How Business Can Improve the World, Not Just the Bottom Line | Esha Chhabra | TED
Summary
TLDRこの講演では、経済がスケールアップや利益最大化に重きを置いてきた従来のビジネスモデルに疑問を投げかけています。代わりに、「再生」という新しい概念を提唱しています。再生的ビジネスとは、環境や社会問題の解決を最優先に据え、サプライチェーンや雇用、資金調達など、あらゆる側面で影響力を持つ企業のことです。Vejaや Toast Ale、有機農家の事例を通して、このアプローチの可能性が示されています。利益だけでなく、環境と人々を再生させるビジネスへのパラダイムシフトが必要だと訴えています。
Takeaways
- 🌍 従来のビジネスは、拡大、成長、生産性、利益最大化に重きを置いてきたが、それは地球環境に大きな影響を与え、人々の健全な生活とのバランスを欠いていた。
- 🌱 持続可能性を掲げるブランドが台頭したが、それは本当の意味での持続可能性ではなく、マーケティングに過ぎなかった。
- ♻️ 次のステップは「再生可能」なビジネスモデルである。再生可能なビジネスとは、苦しむコミュニティ、産業、人々を復興させ、活性化させることを目指す。
- 🥾 靴ブランドのVejaは、アマゾンの保護、雇用の創出、土壌の再生、ファッション業界への挑戦を目指している。彼らはサプライチェーンの中で、環境と人々に配慮した設計を行っている。
- 💸 再生可能なビジネスでは、従業員の共同所有権や利益配分を取り入れることで、人々に富を還元している。
- 🍞 再生可能なビジネスは廃棄物を機会ととらえ、新しい製品や慈善活動につなげている。
- 🌾 再生農業の分野でも、有機農法と土壌の再生を実践する農家が存在する。
- 🌐 再生可能なビジネスを広め、複製することが重要である。すべての企業がグローバル企業を目指す必要はなく、適切な規模にとどめることも肝要だ。
- 💰 利益だけでなく、環境と人々を重視するビジネスを作ることが求められている。
- 🌎 人類が地球上で過ごせる時間は限られている。その間に、環境を再生し、人々を大切にするビジネスを築くことが重要である。
Q & A
ビジネスの目的は何だと述べられていますか?
-現在のビジネスモデルは、規模の拡大、成長、生産性向上、利益最大化に重点が置かれていますが、これは地球に大きな負荷をかけており、人々もより健全なライフスタイルを求めるようになってきています。したがって、ビジネスの目的は、社会や環境問題を解決することであり、単に製品を販売することではありません。
「持続可能性」について、この演説ではどのように論じられていますか?
-持続可能性は、意図は良かったものの、マーケティングの側面が強く、実際の行動に移されていないと指摘されています。したがって、持続可能性は一歩目にすぎず、次のステップとして「再生可能」なビジネスモデルへの移行が必要とされています。
「再生可能」なビジネスとは具体的にどのようなものですか?
-再生可能なビジネスとは、環境や地域社会、人々を再生・復興させることを目指すビジネスモデルです。単に製品を販売するだけでなく、様々な社会・環境問題の解決を組み込んでいます。サプライチェーン、資金調達、従業員の待遇など、事業のあらゆる側面で影響を考慮しています。
Vejaという企業はどのような再生可能なビジネスモデルを採用していますか?
-Vejaは、アマゾンの森林保護、就業が困難な人々の雇用、土壌再生を目指しながら、サプライチェーンを構築しています。天然ゴムの採取は環境に優しい方法で行われ、製品の出荷業務には社会的に恵まれない人々を雇用するなど、あらゆる面で影響を考慮しています。
再生可能なビジネスには、どのような課題がありますか?
-グローバル企業にとって、再生可能なビジネスモデルへの移行は困難で時間がかかります。しかし、中小企業にとってはそれほど難しくありません。また、企業が無限の成長や利益拡大を追求するのではなく、「十分な規模」を受け入れることが重要だと述べられています。
再生可能なビジネスモデルを広めるには、何が必要ですか?
-再生可能なビジネスの事例を広く伝え、理解を深める必要があります。Vejaの創業者は、同様の企業が各業界や地域で増えることが重要だと述べています。つまり、より多くの企業が再生可能なビジネスモデルを採用することが、普及の鍵となります。
この演説で強調されているメッセージは何ですか?
-この演説では、企業が利益追求のみを目的とするのではなく、環境の再生、人々への敬意と目的を持った仕事の提供など、より良い影響を与えることを強調しています。そのためには、ビジネスの目的と企業の在り方自体を見直す必要があると訴えかけています。
従業員の所有権や利益分配制度は、再生可能なビジネスでどのように位置づけられていますか?
