Volans Team: Geoff Lye
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What do you wish it said about your working life and mission on your passport?
Global Trouble Maker.
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You're a citizen of where?
Technically British but feel I should have been born in France. Quality of life still matters there and my heart lifts whenever I head south.
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Education in a nutshell?
Local state primary. Grammar school where I was (thankfully) persuaded to study Classics. Deeper immersion in Classics at Cambridge.
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Your working life?
Step changes in each succeeding decade. 1970s: trained in, and practiced, unsustainable and irresponsible marketing - not deliberately or consciously, of course, but obviously so with hindsight. 1980s: leapt from world of MNCs to a tiny independent marketing/PR company which progressively shook up the UK PR industry, resulting in explosive growth. 1990s: another leap, this time to SustainAbility also a tiny independent determined to punch above its weight – life changing for me, mind changing for a few MNCs. Today: a portfolio life divided between SustainAbility (Vice Chair) and Oxford (Research and Teaching Fellowships), complemented by Volans and Blue Rubicon.
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Things you are proudest of in yout working life?
Achieving the Kennedy challenge in 1962 aged 13 to walk 50 miles in less than 24 hours. My four children. Breaking various corporate moulds and models – but so much more to do!
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One thing you wish you could change in your history?
Sharing more of my children’s childhoods. As they grew up, I was very bad at balancing home and work life (and still am).
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Most recent job?
The most recent portfolio addition is my Oxford teaching and research.
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Something about the family that have to put up with all of this?
My ex-wife and good friend decided not to. My children seem forgiving of my obsessive work loads. And my partner Sarah is the most tolerant person I can imagine.
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Why Volans?
Time is running out for us to address the converging challenges of poverty and climate change. Existing business and regulatory models are clearly inadequate and need radical re-direction. Volans aims to be a positive catalyst in this space. And my founding colleagues have proven track records and unqualified commitment to game-changing goals.
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Your potted vision for Volans 2010?
Seen as a leader in bringing a sustainable future into the present.
Geoff is a founding member of Volans Ventures.
Since 1995, he has also been a director of SustainAbility and now Vice Chairman. Geoff has worked extensively with a wide range of multinationals in over 25 years of consulting. Through the 1980s he was Group Managing Director of a leading European communications consultancy, advising particularly on the management of reputation. He advised the BBC on environmental and communications issues in the lead up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio and was a member of the RSA’s influential Tomorrow’s Company Inquiry team.
Geoff is currently focusing his consulting on the links between corporate accountability and the protection and enhancement of shareholder value. He was the lead author of SustainAbility's groundbreaking report, The Changing Landscape of Liability, which assesses how new forms of social, environmental and economic liability demand a new approach to strategic risk management. He has also co-authored Taxing Issues which explores the issue of responsible tax policies and practice within the broader Corporate Responsibility agenda.
Geoff's latest research explores how Corporate Economic Responsibility is set to shift whole sectors of industry to new business models requiring companies to develop and deliver active responses to the major challenges of the 21st century – from Climate Change to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. He holds a Research Fellowship at Green College, Oxford; is a Visiting Teaching Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute; and contributes to Executive Development programmes at Said Business School.