#1 Start here – So you want to build a regenerative business?
The guiding principles to help you on your way
Today’s post is a long one but an important one - I’m finally sharing my ideas with the world! It’ll only take you a max of 10mins to read and might just change how you do business forever…
Hello, if you’re a business owner that wants to make a positive impact on the world and are looking for a roadmap to help you get started, then you’ve landed in exactly the right place:
As start-up founders and small business owners we have the luxury of CHOICE. We can choose to do things differently and build better businesses that we enjoy being a part of and that the planet enjoys having to stay for a while.
Whenever I speak to anyone thinking of starting their own company there’s an enormous amount of pent-up positive energy and enthusiasm. We want to jump right in and get our hands dirty making the world a better place.
But…where to start exactly?
A regenerative world already exists
How can we build healthy, thriving businesses that actively contribute to their environment? Well, let’s take a look at what the millions of other organisms on this planet have been up to for the last nearly 4 billion years and start there!
Life on earth is inherently diverse, agile and ever-evolving in the face of change. Organisms are communicating, collaborating and creating every day to effectively solve problems that us humans have struggled with for centuries. All without creating long-term damage to the environment around them.
As a start up founder with a brilliant idea – why would you NOT want to learn from the successes of those (human or otherwise) that have gone before?
We’ve been cutting ourselves off from a vast pool of wisdom that can help us in our mission to build businesses that function in alignment with and to the benefit of nature, people and the wider planet.
Bioinspired Business Principles
Biomimicry simply means to ‘mimic’ or emulate nature. ‘Life’s Principles’ are a set of 26 strategies that all life on earth uses to survive and thrive on our planet. These were first crafted by Biomimicry 3.8 and are a continual work in progress as we learn more about what it means to be alive on Earth.
They’re a fantastic tool for engineers, architects and designers looking to create new materials, buildings or products. As someone interested in the less ‘physical’ world of nature inspired business, however, they needed a few tweaks.
I’ve been designing my own set of guiding principles, heavily influenced by Life’s Principles, that I feel are more directly relevant, a little simpler and easier to apply in a business setting.
I’m hoping they’ll act as a kind of roadmap for those looking to start out and build a regenerative, bioinspired business from the ground up.
Let’s dive in!
🌱 We ARE nature – shift your mindset
The core principle around which all others are based is the idea that we are not ‘separate from’, but rather, ‘part of’ nature.
This can be a hard one to get your head around as over generations spent indoors looking ‘out’ at the natural world, we’ve somehow convinced ourselves we’re living apart from all the other organisms on this planet. (Tell that to the more than 39 trillion microbes that are sharing ‘your’ body right now…not to mention your eyelash mites…)
The fact that we’ve forgotten that we’re all made of the same stuff, share the same planet and deserve equal treatment is behind many of the problems we’ve created for ourselves and the planet over the centuries.
This is all about:
Questioning and nurturing your own connection to and attitudes towards nature.
Shifting from EGO to ECO – thinking less about me and more about us (including non-humans and the landscape around us).
Seeking to understand forgotten sources of wisdom such as Indigenous or Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).
Positioning nature as mentor – not just learning ‘about’ but also FROM nature.
Once you’ve begun to make the mental shift towards a nature-centred world (rather than a human one) you’re ready to start building your business.
Below are the seven bioinspired business principles to help you on your way ⬇️
1. Prioritise your people - decide what kind of business you want to be
Biomimicry explains that ‘life creates conditions conducive to life.’ That is to say, that an organism does not act in ways that damage its own health, environment or the chances of future generations surviving.
In the business world it can feel quite different. An organisation is born and brings together staff to pursue its purpose - but in doing so we often forget about our people and their own sense of life. This can be our employees or colleagues but also our customers or contractors – anyone the business comes into contact with.
We create rules, rhythms and rituals that stifle our human nature leading to boredom, burn out, loneliness, stress, anxiety, and other physical and mental health issues. On the other hand, a team that’s functioning in a way that is conducive to life will find its members are engaged, energised and enjoying their role.
This is all about:
Understanding that sustainable doesn’t just mean ‘green’ but also ‘maintainable’. Are your ways of working truly ‘sustainable’ in the long term?
Exploring what you and your team need to feel ‘alive’ when it comes to work.
Ensuring that your business is a nourishing rather than a draining force in the lives of you and your people (colleagues, employees, customers etc.)
Defining a purpose and co-creating company values that speak to and for every team member.
2. Integrate diversity – find and grow your team
Conventionally the narrative surrounding diversity at work has been one of ‘fairness’. Of course, it’s true that a system in which minorities are excluded by those in power (traditionally white, straight men) is unfair.
However, there’s more at stake here - a homogenous team is not only unfair it’s losing out on the combined potential of a diverse team. The more varied your team, the more varied the ideas and experiences they can bring to the table. Collective intelligence is redundant if everyone is approaching the problem from the same angle. Diversity in people and ideas is key if you want to build a healthy, creative, resilient business.
