Thinking means anticipating. Anticipating means changing.
The NOUS Thinktank was set up to help business, the arts and society step up to the leadership challenges of our time.
Rather than an echo chamber for theoretical reflection, it exists to raise the profile of matters that need addressing and provide practical solutions to the issues we face. Its advisory board includes leading figures from politics, business and the arts, including two FTSE 100 CEOs and the strategic directors to both a former prime minister and former leader of the opposition.
With a track record of developing groundbreaking work that shapes public debate, the Thinktank has a direct influence on the way Global Future operates. Thanks to the perspective it offers, it gives us the ability to see change before it happens. Letting us help clients understand the major forces shaping their environment, opening them up to opportunities, and positioning them where they need to be in an open, creative and dynamic world.
England, Our England
England Our England book Book now sold in Tate Britain
England Our England book is now sold alongside the important and seminal (must-see!) Life Between Islands exhibition of Caribbean British art 1950’s - now, at the Tate Britain until 03-Apr 2022.
Purpose at work
Start 2022 with a renewed sense of purpose with our new report that aims to help you find greater meaning at work.
Building on decades of experience coaching global leaders, Kylie Bains offers cutting-edge insight into how to connect your own individual sense of purpose and that of your organisation. We believe building this alignment won’t just unlock energy and creativity at work, it will also help you and your teams live more fulfilled and meaningful lives.
England, Our England
An important piece of our British history illustrated so beautifully by Global Future, this book honours the lives of the ‘silent generation’ of African, Caribbean and Asian migrant pioneers.
It features interviews with Russell Henderson, co-founder of the Notting Hill Carnival, Yvonne Bailey-Smith, mother of novelist Zadie Smith, playwright Mustapha Matura, film director Horace Ové and Deloris Smith, mother of singer Beverley Knight
Starting in the late 1950s, England experienced an unparalleled wave of migration from Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. Seventy years on England Our England captures the experiences of this generation and their families in vivid, evocative and striking photography, much of it published for the first time, and in first-hand accounts from the people themselves. The book pays respect and homage to those who made extraordinary sacrifices, coping with, until now, challenges that were often invisible. It provides a fascinating social history and an evocative record of both the migrant experience and of the lives established here.
Also, the England Our England book is now sold alongside the important and seminal (must-see!) Life Between Islands exhibition of Caribbean British art 1950’s - now, at the Tate Britain until 03-Apr 2022.
2020 has shaken our faith in meritocracy... it's time to act.
The impact of the Covid crisis and the Black Lives Matter movements have acted as an x-ray on our societies, exposing deep economic and social injustices.
Business leaders and staff across the world are questioning their practices: If we are genuinely recruiting on merit, why do so many workers at the top still look and sound the same? How do we compete in a global marketplace for diverse new customers? How can we make our commitment to diversity and inclusion more than just a soundbite? Can social justice also be a business opportunity?
"If you don't see my race and my gender, you don't see me"
The events of 2020, including the global pandemic, the brutal murder of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, have forced us to question whether our societies and economic systems are genuinely meritocratic. Covid-19 hit us all, but not equally. Police injustice outraged us all, but is not suffered universally.
Contrary to the meritocratic ideal, you were more likely to be a victim of disease or bullying because of your demographic and economic background than your actions. Even the algorithm determining Britain’s A-Level results, designed to be “neutral”, had to be reversed when it was found to heavily downgrade poorer students in state schools. As the business leaders in our case studies describe, companies cannot exist as islands outside of these social injustices; they are operating inside the same societies, cultures, histories and economies that produced these problems. Our YouGov data suggests that customers and workers increasingly think this can no longer be ignored. With the world’s energy and attention so focussed on these issues, we believe leaders have been given permission to deeply question their businesses and to take action to genuinely transform meritocracy in the workplace.
For years we thought that believing in meritocracy was enough. In fact we went further: we believed that taking a universal, laissez-faire, colour-blind, gender neutral approach that didn’t talk about identity, context and background was the route to fairness.
