Purpose Inspired: by Wayne Visser: Recent Episodes
Wayne Visser
Prof. Wayne Visser, PhD, shares his reflections on what it means to be purpose-inspired - for business, society and each one of us. The podcast explores how business can be a force for good in the world, and how individuals can make a positive difference. Covering topics like corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainable business and transformational change, each series is based on one of Dr Visser's books that synthesizes the emerging ideas, practices and lessons learned on the journey to becoming purpose-inspired.
Season 7 is based on the book "The Poetry of Business: A CEO's Quest for Meaning". This first episode covers:
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On Business
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On Leadership
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The Mystery of Business
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The Quest for Gold
Season 7 is based on the book "The Poetry of Business: A CEO's Quest for Meaning". This episode covers wellbeing, technology, sustainability and competition.
Season 7 is based on the book "The Poetry of Business: A CEO's Quest for Meaning". This episode covers stakeholders, marketing, success and governance.
Season 7 is based on the book "The Poetry of Business: A CEO's Quest for Meaning". This episode covers profits, responsibility and customers.
Season 7 is based on the book "The Poetry of Business: A CEO's Quest for Meaning". This first episode covers:
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A Time to Leave
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The Poetry of Business
The episode begins:
It was time to leave. A bitter-sweet time. The CEO felt sadness, but also contentment. The business he had conceived and birthed and nurtured was mature enough to stand on its own feet now; to live out its own life.
Later, it continues:
He was leaving behind his scruffy notebooks in the boardroom cabinet - those dog-eared, tea-stained pages on which, over the years, he had jotted down his ideas. Scrawled untidily were the lessons he had learned along the way: about how to make a business 'fit for human beings'; about how to survive in commerce and still sleep soundly at night; about how to create a company that served society, instead of the other way around. So many thoughts …
I hope you will join us in this narrative on the purpose of business.
Episode 46 - the final episode of Season 6 - includes the following sections:
- Giving our witness statement
- The fundamental elements of thriving
- Living the questions
- Reasons for hope
- Thriving as a superorganism
- Change the world (poem)
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 45 includes the following sections:
- Courageous leadership
- Regenerating yourself
- Fresh insight: Ikigai
- Rise up, new leaders
- To lead (poem)
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 44 includes the following sections:
- Strategic leadership
- Caring leadership
- Innovative leadership
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 43 includes the following sections:
- The Leadership Parable of Gulliver the Goose
- Systemic Leadership
- Inclusive Leadership
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 42 includes the following sections:
- The time for action is now
- Acting now (poem)
- Leadership
- Giants among us
- Finding your inner superhero
- The lever of leadership
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 41 includes the following sections:
- Redesigning portfolios
- Reshaping playing-fields
- Spotlight: EU Green Deal
- The values dividend
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 40 includes the following sections:
- Re-aligning partners
- Renewing principles
- Redefining purpose
- Reassessing performance
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 39 includes the following sections:
- The integration imperative
- Fresh insight: SQuELCH issues
- Integration brings innovation synergies
- Key concept: Synergy
- Integrated value management
- Rethinking patterns
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 38 includes the following sections:
- Innovation for crisis response
- Case spotlight: Ushahidi’s disaster response- Acts of courage
- Alive
- Regenerating Organizations
- Integration
- Food for thought
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 37 includes the following sections:
- Daring to draw down carbon
- Regenerative solutions: Project Drawdown top 5
- Innovation for climate adaptation
- Regenerative solution: Mangrove forests
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 36 includes the following sections:
- To net zero and beyond
- Unilever’s carbon rainbow
- The race for renewables
- Breakthrough innovation: Extreme solar
- Driving the electrification trend
- Hot trend: Fleet managers as energy brokers
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 35 includes the following sections:
- Raising ambition on climate action
- Bursting the carbon bubble
- Case spotlight: BlackRock
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 34 includes the following sections:
- The potential of digital platforms
- Case spotlight: Kio Kit
- Time to redesign
- It's time (poem)
- Resilience
- The risk economy
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 33 includes the following sections:
- Hot trend: Crowdfunding
- Open innovation
- IPRs and open sourcing
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 32 includes the following sections:
- Hot trend: The blockchain
- Context-based innovation
- Hot trend: Aquaponic systems
- Enabling technology transfer
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 31 includes the following sections:
- The promise of artificial intelligence (AI)
- The power of data
- Smart insight: Digital twins
- Smart innovation for thriving
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 30 includes the following sections:
- Regenerating the economy
- Rewiring
- The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 29 includes the following sections:
- Answering the question "Why?"
- Smart insight: aspiration deficit
- Nature-based therapy
- The healing balm
- Nature’s embrace
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 28 includes the following sections:
- Staying healthy of mind
- Case spotlight: Lendlease
- Nurturing resilient employees
- Smart insight: skills bricolage
- The good work goals
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 27 includes the following sections:
- The bio revolution
- Opportunities for revitalisation
- The rise of plant-based health
- Smart insight: plant-based diets
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 26 includes the following sections:
- Revitalisation
- Drawing from the well of wellbeing
- Key concept: The wellbeing economy
- How health tech is helping.
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 25 includes the following sections:
- Human-scale economics
- From waste to worth
- Shaping our future
- Because I Care (poem)
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 24 includes the following sections:
- The spark of social entrepreneurship
- When sharing becomes smart
- Reimagining the winner-takes-all economy
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 23 includes the following sections:
- The Black Lives Matter movement
- Governing for better inclusion
- Responsible innovation for inclusion
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 22 includes the following sections:
- Regenerating society
- Responsibility
- The access economy
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 21 includes the following sections:
- The coming boom of biofabrication
- The movement to reinvent movement
- Renewing our eco-empathy
- Giving up (poem)
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 20 includes the following sections:
- Making a home for nature
- Unpacking the issue of food packaging
- Turning the tide on plastic
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 19 includes the following sections:
- Making our living spaces liveable
- Working in an oasis
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 18 includes the following sections:
- Designing to be inherently good
- Keeping products and materials in use
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Episode 17 includes the following sections:
- Embracing Symbiotic Innovation
- Key Concept: Symbiotic Innovation
- Letting the Earth Thrive
- Regeneration (poem)
- Renewal
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Hardback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 16 includes the following sections:
- The Paradox of Modern Agriculture
- Case Spotlight: Knepp Estate
- The Power of Plants
- Hot Trend: Plant Protein
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 15 includes the following sections:
- Rhapsody in Blue
- Key Concept: Blue Carbon
- The Secrets of Soil
- Key Concept: Regenerative Agriculture
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 14 includes the following sections:
- Hot Trend: 30 by 30 Conservation Goal
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Case Spotlight: Rewilding in Yellowstone
- The Trillion-Tree Challenge
- Key Concept: Natural Climate Solutions
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 13 includes the following sections:
- Regenerating Nature
- Restoration
- Where I Feel Most Alive
- Valuing Nature's Services
- Key Concept: The Ecoservices Economy
- The Battle to Save Nature
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 12 includes the following sections:
- Chaos Points and Decision Windows
- The Six Shifts
- Lessons in Systems Thinking from COVID-19
- Moving through the Tangled Maze
- Complexity (poem)
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 11 includes the following sections:
- Disconnection: The Ones Technology Left Behind
- Disruption: It’s Going to Be a Bumpy Ride
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 10 includes the following sections:
- Disparity: Please Mind the Gap
- Disease: An Ill Wind That Blows
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 9 includes the following sections:
- Degradation: The Crime of Ecocide
- Depletion: The Limits to Growth
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 8 includes the following sections:
- The Worst and Best of Humanity
- A Moment of Dangerous Opportunity
- A Tangle of Knotty Problems
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 7 includes the following sections:
- The Key of Continuity
- Making a Dent in the Universe
- Revolution
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 6 includes the following sections:
- The Key of Coherence
- The Key of Convergence
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 5 includes the following sections:
- The Key of Circularity
- The Key of Creativity
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 4 includes the following sections:
- A Theory of Living Systems
- The Key of Complexity
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 3 includes the following sections:
- The Great Reset
- A Dream Come True
- Seeing the Forest for the Trees
- Everything That Surrounds and Connects Us
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 2 includes the following sections:
- What Happened to Our Common Future
- The Choice to Hope
- Be An Optimist (poem)
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Season 6 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy, as read by the author and host of this podcast, Wayne Visser.
Episode 1 includes the following sections:
- Thriving (the poem)
- Be Aware But Not Afraid
- Thriving As A Force for Life
Thriving is available in the following formats:
- Harback
- Ebook
- Audiobook
Welcome to the Thriving podcast. This short teaser tells you what to expect in the coming episodes, which launched on World Environment Day 2022. Join me, Prof Wayne Visser, for inspiring conversations with leaders in the breakthrough movement to regenerate nature, society and the economy. We do not indulge in false hope or blind optimism, but we actively focus on innovative solutions and positive tipping points for change.
