• Coming in from outside, offer fresh eyes, catalyst and source of new ideas, visions, and specific projects for your challenge or group

• And the energy, obsessiveness and competence to get the job done in a timely manner

• Organize and complete independent reviews, peer reviews and 'second opinions' of ideas and projects in the cooker

• Provide a discrete 'sounding board' off of whom ideas can be bounced, tested and developed

• Identify international opportunities in the fast-breaking technology/sustainable development interface

• Unorthodox problem-solving (when the other stuff is not working)

• Conflict negotiation, arbitration, adjudication.

• Strategic restructuring of businesses, programs, projects that have gone off the rails or run into trouble.

• Probing for alternative approaches to priority issues, projects (Plan B, new solutions to old problems, and old solutions to 'new' problems)

• Creating and building on public-private partnerships that actually get the job done

• Multi-disciplinary, multi-national, inter-cultural team building and management

• Cross-learning: creating a shared pool of knowledge, experience and competence in otherwise fractionalized contexts

• Internationalization, including toward the developing world and the EU accession countries

• Restructuring existing international units along new lines which extend their reach and enhance their effectiveness and sustainability potentials

• "Post mortems" of problem or failed projects to learn lessons, and perhaps find in them the germs of future success

• Contingency planning, damage control and reorganization for success

• Public presentations and negotiation

• Identifying outstanding projects and people around the world who are advancing the sustainability/social justice agenda, often in 'small' ways and working on their own with no or little help or recognition for their accomplishments.

• Support in fund raising

• Help you give away money in ways which are highly creative and achieve high sustainability impacts where they are most needed.

Again, one of the principal advantages in this case is that we now have the means, the technology and flexibility to work on these issues strategically and in a cost effective manner, without having to tie up resources in creating new permanent positions, onerous long term contracts, etc.

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Getting the right fit:

Good fit is critical. The outstanding qualification that I should be looking for in partners and sponsors for my work over this period is (a) groups with strong felt need in areas in which my background and work style can find its place; together with (b) a clear mandate and the resources needed to tackle the challenge at hand, and (c) leadership which is up to the task. My experience shows that if a very strong, almost desperate need for remedial policy and practice is not felt, then my style probably is a bit too (and here I search for the word) "strong" or perhaps better "discomforting" for the comfort zone probably being sought. (My creative dissonance work style does not go very well if the overarching target is, public pronouncements and rhetoric aside, maintaining someone's comfort zone.) Team work: This is a sine quo non of any contribution I might, and this results from the fact that my background and skill set is far too general for me to dig in and make an unallied personal contribution in some important area of needed expertise. That is simply not what I do. On the other hand, I have been pretty successful in working with, organizing and interacting with outstanding international teams and colleagues in problem solving and demonstration projects, and so in good part my present quest is to find the people and groups with whom I am going to be able to collaborate and support in the years ahead. "Distance work": Over the last decade I have carried out most of my work with a combination of personal and 'virtual' presence with my work partners: a formula which has worked well and which I intend to continue to use in the future. The advantages are considerable: lower costs (including my fees), better use of time, higher efficiency. The mechanics of these arrangements are mediated by a continuously up-dated array of computer and communications tools which together provide true 'virtual presence' of the sort needed to get the job done. (More information on this as you require.) Concentration It is my best guess that as part of my work bouquet I will end up working in an appropriately flexible manner with one or two outstanding public sector agencies that has a strong mandate for change in areas where I can pitch in. And with one or two industrial or financial groups that are looking hard for new patterns of activity or initiatives that relate to my competences, and with a strong commitment to implement the results. I also intend to continue to have regular shoulder-to-shoulder working and learning relationships with leading projects, thinkers and doers of the sort that one finds at best in great universities, foundations, institutions or similar centers of excellence. Back to top How much Britton might you need (or want): The short answer to that is that in most cases it may be not all that much. Given the nature of my competences and the way I work, you will probably make best use of me on a focused periodic basis, where an extra pair of hands or intellectual sparring partner for a very specific task or element of a project is required. Examples are: the initial brainstorming stages, project formation, interim review, and, if appropriate, post-initiative analysis and lessons learned summing up. If we bear in mind that such projects are usually very strategic, it is important that there be a high level of trust and good communications all around. And the best way to ensure that, is by creating longer term working relationships. Experience makes it very clear that for this to work, I must have a direct channel to the boss or ultimate decision maker. After all we are talking about possible major structural changes or adjustments. And this is not going to be one more middle level management decision. That said, this working link needs to be highly efficient and most of the time extremely light: until decision time comes. This calls for occasional short updates concentrating on exception information. And for the rest, close contact with trusted senior staff and a relationship of confidence. In the long run How many more years do you and I have to work on these and other such pressing issues with all our energy and capabilities intact? Well, my present obligations thus far only take me out to June 2022, where I hope once again to work with the City of Stockholm to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our first Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities award ceremony. That at least is what I offered as my answer to His Majesty the King of Sweden when he kindly asked me in June 2002 about longer term plans for the Partnerships -- suggesting that this means that his and my family and friends had better take pretty good care of us so that we will be there to do the job when needed. As an active non-depressive non-smoker vegetarian who only drives his car to church on Sunday (that's a joke), I may have a good shot at that according to the actuarial tables. But don't let that keep you from lighting a candle for me. (And me for you.)     Home   About Translate   The Commons   Always On   Contact   Top Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France, Europe. T: +331 4326 1323 Copyright © 1994-2006 The Commons ® All rights reserved. Last updated on 19 April 2006