The phrase, “I’m colour-blind” would often be said with pride, used to reflect the idea that you don’t make business decisions based on identity but on merit alone. We didn’t want to talk about personal context; it was full of land mines that exposed us to people’s sensitivities. Unfortunately, this non-interventionalist approach hasn’t worked. As one leader told us in this report, in the wake of Black Lives Matter, she finally felt able to tell her colleagues: “If you don’t see my race and my gender, you don’t see me”.
Instead, this report calls on companies to build “genuine meritocracy”. This more honest definition is different because it urges us to take into account people’s contexts, experiences and identities rather than sweeping them under the carpet. It argues that achieving genuine equality does not mean treating everyone homogenously; it means giving equal consideration to everyone’s contexts. It dispels the idea that everyone in a business meeting has an equal chance to contribute simply because they each have one seat at the table. In a meeting of any group, each of us brings with us multiple, intersectional identities that may well include power dynamics that influence our behaviour. The room may look diverse, but if discussion is regularly dominated by a few individuals of a particular demographic that others feel uncomfortable challenging, you have to ask whether the outcomes of the meeting will genuinely reflect the whole talent of the room.
Continue reading the full report here Rewiring Meritocracy GF Report
Covid-19 has revealed significant weaknesses in British culture.
We must learn the lessons to build back better.
Covid-19 has hit people of all nations, but not equally. It has provided a real life ‘Rorschach’ test for all countries, with each nation’s response exposing its cultural strengths and weaknesses. Even though looking honestly in the national mirror is difficult, as we face a series of looming challenges, there is no better time for the UK to reflect on these lessons.
Covid-19 has revealed significant weaknesses in British culture.
We must learn the lessons to build back better.
Covid-19 has hit people of all nations, but not equally. It has provided a real life ‘Rorschach’ test for all countries, with each nation’s response exposing its cultural strengths and weaknesses. Even though looking honestly in the national mirror is difficult, as we face a series of looming challenges, there is no better time for the UK to reflect on these lessons.
By any objective standards, our response to Covid-19 benchmarks poorly. At home, we have suffered a double punch from one of the highest death rates in the world and an economy that has plummeted more than any other major developed country. Abroad, our international reputation has taken a blow. Surveys from YouGov repeatedly show our standing in the world has suffered more than just about any other developed country. Business leaders comparing our reaction to others abroad have reached the same conclusion: if our nation was a business, we may not be sending it into administration, but we would for sure be issuing a profits warning.
Although the government has promised an enquiry into how we’ve handled Covid-19, its remit will almost certainly be too narrow. No doubt a few scapegoats will be found and ministerial portfolios shuffled and we will move on. The chance to learn broader lessons will be missed.
Three huge weaknesses, deeply embedded in our cultural DNA, have dominated Britain’s response to the global pandemic. First, a misplaced sense of British exceptionalism, arising from a sense that in all things we are better off going alone. Second, chronically slow decision-making and execution. Finally, nonchalance at the top of our institutions to the fate of ordinary people, especially more vulnerable groups. I would argue that these failures have not fallen out of a blue sky or are the fault of specific leaders, but arise from deep seated aspects of our culture.
As an island nation, we are more cut off from the rest of the world than many other countries. As I argue in my book ‘Cultural DNA’, this has fostered a sense of independence and going our own way. While this can be a strength, it also makes it harder to learn lessons across borders, and gives us an often-misplaced sense of self-sufficiency. This has been compounded by our history of empire, which reinforced our sense of superiority over our ability to form more reciprocal partnerships where different sides could learn from each other more equally. This goes some way to explaining why - even though Covid-19 took a relatively long time to reach our shores - we failed to learn from other countries, or to prepare adequately in just about every department. The underlying assumption was we will do better going our own way. There is no doubt this complacency took, and continues to take, its toll in British lives.
