Speaking
Hear Paula Speak
“Imagine waking up to a world without nature. Blue skies replaced by grey, grass by dirt, oceans turned to dust and mud. This isn’t some far-fetched Science Fiction movie, it is the reality we are facing now. We are staring down the gun at the end of the world as we know it and business leaders need to unite to implement new ways of thinking and doing before it’s too late.”
In her recently published green paper, Paula Kensington draws on global research, highlights the pitfalls of the past and offers hope for the future by outlining a strategic road-map out of outmoded, profit-focussed business practices to a new ‘planet-centric’ approach, with CFOs and CEOs leading the way.
Paula’s Keynote Presentations:
Nature First – in order to have a future on our planet for human life we need to go beyond net zero in our business. Business Owners and business leaders cannot wait for regulation to dictate the pathway, we do not have the time to wait for enforcement, so how do we make change now.
Nature Positive
Taskforce for Nature Disclosures
Earth’s Balance Sheet
The Great Transition – how do we move through current broken models and antiquated systems to create inclusive complex systems that work in a different ways.
Creating models that regenerate and not extract
Review our capital (and other) policies to reveal exploitation
Collaborations and potential to solve global problems
Viability & Resilience – only those able to adapt will survive, how does business EARN its right to licence.
Breathing new life into our spreadsheets - if the spreadsheet doesn’t change then nothing changes
Bringing in new measures and methods to understand value (discounting vs compounding, WACC, Beta etc)
Understanding relationships and pathways with focus on planetary boundaries and thresholds
A New business language – what does this mean for a business world created in equilibrium. Business language has been developed by men for over hundreds of years, what might a bold new language mean.
Listening to a different voice, learning from different epistemologies
Structures, frameworks, systems and in balance for whom
How do we flip the financial value model and be in service to the Earth
Being a Force for Change – disrupting the status quo, not settling for business as normal or behaviour in the board room is now longer fit for purpose. Changing and challenging our financial community and the accounting profession to do better.
Having a permit to seek and speak a different truth
Getting involved in making change, creating communities, investing time into ecosystems that will help drive change
Being a beacon for others
Paula believes the way forward starts with CFOs being open and ready for change:
“We need to flip the business model to align business outcomes with earth outcomes so we can move from being degenerative to regenerative. This means we need to embrace new business structures, legal ownerships, governance frame-works and decision-making processes to make sure they align with the natural world and ensure this common goal is shared throughout the organisation. Without ‘whole system’ thinking, we stand to fall.”
About Paula Kensington
Paula Kensington FCCA, is an award-winning CFO who has over two decades in finance in ASX technology companies in both Australia and the UK.
She serves on the Council of ACCA (the global body for professional accountants) and has completed a four-year term as chair of the Australia/NZ members panel. Paula has dedicated the latter part of her career to using her experiences to inspire and empower others via her consulting practice, PK Advisory
An unapologetic business futurist, Paula’s eye is never far off the horizon, anticipating what transformations could be game-changing – for both businesses and individual clients alike.
Paula’s speciality is harnessing her extensive business knowledge and 30-year plus experience to share how we can learn from the past and re-shape the future. Through her passion and vision, she is able to empower and unite other CFOs and professionals to share common ground to forge a new, sustainable, ethical direction in financial business management.
She believes in the power of teamwork and knowledge-sharing which has led her in the past 5 years to establish and grow ‘CFO Conversations’ – a successful online community which enables CFOs to connect and to support each other and offer inspiration, encouragement and connection with their peers on their professional journey.
She is a board member of CoE and founding investor with CoELAB – a regenerative business that works in partnership with organisations to design operating systems more closely aligned with nature. By helping organisations move from a profit-centred decision-making approach to a life-centred approach, CoELAB aims to empower businesses and communities to achieve sustainable, environmentally focussed operating systems and structures.
Paula is passionate about the planet and its future. An eternal optimist but also a realist, she firmly believes there is a new way of CFOs to do business that can herald a new era, where the people and the planet are placed before profit.
Paula Kensington is available for speaker opportunities, coaching, training and media interviews.