Issue #20
Entrepreneurship for Systemic Change
Seven! That is how many planetary boundaries humanity has now breached. A new report from the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab confirms we have crossed the line on ocean acidification. Out of the nine boundaries defined by Johan Rockström’s team in 2009, seven are now breached. We are way beyond the safe zone.
For those following the research, this comes as no surprise. Kate Raworth’s paper written with Andrew L. Fanning and published in Nature Magazine reminds us that “economic policymaking that assigns priority to perpetual economic growth has been failing to bring humanity into the Doughnut’s safe and just space.” In plain terms: it is going to hurt.
The question isn’t if we’ll adapt our social and economic models, but how fast we’ll do it before collapse forces a far more painful transformation.
Where can hope come from? Who can lead the change?
Politicians? Let’s be honest. The era of the fearless leaders charging ahead is long gone. Today’s politicians are followers at best, hostages to short-termism and lobbyists at worst. I have lost hope. Waiting for our governments to act is like waiting for a miracle, except miracles have a higher success rate.
Consumers? Please. We are biological creatures reacting to the stimuli of our environment. Asking us to “consume better” while drowning us in fast fashion, junk food, and algorithmic ads is not just naïve, it’s cruel. It creates addiction and cognitive dissonance on a societal scale, and may drive us collectively insane. We can’t guilt-trip our way out of systemic collapse.
Corporates? Maybe. Eventually. Some giants might pivot, but don’t hold your breath. The truth is that the Planet, People, Profit triptych collapses as soon as profit growth is at risk. Total Energies recently announced they will reduce their investments, including on renewables, to protect dividends.
Still, they are exceptions that give us hope. Patagonia’s dividends are now used to protect the planet! The Chouinard family’s bold move highlights an important fact: the businesses that truly innovate toward sustainability are, more often than not, family-owned.
When Japan’s Suntory or its much smaller French counterpart Pietra work on water conservation, they’re not only preserving ecosystems: they’re protecting the next generation’s livelihood. When the Swiss DSM-Firmenich or the French Mustela work on environmental preservation, they are considering their dependence on biodiversity and their businesses’ long-term resilience.
Yes, profits are necessary. But family businesses are not only driven by quarterly dividends; they plan for continuity and care for the future. As should we.
Entrepreneurs?
But family businesses are only one piece of the puzzle, and not all families have understood the urgency. We need new companies that can charge ahead without the burden of legacy organisations and systems. We need conscious entrepreneurs building businesses that will have an impact. Let me share two examples I know (I have invested in both):
Nutreets develops solutions to produce more food, more sustainably, with less intrants. They did not invent aquaponics, but they made it practical for their customers to actually start bringing vegetables and fish to our plates while reducing their water consumption by 90%, eliminating the need for pesticides and fertilisers.
Chapoget has created a sustainable luxury luggage piece: The Cabin Trunk. As I have mentioned in previous letters, we designed it for durability, repairability and recyclability, while ensuring it remains a beautiful object you will want to keep for life. We are now in pre-launch and raising funds to finance production. (Feel free to reach out if you’d like to learn more.)
Will these and other impact-driven companies succeed? I don’t know. Some entrepreneurs will thrive and probably get rich on the way, others will not be so lucky. But collectively, we will push the system to evolve. If only because incumbents will have to respond to the competitive pressure.
We need you!
The good news: we can all contribute to building the momentum needed for this messy and uncomfortable adventure of transition: entrepreneurs advancing life-compatible businesses, consumers asking hard questions, investors backing resilience over short-term profits, citizens supporting meaningful change.
Each one of us is a node in the larger system. When we move, when we connect with others and new ideas, we shift the world around us. When we act not upon the question “What can I do for myself”, but “What can I do for myself that will help others”, we become makers of change.
As usual, this letter, originally published on LinkedIn, is meant to open a discussion: join it here.
Lenny Kessler