Presentation to Dammam University students Saudi Arabia Griffith International, Griffith University, Brisbane, 27 August 2014

1. Professor Jeremy B Williams
Director, Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise
@jeremybwilliams
Presentation to
Dammam University students
Saudi Arabia
Griffith International
Brisbane, 27 August 2014

2. Objective of this session
 To learn to think differently
 Make a note of changes you can
make in how you think and what
you do when you return to work.

4. Critical thinking
 Critical thinking is
thinking about your
thinking while you’re
thinking, in order to
make your thinking
better.
Richard Paul, 1992, Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs to Survive in a
Rapidly Changing World, p. 7.

5. Characteristics of
unstructured problems ...
 Cannot be described completely
 Have more than one potentially viable solution option
 Generate controversy, even among experts
 Have incomplete information that is subject to a variety of
interpretations

6. … characteristics of
unstructured problems
 Have a variety of solution options with
unknown outcomes
 Often need to be addressed repeatedly over
time as conditions change and better
information becomes available
 Can be addressed through a problem solving
process that uses information in increasingly
complex ways

7. Readdressing an
unstructured problem
Resolving an unstructured
Framing an unstructured problem
Identifying the unstructured nature
of the problem
Content knowledge/problem solving skills
© U21Global 2007
problem
1
2
3
4
The ‘stair-step’ critical
thinking model
(Lynch, Wolcott & Huber 1998)

8. So how might we define strategic
thinking?
 Strategic thinking is about developing strategy
 Strategy is about the future
 Integrating the future into your decision making processes
today by thinking big, deep and long.
Maree Conway, 2009)

9.  Big
Do we understand how we
connect and interact with other
organisations and the external
environment?

10.  Deep
How deeply are we questioning our
ways of operating?
Do we operate from our
interpretation of the past, or our
anticipation of the future?
Are our assumptions today valid into
the future?

11.  Long
How far into the future are we
looking?
Do we understand the shape of
alternative futures for our
organisation?

12. Thinking Big:  Systems thinking
Leaders need to understand they are part of larger
systems
Doing so shifts focus from optimising their small
part of the picture to building shared
understanding and a more holistic vision
Peter Senge, The Necessary Revolution, 2008

13. Thinking Deep:  Taking a world view
What might seem real to you may appear less real to
another person.
How you filter information (the lens through which you
view the world) to create meaning is critical to one’s
understanding

14. Thinking Long:  Environmental scanning
Scan actively
Scan in ‘non-traditional’ places
Scan for diversity of perspectives
(not right, not wrong)
Look for connections, collisions
and intersections.

15. Trend
Problem Opportunity

21. March 2012

34. We’ve also changed the surface of
the earth

38. We need 1.5 planets to sustain
current consumption patterns …

39. … with potentially devastating
effects in the form of climate change

44. Dr. Malte Meinshausen

46. The modelling conducted for the 2013 study produced larger budgets than
indicated by the modelling of Meinshausen et al (2009) in 2011 Carbon Tracker work.
That approach produced a range of 565 – 886GtCO2 to give 80% - 50% probabilities of
limiting warming to a two degree scenario (2DS)

48. <20C
Ian Dunlop
Chair, Australian Coal
Association (1987-88);
CEO of the AICD (1997-
2001)
?
“The 20C target is
too high. It is now
the boundary
between
and
extremely
dangerous climate
change”

52. IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)

55. 1: a project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky
2: readiness to engage in daring or difficult action
3:
(a) a unit of economic organisation or activity; especially a business organisation
(b) a systematic purposeful activity

56. There is a multiplicity of organisational and
business types that might be characterised as
Private
sector
Public sector Civil society
For profit Not for profit
In transition Start-ups

57. ≠

58. stakeholders and investors see value
creation opportunities and cost
reduction opportunities in the strategic
use of sustainability concepts, practices
and innovation

59. • a clear understanding of its role in the creation of
economic, environmental and social value
• more value is generated if it is driven by a compelling
sustainability vision accompanied by the monitoring
of performance relative to that vision
‘How much closer to sustainable success are we?’
is a much better question than:
‘How much less unsustainable are we?’

60. (with a viable business model)

61. Choose a company
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadawul
 No more than one from:
» Banks and Financial Services
» Petrochemical Industries
» Cement
» Retail
» Energy and Utilities
» Agriculture and Food Industries
» Telecommunication and IT
» Insurance
» Multi-Investment
» Industrial Investment
» Building and Construction
» Real estate and Property
» Transport
» Media and Publishing
» Hotel and Tourism

62. Describe this company in 2034
 What is its mission and vision?
 What key problems did it face over the previous 20
years?
 What course of action did take and when?
 What criteria did it use to choose and evaluate a
course of action?
 How did this course of action coincide or conflict
with other goals/plans?

63. profjeremybwilliams