New Blog: 6 Impossible Things

1) ACHIEVE BREAKTHROUGH IN THE PRESS:  The Financial Times covers Achieve Breakthrough

We spoke to the Financial Times this month about the Governments attempts to facilitate small-firm bidding with its ConsultancyONE procurement framework. Our Founder, Mike Straw, spoke of the importance of word of mouth referrals and relationships for consultancies working in the public sector.

You can read the full article by clicking here. Please note: to view the full article you will need to register on the website, which is free of charge.

2) STORY FOR INSPIRATION: The Rainbow Hunters

Through our foundation, Inventing Futures, we are partnering with Lindsay Hawden over a period of six months as she and her boys travel to seven different countries to find seven different colours, raising money for the charity War Child as they go.

The journey is likened to Lindsay’s debut novel, Jakob’s Colours, which is to be published by Hodder and Stoughton in April 2015.  Jakob’s Colours is a book about a young gypsy boy during WWII and how he uses a legacy of colour making, passed down through the generations of his family, to survive. A journey of all things possible and full of stories of inspirational people and places, we hope you’ll enjoy the journey as much as we are!  Enjoy the story of her first colour which appeared in this week’s copy of the independent – Kashmir, India - In search of Yellow: The Rainbow Hunters

3) WORLD NEWS:  Groundbreaking moment for space travel - Robot Probe Philae lands on a comet

One of the top headlines this month was the story which started hundreds of millions of miles from Earth where a European spacecraft defied possibility by successfully landing on the duty laden surface of a speeding comet.  Described by the media as “an audacious first designed to answer big questions about the universe”, landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko required immense precision, as even the slightest error could have thrown the spacecraft far off course and the mission averted.

Latest coverage can be seen here at the mission status centre.

4) EMERGING BREAKTHROUGHS IN BUSINESS: Can purpose and profit work side by side or is this an impossible brief?

In recent months, many of our clients have spoken to us about emerging trends in organisational purpose with the key question being this: Is it possible to develop a connection between the need for profit and the creation of social value?  There is a recognition that one limitation of using profit as the primary driver of value is that it drives short term objectives and often has us locked as leaders in conventional decision making. The alternative is to create a new way of working, shifting the inherent drivers of value outside of profit alone through the addition of purpose and social value.
This dialogue has led Achieve Breakthrough to evolve its own vision and thinking on how we would like to impact organisations to add value to the thinking of its senior leaders. Many of the organisations we work with are in various stages of realisation and acceptance that many paradigms around short tem, capitalistic measures of value are seemingly breaking down, no longer providing a certain future.

We believe that the transformational approach to change and the commitment that we have made to enable new thinking may play a critical part in enabling leaders to re-invent how they view their future and the role of business in supporting planetary sustainability. In this vein, we have committed to creating a series of leadership gatherings, which are designed to provide an informal and safe space for thought leadership, for the exchange of ideas and for senior executives to explore these critical challenges. The intention is to bring together a selected group of influencers across our diverse client-base to provide unique insights and inspiration that makes a difference to the world’s future and inspires everyone who attends. Our network includes senior executives from phamaceuticals, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, transport, local government and the National Health Service.

The inaugural event ran this month, hosted by Jim Selman as a guest speaker, we were joined by 20 senior business leaders from organisations including: Phillips, Novartis, Vodafone and Smith and Nephew. This was a highly empowering and invigorating kick-off to this new programme.

We look forward to sharing more from our journey in the coming months.

5) THE IMPOSSIBLE MADE POSSIBLE: The story of a coach and his incredible teenage athlete

We were hugely inspired by the story of Kayla Montgomery.  A long distance runner, Kayla’s battle with multiple sclerosis (MS) doesn't make racing easy and with every race, she demonstrates a remarkable display of perseverance as she fights on the track to come out on top, even if it means collapsing into her coach's arms at the finish line. Kayla's determination is awe-inspiring.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS "is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body."

She serves as a true inspiration to all those who feel limited in life or within their organisations, proving that dreams are still achievable no matter what hand you've been dealt.

 To watch the full video of her story, click here.

6) JUST FOR FUN! A whole new perspective on the term “green energy” - Dutch Company Powers Streetlights With Living Plants

A new energy project running in the Netherlands named “Starry Sky” is generating electricity from plants, without damaging them.   There’s much to learn from this groundbreaking initiative but in time, it could help to provide low cost energy to help some of the poorest parts of the world and is a great example of the power of possibility!

For more on this story, click here.