Rewilding Business - The Future Of Business

Rewilding Business is an exploration of business through nature's lens. In this track, I explore the future of business, how it can bring us closer to nature and how we can navigate the transition from an exploitative model to a natural one.

Transcript

We are in times of great change.

We hear it all the time,

But what does it actually look like or mean?

Our world is changing so fast,

Technology is diversifying at an extraordinary rate,

Our social structures are in constant flux,

Economies are in turmoil,

Politics are far from settled,

And our environment is experiencing mind-blowing levels of exploitation and degradation.

The state of the world is a reflection of the prevailing consciousness.

But when consciousness begins to change,

The outer realities also have to change,

And that is where we are now.

Many individuals are feeling increasingly at odds with the way the world is,

And are actively seeking alternative ways to live and work.

Some of the key themes that are high on their agendas,

And it is far from exhaustive,

Include social injustice and exclusion,

Control of global decisions by an elite few,

Environmental degradation,

The destruction of communities and environments in every part of the world,

Control of resources,

And the twisting of policy to fit the interests of powerholders,

To name a small handful.

The list is long.

How we live and work is a reflection of this state.

What we value,

How we treat each other,

And how we relate to the natural world are reflections of the prevailing consciousness.

Our mental,

Emotional,

Physical and spiritual well-being has been severely damaged at an individual and collective level,

And many want change.

That change begins within.

Many are trying to redress the balance for themselves,

And some are choosing to do this through the work they do as well,

Because they see the possibility of a different future.

They see that they have the power to bring about change,

Not just for themselves,

But for all.

Business is becoming a vehicle of change.

We are at a crossroads.

Both the old and the new exist,

On opposite ends of a seesaw.

Right now,

The old has the balance of perceived power.

Change is about critical mass.

It may feel like an unwinnable battle,

But for every person who chooses to move to the other end of the seesaw,

The balance shifts a little further.

Culture changes bit by bit,

Until we reach a tipping point.

For millennia,

We have functioned on polarity,

Swinging from one extreme to another.

It's not an approach that serves us well.

What we need to find is a little harmony.

Business models and systems fit squarely in the old dynamic.

They are designed to contain and control decision-making and perceptions,

Direct resources and exploit them.

Conscious entrepreneurs have been using these systems to create new pathways.

But you cannot create the new with the old.

The systems distort the intention,

And the principle upon which those systems are based,

Distort the energy.

When you butt heads with a problem for long enough,

The need for change becomes overwhelming.

It starts with shifting language,

Which we have been seeing for the last few years.

But this goes nowhere near far enough because the old systems are still operating.

New business thinking,

Systems and models are needed to make it possible for business to contribute to societal change.

One area that stands out is psychology.

It's widely used to control how we think,

Live and perceive.

Primarily it exploits known patterns and weaknesses to create a desired outcome,

Which typically benefits the user of psychology.

It is systemic within marketing.

And marketing is used in politics,

The media and business to control how we think and act.

Bottom line performance also stands out for its role in shaping culture,

Whether it is in the individual wallet or GDP.

It is focused on leveraging human and natural resources to get the biggest possible profit.

And how you get there is not an issue.

Hence we are seeing massive environmental destruction.

Slave labour as standard in some industries,

Child labour,

Animal labour,

Low wages,

Zero hours contracts,

Reduced worker protections and disregard for unseeded indigenous lands or the rights of their communities.

The focus of business on the bottom line does not support the long-term health of people or planet.

And so we arrive at our crossroads.

And all of this is now as visible as the piles of fast fashion in the Atacama desert,

Or piles of waste plastic in Asia.

As it becomes more visible,

Perception inevitably shifts.

And once it reaches a critical mass,

Action follows.

But that doesn't mean action isn't possible now.

Action now will drive perception shifts faster.

Most entrepreneurs who are intuitive and cause-driven have been uncomfortable for some time.

It isn't always a case of being able to put words to the sense of discomfort,

But it is still there.

The systems of business have disconnected them from their purpose and they've been trying to fight their way back to their own path.

This is why my focus is on creating solutions and tools that work for intuitives,

Because without them,

No progress is possible.

We need experimentation and curiosity,

Which is what my business is naturally designed to do.

The core issues we face are shifting the core values of business so that they represent what we want to see in the world.

Instead of creating a business that is financially successful so it has the resources to do good work,

We can be designing and operating businesses upon a holistic,

Rounded values base.

In terms of meeting and leading expectations,

It is the businesses that go beyond current expectations that lead the shifts in consciousness and culture.

Setting goals to operate sufficiently far outside the norms is going to adjust expectations of businesses and require others to follow suit.

Going ahead of the curve requires a strong mindset and self-belief.

Honing your inner authority will give you the courage and resilience to follow your path out of the status quo.

You can begin to respond to these challenges by challenging the beliefs,

Approaches and systems that underpin your business,

Critically assessing if they are there because they are right or because they have been imposed through some conditioned thinking.

And also by creating alternatives through experimentation.

Not everything is going to work,

But you learn from everything you do.

That's the nature of innovation on the shifting sands of change.

You can get clear on how you want to treat customers,

Clients,

Staff,

Partners,

Stakeholders,

Supply chain providers.

Having clear and robust standards that are designed into every aspect of your business is going to help fuel the change.

Define your values and how you will uphold them in every part of your business,

Including how you will actively engage others in living them.

Define how you want to protect and actively support the natural world through your business.

Your business is an expression of nature.

It has an essential role to play in nourishing life,

Which goes far beyond simple concepts of sustainability.

Get clear on what success means to you on a personal level,

A performance level and an impact level.

Create stories that emerge from the soul of your business to engage everyone in your vision of change.

Create things that shift the baseline of experience and expectation.

Move the goalposts for everyone through your vision.

Go above and beyond what others might expect in ways that shift perspective and reset the standards.

Know what you need to support yourself to challenge,

Create and lead change.

And critically assess your business to see where it is tied to the old and how.

Do a root and branch review,

Which has to include your own mindset and beliefs,

Some of which you will be blind to and will need someone to reflect back to you.

Your business needs to be engaged with the consciousness shift on a proactive level.

Businesses that resist this will ultimately fail and the work to rebuild will still have to be done.

Developing the skills and tools to respond to and lead the changes will position your business to thrive.

Now is an amazing opportunity to lead the change and become a beacon of that change.

Embracing this will draw people to you in ways that you won't expect and the nature of the relationship that follows will be completely different.

I believe that businesses which are a true reflection of a sole purpose actively contribute to global well-being.

Conscious choices to uphold values and challenge others to shift into new behaviours can restore how we function as communities and the respect that we have for each other.

I believe that businesses have a natural patterning which means they can be an active participant in ecosystems which will directly challenge the models of exploitation both through beliefs and action.

I know that my role and the work of my business is to create alternatives so that entrepreneurs have the information and tools to challenge and lead.

This means my business has to be curious,

Experimental and prepared to fail.

What's the role of your business in change?

Every business connected to its natural patterning has a role in this change.

When you know yours,

Your path into the new consciousness and business dynamic will become clear.

And right now we can all embrace being in between realities while we explore the threads that can guide us forward.

Reviews

We need more people to embrace this way of business for sure, Polly 🙏