The New World of Work
Whether we like it or not, we are becoming a global community in ways of living and working. Young executives of today, from a variety of cultures, see themselves as belonging to a global community of humanity. The trend is increasing for globally sourced people, working flexible hours from home or remotely from site, on flexible contracts. Of course, this trend is quite understandable in the face of globalisation and digitisation opening up labour markets and increasing the flexibility required by employers. In parallel to this flexible, global emergence, surveys consistently show that Generation Y (under 30’s) are increasingly placing social purpose, work-place culture, ethics and organisational mission as fundamentally important in their lives, as well as fair remuneration.
This ‘new world of work’ changes the game for individuals and employers, in turn fundamentally changing the demands put on education to equip people for success. Some argue that we are on the cusp of a radical transformation in higher and further education. A paradigm shift from a silo’ed, hierarchical, atomised approach to education which teaches ‘chunks’ of subjects to its students; to a more tailored, integrated, applied, holistic approach to higher and further education aimed at providing an adequate supply of flexible, adaptable, entrepreneurial, self-motivated workers and leaders now increasingly demanded by the global community we live in.
With community comes the recognition, awareness and valuing of diversity and local differences. Globalisation without localisation strips away diversity encouraging mono-cultures to supersede multi-cultures in society and organisations. Through our desire to organise, manage, scale-up, co-ordinate and control we have tended towards encouraging mono-cultures where we seek to normalise behaviour, and in turn reduce organisational (and wider socio-economic) resilience. It is diversity that unleashes creativity; it is diversity that helps create conditions conducive for change. It is this important dynamic of ‘localisation within globalisation’ which is fundamental to ensuring vital resilience for organisations able to sail these stormy seas ahead.
It is within this emergent, locally-attuned, diverse, interconnected community we must find our way to work, rest and play. As our global community emerges, we see the emergence of global ethics and the acceptance of (and desire for) increasing flexibility, variety and sense of purpose. The roles of human resourcing, talent management, stakeholder engagement, higher-education and organisational training are evolving to meet this transformation.
For the original and full length version of this blog post please visit:
Connecting Business to Nature
Here is a guest blog by Simon Robinson is a consultant and teacher of Complexity, Innovation, Creativity and Sustainability in São Paulo, Brazil. He has been teaching the good work of ‘business inspired by nature’ to business people recently. Here are some of his findings; I hope you enjoy the read.
I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a day’s workshop on sustainability to the Community of Strategic Management in São Paulo. The community meet once every two months, the members of whom are all business executives responsible for strategy in a broad cross-section of some of the largest national and international companies in Brazil, including transport, energy, contraction, banking, manufacturing and government bodies. The group is managed by Maria Auxiliadora Robinson, Director of Education at Symnetics, a Brazilian management consultancy, who had the inspiration and vision for creating the extremely innovative format of dialogue, discussion and learning of this community.
‘Superorganisations’ – Learning from Nature’s Networks
This is a complete version of a ‘long-blog’ written by Al Kennedy on behalf of ‘The Nature of Business’ blog and BCI: Biomimicry for Creative Innovation www.businessinspiredbynature.com
I hope you enjoy this ‘long-blog’, as it covers important issues for today’s business paradigm shift and looks at the alignment of digitisation, organisational evolution and ecological thinking (and has useful links throughout for further information).
Fritjof Capra, in his book ‘The Hidden Connections’ applies aspects of complexity theory, particularly the analysis of networks, to global capitalism and the state of the world; and eloquently argues the case that social systems such as organisations and networks are not just like living systems – they are living systems. The concept and theory of living systems (technically known as autopoiesis) was introduced in 1972 by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela.
Yet, we as humankind insist on the desire to organise our activities and our business processes and systems, as Alan Moore from SMLXL states, “along engineered technical, mechanistic lines; when we are part of the natural world which is fluid, adaptive and asymmetrical. We need to start to think ‘ecologically’ about businesses and communications as a not only systems, but systems within systems.”
Five years ago last week, BNP-Paribas kick started the mother of all recessions.
Unprecedented fraud, mindless greed and reckless gambling in the financial sector (and lets be honest, among certain sections of the public too) fed an incredible turn of events with banks failing, currencies sliding and in Europe, entire nations going tightening their collective belts.
