Leading Sustainability through Corporate Real Estate Hypothetical

The CoreNet Global Melbourne 2007 Summit incorporated a thought provoking Hypothetical panel discussion on the future of corporate real estate and the drivers for sustainability. With an economic futures framework provided by Melbourne University Professor of Economics Neville Norman who moderated the discussion, the panel included Aggie Aitken, Head of Workplace Development at ANZ; Strategic Futurist and Director of Looking Up Feeling Good, Marcus Barber; Yossi Ghinsberg, the Founder and Director of EthnoBios S.A ; and Michael Greene, Regional Director of Corporate Solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle

Sponsored by Multiplex, the Hypothetical considered 5 base developments – The world economy developing much along the way it has with a continuation of existing drivers such as the ongoing growth of China; China growth exploding beyond all expectations with India also booming; The world economic downturn on the back of China Imploding; A radical development of workplace and employee management where centralist workplaces began to give way to satellite office locations and work from home opportunities; and ‘Green At Last’ where the promise and urgency of a need for sustainability has been embraced.

Providing perspectives of the Business, Tenant, Landlord, and Sustainability advocate; the Hypothetical finished off with a Q & A with the audience which also gave Marcus Barber a chance to switch into Futurist mode and make some radical suggestions about the inhabitants at 317 Spencer St as a result of the introduction of the ‘Future Generations Penalty Clause’ that enables children and grandchildren to be held liable for the actions and decisions of their parents and grandparents.

The US Economic Yo-Yo

May 29, 2025

What a ride it has been over the last month as an economically unhinged US ‘strategy’ for US Imperial economic dominance begins to play out. I’m not an economist so happy to take advice from those who are and the draconian and flawed Trump strategy of Tariffs for all’ seems to be the kind of…

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The Unfolding Fallout of an Unhinged US

Mar 29, 2025

Canada, and Mexico, the USA’s two largest trading partners have been attacked with tariffs and sanctions, Canada is going to become a new US state, so too is Greenland apparently. China, that holds $750 billion in US Trade Bonds (effectively holding the actual reins for US economic decisions) has been hit with tariffs over 200%…

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The Pending Shift in Global Relationships

Jan 9, 2025

In around a week’s time there’ll be a version 2 of a Trump Presidency in the United States. One thing I’d expect to see is a much less bridled Trump presidency. The first time around a number of long standing and experienced people were around to temper and guide some of the thinking. This time…

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Steel Chicks hosts Dr Kim Hazendonk

Dec 12, 2024

Looking Up Feeling Good are delighted with our involvement with Steel Chicks and this session with Dr Kim Hazendonk was another great example of bringing immediately useful insights to the attendees. Dr Hazendonk spoke about ways to use your brain more effectively, how to overcome the distractions both in  the workplace and beyond – brilliant…

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The Wheel Keeps Turning

Sep 28, 2024

Or so it may seem. This quarter has seen me interstate facilitating some strategic planning workshops; overseas working with an established Government client, working with CGD, SELLEN, and Hilton Manufacturing among others here in Oz, a couple of weeks holiday down in Tasmania, and also the occasional radio interview looking at the ‘Future of…’. And…

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Employee Engagement starts with a Deliberate Exploration of Futures

Aug 13, 2024

Some thoughts flowing from my session discussing challenges in Futures Consulting posted by James Balzer: I’d explained to the group that what I do is engage employees in thinking about their own and their organisation’s future potential. My strong view over twenty years of work in this space is that employee engagement is DIRECTLY driven…

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The Future of Workplaces

Jul 10, 2024

Tomorrow morning (Friday the 12th)  I’ll be joining Elizabeth Kulas on Disrupt Radio discussing the Future Of Workplaces. There’ll be a particular focus on why most organisations choose to struggle because they rely on outdated models of employee management. A 7.15am kick-off where, in about 7 minutes or so, I’ll try to distill 20 years…

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A New Form of Goal Directed Intelligence

Jun 28, 2024

It’s extremely rare that I post to a specific article and say ‘go read this’, which is what I’m doing today. This article on goal directed intelligence at a micro level is a challenge to read. And I do recommend you read it because it pushes forward our understanding of how our biology and arguably…

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Looking Up Feeling Good Partners with Steel Chicks

Mar 10, 2024

If you followed my numerous posts over the years you know I like jumping in early on new products or services – not all have been successful, especially on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but you roll the dice sometimes and see what happens. Over the years Looking Up Feeling Good was an early community investor in…

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Dragging Workplaces back to the 1760s – the Work In Office Dilemma and the Productivity Myth

Feb 16, 2024

In the 1760s Josiah Wedgwood changed forever the nature of workplaces. He expanded his pottery business and constructed a new large scale factory that required two critical elements: a) Systemisation of processes to ensure consistent high-quality outcomes b) Skilled workers on site The systemisation required experimentation, observation, trials, failures and recording of data – what…

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