Bird & Bird & Enlightenment

Bird & Bird – Milan February 4, 2014

The Next Buddha will be a Collective

There is overwhelming evidence that the evolution of consciousness is marching on, movingfrom collective living, where the individual was totally embedded in the life patterns of thecollective; through a gradual, often painful, process of individuation, with the emphasis onthe will and sovereignty of the individual; to what is emerging in our time: a conscious returnto collectivism where individuated, or self-actualised, individuals voluntarily - and temporarily -pool their consciousness in a search for the elusive collective intelligence which can help us

to overcome the stupendous challenges now facing us as a species as a consequence ofhow our developmental trajectory has manifested on the physical plane thus far .. . So humanevolution has something to do with human consciousness awakening first to itself, then to its

own evolution and to a recognition and finally an embodied experience of the ways in whichwe are organically part of a larger whole. As we enter this new stage of individual/collectiveawakening, individuals are being increasingly called to practice the new life-form composedof groups of individuated individuals merging their collective intelligence."

http://realitysandwich.com/1207/next_buddha_will_be_a_collective/

Lawyers = Problem Solvers

One of the most difficult thing?

Bird & Bird as VC/Startup Firm

• More than 79 deals closed during the past 4 years (2010-2013)

• 23 deal closed just last year (2013)

• Approx. 190 millions Invested Amount from 2009 to 2013

• Approx. 220 millions Divested Amount from 2009 to 2013

• One Tech IPO (Yoox IPO - selling shareholders assistance)

Technology is great…

Google Glass

Augmented reality

Drone

…but per se doesn't solve any single problem

Portraits of Soldiers Before, During, and After War

Photographer Lalage Snow, who is currently based in Kabul, Afghanistan, embarked on an 8-month-long project titled We Are The Not Dead featuring portraits of British soldiers before, during, and after their deployment in Afghanistan. Similar to Claire Felicie's series of monochromatic triptychs, Snow captures the innocent expressions of these men transformed into gaunt, sullen faces in less than a year.

Private Chris MacGregor, 24

Portraits of Soldiers Before, During, and After War

Lance Corporal Sean Tennant, 29

Private Matthew Hodgson, 18

Technology doesn't save the world – Bill Gates

Financial Times - An exclusive interview with Bill Gateshttp://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/dacd1f84-41bf-11e3-b064-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2sIe7Wm9t

What's next?

World Economic Forum• From Margins Mainstream Report – Impact Investing

FIRST, PRIVATE INVESTMENT TO ADDRESS SOCIAL CHALLENGES CAN CREATE TREMENDOUS SOCIETAL CHANGE. Social issues continually present significant fiscal challenges for governments of developed, emerging and frontier economies; these challenges are particularly difficult when government budgets are declining as a result of burgeoning debt and fiscal austerity.3 Philanthropic organizations – while noble and needed – will not be able to solve the most pressing social problems alone due to their limited resources. Given the nature of how resources are distributed in the world, private investors have a potential role to play in addressing social challenges, including development of impact enterprises, economic development more broadly, and adjustment to major challenges such as climate change, urbanization and wealth inequality. Impact investing offers an opportunity to creatively fund projects that may otherwise go unfunded, while also helping to scale organizations with viable business models that meet pressing social or environmental challenges.

Second, asset management is in a state of flux. Over the next 40 years, Generation X and the Millennial Generation will potentially inherit an estimated US$ 41 trillion from the Baby Boomer Generation.4 These generations have grown up in a culture that calls on business to play a more active role in society. IN FACT, IN A RECENT STUDY OF 5,000 MILLENNIALS5 ACROSS 18 COUNTRIES, RESPONDENTS RANKED “TO IMPROVE SOCIETY” as the number one priority of business (see Figure 1). This does not imply that the next generation of investors will not seek market returns. Indeed, the investment industry thrives as a result of the pursuit of investment returns, and businesses are not sustained without a profitable revenue model. However, the emerging generation of investors is also likely to seek achievement of social objectives in addition to financial returns.

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_II_FromMarginsMainstream_Report_2013.pdf

Social Innovation

‘Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves.’ – Leo Tolstoy

• Most popular Harvard course - a course on Positive Psychology; that is, he taught his students how to be happy.

“The course focuses on the psychological aspects of a

fulfilling and flourishing life. Topics include happiness,

self-esteem, empathy, friendship, love, achievement,

creativity, music, spirituality, and humor.”

Tar Bel Shahar

Is Meditation a Social Innovation?

TM – Augmented Reality

Yoda

Fear is the path of dark side.

Fear leads to anger.

Anger leads to hate.

Hate leads to suffering.

LET'S PUT IN PRACTICE

What we need?

Money

Impact Fund Crowdfunding

People

Ray Dalio BKS Iyengar

My most fundamental Life Principle:

"Truth —more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality— is the

essential foundation for producing

good outcomes."

"Change leads to disappointment if it is not sustained. Transformation is

sustained change, and it is achieved through."

practice.”

Entrepreneurship

Barefoot College - Bunker Roy Team B – Sir Richard Branson

Values

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had

not lived." – David Thoureau

“The good lawyer is not the man who has an eyeto every side and angle of contingency, and qualifies all his qualifications, but who throwshimself on your part so heartily, that he can get

you out of a scrape.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

How can we scale the meditation machine?

• David Lynch Foundation – A Leading Case