Here is my lens. Climate change, air pollution and various other challenges we face today are the result of organised irresponsibility (borrowing from Ulrich Beck). They are the consequences of the de-prioritisation of environmental concerns and human rights in our legacy systems formed over the decades in the pursuit of our more primal needs. Our most urgent agenda today is to transition from exploitative development to sustainable development. The blueprint for that is outlined in the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals all nations have pledged to achieve.

In our complex world, lawyers are like modern day alchemists. Ultimately, we can either reinforce old world systems or help build better ones. Realising I needed a purpose-built organisation and platform, I set up Kiu & Co. in 2020.

Our work here involves deconstructing the social constructs in our existing systems, identifying their essence, aligning them with our values, needs and possibilities today, and rebuilding everything into better components and systems.

My approach at the macro level (societal), is to focus on intentional cross-sector collaborations. Inter-sectoral encounters unlock possibilities and break down assumptions and anxieties about the unknown. Simultaneously, it allows the interacting actors to exercise underutilised muscles, become comfortable with vulnerability and build trust with each other. As that happens, our civic space expands, which in turn encourages more participation on issues that involve everyone (and a re-democratisation of the political). As actors weave themselves into the fabric of community, society becomes more resilient. A robust civic space is our antidote to the "banality of evil" (to borrow from Hannah Arendt) confronting our generation.

At the micro level (organisational), I work on alternative designs to the conventional corporate vehicle. The joint stock corporate design that brought us here, will not get us there. Entrepreneurs building business enterprises that seek to solve our challenges today need better legal vehicles that are anchored to their purpose and mission, not the legacy design that is chained to shareholder primacy. Simple as it may appear, a re-prioritisation of purpose in corporate legal design is linked to a wide array of essential things, at the micro level and the macro - including providing the scaffolding for value-rich civic engagement.

Legal work provides the fascinating opportunity to look at systemic structures and their dynamic relationships with people and organisations. My journey has led me to work with people and organisations changing things up in the private, public and third sectors.

If these themes resonate with you, I'd love to hear from you.