Klik her for at læse denne artikel på dansk
Imagine a company as a tree. You can place it in a pot where its survival depends entirely on its own ability to absorb the nutrients in the pot.
Or you can plant it in a forest. Its roots will spread and become part of an ecosystem of other trees, mycelia, and animals, where nutrients are transported between all the plants of the forest.
The way our business world looks today is like millions of trees, each in their own pot. We bet too much on independent individual business, when in fact we should be nurturing and caring for the forests – especially if we want companies that create impact.
Because impact is best and most effectively created in forests – collaborative ecosystems.
Graham Boyd, author of the book “The Ergodic Investor and Entrepreneur”, believes so.
He argues for a confrontation with the mainstream economy that defines our social thinking. And he believes we must rethink the way we build and invest in companies if we really want to create a balanced world.
Series: New world – new economy
We need a showdown with the usual way of thinking of economics, and give much more space to nature, if we want to avoid exceeding the planetary boundaries.
That is the message from Graham Boyd, author of the book “The Ergodic Investor and Entrepreneur”. He professes ergodicity economics, a central pillar of an economy capable of delivering net positive impact, regeneration, and everything else needed for all life, including ourselves, to flourish.
In a series of conversations with Graham Boyd, we explore whether a more nature-based approach to economics is what is needed to create companies that have a more positive impact on the world.
You can contribute to the series with questions, criticism and ideas. Send them to carsten@impactinsider.
Fifteen years ago, Graham Boyd left a management job at Procter & Gamble and embarked on a mission to create a more regenerative economy. The drive was a question that kept buzzing in his head.
Why are we making so little progress?
“I am in a company whose purpose is to improve the lives of the world’s consumers. And I am surrounded by passionate colleagues who understand the importance of polycrises and climate change. Why is it that we are making so little progress in staying within the planetary boundaries?” says Graham Boyd, adding:
“It doesn’t help that we take a step forward if we simultaneously slide ten steps backwards down a slippery slope.”
Graham Boyd’s own answer to the question that drove him like a mare is that our economic thinking is flawed.
“We have to build an economy that creates conditions for life. Why is it so difficult for us? After all, nature has done it successfully for 3.7 billion years” he says.
We need to do something different than what we usually do, explains Graham Boyd, and exemplifies it with a bluebottle fly that tries to get out into the open, but again and again bangs its head against the window glass.
“The fly does not understand that it will not get anywhere, no matter how much force it puts into its efforts. It needs to understand that the way out requires it to grab the handle, turn it and pull to open the window. Not push harder,” says Graham Boyd:
“For 15 years I’ve been thinking about what kind of windows we humans keep banging our heads into and never get through.”
Graham Boyd professes an economic direction that goes by the name of ergodicity economics. He has a Ph.D. in particle physics, and that is also where the term comes from, and his experience in ergodic thinking began 35 years ago.
Ergodic economics makes clear certain limits in applicability of mainstream economics, which defines our social thinking and so governs the way we create and invest in companies.
This week, Graham Boyd explains what ergodicity economics is all about, and why he believes it provides some of the answers he – and many of us – seeks. Later we will move around the economic forest and explore its secrets.
Read along, or watch the video interview. And finally, contribute curious and challenging questions that I can ask Graham Boyd in the coming episodes. You can write to me at carsten@impactinsider.dk
