Purpose Inspired: by Wayne Visser

Hello. I’m Professor Dr Wayne Visser and in this podcast series, I share my reflections on what it means to be purpose-inspired, whether as an organisation, an individual or even as a whole society. It is really the story of my own exploration over the past 20 years of how business can be a force for good in the world, and how individuals can make a positive difference. I have organized the podcast chronologically, so you join me on the journey and see how key ideas evolve over time. As we go, you will notice the ebb and flow of global trends, the entry and exit of pioneering companies, and the twisting kaleidoscope of responses to the world’s greatest challenges. Over the past 30 years, I have travelled to more than 75 countries and captured my learning in more than 20 books on topics like corporate social responsibility and sustainable business. For each series, I have selected one book that synthesizes the emerging ideas, practices and lessons learned on the journey to being purpose-inspired. And I have tried to make each podcast a bite-size chunk of around 15 or 20 minutes. Some of you will be faithful companions for the entire trip, across multiple series. Others will tag along for a while, dipping in and out according to their interest. All of you are most welcome.In the inaugural series, we begin with my very first book – and one that I am in many ways still the most proud of. The book’s title is Beyond Reasonable Greed: Why Sustainable Business is a Much Better Idea, although I originally wanted to call it Shapeshifting. The reason is because I use a fun wildlife metaphor throughout the book, arguing that companies need to shift from acting like predatory lions to being more like elephants, which are wise, gentle and highly collaborative creatures. We end by exploring two scenarios for the world, called Oases in the Desert and Plains of the Serengeti. In subsequent series, I will share different approaches and ideas that emerged from other books of mine, like Business Frontiers, Making a Difference, The Age of Responsibility, The Quest for Sustainable Business and Sustainable Frontiers. I look forward having you along for the ride. Please do invite your friends to join us – the more the merrier. We are at a crucial time in our history where the problems are urgent, complex and in desperate need of innovative solutions. So the more we can share our ideas and knowledge – and the more we can all be purpose inspired – the better our chances of creating a future in which our children, and the other life we share this planet with, can not only survive, but positively thrive.

This podcast explores how and why corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) has failed and how it is evolving. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 1 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- The meaning of responsibility- The failure of CSR- Our global footprint- Our global weather- Our global village- Our global dishonesty- Awkward questions- The ages and stages of CSR

This podcast explores how greed has become institutionalised in business, the economy and society - including in the form of Defensive CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 2 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: Larry McDonald and Lehman Brothers- An unhealthy appetite- Executive greed- Banking greed- Financial market greed- Corporate greed- A personal odyssey into greed- Discovering institutionalised greed- An inSANE economy?- The belly of the beast- Reforming the citadels of greed- Accomplice to the crime?

This podcast explores the history and nature philanthropy - including its perils and promise in the form of Charitable CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 3 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil- The wheels of wealth- For the love of humanity- Philanthropic traditions- American icons- Modern philanthropists- Philanthrocapitalism- Institutional philanthropy- The rise of foundations- The state of corporate giving- Strategic philanthropy- Venture philanthropy

This podcast explores the rise of marketing as a force in business and society - including the dangers of Promotional CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 4 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: John Browne and BP- Magic tricks and military tactics- Using smoke and mirrors- Sowing the seeds of doubt- Hanging greenwashing out to dry- The invisible hand of marketing- From misdirection to redirection

This podcast explores the history of corporate sustainability & responsibility and its growing use of management systems - including in the form of Strategic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 5 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: Cadbury Brothers and Cadbury- Business ethics through the ages- The industrial welfare movement- Cracks in the industrial edifice- Spaceship earth on a collision course- Towards a theory of responsibility- The voluntary versus mandatory debate- Challenging shareholder supremacy- The quest to civilise cannibals- If the [sweatshop] shoe fits- The rise and fall of corporate governance- The rise of shareholder activism- A cornucopia of codes- The curse of peripheral CSR- The curse of incremental CSR- The curse of uneconomic CSR

This podcast explores the next evolutionary form of corporate sustainability & responsibility, which is transformative - namely CSR 2.0 or Systemic CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 6 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: Ray Anderson and Interface- Radical confessions- Web 2.0: seeds of a revolution- The birth of CSR 2.0- The principles of CSR 2.0- Shifting from CSR 1.0 to CSR 2.0- The DNA model of CSR 2.0

