So... you say want a revolution?

In 1975 a visionary named Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008) wrote a book, ‘The One Straw Revolution’. He was a farmer and philosopher, who foresaw the problems we face today. It was clear to him that the industrialisation and the seeming ‘progress’ of the last half-century was misguided… and yet only now is the rest of the world truly understanding what was so evident to him.

The answers are clear, we know what we need to do.

This was the start of a blog post I wrote in April 2015. Little did I know where this path would lead… it started with food sovereignty, but it did not end there.

Since then, I have been fully immersed in identifying mission-oriented solutions that address systemic issues — by falling in love with the problem, not any specific solution (ours or otherwise) and in doing so have met many mission-oriented souls from around the planet who wish to do the same.

What has emerged is an understanding that not only are the problems we face today (socially, environmentally and economically) directly connected to the extractive forces of industrialisation, globalisation and the consumer mindset and a lack of connection to our community and environment. But.. the biggest challenges we face are the limiting factors that prevent the Unusual Suspects to breakthrough due to the barriers created by the powers-that-be. They aim to maintain the status-quo by continuing with business as usual under the guise of a new economy. They simply talk-the-talk vs walk-the-walk when speaking of collaboration, (largely due to their business models) — and at the end of the day, it is often more about who you know than what you know when it comes to playing the game.

As Buckminster Fuller famously said “You never change something by fighting the existing reality. To change something build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”….and that is what our growing team is doing.

At a time when cross-sector multi-stakeholder partnerships are the key to enabling new value networks, supporting operational efficiency and the mutualisation of resources… the primary factor for eco-system transformation will be network governance and transparency. They are the foundation upon which we can identify shared missions, clarify roles, delineate value exchanges (both pecuniary and otherwise) as well as define decision-making processes — so we have a clear understanding of how and by whom decisions are being made — especially if the pretence of doing so is for the ‘greater good’.

In order for us to go from NO MORE to NOT YET, supporting Mision-oriented eco-system transformation, we need to find solutions that create the Future of Markets. This requires a Systemic-shift and it needs to be Regenerative by design.

Professor Jacqueline Cramer of the Amsterdam Economic Board’s recent book “How Network Governance Powers the Circular Economy — Ten Guiding Principles for a Circular Economy” is a fantastic resource outlining the variances between public governance and network governance. I had the chance to discuss many of these aspects with Professor Cramer including how we use the concept of Systems Entrepreneurs (building upon the work of the Skoll Foundation and Rockafeller Foundation) as Transition Brokers, and how we need to create a system awareness and a learning culture through a Shared Intelligence.

Systems Entrepreneurs:

• understand that increasingly complex global challenges cannot be resolved in isolation;
• believe that solving 21st-century challenges requires strategies with innovation at the core;
• look beyond sector or institutional boundaries for potential answers;
• draw on best of class tools, theories, and lessons to understand how to innovate in complex systems.

Regenerative Business Models that support Local Value Creation are core to our mission, and funding Systems Entrepreneurs is of paramount importance.

Network Governance Tools have been on our agenda since we started developing the Partnership Methodology and Toolkit for Collaboration that we released in 2019 — we use this as our baseline (combined with some digital solutions) for the development of any new project that we embark upon. It enables us to understand what any organisation brings to a partnership, as well as what they aim to gain from the collaboration. We look forward to releasing new tools and are always open to co-creating them with others — because we are all about collaboration — in the true sense of the word ;)

“From just this one straw, a revolution could begin. This straw appears small and light, and most people do not know how really weighty it is. If people knew the true value of this straw a human revolution could occur which would become powerful enough to move the country and the world.”
Masanobu Fukuoka — The One Straw Revolution

Stay tuned Circular Regions is coming soon… #BeTheStraw

#BeTheStraw