The podcast builds on the foundations of my bestselling book Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. I look forward to having you join the movement for thriving and welcome your suggestions for who I should feature as a guest on the podcast. I will not be posting the episodes on Purpose Inspired, but you can follow the Thriving podcast here, or via your own favourite podcast platform. The first episode, with sustainability legend John Elkington (The science and science fiction of thriving) is already live now. You can also contact me via my website: waynevisser.com. Music credit: Amil Raja
In this epilogue, I finish the season by returning to the big picture. Because sustainability is not just about business, leadership and innovation. And it is certainly not just about surviving the future. It is also about living in a world of abundance and diversity in a way that that brings joy and inspiration. Jean M. Russell calls this Thrivability. I cover:
- The Birth and Rebirth of Creation
- Recalling and Retelling the Stories of Hope
- Relearning the Skill of Listening to Life
In this episode, I continue to explore the elements of future fitness, covering:
- Future Images: Beyond the Information Age
- Sustainable Frontiers Forecasts for the Next 10 Years
- To Survive in a Volatile World Businesses Must Build in Resilience
In this episode, I continue to explore the elements of future fitness, covering:
- Stakeholder Crowdsourcing and Disruptive Partnerships
- Open Sourcing and Wiki-Ratings
- Prototyping and Smart Mobbing
- App Farming and Plug-and-Play
- Future Images: Beyond the Information Age
Are you fit for the future? Will your product, organisation, community, city or country survive and thrive in 10, 20, 50 or even 100 years? How can we – as individuals, businesses, communities and policy-makers – prepare for the future? How can we maximize our chances of success, not only by being ready, but also by helping to shape the future that we desire? I think it helps to view future-fitness in two ways: in terms of alignment – i.e. fitting, like a jigsaw piece, into the bigger picture of an emerging world; and in terms of agility – i.e. building up the kind of fitness that allows quick reflexes and strong performance in response to future conditions. In this episode, I cover:
- A Test for Future-Fitness
- How Web 2.0 is Shaping the Future of Business
- Net Value Footprinting and Forensic Impact Analysis
In this episode, we look at the first level of business to which a holistic view needs to be applied, namely that of the individual. By contrast, the old view of business regards employees as rational entities who are expected to perform in mechanical ways to further the materialistic goals of the company. The other level to which holistic thinking can be applied is that of the organisation. Inherent in the new holistic organisation is the idea of flattening the hierarchy, and a move towards the network-type organisation which recognises its composite wholes more fully. The team-based culture, as well as organizing according to process (as opposed to functional silos), is also part of the move towards a more holistic structure
In this episode, we continue our exploration of integrated value, beginning wit the 6-step process of implementation: 1. Listen Up! (stakeholder materiality), 2. Look Out! (integrated risk), 3. Dig Down! (critical processes), 4. Aim High! (innovation & value); 5. Line Up! (systems alignment); and 6. Think Again! (audit & review). I then introduce a more philosophical way to look at integrated value, which is to see it as a way to transform the dying metaphor of business as a “rational machine” into a new metaphor: business as a “living whole”; hence creating integrated value through holism.
In this episode, I begin by examining whether Creating Shared Value (CSV) is a revolution or clever con. Many argue that CSR and sustainability are not the way to unlock change. I have been one of the critics, while still believing that reform is possible. More recently, however, the most vocal critic has been Harvard professor Michael Porter. I go on to introduce Creating Integrated Value (CIV) and a concept that goes beyond both CSR and CSV, bringing us the "how to" for delivering integration in organisations.
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through social responsibility. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- First Steps Towards CSR 2.0
- Towards Responsible Competitiveness?
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through social responsibility. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- The Principle of Circularity in CSR 2.0
- Making the Shift to Transformative CSR
- Decoding the New DNA of Business
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through social responsibility. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- The Principle of Creativity in CSR 2.0
- The Principle of Scalability in CSR 2.0
- The Principle of Responsiveness in CSR 2.0
- The Principle of Glocality in CSR 2.0
In this episode, we begin to explore the process of unlocking change through social responsibility. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- The Rise and Fall of CSR
- The Ages and Stages of CSR
- The Triple Failures of CSR
- CSR 1.0 and Burying the Past
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through stakeholder engagement. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Convetit Keeps Our Head in the Cloud and Feet on the Ground
- Wikirate Strives to Make Companies Clear
- Business Accountability in a Fish-Bowl Future
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through stakeholder engagement. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Value-action Gaps Make Stakeholder Feedback Less Valuable
- The Wisdom of the Crowd Can Become the Tragedy of the Commons
- The Openness of Open Source is Questionable
- Questions Remain About Ratings When the Guardians Are Not Guarded
- In Search of the Web 2.0 Savvy Players
In this episode, we begin to explore the process of unlocking change through stakeholder engagement. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Moving Social Media Beyond a Marketing Channel
- Growing Use of Crowdsourcing as a Stakeholder Engagement Tool
- Transforming the Power of Connection into the Power of Collaboration
- Hyper-connectivity Makes Responsiveness More Possible
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through corporate transparency. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Increasing Importance of Sustainability Ratings
- Consolidation of Sustainability Ratings Agencies
- Demand for More Transparency by Rating Agencies
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through corporate transparency. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Trends in Corporate Accountability
- Explosive Sustainability Reporting Growth
- Proliferation of Reporting Standards
- Improvement of Data Quantity and Quality
- Shift from Corporate to Value Chain Data
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through technological innovation. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Closing the Loop on Steel
- Eco-innovation: Beyond Creating Technology for Technology's Sake
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through technological innovation. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Lessons from Egypt in Building a Cleaner Chemicals Industry
- Iron Ore and Rare Earth Metals Mining: An Industry Under Siege?
- Why Metals Should Be Recycled, Not Mined
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through technological innovation. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Sustainable Tech in Africa: A Case Study
- Why Banning Dangerous Chemicals Is Not Enough
- Will Green Chemistry Save Us From Toxification?
In this episode, we start to explore the process of unlocking change through technological innovation. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- How To Use Technology To Make Our Planet More Sustainable, Not Less
- Tackling the Food Waste Challenge with Technology
- Meeting Water and Energy Challenges in the Agri-food sector
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through transformational leadership. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Overcoming the Barriers to Sustainable Change
- Seven Ways to Test if Your Leader is Fit for the Future
In this episode, we continue to explore the process of unlocking change through transformational leadership. In particular, the episode includes the following topics:
- Systems Change is a Multi-Player Game
- Big Beliefs, Blue Skies, Burning Platforms and Baby Steps
- Finding Your Inner Sustainability Superhero
In this episode, we look at unlocking change through transformational leadership. More particularly, the episode covers the following topics:
- Why Today’s Crisis of Leadership is Tomorrow’s Opportunity
- Seeking a Reformation in Business
- Trading in Business Fangs for Tusks
- Shifting to Return on Stakeholder Value
The theme of this series is pursuing the frontiers of sustainability by unlocking change. So much of making a successful transition to a more sustainable future (which is by no means certain) depends on letting go. In the episodes that follow, we will explore how we must find ways to let go of an industrial system that has served us well, but is no longer fit for purpose. We will need to let go of old styles of leadership and out-dated models of business, high-impact lifestyles and selfish values. We must learn to let go of cherished ideologies that are causing destruction and beliefs about ways to tackle problems that are failing to resolve crises.
This final episode of the season looks to the future of business responsibility with 10 forecasts for the next 10 years. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Epilogue from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. The Epilogue is broken into two sections:
- The Next 10 Years
- A Triple-S Future for Business
This episode looks at the evolution of business responsibility from CSR 1.0 to CSR 2.0. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 25 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. In Part 2, we look at the following sections from Chapter 25:
- The Principles of CSR 2.0
- Shifting from CSR 1.0 to CSR 2.0
- The DNA Model of CSR 2.0
This episode looks at the evolution of business responsibility from CSR 1.0 to CSR 2.0. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 25 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. In part 1, we look at the following sections from Chapter 25:
- Internet Inspirations
- The Ages and Stages of CSR
- The Failure of CSR 1.0
This episode looks at business responsibility through the eyes of British thought-leaders Charles Handy, John Elkington, Jonathon Porritt and James Lovelock. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 24 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 24 is broken into the following sections:
- The Hungry Spirit
- Cannibals with Forks
- Smart versus Dumb Growth
- Lessons from Gaia
This episode looks at business responsibility insights from some of the Cambridge research and books on sustainability. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 23 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 23 is broken into the following sections:
- Sustainable Economy Principles
- Are Sustainability Leaders Different?