-従業員の所有権や利益分配制度は、再生可能なビジネスの一つの特徴として紹介されています。Technicians for Sustainabilityという企業では、従業員に利益の40%を分配することで、社会的影響を与えようとしています。このような取り組みが、人々への影響を重視する再生可能なビジネスの一例として挙げられています。
食品ロスの活用は、再生可能なビジネスにどのように関連していますか?
-食品ロスを活用することは、再生可能なビジネスの一環として紹介されています。Toast Aleという企業は、パンの端切れを使ってビールを製造し、さらにその利益を食品ロス対策の慈善団体に寄付しています。つまり、食品ロスの有効活用と社会貢献を同時に実現するモデルが、再生可能なビジネスの一例として紹介されています。
再生農業は再生可能なビジネスにどのように関連していますか?
-再生農業は、再生可能なビジネスの根源として位置づけられています。ネブラスカ州のDavid Vetterという農家は、再生有機農業を長年実践しており、土壌の再生に重点を置いています。さらに、近隣の農家との連携によって、再生農産物を消費者に近づける取り組みも行っているため、再生可能なビジネスモデルの具体例として取り上げられています。
Outlines
🌳 企業の目的と課題
この段落では、ビジネスが成長と利益を最大化するために費やした努力が、地球環境と人々の生活のバランスを損ねていることを指摘しています。持続可能なブランドが登場しましたが、それらはマーケティングの役割を果たすだけで、本質的な問題を解決できませんでした。そこで、再生可能なビジネスモデルへの移行が必要となり、コミュニティや産業、苦しむ人々を復活させることが重要視されるようになりました。
🥾 再生ビジネスの具体例
この段落では、再生ビジネスの具体例が示されています。靴ブランドのVejaは、アマゾンの保護、雇用の創出、土壌の再生を目指しており、サプライチェーンの各段階で影響を与えています。また、従業員の所有権と利益配分に取り組む企業、食品廃棄物を活用して新しい製品を生み出す企業、有機農業を行い地域社会に恩恵をもたらす農家の例が紹介されました。これらの企業は、利益だけでなく、環境と社会へのポジティブな影響を重視しています。
✨ 再生ビジネスの拡大に向けて
この段落では、再生ビジネスの考え方を広く普及させることの重要性が強調されています。Vejaの共同創設者は、単に大手企業になるのではなく、様々な業界や地域で同様の取り組みが増えることが必要だと述べています。また、企業の規模が大きくなることだけを目指さず、適度な規模で十分である場合もあると指摘しています。最後に、利益だけでなく、環境と社会に配慮した企業を作ることが重要であり、ビジネスの本来の目的を見直す必要があると結論付けています。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡持続可能性
💡再生
💡インパクト
💡スケール
💡パートナーシップ
💡従業員の共有所有権
💡廃棄物の有効活用
💡土壌再生
💡ストーリーテリング
💡目的意識
Highlights
Traditional business models have focused on scale, growth, productivity, and maximizing profit, leading to negative environmental and societal impacts.
Sustainable and mission-driven brands were a step in the right direction, but sustainability has become more about marketing than real action.
Regenerative businesses aim to restore, revive, and bring life to struggling communities, industries, and people.
Regenerative companies ask, 'What social and environmental problems are we going to solve?' instead of 'How do we make the most money selling X, Y, or Z?'
Regenerative businesses consider every aspect of their operations, from supply chains to funding sources, with a focus on creating a positive impact.
The shoe brand Veja preserves the Amazon, hires the unemployable, regenerates soils, and challenges the fashion industry through its regenerative practices.
Veja sources rubber from rubber tappers in the Amazon, providing them with a sustainable livelihood and preventing deforestation.
Veja partners with a nonprofit that employs individuals from marginalized neighborhoods for fulfillment, creating social impact.
Technicians for Sustainability, a solar panel installation company, shares 40% of its profits with employees, promoting economic sustainability.
Toast Ale turns bread waste into beer and donates profits to a charity focused on food waste.
David Vetter, an organic farmer in Nebraska, practices regenerative agriculture and supports other farmers in transitioning to organic farming.
Replication of regenerative business models across industries, cultures, and geographies is crucial for creating widespread impact.
Companies don't need to reach astronomical heights; it should be acceptable to maintain a sustainable scale.
Businesses should prioritize regenerating the environment, treating people as humans, and redefining the purpose of business beyond profit.
We have a limited time on this planet, so we should use it to build organizations that create a positive impact.
