful in the snow. Industrial complexes turned a clean white. Blue skies, painted wooden houses. Dilapidated factories. Cars and cars and cars. A glimpse of the American Dream.

On the train between Boston and Providence to guest lecture on Sustainable Investing. pic.twitter.com/DSwnAz8f5f
— Benjamin Yeoh (@benyeohben) March 16, 2019

In the art school, good to know students still grappling with “is it art?

Still an air of active hope. That’s probably a good thing.

Greta Thunberg on ASD as a gift

February 5, 2019 Ben Yeoh

Following up on my Greta Thunberg post on climate activism and autistic thinking. Here is a recent passage on her Asperger’s diagnosis.

Greta Thunberg | Climate Activism | Autism

January 27, 2019 Ben Yeoh

I was given the opportunity to speak at a lunch in Davos today... On the panel was Bono, Christiana Figueres, Jane Goodall, https://t.co/0SsuJbW9SN and Kengo Sakurada. #wef pic.twitter.com/PpUwQwTotf
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 24, 2019

Not everyone can be Martin Luther King, Tyler Cowen posits in his recent philosophy book, Stubborn Attachments, but hints that those who can be will make a huge difference. How to know what to do… There’s a common sense morality that many of use that implies we do the best we can for our families and friends and acquaintances but, for instance, we don’t divert all of our time and resources to helping the extreme poor or to fighting climate change.

One trait that autistic thinking seems to have more than typical thinking is a stubborn focus. This focus borders on what typicals would find too difficult. It can manifest on an insistence on only doing something one way, for instance only drinking out of a certain cup but also an insistence on, say, fighting for the truth.

Autistic thinking can sometimes have a concrete consistent logic that defies the niceties of typical thinking - either social niceties or the (wilful) blindness that typicals exhibit - a tendency to tell the truth as they see it - for example “you are fat” as statement of fact or “we are destroying the planet”

Typicals obviously can display these traits, but I find it notable in the atypical population.

Perhaps, it is unsurprising to note Greta Thunberg, 16 years old is on the autistic spectrum (Asperger’s diagnosis) and is a climate activist.

She finds the lack of progress by the Davos’ elites as bewildering and the use of airplanes (and meat eating) by those professing to be combating climate change as inconsistent.

Thus displaying a consistent concrete logic by travelling by train, activist campaigns and turning her parents vegan. And with a disregard for Davos social niceties.

A recent CNN article on her advocacy at Davos:

“"Some people say that the climate crisis is something that we will have created, but that is not true, because if everyone is guilty then no one is to blame. And someone is to blame," Thunberg said flatly. "Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people."

(see above)

There was a short pause in the room before Bono started clapping.” (Full text here: https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/25/our-house-is-on-fire-greta-thunberg16-urges-leaders-to-act-on-climate

Article here:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/25/europe/greta-thunberg-davos-world-economic-forum-intl/index.html

Her recent Washington post Op-ed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2019/01/23/davos/

And her previous UN COP24 speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFkQSGyeCWg

My blog on Tyler Cowen’s Stubborn Attachments

https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2018/11/21/tyler-cowen-vision-of-free-prosperous-and-responsible-individuals

My blog on Nassim Taleb on Climate risk:

https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2017/9/18/nassim-taleb-climate-change-risk

A short hought on learnings form autism

https://www.thendobetter.com/blog/2017/7/15/autism-lessons-taught-me

Reflections on San Francisco

September 16, 2018 Ben Yeoh

A city of contradictions. SF is a beautiful city on a bluesky day. It’s one the first places I travelled to by myself when I was 14. I took the Cal train in from Palo Alto about 25 years ago and wandered. I only have impressions of the vibe from so long ago, but it remains similar.

Glorious feats of engineering from bridges, sky scrapers and now rooftop floating parks. You’d be lucky to be born here. It’s not without obvious problems. Homelessness is rife.

Two images: a homeless person napping in the midday sun with Bose headphones and Nike trainers.

A suited man stepping round a homeless person coming out of an Uber.