- Paradoxes of Sustainability Leadership
- Landmarks for Sustainability
- Catalysts for Change
This episode looks at business responsibility insights gathered from my PhD research into the motivation of sustainability professionals. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 22 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 22 is broken into the following sections:
- Existential Searching
- Meaning in Work
- Purpose-Inspired Leadership
- Dynamics of Meaning
- The Greater Hunger
This episode looks at business responsibility in the UK that emerged from the community business and new economics movements. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 21 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 21 is broken into the following sections:
- Experiments in Community Business
- Eco-villages and Sustainable Communities
- Emergence of ‘New’ Economics
- Social Accounting and Responsible Investment
This episode looks at business responsibility in Latin American with travels through Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and Ecuador. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 20 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 20 is broken into the following sections:
- The Barefoot Economist
- CSR Tango
- Lungs of the World
- Biodiversity Havens
This episode looks at business responsibility through the eyes of American thought-leaders Joseph Stiglitz, Herman Daly and Amory Lovins. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 19 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 19 is broken into the following sections:
- How to Tame Globalization
- Beyond Uneconomic Growth
- The Art of Barrier Busting
- Natural Capitalism and Biomimicry
This episode covers business responsibility in America. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 18 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 18 is broken into the following sections:
- Stakeholders are the Enemy
- Regulation-Enabled CSR
- Capitalism at the Crossroads
- Our Common Wealth
This episode covers business responsibility in Guatemala and Mexico. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 17 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 17 is broken into the following sections:
- A New CSR Pyramid
- Heiligendamm Dialogue Process
- Sharing Resources in Times of Stress
- How CEMEX Empowers the Poor
This episode covers business responsibility in Canada. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 16 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 16 is broken into the following sections:
- Meditations on Business
- What is a Corporation
- Pathological Pursuit of Profits
- Social Responsibility is an Oxymoron
- Legal Nature of the Corporation
This episode covers business responsibility in India. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 15 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 15 is broken into the following sections:
- Colours in the Dust
- A Little World
- Greener is Not Always Better
- Delhi’s Uneven Development
This episode covers business responsibility in Singapore and Thailand. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 14 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 14 is broken into the following sections:
- An Unnecessary Extra?
- Sustainable Competitiveness
- Jack-out-the-Box
- Kit-Kat Catastrophe
- For Peat’s Sake
- Street Democracy
- Cabbages and Condoms
This episode covers business responsibility in Australia. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 13 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 13 is broken into the following sections:
- Launching ISO 26000
- Too Much Sun?
- An Experiment in Generosity
- The State of CSR
- A New Era in Climate Policy
This episode covers business responsibility in China. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 12 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 12 is broken into the following sections:
- Waking Dragon of the East
- A Dangerous Opportunity
- Two Years is a Long Time in China
- Phases of CSR Evolution
- Build Your Dreams
This episode describes what the author learned about business responsibility from Japan. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 11 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 11 is broken into the following sections:
- Discovering Kaizen
- Driving a Sustainable Vision
- Sustainability Accounting Pioneers
- Kyosei at Canon
This episode describes what the author learned about business responsibility from The Netherlands. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 10 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 10 is broken into the following sections:
- Stakeholder Politics
- Cycle Mania and Climate Defence
- Ethical Finance and Leading ‘Big’
- Cradle to Cradle Country
This episode describes what the author learned about business responsibility from Simon Zadek and Muhammad Yunus. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 9 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 9 is broken into the following sections:
- Responsible Competitiveness
- Collaborative Governance
- Worm's Eye-View
- Social Business Rising
This episode describes what the author learned about business responsibility from George Soros and Ervin Laslzo. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 5 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 8 is broken into the following sections:
- Capitalism in crisis
- Towards open societies
- Chaos looming
- Connection and consciousness
This episode describes what the author learned about business responsibility in Germany. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 5 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 7 is broken into the following sections:
- Proud pioneering traditions
- Achievements and challenges
- Sustainability is boring
- Limits to growth
This episode describes what the author learned about CSR in Europe, especially from a policy perspective. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 5 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 6 is broken into the following sections:
- Early policy developments
- CSR trends in Europe
- European Union strategy on CSR
This episode describes what the author learned about business responsibility (and irresponsibility) in Nigeria. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 5 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 5 is broken into the following sections:
- Shell and the Ogoni
- Triple Bottom Line Challenges
- Sustainable Business Revival
- Legislating CSR
- Shine, Africa, Shine
This episode describes what the author learned about inclusive business and ethics challenges in Kenya. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 4 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 4 is broken into the following sections:
- Weep for Africa
- The Chinese in Africa
- Inclusive Business Strategies
- African Mutual Social Responsibility
- Responsible Flower Markets
This episode describes what the author learned from pioneering practices in corporate governance and black economic empowerment in South Africa. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 3 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Hunting the Dragon
- Expanding Directors’ Duties
- Power to the People
- Beyond Reasonable Greed
This episode describes how the author discovered the profound theory of systems thinking and set about establishing a movement for a just and sustainable economy in South Africa. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 2 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 2 is broken into the following sections:
- The whole is greater
- Fostering new economics
- Financial market reform
- The growth debate
This episode describes how the author went through a process of awakening to the social and ethical issues of discrimination that would shape his career in sustainable business. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Chapter 1 from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. Chapter 1 is broken into the following sections:
- Innocence lost
- Ethical investment roots
- Removing the blinkers
- Discovering sustainable development
- Starting to change course
This episode sets the context for the new season and explores how the author's roots in Africa have shaped his career and perspectives on sustainable business. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Prologue from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility. The Prologue is broken into the following sections:
- A child of Africa
- Growing up wild
- Only elephants should wear ivory
- The sixth mass extinction
This episode introduces the new season and explains how the author's quest for sustainable business took him to over 50 countries in the past 20 years. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads the Author's Introduction from his book, The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility.
Part 3 of exploring how we as individual change agents can make a positive difference in society. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 13 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Reasons to be Optimistic
- To Hope is Human
- Experiments in Generosity
- Answering the Question ‘Why?’
Part 2 of exploring how we as individual change agents can make a positive difference in society. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 13 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Types of CSR Change Agent
- Dynamics of CSR Change Agents
- Making a Difference
- To Scare or To Inspire?
Part 1 of exploring how we as individual change agents can make a positive difference in society. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 13 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- Cultivating Radicals
- Are We Happy?
- We Are the Champions
Part 3 of exploring how change happens in society and in companies. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 12 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Change Management
- The Process of Change
- Wheels of Change
- Theory U
- A New Mythology
Part 2 of exploring how change happens in society and in companies. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 12 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- The Matrix of Change
- The Power of Ideas
- Progress Is Slow But Sure
- Something is Gathering Momentum
- The World Has Changed Forever
- Dynamics of the Change Matrix
Part 1 of exploring how change happens in society and in companies. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 12 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- The Story of Oases in the Desert and Plains of the Serengeti
- Stories of the Future
Part 4 of exploring how companies can move to a zero-waste, circular economy. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 11 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 4 is broken into the following sections:
- Water Neutral Coca-Cola
- Carbon Neutral at Tesco
- Waste Not, Want Not
- Circular Urban Design
Part 3 of exploring how companies can move to a zero-waste, circular economy. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 11 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Nike’s Considered Design
- Timberland’s Eco-Confession
- Seventh Generation Cleans Up
Part 2 of exploring how companies can move to a zero-waste, circular economy. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 11 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Holistic Science
- Spaceship Earth
- Life Cycle Assessment
- Sustainable Production & Consumption
- Cradle to Cradle
Part 1 of exploring how companies can move to a zero-waste, circular economy. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 11 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- The Story of Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia
Part 4 of exploring how companies can apply a glocal approach to CSR (think global, act local). In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 10 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 4 is broken into the following sections:
- Global CSR Drivers
- Going Native and Becoming Indigenous
- Social Media Muddle
- Glocality in Practice
Part 3 of exploring how companies can apply a glocal approach to CSR (think global, act local). In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 10 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- An Alternative CSR Pyramid
- Anglo American’s CSR Pyramid
- Local CSR Drivers
Part 2 of exploring how companies can apply a glocal approach to CSR (think global, act local). In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 10 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Origins of Glocality
- CSR Around the World
- Myths of CSR in Developing Countries
Part 1 of exploring how companies can apply a glocal approach to CSR (think global, act local). In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 10 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- The Case of AIESEC and Me
Part 4 of exploring how companies can use CSR to respond honesty and effectively to stakeholder expectations and needs. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 4 is broken into the following sections:
- Eco-Patent Commons
- A Creative Commons for the Environment
Part 3 of exploring how companies can use CSR to respond honesty and effectively to stakeholder expectations and needs. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Cabbages and Condoms
- How Not to McDo Engagement
- Cross-sector Partnerships
Part 2 of exploring how companies can use CSR to respond honesty and effectively to stakeholder expectations and needs. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Pharmaceuticals on Trial
- GSK’s Patent Pool
- Mining for a Cure
Part 1 of exploring how companies can use CSR to respond honesty and effectively to stakeholder expectations and needs. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- The Story of HRH The Prince of Wales and the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change
Part 5 of exploring how social and environmental solutions, products and services can be scaled to mainstream sustainability and transform CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 5 is broken into the following sections:
- Crowdsourcing CSR solutions
- Smart vs. dumb growth
Part 4 of exploring how social and environmental solutions, products and services can be scaled to mainstream sustainability and transform CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 4 is broken into the following sections:
- Bottom of the Pyramid
- Blessed unrest
- Collaborative social entrepreneurship
Part 3 of exploring how social and environmental solutions, products and services can be scaled to mainstream sustainability and transform CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Government’s visible hand
- A flotilla of little boats
- The Long Tail of CSR
Part 2 of exploring how social and environmental solutions, products and services can be scaled to mainstream sustainability and transform CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- The Limits of Ethical Consumerism
- Fairtrade Coffee for You, Sir?
