Petronella Tyson
Petronella Tyson is currently studying for an MSc in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability in Sweden. She is interested in designing sustainable systems and socially responsible businesses that work in open and creative partnerships. She is a keen problem solver and an avid networker, using her position as a Fellow of the RSA to bring people and ideas together. Thoughtful and committed, Petronella takes her friendships seriously, enjoys a good sense of humour and discovering new places and people from Madrid to Singapore. In a way, her skills align well to those required for both leadership and sustainability.
Prior to this she was Operations Manager at Wedge Card: the reward card for independent, local shops to get communities thriving again. She studied Politics and Spanish at University of Leeds, and has taken this background in social science to local communities and now to the greater sustainability challenge.
Petronella was instrumental in the creation of Think Act Vote (?!X), a core member of the team for two years before she left for Sweeden. She developed strategy, supported the team, and was there at nearly every event.
?!X: What’s the Future You Choose?
PT: I like the world I am currently in, with all sincerity, but with some little tweaks around the edges, we would project to a world of equality, justice and a thriving socio-ecological system. We got ourselves into this, and we can certainly evolve our way out of it by paying attention to the good going on. It is about all of us making those little tweaks, pushing for change out of the status quo, and we will create together a sustainable future for all of our grandchildren – christ what a thought!
?!X: What’s a ‘think’ to create this future?
PT: Currently, I am learning to be:
Strong enough to be weak
Successful enough to fail
Busy enough to make time
Wise enough to say “I don’t know”
Serious enough to laugh
Rich enough to be poor
Right enough to say “I’m wrong”
Compassionate enough to discipline
Mature enough to be childlike
Important enough to be last
Planned enough to be spontaneous
Controlled enough to be flexible
Free enough to endure captivity
Knowledgeable enough to ask questions
Loving enough to be angry
Great enough to be anonymous
Responsible enough to play
Assured enough to be rejected
Victorious enough to lose
Industrious enough to relax
Leading enough to serve.”
Servant – Leader poem by Brewer 1987.
?!X: What’s an ‘act’ to create the future you choose?
PT: By informing myself with current affairs, different ways of looking at the world – recent developments in this are product design and systems thinking, dialogue. It is in talking with people, that I have probably learnt the most about myself and this world. I am trying to curb my time with social media and just get on and DO IT.
?!X: What’s a ‘vote’ to create the future you choose?
PT: So many (which in itself is monumental from a few years ago). I discovered this just this morning and they deserve a plug: foodcycle.org.uk.
It is easier to have a fun, well – designed campaign and engage people in an appreciative positive way now, rather than making people feel rubbish. I celebrate that today.”
?!X: Future Soundtrack – What song would you take with you into the future?
PT: Days Like This: Van Morrison
?!X: What are your five all time favourite weblinks?
PT:
Follow Petronella on Twitter @PetronellaT
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