I have also argued that Britain’s cultural DNA has been shaped by a strong history of migration. We have exported more people to the rest of the world than just about any other nation. That is why English is spoken so widely around the world. In this migration, we lost practical, entrepreneurial people to the colonies and the new world. This left us with a society more inclined towards culture, intellectualism and doing things ‘properly’. However, crucially it has also made us slow and damaged a strong executional focus. Witness how long we have taken to decide on London airport expansion, HS2 or most other infrastructure improvements. With Covid, this executional slowness has led to debacles in getting many things - such as personal protection for workers, testing and the tracing app - up and running.
Culturally, whilst more pioneering, socially-disruptive groups left our shores for the likes of the United States, those with a stronger belief in order and the status quo remained at home. In other countries that lacked such an escape valve, class structures were broken down more. With us, a long, relatively unchallenged, history of class entrenchment means that even today, leaders with power tend to be more disconnected from the bulk of the population. This cultural rift has meant that our leaders have often acted without sensitivity, making last minute decisions that have left the population scrambling to cope. It is also why poorer and the most vulnerable groups have suffered brutally disproportionately throughout this crisis.
Our cultural failures become even more stark when you compare Britain to other countries. We can justifiably criticise American leadership, but once the federal government acknowledged Covid-19, the speed and scale of response in terms of testing, scientific investment and equipment was huge, reflecting America’s cultural and historical roots as an entrepreneurial and pioneering nation. Similarly, China, a huge geographical territory with a cultural tradition of respect for authority, was able to make huge asks of its citizens that were obeyed, choking the virus off faster than in our population.
None of this is to deny that Britain also has cultural strengths. Our reverence for education and academia has meant that our scientists and universities have helped lead the world in the race for a vaccine and other treatments. Our NHS workers have been second to none. It is no coincidence to me that our most successful institutions through Covid-19 are also the most diverse and internationally connected. Our colonial history makes us receptive to diversity and when our institutions are more outward focused, more international, more open, they overcome our cultural propensity to isolate - and they thrive.
In this way, acknowledging that we have cultural shortcomings does not mean we are always destined to fail. There is no cultural determinism. We must acknowledge, however, that we have a cultural propensity towards certain weaknesses that may damage us if do not honestly reflect on them. Just like any individual might use a crisis to reflect on their propensity to react in certain ways, we must do the same.
Our island nation faces huge challenges in the years ahead. Brexit, climate change, race relations, social inequality, technology and a second wave of Covid-19 will continue to test us to our limits, both in terms of our quality of life at home and our international standing in the world. All leaders, not just politicians, but those of us in positions of influence from business, to the arts, education, science and commerce, must all look into that honest mirror that Covid-19 has held up to us. Only once we have truly acknowledged the strengths and weaknesses of our cultural DNA can we begin to meet the challenges of the next generation, and build back our nation stronger.
To watch an extended interview with Gurnek Bains about the cultural responses to Covid-19, visit our YouTube channel here.
Gurnek Bains’ book, ‘Cultural DNA, The Psyhchology of Globalisation’, is available here.
Covid-19 has revealed significant weaknesses in British culture.
We must learn the lessons to build back better.
Covid-19 has hit people of all nations, but not equally. It has provided a real life ‘Rorschach’ test for all countries, with each nation’s response exposing its cultural strengths and weaknesses. Even though looking honestly in the national mirror is difficult, as we face a series of looming challenges, there is no better time for the UK to reflect on these lessons.
By any objective standards, our response to Covid-19 benchmarks poorly. At home, we have suffered a double punch from one of the highest death rates in the world and an economy that has plummeted more than any other major developed country. Abroad, our international reputation has taken a blow. Surveys from YouGov repeatedly show our standing in the world has suffered more than just about any other developed country. Business leaders comparing our reaction to others abroad have reached the same conclusion: if our nation was a business, we may not be sending it into administration, but we would for sure be issuing a profits warning.
Although the government has promised an enquiry into how we’ve handled Covid-19, its remit will almost certainly be too narrow. No doubt a few scapegoats will be found and ministerial portfolios shuffled and we will move on. The chance to learn broader lessons will be missed.