When I first came to SF, the company Salesforce had not even been created. It now has over $8 billion in revenue and has created one of the tallest buildings on the west coast of the US.

As part of this building, salesforce has created a public park. It seems to me part of how some see the American way. Open markets, creative entrepreneurs creating enormous wealth, and as part of that creation giving back to the place and community that helped create them.

I wonder how strong this type of social contract still is - or ever was. The tower rises like a glimmering shard, the park all new bursting with plants, toddler areas, free art and reading. Is this enough to hold the fabric of America?

Willfully turning away from the beggars, the vibrant, diverse life is still present. Boys and boys, girls and girls, boys and girls. A smattering of colour. Old fashioned cable cars trundle alongside electric low emission buses. The waiters are mainly white and cute. The bussing folk are mainly coloured and invisible along with the maids and other worker bees.

You can get free wifi almost everywhere.

I’m here too fleetingly to see much else of the city, but note an awkward clash between some environmental awareness and still a huge amount of waste, plastic and limited nudging of individual choice.

Here’s one partial critique of the Responsible Investing gathering. In attending this conference, I skipped two (and there were many more) mainstream investment conference focused on healthcare.

The two health conferences had a few hundred companies, and a couple of thousand investment and corporate professionals between them.

There was a flagship Asian and Emerging market conference also running and many more.

Every company at the healthcare conference could easily claim alignment with several SDGs particularly the health one - SDG 7 and hundreds of investors are trying to allocate billions of capital to good ideas and good companies.

The PRI conference had a bare handful of portfolio manager risk takers. Critics could argue was a silo echo chamber for sustainability people to tell each other how right they are.

I wonder if sustainability could cross the divide, break the silo and go and present at one of the other conferences and make the case. Here continue some reflections more sustainability based.

In SF, there are two intersectional conferences on climate change and the PRI responsible investing conference. Some more personal fragmentary observations.

Physical climate risk is reaching up the agenda. We are starting to see it and feel it.

Much of the “mainstream” is not really here. Lots of policy, engagement, stewardship and ESG (environment social governance) teams. Very few portfolio managers, the risk takes who buy or sell billions in assets of stocks and debt and direct assets. Arguably, this is not hopeful.

Those I observe in SF are committed and passionate. They are bringing people along in a journey. Arguably this is hopeful.

But I recall two comments, Paul Polman (CEO, Unilever, retiring soon) - “I’m an asset creator” and Nassim Taleb - I paraphrase, if you want to change the world, don’t join an NGO, but go create a business.

The committed folk hope to mobilise and nudge capital, but I wonder more and more of late of the demand side of the equation.

The majority of large asset managers can now a credible narrative around ESG (Environment Social Governance). But, see also above “the mainstream is not here”.

The intersectionality problems are complex, often opaque. A Marriott staff employee spoke about how declining housekeeping makes her unemployed. It’s not only automation that takes away jobs. But is less housekeeping, and less washing, better for the environment, and profit margin? But not the humans.

I observe. Most waiters and waitresses are white with Gap Ad looks. The bus folk, those who clear the dishes. They are almost all coloured. Not allowed to take orders, barely likely to hold your eye - smiles are not at them.

Where mainstream PMs and analysts meet material ESG world, they do convert but I wonder about the silos.

I hear little on the demand side of the equation. The Global Climate Action Summit is also taking place. It comes across as disorganised and diffuse. But seemingly more focus on the “real economy”, Green tech entrepreneurs are about, although I don’t find them.

Still, parsing through, I sense managing food waste and sustainabilty could be a major unlock. Any ideas here, do shout.

The demand side could be a huge unlock. But, I’m unsure if I’m hearing ideas here. The single-use, the consumption it’s again and again - so hard to imagine it declining away. I’m hoping clever peeps are working on it. This to me will need cross silo thinking.

But, if I had to be - and I do - we are going to go through 2 deg warming. We will need to account for the cost of physical infrastructure loss and forced migration.

We, humans, weigh near term convenience so heavily, it seems to me we are unlikely to reach critical mass for changing behaviour until we are in crisis.