The financial crisis is just one of many drivers that Giles Hutchins, author of The Nature of Business, sees ushering in a new era for business.
His message for leaders is clear. It’s time to learn from the natural world. You evolve or you die.
Hutchins is a management consultant, formerly of KPMG, who specialises in applying lessons from nature to help businesses boost their sustainability through practices like biomimicry and cradle-cradle production patterns.
“The downturn has been very positive in the long run. We need these shocks,” says Hutchins. “Quite a lot of corporate social responsibility (CSR) was shutdown because it wasn’t core to the business, those activities needed to change. These transformational times are forcing people to change.”
“The economy as it was is not coming back. The changes are needed.”
The result is that big business is now in a position where it wants to change. Companies like Unilever and Nike are held up as good examples by Hutchins.
see full blog post here:
http://www.rtcc.org/business/why-a-new-business-era-inspired-by-nature-not-greed-can-benefit-us-all/
The Phoenix Economy – Breakthrough Beyond Breakdown
Out of the ashes of Economic Armageddon rises a new way.
We are amidst an economic breakdown – that much is now obvious. For instance:
- European and UK debt is now at unsustainable levels and rising fast.
- EU break-up is now becoming a real possibility, if that happens the UK government would take the unprecedented step of nationalising the banking system and would inject a massive £1 trillion through ‘quantitative easing’ into the economy to avoid catastrophe, and yet pushing the UK economy beyond serviceable debt levels.
- The US economy, previously thought of as being on the up, is now back in the doldrums and seems unable to kick-start itself even with massive levels of quantitive easing and fiscal stimulus. Any growth in the US economy is looking increasingly more fragile and unsustainable.
- Tawain and South Korea, seen as Asian bell-wether economies, are starting to flat-line on growth
- India and China, the mighty engines of global growth, are slowing with China now reversing policy on fiscal/monetary tightening to one of increased stimulus in order to prevent further economic slowdown which now seems all but inevitable.
- China’s fiscal stimulus is having less and less of a material effect on the long term viability of the Chinese economy. Now less that 50% of the spending actually has a material effect on GDP.
The world economic system is cracking. The current ‘take-make-waste’ short-term focused, rampant consumerist, debt-laden economic paradigm is dying as we speak. 2012 bears witness to the end of an old, corrupt world economic order. Unfortunately, as it dies it continues to suck in more debt to our economies, our societies and our planet. Yet, 2012 also bears witness to the emergence of a new way. 
The time is ripe for a paradigm shift.
As the saying goes ‘adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it’. The very conditions we need for a paradigm shift are now upon us. It is time for a breakthrough.
While the prevailing mind-set is out-dated it still rules the show, all around us are examples of inspiration for new ways of operating. Whether it be big business embarking on radical transformation (the likes of Nike, Unilever, Danone, etc.), small business delivering value through values (Patagonia, Ecover, Weleda, etc.), or social entrepreneurs bringing new innovations to life (Pavegen, Transition Towns, Bike CIC, etc.), or charities partnering with businesses to deliver social and environmental value (WWF, WaterAid, Forest Stewardship Council, etc.) the metamorphosis is happening in numerous ways. Business people are questioning whether they wish to remain part of the problem or become part of the solution!
As Volans recently reported in its ‘Pheonix Economy’ report ‘out of the ashes of the existing order will become a new reality’
Business can (and must) enhance society and the environment. It is a fallacy to think business behaviour has to be about benefiting some at the expense of the many and to the detriment of the wider fabric of life. The breakthrough paradigm is about business behaviours and mind-sets that help rather than hurt, where life (human and non-human) is benefited as a result of good business behaviour.
The paradigm shift we witness is about transforming toxic business to vibrant life enhancing business.
To quote Richard Branson:
Those businesses that do well by doing good are the ones that will thrive in the coming decades. Those that continue with ‘business as usual’, focused solely on profit maximisation, will not be around for long (and don’t deserve to be).
Bring on the paradigm shift, bring on the breakthrough. This is about each of us choosing to place new steps of change; each interaction, each transaction, each step offering chances to be the change you wish to see. Whether it is cycling to work, buying fair trade, going to a charity shop or changing jobs to one more in-line with your true values, each of us can allow the phoenix within us to rise so we become part of the solution rather than continue to sleep-walk along as part of the ever-more-obvious problem.
