Four conferences, one realisation #083-084
What connects us?
What connects a financial planning conference in London and Spain, a climate summit in Bristol and a respiratory medicine gathering in Amsterdam? I wasn’t sure. But after four conferences in three weeks, the thread has become clear: there are people everywhere wrestling with how they can use their expertise to address the issues of our time.
And then there was Mary, accepting a Presidential Award for her contributions to respiratory medicine. She’s the reason I found myself in Amsterdam, slightly outside my normal milieu among thoracic specialists…
Different worlds, same themes
The conferences varied wildly in content.
In London and Spain I was immersed in the financial planning world. Learning about AI note-taking tools and burgeoning digital solutions to scale advice to those who’ve never had access to professional guidance. Leadership lessons from those who have built brilliant businesses. And hearing from the best firms who understand that money is so much more than spreadsheets and investment returns. It’s about helping humans manage themselves.
At the climate conference in Bristol, the conversation was more urgent. The imminent impact of climate change on weather patterns, food production, sea levels, public health, water access and immigration. None of it new, yet particularly pertinent when planning for the future. The inconvenient truths many of us are ignoring because the scale feels overwhelming, powerlessness prevailing.
Then Amsterdam. The European Thoracic Society conference felt surprisingly familiar, even though the audience—medics, scientists and academics—was different. The keynote speakers addressed air quality, rising temperatures and water levels, and the crushing impact climate change will have on health resources and outcomes globally.
Similar conversations. Different rooms.
The gap that hit home
What really struck me is this: surveys show that globally around 70% of people are worried about climate change, with two-thirds wanting to see action and policy change. Yet only one-third are actually talking about it1
The world came together during the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 to find solutions. Why on earth is this not happening for this existential crisis? I suspect we all know why: money, vested interests and power.
But there are glimmers of hope. At both the financial planning and medical conferences, I witnessed a growing minority intent on creating better solutions. Financial planners enabling clients to have deeper conversations and make better decisions with their money—investing, spending, and giving in line with their values. Medical professionals researching and advocating for policy changes that could save lives.
They’re not being deterred by the prevailing rhetoric from some. They’re just getting on with it.
Mary’s 1000 Weeks
Which brings me back to why I was in Amsterdam.
I met Mary when we trained as nurses in the mid-1980s. After qualifying I initially flirted with drug (errr, that’ll be pharmaceuticals thank you) and car sales (don’t ask!). Mary took a different path. She went to university, earned a first-class degree, then a PhD. Her specialty? Sleep. Not the dreams bit—the bit about why people die in their sleep from respiratory-related issues.
She became a world-renowned expert in sleep apnoea. Her research contributed to changes in national care guidelines, improving outcomes for thousands of patients. She became a Professor at Imperial College London.
And then, not satisfied with an already extraordinary career, Mary decided to use the early part of her 1000 weeks to do something incredible: lead the team opening the Pears Cumbria Medical School in Carlisle, dedicated to levelling up health inequalities in the North West.
Standing in that Amsterdam conference hall, watching Mary receive the European Respiratory Society’s Presidential Award—an honour recognising outstanding contributions to strengthening respiratory medicine worldwide—I was overwhelmed with pride.
Mary embodies what matters. She’s using her expertise, her platform and her precious time to address real problems affecting real people. She’s not overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge. She’s just getting stuck in. As she always does. And just as importantly, she understands the importance and deep seated meaning of friendship.
A question
These conferences reminded me, when the news can feel so gloomy, that across business, health and education, people are making change and doing important things. Some are closer to the “pointy end” of change than others, yet all care deeply about the impact they have on the people they serve.
What a privilege to observe. And it’s left me wondering how each of us is using our time, whether in our 1000 weeks - that precious stretch between 60 and 80 - or before.
You
As ever, I’m interested in you.
Are we in the financial planning world helping clients align their money with what truly matters to them? Are we brave enough to have the climate conversation, even when it’s uncomfortable? And what part can we play, whether individuals and businesses, in addressing the issues of our time?
Pour yourself a cuppa, maybe with oats milk rather than cows, and drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.
And remember, you’re never going to be any younger than you are today, what are you waiting for?
Until next week, my friends.
Ruth x
Thank you for reading 1000Weeks. If you enjoy my thoughts please leave a comment, like, share or subscribe. It put’s a skip in my step, thank you.
And an uplifting post reminding us about passionate, talented people working for a better world light onto the darkness..thank you
Oh Ruth, what a diverse 3 weeks you have had. However, as you so eloquently pointed out, was it really that diverse? I seem to remember as a child in the '70s that the same questions were being asked by men in bowler hats! Move into the 80's and 90's and, yes, the questions were the same. Fast forward to the naughties and into present day, where the buzz words are different, more women are in influential roles, but the reterique is the same. In the '80s, Bob Geldof wanted our money to save the starving in Africa, but today I don't think anything has changed. Billions of £££'s are raised, multi millions disappears into administration fees and corrupt officials' pockets and we still have children starving on a global scale.
You mentioned the "surveys that show that globally around 70% of people are worried about climate change, with two-thirds wanting to see action and policy change. Yet only one-third are actually talking about it." Quite frankly most people who talk about it and want action don't actually do anything to change things themselves. They don't take responsibility for their own actions and look at how they are affecting the planet. They don't want to give up the nappies for their kids (THE most pollutant item on the planet. They will still be in tact in landfill in 100 years!). They seem to think that there is a magic wand that will fix everything.
So I will bring my rant to a close with this thought... If people keep buying cheap tat from China, supporting 'luxury brands' who have their products made in Vietnam and buying avocados for 'their wellbeing', absolutely nothing will change. However, if everyone was to buy food seasonally, buy from the country they live in and support small businesses then climate change would be a thing of the past. There would probably be a bit more cash in people's pockets too to put away for later life. Can I see that happening in my lifetime??? Sadly NO. Will I continue to do my bit for the flora and fauna around me, buy local produce and support small businesses??? ABSOLUTELY. Why? Because, like your friend, I just want to do what I can do to help make a difference. That way I can say with hand on heart that I am doing what I can to save Mother Earth. No buzz words, no people in suits. Just me, doing what I can.