Transcripts
Business as we know it has been focused on scale, growth,
productivity and maximizing profit.
It's that hustle culture that we love, right?
The faster the growth, the better; the more money, the better.
And yet that hasn't really worked.
I mean, the planet has clearly taken a hit,
but also, I think people are fed up
and seeking for more balance in their lives.
So to rectify this, over the last few years,
we saw the rise of sustainable and mission-driven brands.
These were companies that started with a very simple model of:
you buy a pair of shoes, we'll donate a pair of shoes.
Then it became "we'll be conscious companies,"
"we'll recycle our waste,"
and most recently, "we'll use carbon offsets."
Well, that’s all well-intentioned, and it truly is,
but sustainability has become more marketing than action, it seems.
It hasn't really moved the needle on what is the core purpose of business
and the core model of business.
So I see it as: it was a great step one, good effort,
but now it's time to move to step two.
And what is step two?
It's regenerative.
You may have heard of the term.
It’s been all over the news lately, in Vogue, in New York Times,
in Outside magazine.
These are just some headlines.
New York Times said it best, I think most succinctly.
“Regenerative: it’s like yoga, but for farmland.”
(Laughter)
Not quite.
So what is regenerative,
particularly in the context of business?
Regenerative businesses are looking to restore,
revive and bring to life communities, industries and people that are struggling.
It's actually much more than just a term.
So I’ve been reporting for over 10 years on business,
social issues and the environment and how all of that overlaps.
I have seen my fair share of doom and gloom headlines.
I think we can all agree we've got problems in the world.
But as I was doing this reporting,
I kept meeting entrepreneurs
that were really looking beyond the crisis at hand
and focusing on solutions.
So I decided to write about their stories and their regenerative businesses,
which don't start with this question
or intent of how do we make the most money by selling you X, Y or Z?
Rather, they ask a really simple question:
What problem are we going to solve?
What social and environmental problem are we going to solve?
And so it's not about just selling you another great pair of jeans
or a great cup of coffee or a nice hotel stay,
unless all of that has impact embedded into it.
In fact, I like to think of regenerative companies as a multi-tiered cake.
It's layer upon layer upon layer of impact,
which makes the whole thing enticing.
It's not just one thing you do off to the side
or one aspect of your company.
It's every tenet of the company is focused on impact.
And so what are some of these tenets they might be thinking about?
Well, if you have a supply chain, if you're in manufacturing,
you're definitely thinking about the environment
and the people that are involved in that supply chain.
In fact, they're not your supply chain, they're your partners.
If you're in the services industry, yes,
you're thinking about your environmental footprint,
but also are you fostering better human connections?
And how are you going to fund this company?
Because the capital that you take on is going to determine
how you run the company for years to come.
Are you open to employee ownership, profit-sharing?
That can have serious social impact in the world.
And most of all, are you inspiring and improving people's lives at work
or just keeping them afloat?
Because I think we can all agree that we want to be treated with respect
and work with purpose these days.
So it's every hub and spoke of the company
is thinking about impact, not just one.
And that’s why, when I turn to these entrepreneurs,
and I would ask them, "Well, what's your take on sustainability?"
They would sort of push back and say,
"We don't really use that word around here."
It was almost as if they were allergic to it.
They said, "Because, what are we sustaining?
A broken system, the status quo?"
I mean, that's what it suggests, right?
Now regenerative is not a one-size-fits-all.
For large global companies,
this is going to be a harder and slower transition
for reasons we can discuss afterwards.
But for small- to medium-sized companies, it’s very doable.
In fact, it's already happening.
And so it's lovely to talk about all this in theory,
but let's put it into context with some examples, shall we?
You may have heard of the shoe brand Veja.
They're quite popular these days,
but 20 years ago, when they started,
the two French cofounders started with less than 20,000 Euros,
and they had very little fashion experience.
And yes, they were selling shoes,
but they were looking to do something far more meaningful.
They wanted to preserve the Amazon,
hire people that are considered unemployable,
regenerate soils and challenge the fashion industry as a whole.
So a few years ago, I had the opportunity to go down
and see one of their supply chains in the Amazon in Brazil.
And it was beautiful and green and biodiverse.
And the supply chain that I focused on was rubber.
So Veja sources native rubber from the rubber trees in the Amazon
for the soles of their shoes.
These trees can harvest rubber for years, if not decades
if it's done properly and it's done by rubber tappers.
These are individuals who live within the Amazon,
and their other option for a livelihood is cattle farming.
But thanks to Veja,
they were able to make the same amount of money,
if not more money, tapping trees for rubber
than they would be doing cattle farming.