Business as usual is dangerous
The argument goes that globalisation has helped bring millions of people out of poverty and provided less inequality to the ‘rest of the world’; that global economic forces help drive equality and substantial increases in ‘wealth’ worldwide.
Yet is it heading in the wrong direction? Are the inequalities it is meant to be alleviating actually becoming more extreme due to it? Are the costs to our planet and people higher than the benefit to our economies?
The question of the moment is ‘Are we facing a paradigm shift in business and the economy, or are we to continue with our consumption-fuelled, debt-laden approach to business?’
It is worth noting that the vast majority of economic stimuli worldwide (with the notable exceptions of South Korea and in part Japan) has encouraged old ways of economic growth through ‘take-make-waste’ industry and short-term profit maximisation for some at the expense of the many.
Time to transform? Are you ready to transform? Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
The rather sobering reality is that the status quo is a delusion and business as usual is dangerous as it is toxic economically, socially and environmentally; it destroys life. We are heading in the wrong direction with wrong pricing, wrong focus and wrong beliefs.
Enter a new business paradigm rooted in a higher purpose where collective human ingenuity is applied to deliver ‘the good life’; a shift from ‘me to we’ and from separated-thinking to interconnected-thinking; where business enhances life and we become one with life: this is not the dream, this is the reality we need to embrace sharpish.
All it requires is each of us to wake up out of the celebrity-slumber and embrace ‘the good life’, voting through our daily actions.
Beauty Inspired By Nature
People often ask me for examples of ‘businesses inspired by nature’.
While there are many examples of organisations with aspects of applied nature’s inspiration, for example: InterfaceFLOR taking inspiration from nature for product design, Marks & Spencer taking inspiration from nature for process design (industrial ecology), and HOK taking inspiration from nature for place/structural design (architecture); the current reality is that there are few examples of organisations working in harmony with nature and applying nature’s inspiration to all aspects of the organisation (purpose, people, process, product & place). Fortunately, the appetite in businesses (corporate and non-corporate) for embracing nature’s inspiration at all levels is growing as organisations increasingly realise the benefits of transforming to models and mind-sets more in harmony with life on Earth.
Let’s take a peek in an unlikely place to find examples of what good business inspired by nature can look like: the beauty industry. As any wise person knows, beauty is more than skin deep. A recent article in ‘Green Parent’ magazine titled ‘More Than Skin Deep’ by Alex Fisher, explores how two companies Weleda and Dr. Hauschka took inspiration from nature in starting their organisations many years ago, and to this day still take inspiration from nature aiming to work in harmony with nature as best they can. Both companies align their purpose to caring for people and the planet through applying the principles of what is called anthroposophical medicine.
Dr. Rudolf Steiner and Dr. Ita Wegman in the 1920’s came up with anthroposophical medicine due to their strong belief that medicine should stimulate the body’s own healing powers and treat the body, mind, soul and spirit. In essence, anthroposophical medicine is about helping solve the cause rather than treating the effect. So often in today’s busy, all-consuming world we seek solutions to the effects rather than going deeper to tackle the under-lying cause. So often in today’s anxious and anthropocentric environment the under-lying cause to many of our ills is our dis-connection with nature, hence our dis-ease emanating from dis-harmony with our living and working environment.
Both Weleda and Dr. Hauschka apply their purpose to all aspects of their business. For instance, all aspects of the manufacturing process are conducted with respect for nature and the human being. Hence, both companies have created biodynamic farming methods which use natural methods to encourage fertility and growth rather than artificial stimulants and controls. These farms are open to the public (for instance, Ryton Gardens near Coventry) to share nature’s inspiration and help people re-connect with nature while offering a lovely day out as well as good public-relations. All product ingredients and design approaches are based on holistic principles and inspired by working with the grain of nature. Likewise with the two companies’ places of work; toilets use grey water, roof surfaces are planted where possible and the rain water collected for the gardens, and underground warehouses to assist natural cooling.