This podcast explores how social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 7 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: Anurag Gupta and A Little World- Stagnation through standardisation- When creativity is a bad thing- Creative destruction- Making money mobile- Self-sufficient electronics- Entrepreneurs on a mission- Kickstarting development- Africa's first free university- EVOKE-ing a responsibility revolution- We are the champions- Mapping the innovation territory- The Googlemorph

This podcast explores how scaling social and environmental solutions can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 8 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: The Story of Lee Scott and Wal-Mart- The Limits of Ethical Consumerism- Fairtrade Coffee for You, Sir?- Choice Editing for Good- Government’s Visible Hand- A Flotilla of Little Boats- The Long Tail of CSR- Bottom of the Pyramid- Blessed Unrest- Collaborative Social Entrepreneurship- Crowdsourcing CSR Solutions- Smart vs. Dumb Growth

This podcast explores how responsiveness to stakeholder needs and expectations can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 9 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: The Story of HRH The Prince of Wales and the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change- Pharmaceuticals on Trial- GSK’s Patent Pool- Mining for a Cure- Cabbages and Condoms- How Not to McDo Engagement- Cross-sector Partnerships- The 10 Future Faces of CSOs- Eco-Patent Commons- A Creative Commons for the Environment

This podcast explores how glocality (thinking globally, while acting locally) can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 10 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: The Story of AIESEC and Me- Origins of Glocality- CSR Around the World- Myths of CSR in Developing Countries- An Alternative CSR Pyramid- Local CSR Drivers- Global CSR Drivers- Going Native and Becoming Indigenous- Social Media Muddle- A New Way of SEEing- Glocality in Practice

This podcast explores how moving to a circular, zero waste economy can help to achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 11 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: The Story of Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia- Holistic Science- Spaceship Earth- Life Cycle Assessment- Sustainable Production & Consumption- Cradle to Cradle- Nike’s Considered Design- Timberland’s Eco-Confession- Seventh Generation Cleans Up- Water Neutral Coca-Cola- Carbon Neutral at Tesco- Waste Not, Want Not- Circular Urban Design

This podcast explores the different ways to make societal and organisation change happen to help achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 12 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Case: The Story of Oases in the Desert and Plains of the Serengeti- Stories of the Future- The Matrix of Change- The Power of Ideas- Progress Is Slow But Sure - Something is Gathering Momentum- The World Has Changed Forever- Dynamics of the Change Matrix- The Process of Change- Wheels of Change- Theory U- A New Mythology

This podcast explores how you can be an effective change agent as an individual, to help achieve a transformation of CSR. In the podcast, Prof. Dr Wayne Visser reads Chapter 13 from his book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. The podcast is broken into the following sections:- Cultivating Radicals- Are We Happy?- We Are the Champions- Types of CSR Change Agent- Dynamics of CSR Change Agents- To Scare or To Inspire?- Reasons to be Optimistic- To Hope is Human- Experiments in Generosity- Answering the Question ‘Why?’

“Greed is good”. Some of you might remember the phrase immortalized by Michael Douglas who played Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall Street. Well, the world has more than lived up to these words by pursuing the principle that excessive greed is even better. In a critical analysis of the principles driving modern business, Series 1 of the Purpose Inspired podcast by Wayne Visser demonstrates that the predatory behavior of the lion is symbolic of the way most companies are run today. But the world cannot go on like this. The podcast, which is based on the book “Beyond Reasonable Greed” by Wayne Visser and Clem Sunter, argues strongly for an alternative and more positive vision involving sustainable business in both a social and an environmental sense. In order to achieve this, companies will need to change – to shapeshift – from the tooth-and-claw logic of lions to the more caring, holistic philosophy of the elephant.But what does this mean in practice? The podcast unpacks what is really meant by sustainability and sets out seven steps to create sustainable commerce, including a renewed focus on values, vision, work, governance, relationships, communication and services. We also look at what is required for sustainable economics, through new perspectives on measures, externalities, markets, investments, money, banking and trade. And then we look to the future, exploring two scenarios for the medium to long term: Oases in the Desert, where the corporate lions continue to rule, but their kingdoms are increasingly restricted by their own destructive behavior and popular discontent; and Plains of the Serengeti, where companies shapeshift into elephants which strive for a proper balance between cooperation and competition and a continuing diversity of species, large and small, strong and weak. The podcast concludes that multi-level shapeshifting is required for sustainability. Apart from corporate transformation, it is up to governments on the one hand and each and every one of us as individuals on the other to adopt the persona of an elephant in order to pass on a worthwhile heritage to our children. Join us on the journey, as we transform business fangs and claws into tusks and trunks.