- Choice Editing for Good
Part 1 of exploring how social and environmental solutions, products and services can be scaled to mainstream sustainability and transform CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- The Story of Lee Scott and Wal-Mart
Part 5 of exploring how social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 7 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 5 is broken into the following sections:
- We are the champions
- Mapping the innovation territory
- The Googlemorph
Part 4 of exploring how social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 7 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 4 is broken into the following sections:
- Africa's first free university
- EVOKEing a Responsibility Revolution
Part 3 of exploring how social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 7 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Making money mobile
- Self-sufficient electronics
- Entrepreneurs on a mission
- Kickstarting development
Part 2 of exploring how social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 7 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Stagnation through standardisation
- When creativity is a bad thing
- Creative destruction
Exploring how social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 7 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- Case: Anurag Gupta and A Little World
Part 3 on an approach to business in society which is transformative - namely CSR 2.0 or Systemic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 6 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- The principles of CSR 2.0
- Shifting from CSR 1.0 to CSR 2.0
- The DNA model of CSR 2.0
Part 2 on an approach to business in society which is transformative - namely CSR 2.0 or Systemic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 6 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Radical confessions
- Web 2.0: seeds of a revolution
- The birth of CSR 2.0
Part 1 on an approach to business in society which is transformative - namely CSR 2.0 or Systemic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 6 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- Case: Ray Anderson and Interface
Part 5 on the growing use of management systems - including in the form of Strategic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 5 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 5 is broken into the following sections:
- The curse of peripheral CSR
- The curse of incremental CSR
- The curse of uneconomic CSR
Part 4 on the growing use of management systems - including in the form of Strategic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 5 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 4 is broken into the following sections:
- If the [sweatshop] shoe fits
- The rise and fall of corporate governance
- The rise of shareholder activism
- A cornucopia of codes
Part 3 on the growing use of management systems - including in the form of Strategic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 5 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Towards a theory of responsibility
- The voluntary versus mandatory debate
- Challenging shareholder supremacy
- The quest to civilise cannibals
Part 2 on the growing use of management systems - including in the form of Strategic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 5 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Business ethics through the ages
- The industrial welfare movement
- Cracks in the industrial edifice
- Spaceship earth on a collision course
Part 1 on the growing use of management systems - including in the form of Strategic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 5 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- Case: Cadbury Brothers and Cadbury
Part 3 on the rise of marketing as a force in business and society - including the dangers of Promotional CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 4 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Hanging greenwashing out to dry
- The invisible hand of marketing
- From misdirection to redirection
Part 2 on the rise of marketing as a force in business and society - including the dangers of Promotional CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 4 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Magic tricks and military tactics
- Using smoke and mirrors
- Sowing the seeds of doubt
Part 1 on the rise of marketing as a force in business and society - including the dangers of Promotional CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 4 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- Case: John Browne and BP
Part 3 on the history and nature philanthropy - including its perils and promise in the form of Charitable CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 3 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Institutional philanthropy
- The rise of foundations
- The state of corporate giving
- Strategic philanthropy
- Venture philanthropy
Part 2 on the history and nature philanthropy - including its perils and promise in the form of Charitable CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 3 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- For the love of humanity
- Philanthropic traditions
- American icons
- Modern philanthropists
- Philanthrocapitalism
Part 1 on the history and nature philanthropy - including its perils and promise in the form of Charitable CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 3 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- Case: John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil
- The wheels of wealth
Part 4 on how greed has become institutionalised in business, the economy and society - including in the form of Defensive CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser narrates Chapter 2 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 4 is broken into the following sections:
- An inSANE economy?
- The belly of the beast
- Reforming the citadels of greed
- Accomplice to the crime
Part 3 on how greed has become institutionalised in business, the economy and society - including in the form of Defensive CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 2 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 is broken into the following sections:
- Financial market greed
- A personal odyssey into greed
- Discovering institutionalised greed
Part 2 on how greed has become institutionalised in business, the economy and society - including in the form of Defensive CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 2 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- An unhealthy appetite
- Executive greed
- Banking greed
Part 1 on how greed has become institutionalised in business, the economy and society - including in the form of Defensive CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 2 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 of the podcast is broken into the following sections:
- Case: Larry McDonald and Lehman Brothers
Part 3 on how and why corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) has failed and how it is evolving. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 1 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 3 of the podcast is broken into the following sections:
- Our global dishonesty
- Awkward questions
- The ages and stages of CSR
Part 2 on how and why corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) has failed and how it is evolving. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 1 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 2 is broken into the following sections:
- Our global footprint
- Our global weather
- Our global village
Part 1 on how and why corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) has failed and how it is evolving. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 1 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Part 1 is broken into the following sections:
- The meaning of responsibility
- The failure of CSR
We live in an unfathomable universe. All around us are mysteries that we cannot pretend to understand. Life is a tangle of complexities, the synergies of which we can only feebly guess at. To survive this uncertainty, to prevent us from going insane with confusion, we automatically try to simplify “life, the universe and everything”. One way is through adopting beliefs – patterns of thought that tell us how things work and what we need to do to fit in. Another way is by using metaphors to fill the voids where un-knowing exists. Metaphors assume that life continuously reflects, refracts and duplicates itself – like a mirror, a prism or a hologram. The most powerful source of metaphors is Nature. We constantly refer to our observations about Earth’s natural processes to explain our own personal, social and mystical experiences – birth, growth, cooperation, conflict, death, seasons, cycles, equilibrium. And of Nature’s metaphors, few can be so meaningful and enduring than the Tree. In this episode, I have interspersed fragments of a poem that I wrote with my own reflections on “The Tree of Life”. As you take this journey of imagination with me, I hope that you will discover you own personal garden of inspiration.
History shows us that science is always incomplete and very seldom synonymous with wisdom. Some say that science is always playing catch-up with our spiritual understanding. Yet, it is forever pregnant with new discoveries, insights and theories, each with the potential to completely transform our picture of the world we thought we knew and understood. Seen in this context, modern brain-mind research has progressed only as far as naive adolescence, still embarrassingly unsure of what makes people tick. Parapsychology, by comparison, is still a clumsy, babbling toddler, only vaguely aware of the amazing possibilities within its power. In keeping with this metaphor, what I have called “para-ecology” and “ecokinesis” are disciplines that have scarcely been born. But they promise new knowledge that could, in time, completely revolutionise everything we have come to know and accept about both psychology and ecology.
What are the positive signs - the stories of hope? Well, I draw my hope from the testimony of four people. They are Edgar Mitchell, James Lovelock, Victor Frankl and George Washington Carver. But what about each of us in our own daily lives. Are we listening? I believe that, for Creation to be healed, each of us needs to be that Connection between Earth and Sky. We each need to find our own sense of meaning and inspiration from nature. Whether it be by growing things, by walking in the mountains and forests, by actively campaigning for environmental issues, by consciously buying environmentally-friendly products, or by allowing ourselves to relate more intimately with the creatures which share our planet. So what is your messenger from Nature? Are you ready to listen?
I wonder what you thought of when you saw this title - Connecting Earth and Sky? Well, for me, there are three ideas or questions which come to mind: Firstly, it is the story of creation - how did the earth and sky come to exist in the first place, and how do they fit into the grander scheme of things? Secondly, there are the environmental issues surrounding our earth and sky - what impact are we having on our planet, for better or for worse? Thirdly, how does Nature influence and inspire us? What are the deeper connections which exist between the living creation which surrounds us and of which we are a part, and our spiritual experience of life? So really, in this episode, I am going to be looking at our relationship as human beings with Life. And it is at a time in history when environmental consciousness is reaching a peak.