So often, in today’s confused corporate world, the purpose of the business is ‘to maximise shareholder returns’. Dr. Hauschka saw this growing mono-cultural approach in business and sought to protect the integrity of the organisation from such. The parent company (Wala) created a foundation (Wala Foundation) in 1986 which holds 100% of shares. All profits belong to the foundation and so investments in the future viability of the organisation, along with profit share for its employees, are met without fear of fickle shareholders focusing on short-term profits for their own benefit at the expense of the purpose, people, processes, products and places inherent in such a business inspired by nature. And so these organisations continue to perform well in increasingly challenging market conditions and continue to remain true to their purpose, working solely on ethical and environmental products and helping stakeholders harmonise with nature.
There are other examples of such values-led businesses in the beauty industry. For example, MuLondon (organic, cruelty-free products for people who care about people and the world around them) and Dr Bronner’s (free from synthetics and giving between 30%-70% of profits to charities).
And so in answering questions like ‘is there hope for humanity?’ and ‘is business inspired by nature too idealistic and unrealistic?’ I say the answers are all around us in nature and in the essence of human nature. It is up to you and me, each day, to decide whether we feed greed, jealousy, fear and selfishness or whether we feed love, compassion, wisdom, beauty and harmony. I know what I choose, yet no one said life was easy and I make mistakes daily. It is a fallacy to think that business (corporate or not, shareholder-owned or privately-owned, for profit or non-profit) has to be about benefiting the few at the expense of many. As Paul Polman (Global CEO of the world’s largest consumer goods company, Unilever) knows when he recently set about purging Unilever’s shareholders of ones only interested in short-term profits and bringing on shareholders interested in the long-term health and vitality of the organisation.
Many in business are moving to a new model. This blog seeks to explore the transformation to that new model, bringing to light examples and stories of inspiration. The Nature of Business book explores just this in detail. The future of business is ‘business inspired by nature’, and the future is bright.
watch this short 2min video to find out more…..
Real Sustainable Business – whole and parts
As the world becomes ever more globalised and inter-dependent so too must businesses interconnect the value-creation potential of social, environmental and economic factors.
This holistic approach to value ensures two important aspects are dealt with correctly for the firm of the future :
- 1. The values of the organisation are congruent with the value creation objectives of the organisation (social, environmental and economic). This means values and value reinforce each other and so a values-led culture drives the value creation potential of the organisation. This is fundamental to enabling local attunement, agility, empowerment and creative freedom governed by values and value focus, not by hierarchical command and control.
- The value creation potential of the organisation is realised for the short, medium and long term through a deep understanding of all relationships and resources within the organisation and wider business ecosystem. By rooting value creation in holistic value, the organisation can walk the talk; no more need for defensive protectionism or hidden exploitation, ensuring encouragement of mutually beneficial business activities for all stakeholders.
It is this awareness of the whole, the interconnected parts and the respective limits within which we operate that is at the heart of sustainable business. Creating the conditions conducive to life through values-led business is the bright future of business.
Firm of The Future
Due to a ‘perfect storm’ of economic, social and environmental factors, our business landscape is becoming more and more volatile.
The pace of change, too, is increasing. To succeed in business we must be agile, creative, alert, spontaneous and responsive – often operating in completely new ways. Today’s rapidly changing business environment calls for businesses that thrive in rapidly changing environments: businesses more akin to living systems. These ‘Firms of the Future’ can learn and adapt; they aren’t structured and silo’ed, which stifles learning and agility. These firms are also bottom-up, decentralised, interdependent, multifunctional, emergent, self-organizing units–not the centralised, top-down, hierarchically-managed monoliths of the 20th century.
Put simply, the business models and management approaches that served us well in the past, are no longer fit for purpose in a business context where dynamic change is the new norm.
Please visit here for the full post of this blog at 2Degrees
Also watch this video to find out more…..
The Nature of Business – A New Business Paradigm
Due to a number of business drivers, organisations now need to ‘redesign for resilience’ if they are to succeed in these volatile times, transforming to organisations that are more emergent, inter-connected, values-led, organic and inspired by nature. Ecological principles act as guidelines for how nature works and how ecosystems develop resilience. These same ecological principles can help reshape our businesses and economies, in fact they will become the foundational principles for any new ‘Green Economy’ that has a chance of being resilient in these volatile times.
