The short answer is no – we cannot change the world through business without first changing ourselves. Einstein warned that “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them,” a truth that rings louder than ever as climate breakdown, socio-economic upheaval and global power shifts make our world more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). If we cling to old, extractive mindsets, the sustainability movement will lose the hard-won progress of the past decade. The only way forward is a personal and organisational transformation that rewires how we think, feel and act.
First, let’s celebrate the wins
Progress has been made and we must not forget it. My company, Cotswold Fayre, became a B Corp over 10 years ago, and the surge in sustainable business since then has been phenomenal. In 2015, when we first earned B Corp certification, we had one fellow B Corp supplier and one B Corp customer. By April 2020 that number had risen to six certified suppliers; today we work with over 90 B Corp suppliers and are approaching 20 B Corp customers.
Certification is a starting gate, not a destination
A sustainability certification is a useful benchmark, but it is merely a gate-keeper, not a finish line. The social and environmental harms businesses have caused stem from an extractive, ‘profit at all costs’ mindset paired with a control-manage leadership style. As Einstein reminded us, using the same leadership model to engineer a solution will only reproduce failure. Box-ticking a set of sustainability metrics is better than nothing, yet it will not lift us out of the current mess.
Leadership must engage heart and soul
We need a more radical approach – one that involves not just the mind but also our heart and soul. Deep connection with others and with nature is essential. In many sustainability circles nature is treated as something separate; it is not. We are nature. Our bodies host roughly 100 trillion microbial cells compared with 10 trillion human cells, underscoring how intimately we are woven into the living world.
Nature is not separate – we are nature
The illusion of separation began with the agricultural revolution and was cemented by Descartes and Bacon during the scientific revolution, which taught the West that anything not provable by the rational brain has no value. Their mantra ‘I think, therefore I am’ ran counter to ancient wisdom and has since been shown to be fundamentally flawed (see Descartes’ Error, Antonio Damasio, 2006). This conscious-level split has birthed many of today’s crises.
From ‘do less harm’ to regenerative transformation
When we deepen our bond with nature, the desire to harm it wanes, and we begin to design businesses that are not merely sustainable but regenerative, mirroring nature’s default mode. Likewise, greater compassion for fellow humans turns our enterprises into forces for good for workers, local communities and supply chains. We must shift from a ‘do less harm’ mindset to a regenerative ‘transform for good’ approach, moving from scarcity-driven extraction to an abundance-driven attitude.
When spreadsheets are balanced with love and compassion, progress becomes tangible. This shift demands personal transformation and, at times, self-sacrifice, but it also delivers a deep fulfilment in business life that most of us have never experienced.
