What is your mission in this world? For me, I want to be part of creating a future we want to live in; and I’ve chosen to start in the world of sustainability and environment. This is not only because that is a ‘hot topic’ right now but because I am convinced that it is one of the greatest and trickiest problem confronting mankind.
I first learnt about global warming and carbon dioxide concentrations rising in the atmosphere when I was in secondary school. That was more than 18 years ago; and subsequently I learnt a lot more about it during Junior College days as part of my geography curriculum. This little geography topic came to the fore during my university days as I became the first official cohort for the LSE100. In that year, we actually had Nicholas Stern who published the Stern Review give us a lecture on why Climate change is such challenging problem to settle from multi-disciplinary lenses considering the politics involved, the social and economic sacrifices, etc. Apart from seeing it as a problem of coordination, I recognised it also as an opportunity for the world to work together, and for businesses to move beyond their obsession with profits and work for the society.
I probably would not have expected myself to end up taking on the role of a consultant with a strategy firm that focuses on accelerating the energy transition. What I love about my job is that I get to live out that mission – a large part of it – to be working with various organisations and stakeholders across the energy value-chain to create the future that we would like to live in. Your mission may not be lived out through your work, but it still matters that you know your mission.