Sunday morning I indulged in a peanut butter and condensed milk toast at Lulu’s in Shek O. It’s one of those unique east meets west delights that Hong Kong is famous for. Lulu’s used to be my regular, if basic breakfast spot when I stayed in Shek O. Now they have an espresso machine and avocado bagels on the menu. It was fascinating to explore the city after four years, on the lookout for all the ways both big and small that it has changed. You can now go straight from Admiralty to Lo Wu on the East Rail line, there’s a massive contemporary art museum called the M+, and a new 92km hiking route called the Tinworth Trail. Apparently they have also changed the bolts on metal railings throughout the city so they can’t be disassembled without a special tool. They are working hard to reinvent themselves after a tough several years, and I can’t help but root for them.Creative destruction is an economic concept that describes “the dismantling of long-standing practices in order to make way …

It’s late Sunday morning and I’m sitting with a (decaf) cup of coffee on the sofa, re-reading my last update to all of you. It’s almost comical how many of the things that I shared have changed. While I don’t know if my mom still wears her Ethereum T-shirt with pride, I do know that I’m no longer working at Anthemis, rowing across the Atlantic, or able to work remotely from anywhere full time.What else changed? We finally made it to South Africa, just in time to see Grant’s niece Hannah walk for the first time. My brother moved in with his girlfriend Hilary, who is fabulous and an incredibly curious anthropologist. We kayaked in Washington DC and hiked in Atlanta with them this spring. I received “settled status” in the UK and lost my HK permanent residence. Thankfully, I retained my “right to land”, which means I can still live and work in HK without restriction. I have a hard time imagining a day when I’d take advantage of that right.After much reflection, Anthemis …

Where has the time gone? It’s been a while since I last shared an update. Here’s my best attempt to account for where the time has gone…My family finally had the chance to meet in Portugal for Thanksgiving, which was wonderful! It was the first time I got to see my brother in 2 long years. After being nomadic for most of the pandemic, he has settled in Atlanta. My mom is healthy and as busy as ever. If you follow the crypto craziness (and know my mom), you’ll appreciate this quick story. While exploring the back streets of Ericeira, we stumbled across a small shop selling crypto t-shirts with different currency logos on them. The designer was beside himself when my mom looked at the shirts and said “No, that’s Polkadot, I want Ethereum“! Unfortunately, the new variant may impact our plans to visit Grant’s family in South Africa. He has a 1+ year old niece that we’ve never met and we haven’t seen the rest of his family since well before the pandemic began :/.As many of …

Recently, I’ve been building up my understanding of social network analysis (SNA) so I can help myself and others build and maintain more resilient personal networks. I’ve learned how to graph my social network and the impact that quality relationships have on your life. Now I’m hoping to incorporate these skills and interests into my work more directly.I wanted to say thank you for your willingness to respond to my repeated requests over the last several months; filling out surveys, testing newsletters and sharing content with your network. Every little bit helps and I wanted to share some of the valuable outcomes you have helped make possible so far.People who made direct introductions have helped me: Connect with 20+ potential collaborators Find 7 podcast guests Identify 3+ advisory opportunities with companies that are trying to solve important problems using networks People who shared The Reliants Project content on social media have helped me: Secure a guest blog post on The Relationships Project, which will help build awareness around the importance of networks with people that are working on social problems Get …

Happy belated new year! Hope you had a wonderful holiday season, wherever you were. Grant and I celebrated my milestone birthday on the Salar de Uyuni in southwest Bolivia. At over 10,000 sq km, it’s the largest salt flat on the planet. It’s unique color, flatness and size make it ideal for taking photos that play with perspective. A couple of days in advance, we managed to find a hardware store in San Pedro de Atacama and explained to the owner in broken Spanish what props we were looking for. He rummaged through piles of dust-covered cardboard boxes and uncovered a set of metal house numbers. He even helped us find and bend hardware that screwed into the back of the numbers to stand them up. The results aren’t half bad!  How does it feel to be forty? Pretty fantastic. It’s been fascinating to look back on all the important personal events that have happened in the last ten years.  2019: I left the world of venture design for network science 2018: My team at Anthemis co-founded altbank and zevie, both of which have since …

This morning I’m sitting on the tiny, south-facing balcony of our flat with a coffee-filled mug with red letters that say “niet normaal”. Even though the balcony is overwhelmed by vines, I somehow haven’t managed to keep our mint alive. This is the third attempt to complete this update, trying to find a narrative thread through the last 12 months. While the phrase “continuous participatory change” is used as an approach to organisational transformation, I think it a powerful way to approach all of life. For most, change is difficult, uncomfortable and disorienting. More than ever, it’s also the only constant. Over the last year, I have been learning new ways to thrive in these conditions and navigate change.A habit I adopted last year is to ask myself questions from Changing on the Job, such as: “What assumptions about the world underpin my or others actions and opinions?”It has helped me reframe many challenging situations and identify some of my own blind spots. For example, I strongly believe that creating more connections within a network makes it more …