Simon Robinson
Deep Time Walk: Helping Brands to Engage with the SDGs
Marketing and Comms / The idea of the Deep Time Walk is simple but incredibly powerful: When dealing with the vast dimensions of time and space, we are often unable to grasp the magnitude quantitatively, just through studying the numbers. A Deep Time Walk allows us to walk the timeline of the history of the Earth and also universe, and thus for example, on a walk of 4.6km, if we start with the birth of Earth, each one-metre step represents one million years. - 5 years ago
A ‘Unicorn’ in Business: Lessons from BrewDog on Truly Authentic Engagement
Walking the Talk / Sustainable Brands has recently reported on a range of really interesting, wide-range of initiatives coming out of the beer industry, including innovative packaging solutions, the use of renewable energy and efforts to address climate change and water scarcity. - 5 years ago
The Time Is Now for a More Soulful Way of Business
Leadership / Customer experience design is the forgotten dimension of sustainability. We need to transcend what have now become well-defined approaches and definitions of customer experience, to help companies understand why their offerings are no longer resonating with people, and how to develop a profound understanding of the lived experience of every single person whose lives our organisations touch. This understanding is just as applicable to those businesses and organisations developing sustainable products, services, technologies and initiatives. - 5 years ago
'The Economy as Servant, Rather Than Master, of Nature': Fritjof Capra on Ecological Economics
The Next Economy / In a recent interview with author, educator and activist Fritjof Capra, we discussed the Earth Charter, an ethical framework for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century. - 5 years ago
Never So Relevant: Fritjof Capra on the Earth Charter Initiative
Leadership / Last year saw one of the most historically symbolic events of recent years when 195 countries signed the Paris Agreement to cut back on pollution contributing to climate change. So, last month when President Donald Trump announced that he would pull the US out of the agreement, there was a huge reaction, with many leaders of countries around the world expressing their dismay. - 5 years ago
Laces and Hair: Activating Purpose Through Slow Beauty in Brazil
Product, Service & Design Innovation / Following a five-year search for more sustainable and healthy hair care solutions, this month Cris Dios, cosmetologist and co-founder of Laces and Hair, recently launched Brazil’s first range of 100 percent natural hair colour solutions. As well as nourishing hair fibres without fading them, they are an excellent solution for people who suffer allergic reactions to products containing chemicals. - 6 years ago
Introducing the Systems View of Life Into Organizations
Organizational Change / I recently took part in a Sustainable Brands webinar with Fritjof Capra, in which we discussed how to introduce systems thinking and the systems view of life into organizations. After interviewing Fritjof in January, I invited him to take part in this webinar to explore the issues in more depth, an opportunity which would also allow participants to ask questions and contribute their thoughts and ideas as well. - 6 years ago
From Sustainable Technology to Sustainable Evolution
Organizational Change / In my previous article I examined the challenge of developing our authentic purpose. In this article I would like to explain a little about how we can approach authentic purpose with a view to helping businesses and organisations make the leap from developing sustainable technology to achieving sustainable human evolution. - 7 years ago
The New Copernican Revolution: Fritjof Capra on the Shift to 'The Systems View of Life'
Leadership / Fritjof Capra is one of the world’s leading thinkers in systems theory, and the author of many influential books, such as The Tao of Physics; The Web of Life: A New Synthesis of Mind and Matter; The Turning Point: Science, Society and the Rising Culture; The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living; and Learning from Leonardo: Decoding the Notebooks of a Genius. - 7 years ago
What Can ‘The Systems View of Life’ Teach Us About Sustainable Leadership?
