Running The Finance System Transformation Gauntlet - Simon O'Connor Is Sustainability's Diplomat

Today’s guest is Simon O’Connor, who for more than two decades has worked at the forefront of responsible investment and sustainable finance. From his training and time as an economist and working with the Australian Conservation Foundation, running the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia for over a decade and helping to established the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative, Simon has been neck deep in everything to do with hardwiring a different financial system. His knack for building alliances has been central to his efforts and successes in trying to pull every available lever to shift the leadership, systems and culture of a system that is both necessary to undertake society-level transitions but also incentivised to reinforce itself to maintain as much of the status quo for as long as possible.

I wanted to speak with Simon because he is the archetype of the person I started this show to speak with - he’s been in the game for years, he’s been in thousands of rooms where the change I hope is possible is either unlocked or vanquished, he cares and he’s lit a path for all of us over the years for everything that I hope is still to come. Being a sustainability professional in the 2000s was different to the 2010s, and is different again in the 2020s, from a nascent outsider in those early days to a capability and mindset that is now inevitably positioned to transform every aspect of our society and economy, Simon has been and remains a leader I wanted to learn from to understand what his insights are and wisdom he has to share.

We chat about plenty in this episode, but it centres on three central questions - how was it, what happened to create change along the way, and how is it now? We get into the pendulum of despondency and optimism, personal resilience, culture and team building, longevity, the trade offs between incremental and transformative change, language and jargon, as well as a final conversation about how pursuing hard things in our non-work lives help to set us up for success in our work lives.

Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem. 

What can investors do about climate change?

Driving positive social change through co-operatives and mutual enterprises (CMEs)

Navigating the winds of change Strategic foresight and the power of weak signals

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