
Kalundborg, Denmark, has set the standard for how industries can collaborate to reduce waste, save resources, and cut costs.
Industrial circularity is a systems-based approach to production that eliminates waste by turning one company’s byproducts into another’s resources. The result is a closed-loop, regenerative network that benefits the environment, the economy, and the community.

"What we face at the tail end of our industrial society is a design problem."
One of the reasons I feel hopeful about our collective future is that change itself changes. The mindset that got us here—linear, industrial, growth-at-all-costs thinking—no longer defines the path ahead.

True leadership is the art of amplifying collective intelligence.
Jon Levy sees leadership as the art of amplifying group intelligence. He thoroughly busts the myth of the “heroic leader,” making a clear case that great leaders don’t succeed through charisma but by building cultures of strong collaboration.

Kindness is a core leadership practice and a proven driver of organizational success.
Boris Groysberg teaches leadership, organizational behavior, and management at Harvard Business School. His research and experience have led him to conclude that in times of uncertainty, traditional management approaches fall short.

Transforming everyday waste into high‑design objects close to home
Gunnar Magnusson and Tess Olofsson founded Manu with a simple brief: turn waste into usable objects. They work with a signature mix of lemon peels, PET bottles, and cornstarch, letting the materials guide the design.

"Strategy is how we know what the hard choices are, and when and how to make them."
Cate Huston says that strategy – how to be strategic, and how to be seen as strategic – is one of her ongoing obsessions. Years ago, she read Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, and she says that it’s guided her thinking ever since

"Resist individualism. Together, we are more powerful than they want us to believe."
Callie Garp is an artist with passion for feminism and gender studies. She has mixed this interest with her love of creative expression and problem-solving to make an online store.

Embracing uncertainty as a leadership opportunity
Tim Brown, Chair and former CEO of IDEO, helped shape a company that became synonymous with human-centered design by fostering a culture of creativity, innovation, and collaboration. One reason for their success, he suggests, is a mindset shift. They are always learning to approach uncertainty with curiosity and excitement rather than fear.

A unifying, principles-based framework for embedding sustainability into core marketing strategies
Yes, it’s easy to question the sincerity and effectiveness of the CMO Blueprint for Sustainable Growth. The primary concerns are familiar: it’s voluntary, lacks external enforcement, and risks enabling greenwashing. While the Blueprint offers useful perspective and industry benchmarks, many argue that only legally binding standards and strict accountability can drive true, large-scale progress.

Yes, self-management can scale.
This natural kids food company is proving that not only can self-management scale, it might be the best way to grow.In 2010, Natacha Neumann co-founded erdbär Freche Freunde with her husband, Alexander Neumann, after becoming parents and realizing how limited the healthy food options were for young children in Germany. Their mission was clear: to make healthy eating fun, accessible, and easy for kids from an early age.

How one company is supporting forest regeneration and biodiversity by incentivizing forest conservation.
Reimagining the role of corporations in climate action, Natura—a sustainable cosmetics company based in Brazil—has launched the Greenventory campaign (short for Green Inventory).

At its core, organizational health is about integrity.
I keep several copies of Patrick Lencioni’s The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business in my library. That way I always have one to give away when his perspective comes up in conversation. And it comes up often, because it’s powerful.

Reshaping tomorrow’s workplace for both individual fulfillment and the common good.
South Mountain Company on Martha's Vineyard is widely recognized for its commitment to environmentally responsible design and construction.

'A brand is more than a new look or tagline—it’s a guiding system for everything your organization says and does. When your people believe in it, they don’t just talk about the brand—they become it.'
I know a branding program is working when clients tell me it’s easier to connect with the right collaborators.

'If people really understood how fashion can destroy or protect life, we would all live better.'
The Awajún people of the Peruvian Amazon use traditional methods to collect latex sap from shiringa trees without harming them.

'Self-management isn't radical. It’s simply the natural evolution of work.'
Last year, Emma de Blok and a colleague traveled to Barcelona, where they met two people from Basetis, a technology and consultancy firm founded in 2009.

'Accelerating the shift to stakeholder capitalism'
In a timely counter-reaction to the current US administration’s attempts to pressure the corporate world into distancing itself from a values-driven approach to business, Purpose Pledge — a new collaborative of purpose-driven companies committed to a stakeholder capitalism model — launched this week at Natural Products Expo West 2025.

A skeptical optimist maintains a mix of skepticism and an enduring faith in the power of teams to make a difference.
You've heard the Abraham Lincoln quote: "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Product development geek John Cutler ties this philosophy to a superpower that is available to all teams.

How one company combines sustainable farming, waste management, and community empowerment to build a more environmentally sustainable and socially equitable future.
Nepal-based startup Shah Hemp Inno-Ventures (SHIV) is a unique social enterprise transforming wild-grown hemp, bamboo and other natural resources into a catalyst for fair employment, economic growth and climate-change mitigation.

Tackling plastic waste with a digital platform, reusable packaging and a home refill service
A Norwegian company has developed one way to reduce the amount of single-use plastics in our waste stream. På(fyll) lets you order everyday cleaning and personal care products, then the company delivers those products directly to your home in containers that can be used over and over again. When you need a refill they pick up the containers, clean them, refill, and deliver again.

The world’s 'most sustainable furniture factory' just opened in the middle of a Norwegian forest.
"Playfulness, democracy, and sustainability are at the heart of the Vestre brand and everything they do; our wooden, colourful factory in the middle of the Norwegian woods – surrounded by a 300,000 sq m public forest park...lives and breathes this philosophy. "
