Leadership / Fritjof Capra is the author of many best-selling books, including The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, The Hidden Connections and The Web of Life. His most recent book is The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision, co-written with his friend Pier Luigi Luisi. I recently had the opportunity to meet Capra in São Paulo, where we discussed this new systemic concept of life, and particularly what it means for leadership in organisations. - 8 years ago
'Amongst Bees': Spreading Eco-Consciousness Through Comedy in Brazil
Marketing and Comms / Those of you in the English-speaking world may not realise just how massively famous Brazilian soap-opera stars have become around the world. For example Avenida Brasil broke records in 2012 after being sold by Rede Globo (Globo Network) to 130 countries and reaching 50 million viewers.While Brazilian soaps often glamourise ostentatious consumerism, in 2013 the soap opera Joia Rara (Rare Jewel) launched; set in 1940s Rio de Janeiro, its plot centred around Buddhism, compassion, forgiveness and redemption — an incredible foundation for a genre not commonly associated with ethics, spirituality or more philosophical issues. - 8 years ago
A Meditation on the Meaning of Collaboration
Leadership / As some of you will have seen, some time ago I coined the term ‘knotworks,’ which I defined as ‘networks with ego.’ My first articles about knotworks related to co-creation and the way in which many networks, projects and organisations eventually collapse due to underlying dynamics relating to ego, which people, especially leaders, fail to either recognise or address. - 8 years ago
As Carnival Starts in Brazil, Skol Sensibly Pulls Misguided Adverts
Marketing and Comms / It’s now carnival in Brazil, a week when the population puts away its troubles and heads to the beaches and streets in a glorious celebration of dancing, music and life.So a few weeks ago some bright spark at Skol, one of the best-selling lagers here, drunk by millions — owned by Brazilian brewer Ambev — decided to throw away the rule book on advertising alcohol. They must have thought that all that stuff about ‘drink in moderation’ and ‘don’t drink and drive’ such a bore … They must have thought, ‘Stuff it, let’s have an outdoor advertising campaign that tells people to just go mental, abandon all moral codes and ethics, and go totally wild and say yes to everything.’ - 8 years ago
For Leaders, the Return on Investment on Humility Is Huge
Leadership / If there is one aspect of coaching executive leaders that few truly understand well, it is the nature of humility. If you have been born and bred as an alpha-adult - commanding, controlling, dominating - and this is your leadership style, the very word itself can be perceived as a form of weakness, an undesirable quality in a world where lunch is for wimps.Fine, but for those who have this attitude, there are massive returns on investment for both the individual and their businesses that stand there screaming, while the executive hears and sees nothing. - 8 years ago
Brands That Treat Customers Like Idiots Are Not Sustainable
Marketing and Comms / At SB ‘14 London last month, one thing that really stood out for me was the focus on how storytelling can be used to help brands engage their customers with the theme of sustainability. For example, on the first morning of the first day, Daianna Karaian and Stuart Duncan from Futerra ran a workshop that focused on how to tell a sustainable brand story that customers will listen to. - 8 years ago
Beware of Knotworks – Networks with Ego
Leadership / I do not know who the artist is who drew this cartoon (above), so I cannot acknowledge them, but it seems to be quite famous and has been doing the rounds for some time now. I added the ego – eco element myself, and ego is something I would really like to explore as we move from a hierarchical society to a networked, co-creative society. - 8 years ago
On Creativity, Ego and Transformational Leadership
Leadership / I’ve been having some great conversations recently on the theme of transformational leadership with some very amazing people, and these conversations have triggered a few thoughts I would like to share.I’d like to start by turning if I may to this metaphorical model of the four qualities of knowing — earth, water, air and fire. - 8 years ago
From Economic Brand Value to Holonomic Brand Value
Marketing and Comms / You may be wondering about the word holonomics. Although the word was first used in 1896 to describe a branch of mathematics, we coined a new definition for the word, which can be thought of as the combination of the words economics and wholeness.My wife Maria and I are the co-authors of the book Holonomics: Business Where People and Planet Matter, and this describes a new way of thinking, which teaches business leaders and managers how to respond, adapt and communicate in new, innovative ways. This new way of thinking, which we call holonomic thinking, can of course be applied to branding. - 8 years ago