The Origin Story
Why The Ocelli Group came to be
This edition will be different to previous ‘Honey Drops’, as I have been asked by a number of people recently about the Ocelli journey, and would like to provide a detailed answer to you as well.
I founded The Ocelli Group to help Executives and Boards take the guesswork out of their Sustainability supplier selection. On top of the pressures they already face in a complex business landscape, mandatory climate reporting has just been passed into Australian law, impacting every industry.
We help these leaders build commercial resilience and opportunity by plugging them into a bespoke network of sustainability consultancies, tech reporting platforms, and comms agencies, so they can consistently benefit from otherwise-unrealised Collaborative Advantages.
This has not been an overnight success, but a career’s worth of trial and error, successes and mistakes, celebrations and frustrations. For all those thinking of starting their own business, my wish is this gives you hope. For all those 12-24 months into your business, my hope is you see many similarities and keep going. And for all those committed to making the world a better place than the one you were born into, there’s a global community pulling in the same direction.
Here’s a dive into the twists and turns of my career, culminating in The Ocelli Group.
My first job out of uni was recruiting Electrical, Control Systems and Instrumentation (EC&I) Engineers in the Queensland LNG projects. At the time, I believed this to be the ‘clean’ alternative to coal, and that if the supermajors were already interested in heading in this ‘low-carbon’ direction, they would also be keen to transition to zero-carbon renewables as quickly as possible.
(I know, I know. The Financial Times reported in May that while the ‘clean’ fuel line was being pushed, these companies were “internally acknowledging that there is significant scientific evidence that the lifecycle emissions from gas are as bad as coal.”)
All I was focused on was figuring out how these companies worked, what their incentive structures were and then how I could help them start building renewables-based infrastructure. Needless to say, I was spat out three years later, pretty disillusioned but with many lessons to take with me as I exited through the gift shop.
Coming To America
My journey took me into startup land with Adzuna and then back to global recruitment, helping set up a tech recruitment office in Washington, D.C. in 2017 and building out the Mid-Atlantic Salesforce practice, from North Carolina up to Maryland.
Photo Credit: Highsmith, Carol M. Library of Congress Collection
It was in D.C. that I started looking at the corporate Sustainability landscape to determine how I could use my skills to negate the most consequential problem facing humanity. It was in D.C. where I realised it’s not that we necessarily need to save the planet, it’s that we need to save ourselves from the planet morphing outside of the conditions we can inhabit.
It’s where the World Resource Institute is based. The Paris Agreement had passed in 2015 with the Obama White House as a key consensus-builder of nations. And Congress was at the centre of the shareholder capitalism/small government vs. stakeholder capitalism/federal spending programs debate taking place across the Western world. There was also an upcoming Presidential election happening in November 2020 with a clear delineation of these policy trajectories.
Heading Back to Oz
Being on a work-sponsored visa in another country is an enormous privilege, yet also limits your ability to pursue outside commercial opportunities. When we moved back to Australia in October 2020, I vowed to make the most of being home by working on multiple projects where I could add value. I worked in global tech advisory, consulted for B Corps and social enterprises, and started two companies, the most recent being The Ocelli Group.
Building The Bridge
In retrospect, there have been two ‘sliding door’ moments integral to the composition of The Ocelli Group.
The first was in October 2022, listening to Cedar Anderson from Flow during a Q&A for the documentary ‘Greenhouse by Joost’ (highly recommended viewing), speaking about the importance of bees to biodiversity. I had been thinking about my business model as being a connection platform, and his insights into bees that night sent me down a rabbit hole/into a beehive of an A-Z glossary for hours the next day, until I found Ocelli:
“The word ocelli is derived from the Latin word ocellus and means little eye. The ocelli are simple eyes that bees use to orientate themselves towards the sun.”
And it clicked. We would provide this orientation to executive teams and their Boards during the maelstrom of climate change, or in more common business terms, as they navigate the constantly changing commercial landscape.
Full Circle: Cedar Anderson speaking to us at the B Local Northern Rivers End of Year Party on Wednesday night, hosted by Flow. Photo Credit: Bruce Parry
The second was finding this quote from George Mack:
“Introduce People - If friend A and friend B can get value from each other - introduce them. It’s a 30-second email for you and may change their lives forever. Networks are unique because they don’t divide when you share them - they multiply”
This hit me for two reasons: firstly, if I was to build a referral network, I would do so by doing a lot more than taking 30 seconds to write an email, so the value should be even greater; and secondly, the line I have bolded from the quote.
The delivery of this exponential impact is Ocelli’s north star.
Safety Nets
One of the safety nets I have kept for myself over the years has been working within the wine industry, as both a wine broker and supporting my best mate as he has grown out his own retail natural wine business.
I say safety net, as at times it was difficult to let go of the guaranteed income the wine work provided. However, each time I have doubled down on my Sustainability engagements by stepping into the unknown, it has paid off. This letting go and being rewarded for doing so has created the essential market feedback loops all new ventures and founders need to get off the ground.
It’s scary, it’s stressful, I’ve wanted things to happen faster than they have, but in retrospect they have always happened at the right time.
Kind Supporters
Be surrounded by those who support you, are kind to you rather than polite to you*, and who know you have within you what it takes to realise your dream, even when you have your own doubts.
1 Thing For You To Ponder: The Future Is Green
Finally, for all of you in the Sustainability and Climate space, I leave you with a quote from the recently re-appointed UK Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, speaking yesterday at COP29 in Baku, showing we are on the right path, contrary to the news of recent weeks:
“I want to say something about narrative, because I think it's really important what we're trying to do in the UK. Were telling a story about this transition, which is a story that speaks to people in the UK and explains why this is in our national self-interest today and for future generations. I think it's a really important argument - it's an argument about energy security, it's an argument about lower bills, it's an argument about jobs and growth, and it's an argument about climate, and it's about all of those things.
And I think we can convincingly tell this story about the UK and I think we can convincingly tell this story about the world. And if I think of the changes that have happened since I was last Secretary of State [2009], this is one of the biggest changes.
I mean, one of the changes, tragically, is that the climate crisis is not just a theoretical future threat, but is real and is here.
But I think the other change is that the economics have moved in one direction and that's why I think this transition is going to happen, and why I think it's unstoppable, because the economics and the ethics, if you like, have joined together.
And when you look around this COP and you see businesses that are driving forward with the clean energy transition, when you see countries driving forward with the clean energy transition, you see the direction in which things are going."
*This is from Adam Grant’s Hidden Potential:
“When they have helpful input, people are often reluctant to share it. We even hesitate to tell friends they have food in their teeth. We’re confusing politeness with kindness. Being polite is withholding feedback to make someone feel good today. Being kind is being candid about how they can get better tomorrow. It’s possible to be direct in what you say while being thoughtful about how you deliver it. ‘I don’t want to embarrass you, but I realized it would be a lot more embarrassing if no one told you about the broccoli sprouting from your gums’.”
Until next week,
Dan