Book info

• Title Manifesto
• Author Dale Vince
• Year 2020
• Genres Environment, Memoir

Dale Vince never intended to start a business. Driven by a passion for sustainability, he left school aged 15 and became a New Age traveller, living for free in a wind-powered double decker bus. But after building his first wind turbine, he realised that to change the world he needed to be on the grid, not off it. In 1996 he founded green energy company Ecotricity based on principles of social, financial and environmental sustainability, and changed the landscape of UK energy forever. Since then, Dale has been appointed a UN ambassador for climate issues, become the owner of the first ever vegan football club, and amassed a fortune of over £120 million built on sustainability. He has also been a vocal supporter of Extinction Rebellion which, like Ecotricity, is based in Stroud. In this book, he shares his single-minded and uniquely purpose-orientated approach to business, with lessons learned from experience that will speak to any fledgling entrepreneur.

Thoughts

This is such an interesting book, the story of how entrepreneur Dale Vince worked his way to owning several huge companies, owning a football club, and joining in UN climate debates. The struggle of this book is that’s trying to be two things at once - a memoir, and then a manifesto about solving climate change. Both were interesting but I’m not 100% sure how well they fit together.

However, it’s well written, full of the arrogance that helps someone get this kind of success in business, but equally humble enough to not alienate you. The climate stuff towards the end was where I really got interested - the vegan football team is absolutely fascinating, and the things this country could be doing to battle climate change but aren’t… it’s frustrating.

Rating: 4 / 5