Ecosystem Healing: A Call to Action for the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building Field

We are a nation wounded. One has only to read the daily headlines, memes and tweets for an instant reminder of this painful fact — though, for many of us, there is no reminder needed.

We are accustomed to the word ‘wound’ used in the context of a personal physical injury. Yet, ‘wounded’ is exactly how I would describe the state of Americans over the past several months, as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the racial violence and aftermath. The complexity of our current circumstances have left many local, regional, and national leaders paralyzed in the face of uncertainty and intersectional crises — including health, economics, politics, and race.

Living Systems | My career and community as an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder has instilled within me a need and ability to approach barriers and challenges by taking a systems-based approach. An examination of living systems can provide compelling frameworks for addressing complex issues. As I have pondered my own personal response to this unprecedented zeitgeist, my mind has gravitated toward personification as a means to process and sense-make around what we are all experiencing. If America were a person, it would currently be suffering from a deep and open wound caused by significant trauma; more accurately, we are experiencing the damages caused by multiple types and layers of trauma simultaneously.

Trauma | The most simple type of trauma is acute. Acute trauma results from a single incident, in a limited timeframe. Examples of acute traumatic events include going through a natural disaster, being involved in an accident or being injured. We, as individuals and as a society, have established fairly effective norms for treating or addressing acute trauma, whether it be physical or psychological. We have become adept at triage response. We have the problem diagnosed, we are provided with a simple and effective treatment or solution, the damage is fixed or the wound is covered and we move on. When our country experiences any kind of trauma, we instinctively go into triage mode, always responding as if it is acute.

The problem is that treatments for acute trauma do not work for deeper types of trauma, such as chronic, historical, national, and complex — all of which we are experiencing simultaneously as a nation right now. These traumas all cross-cut the fabric of our collective identity and myriad of ecosystems.

• Chronic trauma is typically repeated and prolonged and/or a multilayering of events. The COVID-19 pandemic is chronic trauma that has caused devastating ripple effects throughout society worldwide. We are collectively facing our own mortality, literally facing issues of life and death just by leaving our homes. The need to protect ourselves from the virus has caused a series of other, layered traumatic events including the closing of businesses, the loss of jobs, a plunge in the stock market, the upended of our educational and childcare systems — all exacerbated for vulnerable and already disenfranchised communities.
• Historical trauma is a collective traumatic experience amongst a specific group of people that impacts their role in society. Historical trauma consists of three factors: the widespread nature, traumatic events resulting in a collective suffering, and the malicious intent of those inflicting the trauma. Historical trauma can result in a greater loss of identity and meaning, which in turn may affect generations upon generations until the trauma is ingrained into society. America, in spite originally being founded on principles of freedom and independence, has a repetitive pattern of historical trauma, with at least four people groups who have experienced historical trauma: Jewish Americans, recent immigrant refugee populations, indigenous peoples, and Black Americans — with the latter two traumatization taking place on American soil. Historical trauma leads to ingrained fears, anger, mistrust, and guilt in, and between, both those that have been traumatized and those that have historically been the aggressors.
• Complex trauma is exposure to varied and multiple traumatic events, often at the hands of what should be a trusted party; it also does not end when the actual traumatic event or series of events ends, but continues to have residual negative effects long after. The disturbing murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery at the hands of American police officers is only a recent wave of acts of complex trauma perpetrated against Black Americans in this country and has a direct correlation to the engrained emotions that stem from the historical trauma and blood-stained relational legacy of slavery in country. The raping and forced impregnation of black women slaves, lynchings, segregation, discriminatory practices in education and hiring, the burning of Black Wall Street and similar events, redlining, the criminalization and inequitable incarceration of Black men, unequal pay and microaggressions, among other factors, have created a cascading complex trauma and re-traumatization that has extended the wounds of slavery far into the present.
• National trauma applies generally to the members of a collective group such as a country or other well-defined group of people. An adverse experience or experiences that are unexpected, painful, extraordinary, and shocking results in interruptions in ongoing processes or relationships and may also create maladaptive responses. These kinds of tragic experiences can collectively wound or threaten the national identity. It is important to understand that, in this context, the national trauma is not just felt by Blacks, or any specific people group, but by the entire nation, as it collectively witnesses and lives through these traumatic events and their responses, played out repeatedly in the media and our social networks. This latter phenomenon also serves as a triggering reminder for people groups who have experienced historical and complex trauma. In addition, certain images and sounds cause us to activate fight or flight responses, to go inward, to seek safety and solace from those that look, think, and behave as we do, which can breed further division.

