What if businesses existed not to price-gouge consumers and destroy the planet, but to be part of a pathway to a flourishing future?  What if the end-of-year reports were not expensive exercises in greenwash, but were actually truthful - and useful.  With B.Lorraine Smith, creator of Matereality.

B. Lorraine Smith is a writer, speaker, corporate mischievist, and generally curious student of life. She changes minds (most often her own), casting a dubious eye on the line between work and play. She holds a vision of a future where all industry is a force for healing and any exceptions compost themselves into history. 

She has been working towards this vision with global companies since 2004, bringing together activists, executives and thought-leaders.  she shares what she finds as she goes along, telling as much truth as she can figure out how to spell. (Or, in the case of Matereality, how to respell.)

Originally from Toronto, Canada, she spent a decade based in New York City and recently relocated to Montreal, all the better to explore the banks of the St. Lawrence River (whom she calls Lia).

She runs ultra-long distances on urban trails, spins and knits her own original designs, and holds doggedly to the belief that our senses of connectedness and curiosity are our best assets. 

She is an independent consultant whose purpose is to contribute to the shift to a regenerative economy, one where society thrives within a healthy biosphere. Her areas of expertise inform each other – as a writer, consultant, ultramarathoner, textile artisan and sojourner.  She describes her approach as “spore-based,” taking a cue from nature about how to evolve and spread important ideas.

Lorraine has consulted for leading change-agents and large companies, informing strategy and stakeholder dialogue to shift us to a regenerative economy. She is also a frequent speaker at conferences on sustainability and corporate innovation.

She speaks fluent French and Portuguese, as well as conversational German and Spanish. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Lorraine has lived in Australia, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand and New York City. She currently calls Montréal home.

In this episode, following on from our conversation with Jennifer Hinton 2 episodes ago, we delve deeply into the concepts that underpin Lorraine's idea of 'Matereality' - what it is, and how her experience as a 'sustainability consultant' to some of the world's largest companies has led her to a new way of assessing the impact a business actually has on the planet and people it is, in theory, designed to serve.

What would the world be like if corporations actually decided to benefit people and planet?  Actually. Not their share holders or the vulture capitalists?

With grace, humility and endless humour, Lorraine describes her journey and her conclusions of how we could re-shape the business world in time to change the trajectory towards global melt-down.  This is an episode full of ideas at the corporate level, that we can nonetheless bring into our own lives. We all live in the corporate world. Even if we don't talk at C-Suite level, we are the glue that holds everything together - and we can change the ways we interact with the corporate Masters of the Universe. 

Lorraine's website https://www.blorrainesmith.com/matereality
Website    https://www.blorrainesmith.com
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