My underlying purpose is the development and protection of civil society. Civil society is the sum of every individual and organisation (public, private or in between) that hold themselves to a standard higher than short-term extraction. That is the tenet I hold: that institutions earn their legitimacy through what they contribute, and that pragmatism, generosity, decisiveness, and rigour are what let leaders build that legitimacy deliberately rather than by accident.

Twenty-five years working across government, financial services, professional services, housing, innovation, education, the arts and industry bodies taught me this is not just a theory or concept. Through my experience, I have come to believe there are organisations worth supporting - government-owned, privately held, publicly listed, member-based or not-for-profit. Whatever structure an organisation adopts, what matters is contribution: the jobs they sustain, the services they deliver, the tax base they underwrite, the wealth they create, the sovereign capability they build and protect. The organisations doing these things with integrity are doing the work of civil society, whether or not they would ever describe themselves that way.

These are the organisations I work with.