Scenario Thinking and Leadership - Jeremy Bentham
Leadership 2.0
English - April 14, 2024 13:00 - 57 minutes - 39.7 MBManagement Business Government business coaching change management social media human resources talent management personal development leadership business psychology management consultancy Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Scenario thinking enables organizations to establish possible visions of the future in the form of scenarios. This enables decision-makers to think through the different ways in which the environment of their institutions could evolve in the future, based on different sets of assumptions.
One of the companies that is best known for its scenario-thinking activity is Shell. For decades, Shell’s scenarios have supported the decision-making of Shell leaders, academics, governments, and businesses.
Jeremy Bentham led this activity in Shell between 2006 and his retirement in 2022 as Shell Scenarios & strategy Leader and VP Global Business Environment.
In this episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I am interviewing Jeremy Bentham about scenario thinking and leadership.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
1 What scenario thinking is and what is it not
2 Why organizations should invest in scenario thinking
3 The development of scenario thinking in the past decades
4 The reason for Shell to start sharing (parts of) its scenarios with external stakeholders
5 The importance of engagement
6 Why and how scenario thinking could lead to wiser decisions
7 Strategic character
8 The possible role of scenario thinking in addressing crises our society faces
9 The Dodo club (recently established by Jeremy)
10 Final thoughts on the topic of scenario thinking
About Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham has a Degree in Physics from the University of Oxford and a Master's Degree in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
From 1980 - 2022 he worked for Shell in various roles and functions, including as Chief Executive for Shell Hydrogen, and later as Shell Scenarios & strategy Leader and VP Global Business Environment, in charge of developing forward-looking scenarios to support strategic thinking and direction-setting.
Currently, Jeremy is Co-Chair (scenarios) & Senior Advisor for the World Energy Council, as well as being involved in several other organizations in the climate and sustainable development space, including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Illuminem, Pathfinder International, and the Mission Possible Partnership.
Additionally, he is a Senior Advisor for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
His interests include theater production, cinema, and art history.
The Dodo Club
Recently, Jeremy started a regular newsletter and vehicle for discussion and community building called 'the Dodo club. The purpose of this club is to help people and organizations make wiser decisions in the face of the radical uncertainties they are facing, including when grappling with issues of decarbonisation and energy transitions.
You can find this club, and sign up for the Newsletter at [https://thedodoclub.beehiiv.com/]
The E-Mail address of Jeremy Bentham is: [email protected]
Additional resources:
Jeremy Bentham: Decarbonisation Scenarios (youtube.com)
Jeremy Bentham: The energy transition (post Illuminem)
40 Years of Shell Scenarios
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!