In this third follow-up episode of The Announcement, I'm sharing my original January 2024 conversation with John Elkington and Louise Kjellerup Roper of Volans in its entirety.
This conversation addresses perhaps the most significant yet under-discussed aspect of the Patagonia ‘Earth is our only shareholder’ story - its relevance as a model for most businesses, especially publicly-traded or shareholder-owned companies.
Because the uncomfortable reality is that structural and organisational constraints make a similar action nearly impossible for most businesses. That’s why I decided to dedicate episode three of the Announcement series to an in-depth exploration of a simple question: what can ‘ordinary’ businesses do to have an impact?
And if you want to understand the history of what tends these days to be referred to as ‘business for good’, and how it impacts most companies, there is really only one place to start: John Elkington.
It really is difficult to understate John's profound influence on how we conceptualise the relationship between business and sustainability. For decades, he has defined and shaped sustainable business conversations, whether that’s through his ‘triple-bottom line’ framework, or groundbreaking works like Green Swans.
For this chat, I was joined by his equally brilliant colleague Louise Kjellerup Roper, CEO of Volans, and expert on helping business with ‘transformation’ as they seek to lessen their impact.
From this in-depth conversation, you'll gain insights into:
Why capitalism, in John’s view, is the ‘least worst’ model.
The historical context of the ‘business for good’ movement, and where it stands today
How a backlash comes hand-in-hand with progressive policies.
What meaningful corporate transformation might actually look like beyond Patagonia's unique example.
After listening, I'd welcome your thoughts on how these practical pathways compare to the more radical restructuring we explored the series proper, and whether they offer sufficient solutions to our current challenges.
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