copenhagen futurist conference presentation

8/3/2019 Copenhagen Futurist Conference Presentation

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The Emerging Corporate

Renaissance

In companies that mimic life


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Understanding the renaissance in terms of:

How transformative change occurs

How to identify leadership companies

What we can do to accelerate its development

Focus of this Presentation


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How Transformative Change Occurs

Testing Beliefs & Mindsets


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Systemic Transformation

In

creasingLeverag

e

Results

Behaviors

Structures

Vision & Values

Beliefs


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Traditional Model of the Firm

Measurable Effects on GDP,

Profit, Society, Biosphere

Maximize Profit

Ignore

External

Costs

Hierarchical

, Linear

Reductive,

Mechanistic

Machine

-

Like Efficiency, Capital begets Capital

The Quickest Way to Higher Living Standards

Results

Behaviors

Structures

Vision & Values

Beliefs


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Traditional Model of the Firm

-> Systemic Failure

-> Systemic Stress

-> Dehumanizing

-> Disconnected

-> Devalues Life

-> Shortsighted

-> Diminishes Life

Results

Behaviors

Structures

Vision & Values

Beliefs


Profit, Society, Biosphere

Maximize Profit

Ignore

External

Costs

Hierarchical

, Linear

Reductive,

Mechanistic

Machine

-

Like Efficiency, Capital begets Capital

The Quickest Way to Higher Living Standards


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Organic Model of the Firm

Steward Living Assets

Harmonize with Web-of-LifeProfit Devoted to Higher Ends

Servant Leadership

Life-mimicking Companies

Holistic Systems Thinking

Bio-centric,

Ethical, Imaginative

Results

Behaviors

Structures

Vision & Values

Beliefs


Profit, Society, Biosphere-> Prosperity

-> Systemic Health

-> Creative

-> Synergistic

-> Inspiring

-> Life-Affirming


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Inspiration

Organizational

Learning

Innovation

Living Asset

Stewardship

Profit

How life-mimicking companies excel

Reinforcing cycle of LAS, innovation and profit


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Global LAMP Index Returns vs. Peer IndicesCY 1996 2010 (Compound Growth in %)

YearsGlobalLAMP

MSCIWorld

FTSEWorld

S&PGlobal 100

Last 15 646.43 120.40 157.00 157.18

Last 10 114.43 24.45 43.10 9.06

Last 5 33.73 10.62 21.86 9.15

Last 3 0.75 -16.32 -14.55 -16.38

Last 1 12.44 9.55 10.80 5.97


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Their common attributes

Three brief case studies

Importance of systems thinking

How to Identify Leadership Companies


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They are deeply networked formally and informally

They are autopoietic self-renewing, self-organizing

They arefrugal with all resources, including money

They are synergistic open to new learning, adaptive

They are symbiotic serving life systems that sustain them

They are highly conscious intellectually & intuitively

They know profit can only arise from life

In which case profit must serve life.

LAMP companies have six life-

mimicking attributes


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Novo Nordisk (Denmark) a growth company

Canon (Japan) a cyclical growth company

Nucor (USA) a deep cyclical company

Like diverse ecosystems, they may look different

But they operate on similar principles.

To see how these processes work well

look at three LAMP Index companies


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A system of informal networks nested within the larger corporate IT

network of nearly 200 operating facilities

Each mini-mill and recycling center runs as a separate business

2,400 employees with open access to critical information and

authority to make front-line decisions

Networking is so effective there are fewer than 100 people at

corporate headquarters

With no R&D department, Nucor is technology leader in steel due to

prolific idea sharing among front-line mill workers

Nucor a model of networking with an

open, synergistic culture


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Three selves (San-Ji) spirit of self-awareness, self-motivation, self-

management underpins culture of respect and harmony.

Corporate philosophy ofKyoseicreates a shared vision of Living and

working together for the common good.

Team learning/idea sharing culture encourages eco-innovation.

Corporate vision looks out 200 years towards a balance between

social prosperity and environmental sustainability.

Environmental accounting system started in 1983 encompasses

Canon and its entire supply chain.

Canon offers greater value using fewer resources throughout its

product lifecycles.

Canon a model of self-directed

symbiotic behavior


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Danish operations fully converted to renewable energy at no net cost

due to employee energy saving ideas.

To optimize idea sharing and feedback, 4 of 11 board members are

employee representatives.

Novo has had the highest DJSI score for bio-ethics (2003 2010).

Blueprint for Changeprogram looks to transform markets and

societies for generations.

Culture is premised on virtuous cycle of ecological consciousness,

human health and financial wellbeing.

Novo has had no net debt plus uninterrupted free cash flow for the

past decade serving its goal to transform markets and societies.

Novo a model of frugality and

ecological consciousness


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Nucor Total Investment Return

20 Years - Ending 31 Aug 2011


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Canon Total Investment Return

20 Years - Ending 31 Aug 2011


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Novo Nordisk Total Investment Return

20 Years Ending 31 Aug 2011


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Rather than trying to dominate and control the living

systems in which they exist, they are learning to nurture

and affiliate with them.

This is an important existential awakening a rebirth of

human enterprise.

The successes of these companies cannot be ignored.

These companies are leading a

renaissance in systems thinking


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by placing a higher value on life than capital.

They know they are part of the larger systemic web of life.

They seek to affirm life not dominate or control it.

They see the diverse interconnects/feedbacks in systems.

They understand systemic limits, the need to adapt.

They seek value in quality improvements not growth forits own sake.

They are our best hope of achieving renewable prosperity.

Companies that mimic life reverse the

errors of industrial capitalism


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What we can do to support thecorporate renaissance


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Adopt their practices where we work

Support them as customers, investors, partners

Share their stories via media and social networks

Inform business school case studies

Let poorly managed companies know why we shun them

This is a full-time education process.

There is no time to waste.

We must continuously press the case for

companies that mimic life


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Companies can be extraordinarily quick learners

Multinationals have deep resources, organization skills

Local enterprise has intimate local knowledge

Companies are moving out of the age of capital and into

the age of knowledge.

Powerful leverage resides in those most

committed to learning


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Systems thinking can lead us to the edge of what analysis

can do and then point beyond - to what can and must be

done by the human spirit.

Donella Meadows, lead authorLimits to Growth (1972), Beyond the Limits (1992)

copenhagen futurist conference presentation

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