Better by Design

A cool talk by Adam Lowry who spoke on Creating Positive Change Through Design Integration in Business at the Better By Design CEO Summit in NZ (2010).

After he was fed up with the common notion of having to buy inferior products to 'be good to the planet' he started a cleaning products range which has been quite successful and forced their competitors to think differently, thereby creating massive change (bigger than just their business).



Can't argue with success... and it seems that CEO's have really cottoned on to the importance of sustainability, it was listed as one of the 5 big shifts in this space by James Goodman and Martin Wright when they produced this article Five shifts in Sustainability that will make waves in 2011.  Oh, we are in 2012 now right?! So here's my quick observational response to how spot-on these projections were:1. Nowhere to hide as the open society arrives (absolutely, as long as the internet is alive we are all going to be more an more informed than before and this will lead to bottom-up rising-up all over the place).2. Africa, from basket case to boom time (yep, the biggest untapped market is being tapped.  Whether it be negatives like land-grabs or positives like start-up support - numerous examples in Richard Branson's book Screw Business as Usual; he's even set up a centre for entrepreneurship there - Africa is the place to consider).3. Biodiversity, its a business issue (I'm not sure how much this factored in, I have a feeling its something that is being discussed in a lot of boardrooms but I haven't seen many headlines or commitments to support other species yet... but I sooo want to!)4. The return of climate change, will science strike back (yes, I'd agree that there is less of a climate-denier presence than there was in 2010, based on my NZ perspective at least)5. CEO's have finally cottoned on, what now? (again, there might be plenty of boardroom discussions but we need more action, now!  Overall though as the stats in the article indicate, more and more people are getting it, we are closer to actions than we have been before.)