This year I’ve been giving thanks to so many things – from nature’s gift of generosity, to the simple pleasures I find when I connect with the forest during my trips to the North Shore of Lake Superior. Yet what I’m finding to be one of the greatest gifts I’ve received this year has been my connection to a new set of world leaders who are determined to create a better future, one that embraces regenerative business, and pursues interdependent, living systems models for growth, engagement and profit.
We are all part of the natural world and we’re all connected. As a way of saying thanks, my rollup this month includes a list of some of my favorite thought leaders, and links to their writings.
I encourage you to follow these people, and to add to the list in the comments.
- Blue Dot Consulting is a leader in living systems design, and I find Matt Rezac’s writings to be particularly astute. Here’s a sample of one of his more political pieces.
- Jennifer Campbell is a Change Manager and Systemic Leadership Expert who designs, delivers and leads purpose driven change, leadership and organization development projects. Her thoughts on the need for systemic change today are profound, and I encourage you to follow and learn from her.
- Michelle Holiday is a teacher and storyteller who brings joy and hope into her work, as evidenced in this piece on Coming Together at the Crossroads. Michelle’s work on what she has named “Thrivability” is truly inspirational, particularly at this time in our lives.
- While Pamela Hibbler of TechMae may not be writing specifically about sustainable business practices, as a tech entrepreneur she clearly gets it when it comes to building interdependent systems. In particular she often writes through a social justice lens about organizations, diversity and in particular, gender equality in the business world.
- I’ve written before about technology’s role in building new, interdependent business structures, and Marcus Blankenship’s work demonstrates how interconnected technology and living systems really are. He’s also a delightful character with the ability to work within traditional industry, but with a new, fresh perspective.
- It’s been a privilege to partner with leadership development guru Steph Jacobs for our Leading Through Disruption sessions and I’m looking forward to working even more closely with her in the future. Steph wrote recently about her The Baby Steps of Change from the unique perspective of our larger world view, and a recent addition to her family.
- I learned about Desiree Driesenaar recently, and as a true regenerative strategist her writing always does an outstanding job of connecting our professional lives with nature, as you can see in this piece on A Feminine Way to Productivity.
- If you’re not familiar with Carol Sanford and her book The Regenerative Life, you should be. Carol has been writing about transforming business for a long time, and I consider her one of the definitive voices in the movement toward more sustainable, natural leadership practices.
- Finally, my good friend and ally, Martin Murphy is the author of From Mercenaries to Missionaries -Designing, developing and leading high performing teams in your growing business and a thought leader who seems to delight in connecting like-minded people. I encourage you to connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter to read more of his musings. Here’s a quick snippet of how he views the world.
Dear Kathleen, I have yet to read your book though it’s on order and I am excited to read it. My first order on Amazon was cancelled, so maybe they didn’t have a supply on hand. I re-ordered it and so we’ll see what happens. I’m in Canada.
I already have a good sense of what sustainability is about and how to achieve it.
I don’t know if you mention it in your book, but it’s never discussed that our money system is not sustainable and is actually at the root of a lot (maybe most) of the unsustainable behaviour on the planet. I firmly believe that unless this is addressed we are in trouble. Sadly, Bernard Lietaer died in February 2019 and although he already published a lot of his research in books and articles, I don’t think he thought he was at the end of his life, so he quickly gathered a selection of his friends to record his wishes and insights, which they have done.
It’s available here https://sustainable-world.ch/
There are lots of videos of him on youtube where he explains his ideas. I have so admired him and learned so much and I want to spread his word anywhere I can.
I came across your book from Carol S Pearson’s blog. I love her insights too. Thank you so much and I’m really looking forward to your book.
Love,
Martha Burneston
Martha, Thanks for your comment. I also think our relationship to money isn’t sustainable. We need to think very differently about how to reset the economy. I will check out the sustainble-world link you shared. Thank you!