General

May 1, 2014

“We don’t see how things are, we see them according to how we are”.   ― Anaïs Nin Modern neurobiology is providing evidence of what philosophers have been saying for a long time. What we observe is controlled and filtered by our beliefs and values, particularly in complex situations.  How we see and respond to situations is…

April 25, 2014

A different aspect of the shift to regenerative thinking is the development of a group of value-sharing initiatives that leverage the Internet to deliver value. In their book “What’s Mine is Yours”, Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers identify different forms of collaborative consumption systems including:

January 15, 2014

The distinctions we make in the language we use are really important. Language is what we use to invent our future.  In the evolving language of sustainability, the shift towards a regenerative approach reflects not just new strategies, but a new world view that offers enormous opportunity. I’m better with words than pictures, so it…

December 30, 2013

As one of the big thinkers behind the development of Ontological Coaching, Fernando Flores is always worth reading.  This article is particularly relevant to environmental sustainability and regenerative business: “Fernando Flores has just delivered a major report to the nation of Chile on the subjects of innovation and preparing for the future. In English, SURFING…

December 27, 2013

When I was little, my mum used to yell at me “Don’t play on the road – you’ll get killed by a car!” That was a long time ago – we now know that the human brain doesn’t process negatives well.  I’m not a parent, however I understand that these days the advice is to…

December 26, 2013

Early in my sustainability journey I came across The Better World Handbook . The wisdom in its introduction empowered me to manage some of my emotions about “the tough stuff” and whether this sustainability thing was for me. As I sat down to do some planning for the coming year it seemed a good time to…

December 5, 2013

Back in the 1960s, psychology researcher Martin Seligman and his team discovered how to create helplessness and passivity – first in animals and later in humans.  Some sustainability campaigners could learn an important lesson from his research about how to present their message so it generates action rather than helplessness.

November 30, 2013

I pulled the book “Cubicle Commando. Intrapreneurs, Innovation and Corporate Realities” off my bookshelf this week.  Here’s the back cover intro: “You don’t have to leave your job to express your true self.  You can do it right there from inside the tent.”  Lisa Messenger & Zern Liew Likewise, if you want to make a…

November 17, 2013

I’ve been watching a LinkedIn conversation about “taking the immense risk that Climate Change is posing” and watched it transform into a believe/don’t believe conversation about human-induced climate change. To me, sustainability advocates have a much more powerful challenge to make, especially to business players.  We can ask them a different and more immediate set…