With the rich texture of African soil once again beneath my feet, the warm sun on my back, and the Cape South Easter wind tugging at my hair, my body and soul have unmistakably returned home. My mind, however, still drifts back and forth between this land and another, the ancient land of the Celts, where I spent the past year studying and experiencing human ecology. A year earlier I had left South Africa for Edinburgh, Scotland, uncertain about the path that lay ahead, and aware of the risk I had taken in forsaking a lucrative corporate career to undertake postgraduate studies in human ecology in a city so far from home. But I have always been interested in the bigger picture of things. Through these further studies - in the exploration of human relationships within society and with nature - I could focus on my concerns about modern society; I could find a better way to “make a difference”, and play some small part in securing the future for my home country - and for our home planet. In retrospect, I made a good choice. As well as enjoying a year of valuable dialogue on environmental issues in a humanistic context, I was exposed to the experience of people who are actively living out human and ecological solutions in the world.
After various world summits on sustainable development, we should take care not to mistake this single event for the greater symphony of change that it heralds. Like fleas on an elephant, we need to jump back and see the greater whole – the challenge of creating a sustainable world. However you want to define it, in the end, it comes down to our ability to endure. Those that understand how social and environmental drivers will be shaping the landscape over the coming decades will be better placed to survive. This episodes ventures ten predictions about how the future will be different. In the future:
- The number of banned substances will increase exponentially
- Forensic sustainability will emerge as a new professional discipline
- Governments and civil organisations will maintain and publicise corporate grey-lists
- Companies will employ sophisticated, real-time corporate stakeholder monitoring
- Every component of every product and service will be coded with sustainability tagging
- Companies will produce and utilise sustainability-intelligent technologies
- Companies will adopt and follow Generally Accepted Sustainability Practices (GASP)
- Companies will operate within a macro policy environment that embodies sustainability economics
- Companies will stretch their strategies to include consideration of future generations and ecosystems
- The power of the mind will be harnessed to achieve sustainability-kinesis effects
This episode deals with the crucial debate that is beginning to emerge about corporate social responsibility (CSR), which acknowledges that the sophistication of stakeholder challenges and corporate responses has gone up a gear, but questions whether CSR itself is too little too late, or even a red herring. Is CSR a distraction from the more fundamental transformation (perhaps revolution even) of the capitalist business model which is needed? And as CSR becomes an established professional practice, will it take as given that its purpose is to benefit those who employ its professionals, rather than a primary goal of transforming the world? If so, CSR will have contributed towards a global Crash and Burn scenario, with growing ecological and social degradation. We have to find the courage to be self-critical, and explore what we are thinking and doing. It is through this reflexivity that CSR might avoid being complicit in a global Crash and Burn and become a crucial part of a Rise and Shine scenario, where the world achieves a greater harmony between people and with the ecology. This scenario requires systemic change.
As the new millennium looms large on the horizon, speculation about humanity’s recent progress are becoming ever more frequent. Even more so are whisperings that humanity might be teetering on the threshold of a new phase in its evolutionary development. Not surprisingly, a search for new images and metaphors to serve as positive visions for the future has begun in earnest. The purpose of this episode is to explore some of the more recent of these images to emerge from the outstanding research and imagination of a few pioneering individuals. A good place to start is to get the Industrial Age well behind us, for it has been a crumbling image for at least the past four decades. In its wake however, we find the explosive rise of a revolutionary successor. I am of course referring to the Information Age. One of the pioneering voices in this regard is American futurist Hazel Henderson. Henderson’s suggested alternative is what she calls a “repatterning of the exploding Information Age” into an emerging new Age of Light.
Surprisingly little has been written about the search for meaning in a workplace or business context, and nothing, in my knowledge, has made the explicit link to corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is surprising, partly because meaning has been a serious topic of research and application for at least fifty years now, following the seminal work of Viktor Frankl and others, as have the fields of industrial psychology and CSR. But it is more surprising still, simply because work is where we spend about a third of lives. If meaning cannot be found in the workplace, our ability to lead a fulfilling life is seriously impaired. The importance of understanding how work can contribute to meaning in life seems more critical now than ever before. Anecdotal evidence is mounting that people in the West are increasingly feeling a sense of existential crisis in their working lives. On the one hand, they are expecting more from their work experience, including that it will nurture personal development and self actualisation. On the other hand, they are finding the capitalist, corporate model of work to be lacking in a meaningful higher purpose, or to put it another way, the modern workplace and economy is devoid of a sense of soul.
In this episode, I want to explode a few myths about corporate responsibility in developing countries. Most of these myths exist as a result of the feeding frenzy that inevitably occurs every time the media has hunted down and sunk its teeth into one or other juicy story of corporate exploitation. The myths are also sustained, however, by whole legions of largely well-intentioned people in developed countries who have vested interests in promoting their particular brand of the truth about corporate responsibility. The seven myths are:
- Economic growth is not good
- Multinationals are the biggest sinners
- Multinationals are the biggest saviours
- Developing countries are anti-multinational
- Corporate responsibility is the same the world over
- Developed countries lead on corporate responsibility
- Codes can ensure corporate responsibility
In any war, one of the mantras that has been repeatedly chanted by the military and media alike is the so-called “battle for the hearts and minds”. Take the Iraq war for example. The more cynical commentators have dubbed this the “propaganda war”. It strikes me that today’s multinationals are engaged in a very similar battle – to win over the hearts and minds of a growing number of sceptics and critics who are not convinced of the justice of their corporate crusade, the appropriateness of their tactics, or the acceptability of the causalities incurred along the way. This episode examines these parallels in more detail. As with the Iraq war's liberation propaganda, multinationals are zealously preaching the spread of the economic ideology of free-market capitalism, smug in their superiority since the collapse of socialist economies. And yet the growing anti-globalisation movement is unconvinced. For them, the fact that socialism failed in practice does not automatically imply that capitalism is beyond reproach.
It is not uncommon to hear our present global economic system being compared to a predatory natural environment. We might imagine the market as a great African plain where competition for scarce resources dominates the life of every species. We can see successful companies as the supreme hunters in this eat-or-be-eaten world, like the awesome lions of the bushveld. It is certainly a compelling analogy and one that is perpetuated in boardrooms and business schools around the world. But is this lion-king economy really the kind of place that we want to live in? Of course, it’s great if you’re at the top of the food chain, but what about the other, more vulnerable species? Is the free market really working “for the common good”, as it should according to Adam Smith’s “invisible hand”? Or are communities and the environment being sacrificed to keep companies well fed? This episode questions many of the beliefs which dominate economic thinking today, and asks whether we can design an economy “as if people and the planet mattered” – a sustainability-driven elephant economy.
There are a growing number of critics who claim a direct link between the advancement of industrial development based on neo-classical economics thinking and the erosion of communities. This erosion has in turn exacerbated numerous other social problems and created negative effects such as economic dependence, community disempowerment, cultural breakdown, social diseases and environmental destruction. The call by a growing number of new economists is for a more community-centred economics. This includes various concepts, such as person-in-community, self-reliance, counter-development and eco-communitarianism. On a more practical level, the establishment and support of community businesses and other organisations, as well as of local currencies or exchange systems needs to be encouraged. The benefits of this community approach are wealth creation, empowerment, social cohesion, ethical conduct, sustainability and fulfilment of human needs.
Ethical investment – also called social investment, socially responsible investment and green investment – is an international trend which refers broadly to the conscious use of investments to achieve social, ethical and environmental performance objectives, over and above the usual financial returns. The relevance of the ethical investment movement lies in its potential to deliver good financial returns while also helping to deliver on the countries social objectives, like empowerment, good labour practices, and environmentally sustainable development for instance. The phenomenon can be traced back to the beginnings of the corporate social responsibility movement in the United States in the 1930s, although it only really became visible in the 1970s. At this time, church and university groups set up the first funds, such as the Pax World Fund, to avoid investment which supported the Vietnam War and the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Since the political transformation of South Africa is widely regarded as one of the great motivators and success stories of ethical investment, this background is worth recalling.
The world we live in is exceedingly complex. We use indicators to simplify things. Indicators work in the same way as a map. They are meant to be a guide, a representation of reality, which help us to understand the lie of the land. The scale of the map and what it is trying to measure will determine how accurately and completely it approximates reality.
It is the same with indicators. Some indicators are high level, global estimates; others are detailed, local measures. Some focus on economic activity; others on social welfare. They help us to understand ‘where we’re at’ and how things have changed over time. Checked against our objectives, indicators tell us whether things are good or bad, better or worse. In this episode we look at:
- Limitations of GDP
- Alternatives to GDP
- Community-Based Indicators
Many see the “failure” of most African economies in terms of a neglect of their peoples to foster home-grown indigenous business cultures that are in harmony with the African soil and soul. And they are working hard to rekindle native values in business contexts, to provide the sparks needed to transform the economy into a blazing sun of new traditions in Afrocentric management. In this episode we look at:
- Values - Colonial Hangovers and Ubuntu
- Reward/Punishment or Recognition/Rejection?
- Managerial Bureaucracy or Participative Democracy?
