Last week I asked: “If your company were focused on building regenerative capacity—its own, of its value chain, of its communities, of the local and planetary ecosystems that support it—how might you do your business differently? What new opportunities might emerge?”
It seems the theme’s a meme. It’s there in The Upcycle, the new book from Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart, and Flourishing, the latest gem from John Ehrenfeld. It’s even on many lips at FortuneGreen this week.
Think about it:
- What if the extraction of the raw materials that make up your product or that enable your service built soil and revitalized ecosystems? Or what if there was no primary extraction at all?
- What if your manufacturing or service delivery processes were “net zero” consumers of energy and water? Or “net positive” producers of renewable energy and clean water?
- What if your embrace of “extended producer responsibility” (or total producer responsibility) not only eliminated your non-product output but also glued your customers to your business?
- And what if all this delivered exceptional financial results, as well as the satisfaction of a job well done?
That’s what I’m talking about these days with our clients.