Purpose Inspired: by Wayne Visser

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.