Although talking about crisis, given we’ve not changed significantly since the last financial crisis, I’m uncertain how it plays out.

But, humans have continually come out of crisis in better shape - and many other trends are in positive land. I try not to forget that.

I hold a lift for a man scurrying. That man turns out to be Paul Polman (Unilever, CEO, retiring soon). Maybe it’s the little things and connections that will save us.

A poem reflecting on my conversation with a SF Modern Art staff - all coloured vs the visitors mainly all white.

A look at what some of the art in SF MOMA is saying to me.

Grenfell. In memory. A thought about causes.

June 16, 2018 Ben Yeoh

Power of silence. I was reminded about the power of silence when joining for a short time the silent walk in memory of the Grenfell fire. For all the disaster that it is, I can see how it has knitted the community in the North Kensington area together and while the divides ever-present in Kensington remain – I feel some people from all sides have crossed and those divides are being more critically examined. Whether it will amount to much is harder to judge. However, the North Kensington library has been saved for a community value use and pressure post Grenfell has been reported to have played its part (ES article). A few pictures below.

It also reminded me of the power of silence used as rhetoric in Emma Gonzalez’s remarkable speech advocating for gun control. See post on it here.

Silent Walk, in memomry of Grenfell, 2018 (C) B Yeoh

There has been scrutiny as to the scope of the Grenfell inquiry. (Inquiry site here) "The Grenfell Tower Inquiry will examine the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017. It will establish the facts and will make recommendations as to the action needed to prevent a similar tragedy happening again."

While debates have centred around legal technicalities on the scope, it seems to me that it is the causal degrees to be investigated which are the underlying debate. The terms of reference centre around the immediate first order causes (Grenfell Inquiry terms of reference) whereas there is anger about the first order causes, there is perhaps more fury at the second and third order causes.

The first order causes centre around the cladding, the advice to stay in vs evacuate, and the poor state of repair of parts of the building. There will be debate as to if a sprinkler system would have helped. Although interlinked, in my view, all of those factors will be implicated as a first order cause.

The second order causes relate to council management of social housing, the unheard voices of social tenants and the race to the bottom for pricing on maintenance and construction work.

This level of causality is interlinked with the problems that Carillion has revealed on the poor state of subcontracted work. (This FT article on Carillion (behind paywall), and also see my posts on it here, go over some of the factors in play; plus the government report)

It is also interlinked with the problems of “ownerless companies” or “ownerless assets” which is an expression of the problems of investing for longer term benefits and value; and also the problem of investing into intangible values - the type of items which might be very valuable but hard to price in dollar terms such as the value of good design, communal spaces and deceptively simple matters such as sound proofing or fire proofing.

This then harks to a third order cause. The cultural and sociology-political structures that can over-emphasise well funded, well articulated special interest groups (cf. gun lobby in America) and processes and political decision makers that find it hard to invest in long term intangible matters that don’t relate to political cycles.

There is also likely some uniquely conflicted about land use and planning which pits landlords against tenants, and systemic vs local concerns, and historic elite land ownership. (Martin Wolf, economist, has argued for a Land Value Tax all the back in 2006)

No one wants a wind turbine near them, even if it would benefit the whole country or world.

No one on the edge of a green belt, would want the green belt restrictions loosened, even if that would ease housing and infrastructure pressure.

Few people next to an airport would want it expanded even if there were proven economic benefits to the rat of the country.

Still on the level of the first and second order causes, one solution is listen more closely to the people involved. Use primary evidence and don’t dismiss it.

This can be tough when those involved already feel marginalised or also don’t understand how to make their voice heard in the system.

A second solution is to attempt to put a value on the longer term intangible items which we are currently not pricing. Items such as great urban design with community consultation.

Will this cost more money upfront? Yes. But we should think of it as building more valuable long term assets and also saving us the cost of a Grenfell disaster and the conflicts such as riots that under investment causes.

The current Arts blog, cross-over, the current Investing blog. Cross fertilise, some thoughts on autism. Discover what the last arts/business mingle was all about (sign up for invites to the next event in the list below).

