Are you Future fit? Discover Green Swans And The Regenerative Capitalism
John Elkington, the godfather of sustainability is recalling the term triple-bottom-line he coined back in 1994. The book Green Swans is part of this process and it is a route adjustment the world needs to handle the 21st-century challenges.
The triple-bottom-line term was created to highlight the importance of business models to care about the environment, society and economics. The balance of these three factors would guarantee a sustainable future for the world.
The term indeed had a fantastic impact in the business world increasing awareness of sustainable agenda but lost some fundamental aspects that Elkington calls attention in Green Swans. The main aspect may be the economic part of the term, which became simple "profit" and the order in which it generally appears: the first. He emphasizes that the original environment comes first, society is second and economics (not profit) comes third.
It might look just a different interpretation but, in the information era, things get leveraged quickly and can be transformed into something very different from the original.
Elkington begins his book by giving context to where we are. He shares a U-shape graphic where humanity is located at the bottom of it. We are entering, and in some cases already living, in a period of environmental crises, social crises and economical crises. We are at the bottom of the Anthropocene era when humanity is about to deal with the most complex problem ever faced.
What problems are the world facing?
The author describes these problems as Wicked problems and gives five of them for deep analysis. They are:
Plastic Oceans
Killer Calories
Antibiotics Breed Deadlier Bugs
Carbon Brings Planet to Boil
Space Junk Hits Critical Density
None of these examples has one specific cause. Their origins are deeply rooted in our modern lifestyle that is difficult to address responsible people. It is also difficult to propose changes without significant shifts in the way we are conducting our planet, our societies and our business.
But what might be causing them?
Elkington points out that the causes of these problems lie in our present system. In summary, the way capitalism is being made is stressing the environment and society to a point where both soon will be exhausted. He shares how top capitalist leaders are recognizing this aspect and how difficult it is to spread this unfortunately true.
Is easy to become labelled as communist and as someone against progress, but, as he shares, behaviours like this are natural stages for a change. And it is part of human behaviour when dealing with complex problems or facts deny their existence and simply let life go as usual. Elkington quotes Charles Eisentein of Yale University:
"When faced with an event that defies our usual explanations, we discard the event to preserve the explanation".
However, the problems exist. Environmental and social scientists are more them ever proving the facts. Take a look at the rise of extremist politicians and the frequency of extreme weather events. These are one in many examples Elkington shares throughout Green Swans that the world must dramatically change in the next 10 to 15 years.
Is there any solution?
The answer to these problems is in our valuing system. Elkington writes that the triple-bottom-line concept is still valuable but needs a new focus. He shares three valuing models systems and how humanity should shifty to the last one:
Shareholder value: Business as usual maximizes shareholder value, placing profit business as the centre of their activity. This is still the main practice in our times but we already see a more shared value in some companies.
Shared value: It is when businesses are equally balanced with the environment and society. Many companies are already acting towards this yet still have negative impacts. It is better than the previous but gives room for unintended Breakdowns (negatively and exponential changes).
System value: Is a system Future-fit. Where environmental, social and technological contexts are inserted in business practices. Companies here gives value not only to the shareholders but mainly, to the world. Susanne Stormer, vice president of corporate sustainability in Novo Nordisk, said:
"A successful company delivers value to the world"
That's good, but now?
Well, complex problems don't have direct solutions. Elkington at the beginning of the book states that Green Swans is a continuity of his work. He aims to expand and update debates about regenerative capitalism with practical examples he has seen in the past few years.
Governments, society and business differs in stages of awareness of problems and consequently actions towards a better future. The author shares five stages toward the regenerative capitalism
Stage 1: Rejection
Stage 2: Responsibility
Stage 3: Replication
Stage 4: Resilience
Stage 5: Regeneration
Most of the people (and businesses), unfortunately, lie on stage one. And very few business experiments may be classified as stage 5. No matter the stage where you or your company fit if you reached this point of the article you are already moving to stage 5.
Feel free to contact Oceanum and share your thoughts and desires. Count on us to a better business and lifestyle future-fit model.