Three huge weaknesses, deeply embedded in our cultural DNA, have dominated Britain’s response to the global pandemic. First, a misplaced sense of British exceptionalism, arising from a sense that in all things we are better off going alone. Second, chronically slow decision-making and execution. Finally, nonchalance at the top of our institutions to the fate of ordinary people, especially more vulnerable groups. I would argue that these failures have not fallen out of a blue sky or are the fault of specific leaders, but arise from deep seated aspects of our culture.
As an island nation, we are more cut off from the rest of the world than many other countries. As I argue in my book ‘Cultural DNA’, this has fostered a sense of independence and going our own way. While this can be a strength, it also makes it harder to learn lessons across borders, and gives us an often-misplaced sense of self-sufficiency. This has been compounded by our history of empire, which reinforced our sense of superiority over our ability to form more reciprocal partnerships where different sides could learn from each other more equally. This goes some way to explaining why - even though Covid-19 took a relatively long time to reach our shores - we failed to learn from other countries, or to prepare adequately in just about every department. The underlying assumption was we will do better going our own way. There is no doubt this complacency took, and continues to take, its toll in British lives.
I have also argued that Britain’s cultural DNA has been shaped by a strong history of migration. We have exported more people to the rest of the world than just about any other nation. That is why English is spoken so widely around the world. In this migration, we lost practical, entrepreneurial people to the colonies and the new world. This left us with a society more inclined towards culture, intellectualism and doing things ‘properly’. However, crucially it has also made us slow and damaged a strong executional focus. Witness how long we have taken to decide on London airport expansion, HS2 or most other infrastructure improvements. With Covid, this executional slowness has led to debacles in getting many things - such as personal protection for workers, testing and the tracing app - up and running.
Culturally, whilst more pioneering, socially-disruptive groups left our shores for the likes of the United States, those with a stronger belief in order and the status quo remained at home. In other countries that lacked such an escape valve, class structures were broken down more. With us, a long, relatively unchallenged, history of class entrenchment means that even today, leaders with power tend to be more disconnected from the bulk of the population. This cultural rift has meant that our leaders have often acted without sensitivity, making last minute decisions that have left the population scrambling to cope. It is also why poorer and the most vulnerable groups have suffered brutally disproportionately throughout this crisis.
Our cultural failures become even more stark when you compare Britain to other countries. We can justifiably criticise American leadership, but once the federal government acknowledged Covid-19, the speed and scale of response in terms of testing, scientific investment and equipment was huge, reflecting America’s cultural and historical roots as an entrepreneurial and pioneering nation. Similarly, China, a huge geographical territory with a cultural tradition of respect for authority, was able to make huge asks of its citizens that were obeyed, choking the virus off faster than in our population.
None of this is to deny that Britain also has cultural strengths. Our reverence for education and academia has meant that our scientists and universities have helped lead the world in the race for a vaccine and other treatments. Our NHS workers have been second to none. It is no coincidence to me that our most successful institutions through Covid-19 are also the most diverse and internationally connected. Our colonial history makes us receptive to diversity and when our institutions are more outward focused, more international, more open, they overcome our cultural propensity to isolate - and they thrive.
In this way, acknowledging that we have cultural shortcomings does not mean we are always destined to fail. There is no cultural determinism. We must acknowledge, however, that we have a cultural propensity towards certain weaknesses that may damage us if do not honestly reflect on them. Just like any individual might use a crisis to reflect on their propensity to react in certain ways, we must do the same.
Our island nation faces huge challenges in the years ahead. Brexit, climate change, race relations, social inequality, technology and a second wave of Covid-19 will continue to test us to our limits, both in terms of our quality of life at home and our international standing in the world. All leaders, not just politicians, but those of us in positions of influence from business, to the arts, education, science and commerce, must all look into that honest mirror that Covid-19 has held up to us. Only once we have truly acknowledged the strengths and weaknesses of our cultural DNA can we begin to meet the challenges of the next generation, and build back our nation stronger.
To watch an extended interview with Gurnek Bains about the cultural responses to Covid-19, visit our YouTube channel here.
Gurnek Bains’ book, ‘Cultural DNA, The Psyhchology of Globalisation’, is available here.