Crossroads | Our country now stands at a precarious crossroads, experiencing a national trauma that has been brought on the layering of all of the previous traumas at one point in time. What we choose to do in response, as individuals, families, companies, organizations, and as a nation, will impact our collective future and that of our descendants. If we choose to give into anger and fear, we will lose the best parts of ourselves. If we choose to wait for a magic policy bullet, we will be sorely disappointed, as governments cannot regulate tolerance. If we choose to triage with only an acute treatment for these deep and open wounds, covering them up and hoping they will heal over time, we will be condemning all of our descendants to re-traumatization. This time we must make a different choice. We must choose neither flight or fight, but rather, something new. If America is to survive, we must now intentionally choose healing. We must take a trauma-informed approach to our collective recovery.

Trauma-Informed Approach | According to SAMHSA, the Federal organization that administers mental health services, a program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed:

1. Realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery;
2. Recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system;
3. Responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and
4. Seeks to actively resist re-traumatization.

Our ecosystems, our economy, our businesses, or communities, and our nation are forever changed by the result of these layered and cross-cutting traumas. Given this understanding, I now see my previous role as an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder through a new, trauma-informed lens — by necessity. If we ever had the power to actually ‘build’ anything, that has now been upended. We will be unable to build trust and connectivity, unable to effectively build webs of support for entrepreneurs, without factoring in the collective traumas that now undergird them and their lived experiences. We must see and address the entrepreneur as a whole person, our businesses far beyond profit margins and our ecosystems with a complexity that interweaves economic development, health, racial/social justice, politics, housing, education/childcare, etc. Most importantly, we must take a trauma-informed approach to our work. We must help our ecosystems heal before they can thrive again.

Regenerative Ecosystems | What does a trauma-informed approach to economic development and ecosystem building look like? I propose that we look to create what I have coined as ‘Regenerative Ecosystems’. A regenerative ecosystem A regenerative entrepreneurial ecosystem is one that spurs equitable wealth through transformational and compensatory change in the way it values, develops, and nurtures businesses — and those that create them. These communities derive equitably shared value through collective sense-making and healing. In this new paradigm, here are some tangible actions you can take to step into your new role as an ecosystem healer:

1. Realize | Actively observe, acknowledge and accept the widespread impact of trauma in our national and local economy, communities, and individuals, including on yourself. Avoid minimizing the trauma of others because it is not your lived experience.
2. Recognize | See and consider the unique and varied responses to trauma as they manifest themselves during this recovery period. Educate yourself on new strategies based on living systems and other world cultures that have more mature emotional intelligence
3. Respond | Integrate your emerging knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices within your ecosystem work. Adapt your ecosystem design approach to meet the current needs of our communities and meet entrepreneurs where they are.
4. Re-traumatization | Be willing to think, behave, and act in new ways that prevent re-traumatization during our economic recovery — i.e. the reinstitution of harmful practices and systems. Lean into the leadership of American people groups that have experienced historical traumas for cues and lessons on resilience in the face of adversity.

Of course, these are just a start.

In this confusing and uncertain time, I am finding many allies across the field have approached me seeking understanding and guidance from my lens as a Black woman and ecosystem builder. I appreciate the genuine desire to do something now and in the moment to make a difference. My response has been measured because I don’t want to underestimate the challenge ahead. Catalyzing the emergence of regenerative entrepreneurial ecosystems will not be an overnight occurrence. Remember that there is no instant cure to deep wounds. True and last healing takes time.

Start. Be Patient. | Over the past few years, I have become a dedicated practitioner of the Kauffman Foundation’s Ecosystem Design Principles. The final principle sums up how we, as ecosystem healers, must approach this vital work. “Start. Be patient”. This is what we all must do as individuals, as communities, and as a field. We can do this but it will take all of us and it will take time. It will take a willingness to answer a call to reimagine, repair, and renew our ecosystems so that all might thrive. I look forward to the journey ahead with all of you who choose to answer the call.

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Fay Horwitt is a nationally recognized thought-leader in the field of entrepreneurial ecosystem building, with a focus on equity and healing. Fay currently serves as President of Forward Cities, a national nonprofit equipping communities and regions to build more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems. She has also founded a new practice as an Ecosystem Healer providing training, facilitation, and interactive experiences to help communities and ecosystem builders spark and lead transformative change through regenerative ecosystem building. Fay also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Startup Champions Network and was a contributor to the Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Playbook (Version 3.0).