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Systematising the wellbeing of future generations, with Sophie Howe

And those of us who are 45 and up who are in that category of leaders at the moment, if you like, what if we’d all been through an education system which taught us to be ethically informed about what our actions were doing, not just on our doorstep but in other parts of the world?  Or about the climate or about how the economic system favours some people and definitely not the majority of people, might we have a completely different perspective? 

 

This episode of the humans at work podcast features conversation with Sophie Howe, Sustainability Futures and Wellbeing Adviser, and the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

Sophie and I talk about what the reality is of the ‘superhero’ job Future Generations Commissioner, how much more public and private sector can be doing to integrate our thinking systemically and holistically, and how to enable younger generations to think creatively, proactively and strategically to be better prepared for the future challenges. 

 

Sophie and I talk about:

  • The amazing British TV show Gavin and Stacey, and how well it captured the small nuances of culture and behaviour
  • Personal experience as valuable for driving your work
  • The breathtaking slow-ness of governments in thinking and planning ahead for social, technological and other shifts
  • The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in Wales
  • The national ‘citizens conversations’ that designed and developed the concept of the ‘Wales we want’ into reality
  • The 5 ways-of-working that embedded a fundamental shift in how government agencies, local councils, citizens and others work together systematically to create the future of Wales
  • Involvement of the private sector in national shifts in ethos
  • The value of a clear national strategic vision for certainty for all sectors
  • What counts as ‘future generations’ – in the Welsh context, 25 years ahead is the starting point
  • Tensions within government system settings between short-term and long-term decision-making and mechanisms to resolve those
  • Cross-discipline and integrated system thinking – e.g. applying a public health perspective to long term transport strategy
  • Education as a tool for embedding preventative and integrated thinking for future leaders
  • The role and tactics of the Future Commissioner
  • The fact that road building (and the future debt required) doesn’t stand up to scrutiny from a holistic wellbeing perspective
  • Building courage for holding the holistic, future lens ground in conversations
  • Social justice and the concept of intergenerational fairness
  • Public policy and its role in getting to the root cause of systemic problems rather than short-term sticking plasters
  • Her work with the UN system to reach a declaration for Future Generations
  • What everyone can do to bring a future generations lens to your influence and work.

 

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