Seneca and Franklin were right - Sir Kenneth Olisa

The lecture will explore the work of the National Preparedness Commission (NPC) and its different perspectives.

As an independent and apolitical body, the NPC mission is to champion comprehensive, system-wide policies and actions that enable the UK to better avoid, mitigate, respond to, and recover from major crises.

The news often feels like proof of the arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—war, pestilence, famine, and cataclysmic weather. Faced with so many unanticipated crises, responses tend to fall into one or both of two camps: fatalism and bureaucracy.

The fatalists echo Private Frazer of Dad’s Army: “We’re doomed.”

While bureaucrats, pin their hopes on endless – and largely unread – Risk Registers. Neither approach inspires confidence that disaster can be averted, leaving potential victims largely reliant on luck to mitigate the outcomes.

Seneca wisely observed that “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”, while Benjamin Franklin warned: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Both sages were spot on! Their enduring wisdom underpins the Commission’s vital work.

About the speaker

Sir Kenneth Olisa is an IT businessman and philanthropist with a 40 year international career at IBM, Wang and Interregnum (which he founded and floated in 2000).

A Past Master of the Information Technologists’ Livery Company, he is known in the Square Mile as an outspoken proponent of good corporate governance. He chairs leading governance advisors, Independent Audit, and his expression - 'More Soviet than City' - describing his treatment as a director of ENRC is rarely out of the business pages.

Ken has advised or invested in some of the UK’s more interesting computer technology entrepreneurs. A diversity pioneer and enthusiastic mentor, he became the first British born black FTSE100 Director when he joined Reuters (now Thomson Reuters) in 2004 and regularly appears in the Powerlist most influential black people in the UK.

True to his family motto – “Do Well. Do Good.” he is committed to public service. This has involved serving on the boards of an NHS Trust, the Peabody Trust, the Government’s Women’s Enterprise Taskforce and as an original Postal Services Commissioner and BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

A current focus is the professionalization of company direction as an NED of the Institute of Directors. He helped end the MPs’ expenses scandal as an inaugural member of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).

His principal cause is social inclusion and in that capacity he chairs the Powerlist Foundation, mission - “sharing success with tomorrow’s leaders”, London homeless charity, Thames Reach, which is dedicated to ending rough sleeping in our Capital and for which he was awarded his OBE in 2010 and is the Chairman of the Shaw Trust.

He is an 1869 Benefactor Fellow of his alma mater, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, home to the recently completed Olisa Library.

In May 2015 HM the Queen appointed him Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London. He was knighted in the 2018 New Year's Honours List.

Booking information

Monday night lectures are open to Fellows and Members and are included in the cost of membership.

Attending in-person

• All Fellows and Members wanting to attend in person must pre-book a free ticket. You will receive an e-ticket with a QR code that will be scanned on arrival. Your ticket can be shown on a mobile phone or printed. If you do not have a smartphone, we can find your name on the door list instead.
• Doors open at 5.30pm. Please use the Society's entrance on Exhibition Road.
• Monday night lectures are held in person in the Ondaatje Theatre. The bar will be open in the Map Room before and after the lecture. Please be advised all payments are card only.
• The Ondaatje Theatre is fitted with a hearing loop. For the best quality sound we recommend sitting on the outside rows of the front seating section.
• There is step free access to the theatre. Wheelchair spaces can be booked in advance. If you have any questions about the venue, please contact events@rgs.org

Watch online

• You do not need to pre-book to watch the lecture online.
• All Monday night lectures are livestreamed via our website so you can watch them from wherever you are.

If you have any questions or require assistance with your booking, please email events@rgs.org

About Monday night lectures

Our Monday night lectures are exclusive to Fellows and Members and are included in the cost of membership. Members can book to attend the lectures in-person at the Society, or enjoy them live from the comfort of your own home.

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