This is all about:
Committing to the pursuit of diversity (ideas and people) within your organisation.
Designing an inclusive habitat with the appropriate niches and microhabitats needed to ensure your team members feel safe, comfortable and confident.
Encouraging a culture of interdisciplinary learning and development that exposes you to new ideas outside of your field.
Tapping into the swarm intelligence/creativity of your team.
3. Self-organise for success – structure your team
There are no CEOs in nature and yet incredibly complex feats are accomplished by teams often numbering thousands of individuals. Think of ant, bee or termite colonies that build the insect equivalent of skyscrapers, find and collect enough food for thousands of bodies and defend their homes against attack as a united force. Despite popular opinion their ‘queen’ isn’t calling the shots – each individual has complete autonomy.
It's the structure of a community that underpins its ability to function in a healthy way and creates conditions for effective collaboration.
Instead of top-down leadership, life builds from the bottom up. Individuals organise themselves within a system around a set of simple rules that keep everyone on track.
In the business world this is all about:
Making peace with the idea of emergence – not everything can or should be controlled.
Fitting form to function – breaking free of what’s been done before and designing a team that best fulfils your business’s purpose.
Experimenting with different organisational structures, encouraging greater autonomy and delegating leadership throughout your team.
Co-creating a set of clear, practical principles that guide you and your team day to day.
Committing to transparency of information throughout your business
4. Be locally attuned and responsive – know what’s going on
Nature’s systems are built on feedback. An organism stays alive by keeping tabs on and reacting to what’s going on around it. Whether external (the temperature’s dropping, there’s a tiger behind you…) or internal (there’s a growing infection, you’ve just eaten a meal) stimuli are triggering feedback loops everywhere.
It’s the same for business. You’ve got to know what’s going on around and within your business in order to keep up with shifting colleague and customer needs, the resources available to you and any opportunities or challenges that may be heading your way.
This is all about:
Understanding that context is key. A business that isn’t tuned in to both its local and global environment is unlikely to thrive.
Activating feedback loops both internally and externally to keep tabs on evolving team needs, opportunities and threats.
Making the most of any existing cyclic processes, collaborative opportunities and readily available and abundant resources.
5. Cultivate co-operative relationships – don’t go it alone
Many people believe that nature is a cut-throat competition for survival with little cooperation between or within species. But this is simply not true. For one thing, being in constant competition with rivals is a huge waste of energy!
Each and every organism on earth is woven into a rich tapestry of relationships that keep it alive. Cut a species out of the web and chaos ensues. If your start-up disappeared tomorrow – who would miss it?
Embedding yourself into your community or ecosystem via multiple, reciprocal, cooperative relationships is a sure-fire way to boost your chances of success (and make start-up life a little less lonely).
This is all about making yourself a valuable part of the ecosystem:
Focusing on cooperation rather than competition
Exploring mutualism and value beyond money – how could your ‘trash’ be another business’s treasure?
Weaving yourself into the fabric of your ecosystem and becoming a ‘keystone species’ that others rely on to thrive.
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
6. Give more than you take – Make a positive difference
We are the only creature alive on this planet that is actively destroying our own habitat.
The conversation surrounding what it means to be ‘green’ has developed over the last few decades. We started out by damaging our environment in our quest for profit, then sought to repair or minimise that damage once we realised the impact we were having. Then came net zero (and all the carbon offsetting malarkey that ensued…).
Now, the next step lies in actively contributing to or regenerating the systems and world we live in – leaving things better than we found them. In other words, being net-positive.
This can mean from an environmental or biodiversity point of view but also from a social or economic perspective.
This is all about:
Deciding to be regenerative – if what you’re planning to do will have a negative impact on people, place or planet – find a better way!
Establishing a clear business purpose that goes beyond profit. What other ecosystem services will you provide?
Being resource efficient and exploring circularity, multifunctionality, and ensuring you save time, money and energy by fitting form to function.
7. Adapt and evolve to survive – embrace change
Resilience is what bioinspired business is all about and being resilient simply depends on how we respond to change.
If we follow these nature inspired principles what results is a business that’s ready to meet change head on, listen and respond appropriately. Being open to change means we’re always moving forward and ensures we’re the best fit for the environment we find ourselves in. Like all life on earth we must adapt and evolve to keep up.
This is all about:
Applying everything you’ve learned from the other principles - a bioinspired business is naturally resilient in the face of change.
Constantly evaluating – are we fit for our environment? Are we replicating strategies that work? Have we allowed for redundancy? Are we consistently progressing and improving?
These bioinspired business principles are very much open to change. As I learn more through my work with start-ups and conversations with other biomimics and regenerative business bods I’m sure they will shift over time.
For now though, they’re a tool I’m using to help guide start-up founders who want to make a positive impact on the world and are looking for a place to start.
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Also, make sure to reply to this email, share with likeminded contacts or leave me a comment – I want to hear all about your exciting business plans!
I absolutely love the picture you are painting for a better future where a thriving business means a thriving ecosystem & community!