Magic is the revelation that results from a profound change in perception or understanding. And as with everything in life, there’s good magic and bad magic. Bad magic has moved many companies into a state that is beyond reasonable greed. This podcast introduces the call for a Reformation in business, along the same lines as the one precipitated by Martin Luther in 1517. Reform is critical for business to restore its reputation, particularly as its presence in society rivals that of the Church in the sixteenth century. At the heart of this reformation is sustainability - a new way of perceiving business: its purpose, its methods and its impacts. For those companies that can adapt and respond quickly and intelligently enough, there are new markets to capture and profits to be made. For those that are ill prepared, sustainability is going to become a significant financial burden, even a threat to corporate survival. 

The best chance for companies to survive an accumulation of changes to the environment is to develop a better understanding of how evolution itself works. The popular Darwinian notion of a slow, incremental process of continuous improvement by random trial and error is only partially accurate. Evolution also happens in great leaps of sudden transformation, so-called discontinuities. Small changes have a cumulative effect so that when certain thresholds are reached, dramatic metamorphoses are triggered. This kind of step-change is often called the hundredth monkey phenomenon. The emergence of the corporate social responsibility and environmental movements over the past few decades, culminating in the slippery slogan of sustainability, is a prime example of the hundredth monkey phenomenon. Environmental and social concerns have risen like a tide over the intervening decades so that, today, sustainability stands on the brink of transforming the underlying business model that has been so successful over the past few hundred years. 

There is a common driving force in all creation and evolution - a golden thread which Jan Smut called holism. Holism is a fundamental tendency within nature (including human society and its institutions) to form wholes of ever-greater synergy. Synergy is the now well-known concept of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. What characterises these wholes is increasingly complex relationships between their diverse elements, resulting in progressively higher levels of intelligence and creativity. The relationships between things are therefore as important as the things in themselves. The central argument of this podcast is that the current model driving business has outlived its usefulness. It is not holistic. So we need a new approach - starting with a new narrative. At the moment, the majority of business embodies the characteristics of a lion – an impressive predator. However, the future calls for different strengths, such as those displayed by the mighty elephant – a wise leader. 

The lion as an inspirational role model is neither new nor unique to business. But the role of business is changing and the hunting lifestyle is proving to have a number of weaknesses in the new landscape of sustainability. The modern capitalist company, while it continues to portray itself as a lion king, has a number of blindspots with reference to sustainability. These fatal flaws or false assumptions, that are beginning to challenge the supremacy of this kind of regal thinking, are discussed in this podcast. Companies constantly shrug off their social and environmental impacts because their economic contribution and financial profit are seen as more important; in fact, the latter are seen as an end in themselves. And business has been extracting resources and impacting the environment at a rate and a scale that could only be sustainable if the planet was infinite and contained ecosystems that were able to regenerate themselves rapidly irrespective of the damage they incurred - which is not the case.

Physical growth is inherent in nature, but it doesn’t continue ad infinitum. And yet, there is a widely held belief that economic growth is always good and should be continuously strived for. Now business has to face the fact that economic growth does not automatically benefit either society or the environment. The UNDP puts this qualitative difference in a nutshell when it identifies the following five damaging forms of growth: jobless, voiceless, rootless, futureless and ruthless. When the lion pride grows, it may well be at the expense of other species and the environment. Many companies claim and believe that society and the environment will automatically be better off if they simply focus on maximising value for their shareholders and increasing the packages of their directors. But in lion companies, the benefits always seem to trickle upwards. The incentives in our current economic system make it almost impossible not to choose profits over people and the planet. But the landscape is changing.