Thread by @swardley

X : How important are environmental concerns in boards?
Me : Your boardroom?
X : Maybe.
Me : Does your company use Myers Briggs?
X : What has that got to do with anything?
Me : If "yes", they probably think climate change is a natural cycle. Science won't be a "big" thing.

... lots of companies like to talk about the importance of data but what they often mean is "the importance of data that supports my view". You'd be amazed at what sort of voodoo happens in executive circles, often selectively using "science" (emphasis on quotes).

There's also a tension growing between business (soft people skills) vs engineering (hard technology skills). People often say "we're all one" but that's usually the biz feeling like they are being left behind as the most successful companies are increasingly run by engineers.

It was ok in the past when the Morlocks were hidden away but now they're at the dinning table with the Elois and doing a better job of small talk. The problem with climate change is it's a combination of hard sciences then mixed with people, processes and technology ...

... which is fine for engineers used to adapting with real data but, if you're from that soft side where data is something that is used to support your view ... it's not going to be easy.

So, don't expect companies to be welcoming to your views on the major changes needed due to climate change. There's a lot of political capital wrapped up in this problem and a lot of magic thinking i.e. technologists in some cave will create a solution the biz can apply.

I see the same nonsense with strategy, which for most companies involves throwing some bones in the air, killing a chicken and going "how do you read these runes?" ... after which they just copy everyone else on the assumption that someone must know what they're doing.

Assuming you want to make progress, then the question you need to ask is -
If (you can't use "when" as they won't necessarily believe it despite the overwhelming evidence) climate change becomes a major concern then how do I use this to gain more power in the boardroom?

As daft as it sounds, given the calamity faced, you'll have to appeal to greed and boardroom manoeuvring to get your climate change proposals accepted. Your only sane option is through extensive Government regulation.

X : Hard and soft?
Me : Best way to explain this is with Montgomery Scott, Star Trek and "you canna break the laws of physics" i.e. finding solutions within constraints. The soft side tends to a belief that my view is right, I just need the data to support it ...

... i.e. with climate science, a hard side points to the overwhelming data and considers it a constraint. Ditto with Myers Briggs and the bulk of evidence that dismisses it as hokum. Soft side tends towards belief and can "look" for that piece of data that shows it is right ...

... I see a lot of this in executive circles. Despite overwhelming evidence that one path is right, they continue along another path under a belief and are looking for evidence to support it. Sometimes, that "evidence" can be others following them ... this can be exploited ...

i.e. "big names" using a technique and others assume the technique is right and they should follow. The evidence that this is right becomes "everybody else is doing this". How on earth did you think Myers Briggs became so popular despite psychologists raising hands in horror?

You normally have to appeal to greed (i.e. some advantage), political manoeuvring (in boards) and herding (i.e following others, fear of being left behind) to get companies to adopt something - whether climate change or otherwise - unless the pressure comes from Government.

X : What's wrong with company strategy?
Me : Hmmm. How do I say this? A rising tide lifts all boats, it's only when it falls that the clueless get stuck on sand banks. You're seeing a lot of clueless today. They were always clueless but in the past they could get away with it.

X : Are you saying IT is better at business strategy?
Me : No. I'm saying that business strategy was the domain of the biz and that was fine when everything was going well. Today, many are being exposed as having not much of a clue at what they're talking about.