Seizing Our Regenerative Agency
As we live through Industry 5.0 — described as resilient, human-centered, and sustainable — and move towards the AI revolution of Industry 6.0, we are being called to deepen our commitment to a more regenerative way of living and working to support life.
In practical leadership terms, this means being explicit about our beliefs and intentions by developing some personal agency around them. In other words, how do we actually enact regenerative practices in our personal, work, and public lives? i.e., what does regeneration look like in our relationships and our everyday behaviours? Especially in leadership.
According to Laura Storm, co-author of Regenerative Leadership, we lost our way in the Middle Ages as we headed down a reductive and extractive path with industry, and away from whole system awareness and attunement with nature that our ancestors understood implicitly. Now we are in the throes of trying to reconnect to our earth system, in order to find a way to regenerate it and ensure our survival. But we have some work to do.
Storm quotes an IBM CEO study that reveals that:
- 79% of leaders describe their biggest challenge as leading in complexity
- 50% admitted that they don’t feel equipped to lead in complex times.
She also cites Harvard research that shows a global increase in stress levels of 30% in the last decade. One of the ways that this manifests in business is that CEOs feel too pressured to be creative or come up with innovative solutions.
One of Storm’s solutions for this global problem is what she calls “re-indigenisation in a humble and respectful way.” To her, this means:
- shedding layers of belief and behaviour that no longer serve us, so we can be stewards of our regenerative future
- learning from nature’s wisdom and the logic of life about the importance of natural coherence — syntropy
- developing healthy feedback loops, free of distortion
Re-indigenisation
The idea of re-indigenisation will resonate deeply with many. But in the most granular sense, how can we live those truths?
Well, here are some ways we believe you can enact the regenerative mindsets internally and externally, starting right now:
- Put place and context before “I” — Before you make your next decision, or next statement of truth, think about it through the lens of place and/or context. This could be as simple as the act of recycling or as pre-planned as regenerative farming.
- When you are sure about something, ask for other perspectives and help ideas to breed through diverse viewpoints.
- Take one step towards integrating an aspect of your inner and outer life in disharmony.
- Get out in nature when you can and observe how it affects everything you do and say.
- Broaden your references for what creates value, to encompass a whole system approach.
- Practice celebrating failures as learning successes.
Even one small step will impact the quality of your life and those around you, and can ripple positivity in ways you may never know. Trust that if intention leads to action, you are heading in the right direction.