My Op-Ed in the Financial Times (My Financial Times opinion article) about asking long-term questions surrounding sustainability and ESG.

Some popular posts: the commencement address; by Nassim Taleb (Black Swan author, risk management philosopher), Neil Gaiman on making wonderful, fabulous, brilliant mistakes; JK Rowling on the benefits of failure. Charlie Munger on always inverting; Sheryl Sandberg on grief, resilience and gratitude.

How to live a life, well lived. Thoughts from a dying man. On play and playing games.

A provoking read on how to raise a feminist child.

Making a paper bird plus ESG speaking

March 24, 2018 Ben Yeoh

I've done a lot of ESG and event speaking in the last 2 weeks. If interested checkout these few posts on LinkedIn. It's in the terrible humble-brag form, but interesting nonetheless. But more importantly the above video of me making a flapping paper bird... as my thinking of intangibles with Stian Westlake (previous post here). Below, me in Stockholm (the picutre doesn't seem to fully embed :-(.

And me in London, talking with Sustainability / People talent people from Novo Nordisk, Vodafone and Naspers.

And in London again, speaking more ESG.... with the wonderful My-Linh.

How to live longer

January 6, 2018 Ben Yeoh

I don’t want to live to 100. Perhaps, I will change my mind as I grow older. I’m mostly unafraid of dying. I fear for those I leave behind. I partly attribute this to confronting the death of my father, and of my best friend while still studying. This is useful as I likely eat too much to be able to live to 100.

However, anti-ageing an interesting line of research and Laura Deming (who runs a VC fund looking at longevity) has a summary of the major lines of research.

I also find the studies of these old Okinawans intriguing (perhaps they are calorie restricted;, The Okinawans have traditionally kept eating a low-calorie, low glycemic load diet, practicing calorie control in a cultural habit known as hara hachi bu - only eating until they are 80% full). Although it seems the >100 years old population in Japan has peaked.

There is another pocket of super old in Sardinia, Italy. The Sardinian pocket is known for male 100+. (And a researcher postulates that laughter and walking help the Sardinian men ""Sardinian men are famous for gathering in the streets for a laugh every afternoon, something proven to relieve stress - the term "sardonic" originates in Sardinia.") A photo story on Sardinia.

Scroll below for a Ted talk on ageing, below are the sub-headings from Deming's work.

From Deming: Major areas of ageing research

Link to Ted talk here. And transcript here

Denmark, travel, carbon and renewable energy

December 9, 2017 Ben Yeoh

I travelled from Copenhagen to Billund this week. I took a train + taxi. The travel agent offered a flight first. I booked my own train travel.

There seems little incentive from the system to choose the train. Limited ability to assess choices, without prior thought or knowledge.

The time (door to door) is approx same, perhaps better on train, accounting for delays. WiFi, food, drink, comfort and price are all better on train.

The flight pollution impact is 20x worse than train, c.10% of the recommended individual yearly (2T) carbon budget at 200kg of CO2; train would be 20kg. (It took me about 20 minutes and several websites to calculate this, maybe it is something to add to Google Maps?)

The price is already cheaper. I wonder on the impact of a carbon tax. There must be some. Even as signalling (cf plastic bag tax).

But is there something else needed? The whole experience is better by train. So why still so many flights?

I noted many Danish companies seemed to take renewables more seriously, than when travelling in other countries.

I think about NYC-Boston, here flights are a little quicker but is the pollution worth a 2 hour time saving? Here a tax could make difference if trains were much cheaper than flights. Better rail infrastructure would close the gap.

Maybe the Hyperloop idea (now with Richard Branson money), or Musk’s deep tunnels (Boring company) are ways forward.

If you'd like to feel inspired by commencement addresses and life lessons try: Ursula K Le Guin on literature as an operating manual for life; Neil Gaiman on making wonderful, fabulous, brilliant mistakes; or Nassim Taleb's commencement address; or JK Rowling on the benefits of failure. Or Charlie Munger on always inverting.

Cross fertilise. On investing try a thought on stock valuations. Or Ray Dalio on populism and risk. You can also click on the Carbon tag below.

A lesson from autism here.