The Third Way

At Pineapple Partnerships we're all about trying to effect change at scale, to leverage the power of partnerships for systemic, transformative change that can shift the trajectory of our world onto a more sustainable path.

This sounds good as a lofty ambition. But is it practical? Is it possible? What does it actually mean to deliver impact at scale?

Over the course of my career so far I've worked at the heart of Government and have held senior, global roles in the world's biggest professional services firm and the most powerful technology company. I am active in the philanthropic space as the trustee of a number of charities and through much of our consulting work with system shaping NGOs. I have supported a range of financial institutions from high street banks and impact investors to insurance companies and pension funds think about their purpose and role in the world. 

And through all these experiences across all these different parts of the system the problems all boil down to the same thing - making positive change is hard. The constraints on the decisions of corporate leaders, bankers, policy makers, even leaders of charities are huge. All parts of the system operate within a cultural context that is wilfully blind to the collective dangers we face through the polycrisis, combined with a dissemination of power and influence that's important for a democracy, but means getting things done is tough.

Politicians need to worry not just about parliament and their party leadership, but their constituents and their personal networks and their financial supporters and the organisations that lobby them and of course the media, never mind the civil servants who are there to support them. Their choices are hugely constrained. In the corporate world, there is a reason why we only hear about the same examples of organisations that have embedded responsibility to society in everything they do (yes I love my Pata-gucci jacket). Shareholders and investors, employees, regulators, pressure groups - all have a guiding hand over how radical leaders can be. The list goes on.

And the problem is, we need radical action and we need it quickly. Anyone with their eyes open to the state of our world and the precipice upon which we stand feels a deep panic and despair at the lack of and pace of change.

So what can be done? There are broadly three options, all with pros and cons.

First - work from within. Find a powerful organisation and shape its decision making as much as you possibly can from the inside. I tried this at Amazon and got very much nowhere! This is perhaps the most secure route, but relies on your ability to get towards the top of the decision making tree.

Second - work from without. Agitate, campaign, challenge, provoke. Shine a light on what is going wrong and champion the cause of what needs to be done. I'm trying to do some of this through some of my charitable activities, particularly through EcoJudaism - seeking to leverage the moral power of faith to inspire cultural change and widespread action. 

But at Pineapple, we are trying to work though a third way (Anthony Giddens inspired?!) - we work together. By demonstrating that by bringing scale organisations together to collaborate in tackling complex challenges we can "hack capitalism" we are proving that it's not only possible to affect change at scale, but that's it's profitable! Our core thesis is that the problems we face are so challenging and complicated that individual organisations simply can't solve them on their own, and that therefore, the winners of the future will those who can offer a path through the maze with the combination of solutions that work, financing to drive scale and delivery capacity to get it done.

That's what we are trying to do at Pineapple. And so, we are looking for fellow travellers to join our third way, for others who may today be working from within or without but who see the need to effect change in new and different ways. We are looking for partners in urgency, ready to use the incentives of the system back on itself to find routes, through capitalist collaboration, for a better world.