- Rituals and Creativity
- An Integrative Vision
- Rainbows and Sunrays
In our modern economies and businesses, unlimited growth is constantly striven for, institutionalised, almost idolised. We hold it up as the measure of success. Yet, by doing this, we could be sowing the seeds of our own destruction. We know this because in nature, unlimited physical growth is almost nowhere to be seen. When it does occur, we call it cancer, or imminent species collapse, or ecosystem decline. In this episode, we look at lessons we can learn for the economy and business from:
- Growth in Nature
- Productivity in Nature
- Design in Nature
For me, the image of the phoenix from Native American Indian mythology rising up from the ashes of its dead body symbolises our potential to transform the dying metaphor of business as a ‘rational machine’ into a new metaphor: business as a ‘living whole’. This idea arose out of one of my business lectures at university some years ago in which Peters and Waterman’s famed bestseller, In Search of Excellence (1982), was under discussion. As it happened, I was concurrently reading Jan Smuts’ scientific and philosophic treatise, Holism and Evolution (1926) and was struck by the conceptual parallels between the ‘rational mode’ of business which Peters and Waterman were criticising and the restrictive ‘mechanism’ which Smuts attributed to the scientific community of the 1920s. Since Smuts regarded his theory of holism as the “necessary antidote to the analytical methods which prevailed”, I began to wonder about its remedial potential for the ailing business theory of the present day. This episode is the fruit of my contemplation along those lines – namely, how holism might be applied as a new framework for thinking about business.
Although it is heartening to note the growing worldwide interest in building sustainable communities for the future, it is at the same time disconcerting that so many of these community visions provide no place for the potential role of business within their working structure. What shapes and forms might business take if it were to be integrated into the community vision, with its implicit goal of creating a more sustainable, co-operative, meaning-filled future society? Partial answers to these questions can be found among stories of experiments in community business which already exist. Let’s look at two such stories, although there are many more to tell. The first is an experiment taking place in Mondragon, a small town in the mountainous region of north-eastern Spain. The other experiment is that of the emerging community business culture at the well-known Findhorn Community is northern Scotland. These two examples serve to illustrate that success stories in alternative ways of doing business do exist. The details of exactly how they are different is explored.
There is a growing body of literature on what could be loosely described as explorations in ‘new paradigm’ thinking. Included in this is an implicit belief about the nature of transformation. It is that revolutionary change is more often the result of new ways of thinking about things (i.e. changes in perception) than new ways of doing things. This episode attempts to apply this thinking to business, i.e. to explore more deeply the emerging new paradigm in business. What are the new perspectives which are beginning to challenge the old way of thinking about and doing business? And is there a common thread or theme which runs through the heart of these new insights? So what are these basic assumptions about business which have come on trial of late? There are many but this article will focus on only three of the most important, namely profit, competition and rationality. Discussion of each will be prefaced by a belief statement from the old paradigm and concluded with a suggested new paradigm belief statement.
Season 2 of Purpose Inspired is based on the book Business Frontiers: Social Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Economic Justice. Why business frontiers? Well, business operates at the frontiers of society – seeking out new territories to explore and exploit, imagining fresh new ways to meet age old needs, innovating the artefacts that become the legacy of civilisations, reinventing the rituals which shape acceptable social behaviour, and changing the way we spend our precious time. But what happens when the landscape itself changes? As the world globalises, power is shifting – from the plush boardrooms to dusty streets, from the financial market casino to the internet connected community, from the annual general meetings to the mass activist campaigns, from the office towers of the North to the crowded pavements of the South. Business faces its greatest challenge yet. Confronted with the triple imperatives of social responsibility, environmental sustainability and economic justice, business will need to adapt or die.
When I think back on all the writing I have done over the years, it strikes me that much of my creativity has been the result of tension. All of these tensions I have felt, and continue to feel at a personal and professional level, are illustrative of the subject of this book. Business Frontiers are the points of tension inherent in current models of business and capitalism which are bringing massive benefits on the one hand, yet still failing the majority of the world’s poor and alienated people. There is a palpable tension between the realities of today and the possibilities of tomorrow. I trust that by sharing these words, you will be inspired to find your own threshold of dynamic tension, and join me in the search for creative solutions. For we can all, in our own way, make a meaningful contribution to the lives of others and the legacy of business in society.
Having depicted the possible paths that the future can take in two mainline scenarios, we must now consider the options within the control of the principal actors which will increase or reduce the probabilities of either scenario materialising. While we will concentrate on the options facing companies, multi-level shapeshifting makes it essential to bring countries and individuals into the picture. At the business level, we have nominated the three options: (1) Catwalk; (2) Leophancy; and (3) The Charge of the Heavy Brigade. Our choices today will to a large extent shape our future landscape, whether it be Oases in the Desert or Plains of the Serengeti. Nevertheless, it bears repeating that our own choices as company executives and individuals are undeniably influenced by the direction of the choices being made at a political level. But governments can’t do everything. Ordinary people also hold the fragile destiny of our globe in their hands. Individuals do make a difference, little things do count.
Given the rules of the game and key uncertainties just described, we have chosen two contrasting scenarios to illustrate how the future landscape of business and the world could turn out. As mentioned already, the actual outcome will partly depend on the options we choose over the coming decade. The two scenarios are: (1) Oases in the Desert; and (2) Plains of the Serengeti. Remember scenarios are stories of what can happen in the future – they are not forecasts of what is going to happen. Their purpose is to educate rather than prescribe.
In constructing scenarios for the future, key uncertainties are those variables that could go one way or the other; they are the pivotal points on which the future swivels. It is critical that we explore these because often their outcome depends partially on our choices and actions over the short term as well as longer term factors beyond our control. However, it is just as crucial to realise that the future contains ‘unknown unknowns’. These wild cards come out of the blue and can make a huge difference. In other words, beware of placing too much faith in our powers of foresight. The future can always surprise us. With the qualification just expressed in mind, we have identified seven key uncertainties: (1) willingness to share power; (2) the direction of innovation; (3) economic and trade policy developments; (4) political maturity; (5) the rate of environmental decline; (6) social unrest; and (7) lifestyle choices.
The rules of the game are the conditions that we are fairly certain will apply within the foreseeable future. They govern our behaviour and up to a point are beyond our control. Unlike the rules of sport which are conveniently written down in a rulebook somewhere, the rules of business are normally unwritten. At times, they are subject to intense debate – particularly when they change as they are doing at the moment. However, there are certain rules that never change such as the moral rules of the game. Many lion companies either ignore or fail to understand that business is as subject to the moral rules as an individual is. Nor are they sensitive to those changes in the rules which are taking place as a result of alterations in the environment around them. We have identified seven rules of the game that underpin the world that is emerging through the mists of time. These are: (1) Spaceship Earth; (2) the demographic multipliers; (3) pervasive poverty, growing resentment; (4) declining ecosystems; (5) a techno-scientific boom; (6) the networked planet; and (7) a renaissance in values.
In the present era of globalisation, it is sacrilege to criticise unrestricted free trade when in the company of the pride. Somehow, questioning free trade is equated with being anti-democratic, pro-communist and an all-round sour-grapes loser. And yet evidence of the negative impacts of free trade on vulnerable communities, small economies and fragile environments is precisely why sustainability thinkers do question deregulated free trade. The critics of globalisation cite various reasons for their discontent. The prime argument is that such an environment leads companies to seek out investment destinations with the least number of obstacles to profit-making. The end-result is what US ecological economist and author Herman Daly calls ‘standards lowering competition’ and others have called ‘the race to the bottom’. Those wishing to shapeshift global trade towards something more sustainable have led the charge with a counter-movement of fair trade.
It is one of the great ironies of the unsustainable economy that those who most desperately need money are denied it, or made to pay an exorbitant price to get it. Most banks consider the poor as ‘unbankable’ and focus their appetites on ‘high net worth’ individuals. In the sustainable economy, however, equitable access to finance is high on the list of priorities, as is ensuring that the banks invest their money in sustainable activities. An example of financing a healthy society is the growth of the community development banks in the USA. Social banks are the European equivalent of America’s community development banks. Another issue that concerns sustainable finance types is the potentially perverse effects of interest on the most vulnerable sections of the population. While charging interest on loans dates back more than 4,000 years, so do critiques of its negative impacts.
economic growth is no longer (if it ever was) a guarantee for creating jobs. Jobless economic growth is the new reality. Therefore a fundamental re-perception needs to occur about the way that we structure work and welfare - and especially the way we think about money. We have to move our focus from creating employment to creating livelihoods. We have to empower people to put whatever skills and talents they may have to good use. People should not have to spend all their energy and resources on struggling to survive. Nor should they have to wait to be offered a job or to be told that they are economically valuable only when they engage in productive work for someone else in the private or public sector. But how would a more universal model of empowerment be achieved? There are three powerful avenues that merit further explanation: barter networks, parallel currencies and the basic income grant.