In the book ‘The Nature of Business’ (and subsequent BBC documentary of the same title), we explore how organisations of the future, of all shapes and sizes, are ones that:
1. Drive transformation through values-led leadership and stakeholder empowerment using the catalysts of education, innovation, inspiration and collaboration;
2. Encourage synergies across their business ecosystem, engaging with multiple stakeholders in an open, transparent way; where common values create connections enabling mutualism;
3. Harness the power of social networks and the “pull” media; use crowd sourcing, co-creation, open source collaboration platforms and transparent branding for differentiation;
4. Evolve ecological thinking for new ways of operating; where waste equals food and nature inspires the people, processes, products and places.
Over the last 3.8 billion years, nature has survived and flourished through times of radical change and disruption by dynamically networking and collaborating among species and throughout ecosystems. Competition and constraints help shape nature, yet it is collaboration and synergy – not competition – that are responsible for nature’s sustained success. The species most able to survive and evolve are those most able to sense and respond, adapt and align, and work in partnership with and within their ecosystems. Diversity, flexibility and collaboration, we find, is core to the interwoven evolutionary journey of life – the driving forces that provide resilience within species and ecosystems.
The more we explore nature’s wisdom the more we find insight for the transformation our organisations need. Industrial ecology, for example, challenges the over-exploitative nature of the current ‘take–make–waste’ industrial paradigm. It uses inspiration from nature in exploring how systems can be more interconnected and less linear – where waste of one part of the ecosystem is input for another, and hence there is no need for wasteful emissions of any kind (whether gas, liquid or solid waste), as long as the right interconnections are in place.
Biomimicry as a school of thought suggests that we can learn to play by the rules of nature, which offer a very rich source of inspiration to challenge our current unsustainable business practices and invent new strategies based on ‘nature’s business principles’. A Business Inspired By Nature is one that is resilient, optimising, adaptive, systems-based, values-led, and life supporting – these are ‘nature’s business principles’.
These principles do not seek to reduce organisational behaviour to biology, rather, they suggest a set of behaviours and qualities that simply echo the law of the system – Earth – upon which our lives and our businesses depend. They recognise the complexity of human nature and nurture, and are neither a model nor a theory, but rather a philosophy that reminds us that while humans are a special species on Earth, we are still part of nature and subject to its law. If we do not conduct our business within the constraints of the system, we will inevitable go out of business.
Core to a ‘Green Economy’ or for that matter a new business paradigm is our relationship with ourselves (our human nature) and our human relationship with nature. The wise words of Confucius, 500 BC, speak volumes ‘He who is in harmony with nature hits the mark without effort and apprehends the truth without thinking’.
In these challenging (yet pivotal) times for business and humanity, we must realise that to become truly sustainable, human and business life has to become scientifically inspired, emotionally connected and spiritually entwined with nature and Gaia. Nature and business (as with nature and humanity) must be symbiotic and operate in mutualism for there to be anything resembling a successful outcome. The sooner business realises the opportunities that come with being connected to and inspired by nature, the better for humanity, and for all species.
The Nature of Business video clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2LN3rrkiW0&feature=youtu.be
Some endorsements
‘Giles Hutchins has taken a big idea, and in nine easy modules, peppered with examples and checklists, takes the reader on a journey to a resilient firm of the future, starting today.’
Catherine Cameron, Director of Agulhas & Senior Associate at the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership
‘The Nature of Business’ is not just a very entertaining read, but also a redoubtable sparring partner. A must read for everyone involved in the business of the future…. and aren’t we all?
Mick Bremans, Chairman, Ecover
‘Giles takes us through this remarkable world of business seen through the eyes of nature. Finally a guide to take this to the next level!’ Gunter Pauli, Founder of ZERI & The Blue Economy
This is a brave book and a must read for those seeking to make positive change happen in business and beyond. Hunter Lovins, President of Natural Capitalism Solutions & Co-Author of Natural Capitalism
‘This book is important for anyone seeking a roadmap to the future.’ Tim Smit, Founder of The Eden Project
‘There is an energy, a pulse, a reverberating urgency that calls us to reflect and then take action in this book…. This book scores a line in the sand and invites us to step across, raise our voices, become visible, and engage.’Tim Macartney, Director of Embercombe & author of Finding Earth, Finding Soul
To pre-order your copy of The Nature of Business please visit www.greenbooks.co.uk/natureofbusiness. or google ‘giles hutchins’ on Amazon