And cattle farming requires you to level the land,
to get rid of the trees.
Here, the trees get to stay upright.
This is an example of a regenerative design,
where a company thinks about the environment
and its people from the beginning.
That rubber is then taken down to their factory
in the southern part of Brazil, in Porto Alegre,
where it meets up with organic cotton that comes from another corner of Brazil
and is turned into a shoe.
That shoe then sails across the sea,
and only by sea, to France.
Now here again, Veja had an opportunity.
They could have hired any fulfillment company to do their fulfillment.
Instead, they decided to partner with a nonprofit.
This nonprofit hires individuals that come from marginalized neighborhoods
and are considered unemployable,
and gives them a chance at a career.
Those individuals are responsible for shipping the shoes out to customers.
So it's layer upon layer of impact.
And one more.
Veja decided early on
that they were not going to get so involved in the marketing game,
so they don't pump loads of money into athletes
and influencers and models to wear their shoes.
The money goes back to the supply chain.
The materials cost more,
but the people who make it also get paid more.
Every hub and spoke of the company --
(Applause)
Every hub and spoke of the company is thinking about impact.
So making a shoe has a footprint on the planet
and no solution and no company is perfect,
we can all acknowledge that.
However, when we ask this question, can business do better?
Definitely.
Here's just one example in fashion.
Looking beyond fashion,
what does regenerative business look like?
Well, some of them use employee ownership and profit-sharing.
Here’s a company in Arizona called Technicians for Sustainability
where the owner of the company realized early on
that the folks who are responsible for installing the solar panels
on the roofs
are not going to amass personal wealth doing that job.
So he opened up the profits of the company to his employees.
Today, 40 percent of the profits every year go to the employees.
And what's great about it is not only are they part
of the transition to renewable energy,
but they're investing in the people that are making it happen.
Regenerative companies think about waste differently.
They see it as an opportunity rather than a burden.
If you've been across the pond to the UK,
you know that the Brits love their ready-to-eat sandwiches.
You can find them on every corner shop.
Well, to make those lovely sandwiches,
you have to unfortunately sacrifice the end slices of loaves
and so those end slices would often go to waste.
Well, a food waste entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur got together
and said, "Why don't we turn it into beer?"
And that became Toast Ale.
And so now Toast is available throughout the country in pubs,
restaurants and in grocery stores.
And they've gone one step further.
The profits of the company now go to a charity that's focused on food waste.
(Applause)
And regenerative, the term you may have heard of,
has its roots in regenerative agriculture.
That's where it's being used most prominently these days.
Well, here's a gentleman, David Vetter,
who's been doing it far before it was trendy.
He is the son of a military veteran-turned-farmer
who lives in the cornfields of Nebraska,
in the heart of big ag and conventional ag.
But him and his dad decided early on
that they would go down the route of regenerative organic farming.
They grow regenerative organic grains.
And if you talk to David, he will tell you,
"Soil is something you grow crops in,
dirt is something you find under your bed.
You ought to know the difference."
There is a difference.
And as the company has grown and as the family has grown,
the Vetters have also put a processing unit,
a mill on their facility,
which now allows other farmers in the area who want to also do organic farming
to be able to get their products closer to the market.
If we can create these links,
we can get these products closer to consumers.
So these are just some examples.
I mean, I could rattle on many more examples of these kinds of companies,
but when I asked them fundamentally, "I said, OK guys, what's next?
What do we have to do?"
Many of them said to me one simple thing.
We have to tell these stories further and wider.
The cofounder of Veja said to me something
that I thought was quite poignant.
He said, "We don't need Veja to be the next global ethical shoe brand.
We need dozens of Vejas.
We need dozens in every industry, in every culture, in every geography.
Replication is the answer."
And that brought up another conversation about scale.
Many of the entrepreneurs said to me,
"We don't all need to reach astronomical heights.
Not every company needs to be a global company.
It should be OK to say we are good with this level of scale.
This is enough."
And that fundamental question, of how much is enough,
has come up year after year in my reporting.
Ask yourselves personally how much stuff, house, food,
consumption is enough.
But also, as business leaders,
how much growth, scale, profit is enough
to feed our greed and our egos sometimes.
So I leave you with this thought.
We're all here, on this flying rock, for a moment in time.
We can't take any of this stuff or any of this wealth with us.
So why not use this time to build businesses
that think beyond profit?
Why not build organizations
that regenerate the environment instead of destroy it?
Why not build organizations and companies that have a workforce
that treats people as humans and not as transactions?
I think it's time that we really redefine business.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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