The ‘sustainability investment’ phenomenon can be traced back to the beginnings of the corporate social responsibility movement in the United States in the 1930s. But it only really became visible in the 1970s when church and university groups set up funds, such as the Pax World Fund, to avoid investment in any companies which supported the Vietnam War and the Apartheid regime in South Africa. The trend continued to spread and settled into two basic approaches – shareholder activism and screened investments. And surprising though it may seem, evidence is mounting that many sustainability investments actually outperform the market. According to Russell Sparkes, author of the book, The Ethical Investor, there are good reasons for this unexpectedly superior performance of sustainability funds. But the ‘real returns’ of sustainability funds is in directing money towards the fulfilment of social and environmental goals which usually get under-funded in the marketplace.
The explosive growth of this global casino of financial markets is largely as a result of introducing two new games: futures and derivatives trading, beginning in the 1970. Not so long ago, the grave warning of economist John Maynard Keynes echoed loud and clear above the chaotic din of frantic stock market traders: “When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely be ill-done”. Modern critic, David Korten who is author of When Corporations Rule the World, calls this phenomenon “de-linking money from value”. He argues that capital is being diverted away from long-term productive investment in the ‘real economy’ in favour of short-term speculative investment in the ‘virtual economy’. It comes as no surprise that those who are grabbing the lion’s share of the benefits from speculative trading are the same ones that have been roaring for greater deregulation of capital flows over the decades. We look at the worrying side effects of speculative trading and deregulated financial markets.
This podcast introduces the economists’ useful notion of ‘externalities’ or spill-over effects. In the unsustainable economy, companies impose costs on society and nature without paying for these damages – these are negative externalities. For example, we look at what happens if we decrease the stock of biodiversity, either by a wetland being drained for development, tropical forests being cleared for agriculture, or a valley being flooded for a hydro-electric power scheme. On the other hand, lone sustainable companies may make contributions to the community or the ecology, without being financially rewarded for these benefits – these are positive externalities. The sustainability trend is forcing companies to internalise their social and environmental externalities, i.e. account for them in their own books. Climate change provides excellent examples of the application of economic instruments to promote sustainable commercial activity.
The world we live in is exceedingly complex. We use indicators to simplify things. Indicators work in the same way as a map. They are meant to be a guide, a representation of reality, which help us to understand the lie of the land. The scale of the map and what it is trying to measure will determine how accurately and completely it approximates reality. Except that sometimes we get lazy. In the midst of our information overload, we are tempted to oversimplify. This is the main problem with economic indicators today. GDP is the classic example of a blinkered unsustainable approach to indicators. This podcast looks in more detail at the concept of indicators, the limitations of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of progress as well as some of the more sustainable alternatives, like the Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) and the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI).
Products and services will need to shapeshift radically in a sustainable world. It will no longer be acceptable or successful to follow the old approach of producing widgets and flogging them to a market brainwashed by advertising, whilst ignoring the damage they cause along the way. The new generation of sustainable products and services will focus on adding value over their entire life cycle. In so doing, they will incorporate design characteristics inspired by the genius of Nature. In fact, many products will become obsolete as they are replaced by ‘leased benefits’ instead. There are various manifestations of this new philosophy, including life cycle assessment (LCA), eco-efficiency, supply chain integrity and take-back schemes. While these are mainly aimed at the environmental elements of life cycle accountability, supply chain integrity auditing begins to address social impacts as well. But the biggest shapeshift has less to do with new methods or models, and more to do with inspiration. That is the potential for products and services to be inspired by the genius of Nature.
Communication for sustainable companies is a dialogue: an ongoing, two way, interactive process which involves listening as much as talking, and includes non-verbal as well as verbal exchange. These companies are far less opportunistic when it comes to communicating with stakeholders. The reason they enter into dialogue with their employees, or communities, or environmental NGOs, is the fact that these entities are interconnected in some way, be they interested in, concerned about, or affected by the company’s operations. The ingredients of effective communication are good, basic common sense. Be open. Share information. Not just the good stuff, also the bad and the in-between. And not just the boring facts; also the hopes and dreams, the passions and emotions. Talk about the serious things (the so-called hard facts) when they need talking about. But don’t forget to share the lighter moments as well. Very important – don’t tell lies (or even bend the truth). But once there is a track record of honesty, trust what the other says.
Companies have cultivated relationships only from pure self-interest – mostly with shareholders, financial analysts, customers and suppliers. And usually, these interactions have been a pure power play – wining and dining the influential few, while ignoring the rest or pressuring them into conformance. The idea of genuine dialogue with communities, NGOs and government for the sake of enduring symbiotic relationships, rather than as a short-term bargaining tactic, is still somewhat unpalatable for most companies. With their quarterly eye on the skittish profits, spending time and energy on building long term friendships without any immediate reward seems, well, a costly indulgence. But to survive in the sustainability era, companies have to move beyond their aggressive, competitive tendencies. They need to learn to be not only sociable, but genuinely concerned about the perspectives and wellbeing of all of their stakeholders.
Over the past decade, for example, numerous corporate governance codes have emerged, which require companies to give a more transparent account of how their business is being run and the impacts on the various stakeholder groups. One of the most recent and progressive documents is South Africa’s revised King Report which even makes explicit recommendations on sustainability reporting and social and ethical accountability. Shapeshifting goes beyond putting ticks into boxes, however. At the end of the day, it is once again about values and behaviour. In order to implement governance at a practical level, shapeshifting needs to occur in at least three areas: company incentive systems, decision-making processes and communication methods. In exploring these issues, it is instructive once again to contrast Western and Southern cultural dynamics.
Having a leader’s inspiring vision is one thing, but it is like whistling in the wind unless people in the workplace are able to express their own inherent magic – their creativity and imagination, their values and passions. As Anita Roddick says: “People become motivated when you guide them to the source of their own power.” Sustainable companies do something that is almost unimaginable. They accept humans as humans. They don’t try to turn us into machines. In fact, they encourage us to express all aspects of our humanness. This is not is about becoming completely scattered and ineffective. It is about being flexible, discovering the most appropriate times to work and play and socialise, or to do a combination of these. Being human at work is also about being able to be ourselves – our whole selves. One thing that would help with the existential crisis in business would be a switch from the present focus on ‘jobs’ to the old idea of ‘vocations’.
Shapeshifting seldom happens in countries or companies without visionary leadership. Like the revolutionary philosophers and scientists of centuries past, somebody has to be able to step outside of the parochial present and see the bigger picture of the future. And like those historical reformists, today’s innovative leaders walk a tightrope between being recognised and celebrated as a visionaries and being regarded as crackpots to be locked up or heathens to be burned at the stake. The great thing about creating a sustainable future is that it is an inspiring ideal: something that, like the elephant, is bigger than ourselves - a little frightening, somehow magical, an exciting challenge at the very least. And in today’s barren desert of materialism and secularism, people are crying out for something inspirational, even sacred, to quench their thirst for meaning. Sustainability is that oasis shimmering on the horizon.
In this podcast, we start going beyond the ‘why’ to the ‘how’ of sustainable business. We explore seven critical dimensions in which shapeshifting needs to occur in order to create sustainable companies. These are: values, vision, work, governance, relationships, communication and services. We begin with values. Values are exactly what they say they are – a reflection of the things we value. They are not motherhood and apple pie statements in annual reports, or candyfloss principles framed on the boardroom wall. In other words, companies’ values are betrayed by their actions, not their words or their spin doctor’s marketing material. We illustrate the prioritisation of values with two examples: America’s popular ice-cream chain, Ben & Jerry’s, and Brazil’s largest marine and food-processing machinery manufacturer, Semco. Of course, corporate values seldom exist in isolation from broader cultural values. For example, the culture of the West/North is highly focused on individual performance and rewards hierarchical authority and rational decision-making, while the East/South’s emphasis is more about social harmony and cohesion, participative decision-making, creative expression and motivation.
In the 1970s, it was thanks to the zealous efforts of the sustainability prophets that a new social phenomenon was born – the green movement. However, with the spate of industrial accidents in the 1980s, from Bhopal and Love Canal to Chernobyl and Exxon Valdez, the spotlight began to shift from wildlife conservation to industrial pollution. It was not until the politicians were enticed into the debate that sustainability became a mainstream concern. In 1992, 178 country leaders paraded on the world stage at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, more familiarly referred to as the ‘Earth Summit’. Finally, by the 1990s, it had become clear that the environmental and social movements were here to stay and getting stronger by the year. The last decade of the twentieth century saw the green trend being backed by politicians, consumers, religious groups, community organisations and business. We are including here what we believe are a few of the more helpful attempts to develop sustainability criteria – guides to elephant spotting if you like.
Before exploring how sustainability will change economics and business, we need to understand what sustainability is and what it is not, and how it came about as a force in our society. Sustainability began as an ideological crusade about 50 years ago when a few voices in the wilderness gave a clarion call about how our civilization was on a path to self-destruction. They were ignored as fringe fanatics or doomsayers. Nevertheless, many of these early sustainability prophets were scientists who had done their fair share of homework before shouting their apocalyptic warnings from the hilltops. The 1980s and 1990s saw a number of thoughtful leaders further the cause of the early sustainability prophets. Among them was a whole generation of new economists who questioned the sustainability of our prevailing economic theories and practices. There have been a number of pioneering scientists calling for progress towards an elephant economy and business approach. Finally, there have been a number of influential business consulting pioneers, who have sought to translate elephant ideas into a vision of the sustainable economy and the sustainable company.
What if, in business, Lion was no longer king? What if Elephant was king (or queen) once more? For, according to the theme of this podcast, in the corporate bushveld of the future where social equity and environmental sustainability are the watchwords of society, Elephant has all the right characteristics to be the leader. Elephants are the epitome of sustainability. They have shown themselves to be supreme survivors and masters at adapting to different regions, climates and habitats. As with companies that wish to endure, adaptation is the key. As a rule, the elephant’s relationship to other species and Nature is highly cooperative and symbiotic. In the complex world of wider accountability to stakeholders, sustainable companies will need to learn to survive not by their ability to hunt and kill, but by their capacity to identify, nurture and sustain cooperative relationships. Elephants’ awesome size and strength inspires respect and admiration. The key for sustainable companies is not only to learn to find this grace and flexibility despite their size, it is also to be creatures of inspiration.
Physical growth is inherent in nature, but it doesn’t continue ad infinitum. And yet, there is a widely held belief that economic growth is always good and should be continuously strived for. Now business has to face the fact that economic growth does not automatically benefit either society or the environment. The UNDP puts this qualitative difference in a nutshell when it identifies the following five damaging forms of growth: jobless, voiceless, rootless, futureless and ruthless. When the lion pride grows, it may well be at the expense of other species and the environment. Many companies claim and believe that society and the environment will automatically be better off if they simply focus on maximising value for their shareholders and increasing the packages of their directors. But in lion companies, the benefits always seem to trickle upwards. The incentives in our current economic system make it almost impossible not to choose profits over people and the planet. But the landscape is changing.
The lion as an inspirational role model is neither new nor unique to business. But the role of business is changing and the hunting lifestyle is proving to have a number of weaknesses in the new landscape of sustainability. The modern capitalist company, while it continues to portray itself as a lion king, has a number of blindspots with reference to sustainability. These fatal flaws or false assumptions, that are beginning to challenge the supremacy of this kind of regal thinking, are discussed in this podcast. Companies constantly shrug off their social and environmental impacts because their economic contribution and financial profit are seen as more important; in fact, the latter are seen as an end in themselves. And business has been extracting resources and impacting the environment at a rate and a scale that could only be sustainable if the planet was infinite and contained ecosystems that were able to regenerate themselves rapidly irrespective of the damage they incurred - which is not the case.
There is a common driving force in all creation and evolution - a golden thread which Jan Smut called holism. Holism is a fundamental tendency within nature (including human society and its institutions) to form wholes of ever-greater synergy. Synergy is the now well-known concept of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. What characterises these wholes is increasingly complex relationships between their diverse elements, resulting in progressively higher levels of intelligence and creativity. The relationships between things are therefore as important as the things in themselves. The central argument of this podcast is that the current model driving business has outlived its usefulness. It is not holistic. So we need a new approach - starting with a new narrative. At the moment, the majority of business embodies the characteristics of a lion – an impressive predator. However, the future calls for different strengths, such as those displayed by the mighty elephant – a wise leader.
The best chance for companies to survive an accumulation of changes to the environment is to develop a better understanding of how evolution itself works. The popular Darwinian notion of a slow, incremental process of continuous improvement by random trial and error is only partially accurate. Evolution also happens in great leaps of sudden transformation, so-called discontinuities. Small changes have a cumulative effect so that when certain thresholds are reached, dramatic metamorphoses are triggered. This kind of step-change is often called the hundredth monkey phenomenon. The emergence of the corporate social responsibility and environmental movements over the past few decades, culminating in the slippery slogan of sustainability, is a prime example of the hundredth monkey phenomenon. Environmental and social concerns have risen like a tide over the intervening decades so that, today, sustainability stands on the brink of transforming the underlying business model that has been so successful over the past few hundred years.
Magic is the revelation that results from a profound change in perception or understanding. And as with everything in life, there’s good magic and bad magic. Bad magic has moved many companies into a state that is beyond reasonable greed. This podcast introduces the call for a Reformation in business, along the same lines as the one precipitated by Martin Luther in 1517. Reform is critical for business to restore its reputation, particularly as its presence in society rivals that of the Church in the sixteenth century. At the heart of this reformation is sustainability - a new way of perceiving business: its purpose, its methods and its impacts. For those companies that can adapt and respond quickly and intelligently enough, there are new markets to capture and profits to be made. For those that are ill prepared, sustainability is going to become a significant financial burden, even a threat to corporate survival.
“Greed is good”. Some of you might remember the phrase immortalized by Michael Douglas who played Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall Street. Well, the world has more than lived up to these words by pursuing the principle that excessive greed is even better. In a critical analysis of the principles driving modern business, Series 1 of the Purpose Inspired podcast by Wayne Visser demonstrates that the predatory behavior of the lion is symbolic of the way most companies are run today. But the world cannot go on like this. The podcast, which is based on the book “Beyond Reasonable Greed” by Wayne Visser and Clem Sunter, argues strongly for an alternative and more positive vision involving sustainable business in both a social and an environmental sense. In order to achieve this, companies will need to change – to shapeshift – from the tooth-and-claw logic of lions to the more caring, holistic philosophy of the elephant.
But what does this mean in practice? The podcast unpacks what is really meant by sustainability and sets out seven steps to create sustainable commerce, including a renewed focus on values, vision, work, governance, relationships, communication and services. We also look at what is required for sustainable economics, through new perspectives on measures, externalities, markets, investments, money, banking and trade. And then we look to the future, exploring two scenarios for the medium to long term: Oases in the Desert, where the corporate lions continue to rule, but their kingdoms are increasingly restricted by their own destructive behavior and popular discontent; and Plains of the Serengeti, where companies shapeshift into elephants which strive for a proper balance between cooperation and competition and a continuing diversity of species, large and small, strong and weak.
The podcast concludes that multi-level shapeshifting is required for sustainability. Apart from corporate transformation, it is up to governments on the one hand and each and every one of us as individuals on the other to adopt the persona of an elephant in order to pass on a worthwhile heritage to our children. Join us on the journey, as we transform business fangs and claws into tusks and trunks.
Hello. I’m Professor Dr Wayne Visser and in this podcast series, I share my reflections on what it means to be purpose-inspired, whether as an organisation, an individual or even as a whole society. It is really the story of my own exploration over the past 20 years of how business can be a force for good in the world, and how individuals can make a positive difference. I have organized the podcast chronologically, so you join me on the journey and see how key ideas evolve over time. As we go, you will notice the ebb and flow of global trends, the entry and exit of pioneering companies, and the twisting kaleidoscope of responses to the world’s greatest challenges.
Over the past 30 years, I have travelled to more than 75 countries and captured my learning in more than 20 books on topics like corporate social responsibility and sustainable business. For each series, I have selected one book that synthesizes the emerging ideas, practices and lessons learned on the journey to being purpose-inspired. And I have tried to make each podcast a bite-size chunk of around 15 or 20 minutes. Some of you will be faithful companions for the entire trip, across multiple series. Others will tag along for a while, dipping in and out according to their interest. All of you are most welcome.
In the inaugural series, we begin with my very first book – and one that I am in many ways still the most proud of. The book’s title is Beyond Reasonable Greed: Why Sustainable Business is a Much Better Idea, although I originally wanted to call it Shapeshifting. The reason is because I use a fun wildlife metaphor throughout the book, arguing that companies need to shift from acting like predatory lions to being more like elephants, which are wise, gentle and highly collaborative creatures. We end by exploring two scenarios for the world, called Oases in the Desert and Plains of the Serengeti.
In subsequent series, I will share different approaches and ideas that emerged from other books of mine, like Business Frontiers, Making a Difference, The Age of Responsibility, The Quest for Sustainable Business and Sustainable Frontiers. I look forward having you along for the ride. Please do invite your friends to join us – the more the merrier. We are at a crucial time in our history where the problems are urgent, complex and in desperate need of innovative solutions. So the more we can share our ideas and knowledge – and the more we can all be purpose inspired – the better our chances of creating a future in which our children, and the other life we share this planet with, can not only survive, but positively thrive.