Reclaiming the Purpose of Business, Policy, and Education
Re-rooting Our Work in the Web of Life
In the Nordic languages, the word for “business” is näringsliv—literally, “nourishing life.” What might it mean if this etymology were not a quaint linguistic artifact, but a radical reminder? What if economic activity were grounded in the responsibility to protect and regenerate life, not just human life, but the whole metabolic web we are entangled in?
As David R. Brower warned: “There is no business on a dead planet.” If the global pandemic taught us anything, rapid, sweeping change is possible when we recognize the depth of our interdependence. The question now is not whether change is possible, but whether we will reorient before the window closes.
Cracks in the Illusion: Crisis as Threshold
Climate extremes, war, biodiversity loss, and the aftermath of a global health crisis have disrupted the illusion of stability. The latest IPCC reports affirm what many communities have long voiced: we are entangled in systems that have exceeded the planet’s limits and fractured our social fabric.
These overlapping crises are not simply problems to solve; they are symptoms of a more profound dis-ease in how we relate to each other, to the rest of nature, and the future. And while these conditions are devastating, they are also revealing. They expose not just fragility, but potential. Resistance to change has weakened. Stories once dismissed as utopian are now part of public discourse. New openings have emerged—not only for adaptation, but for transformation.
Words Matter: What Do We Mean by “Transformation”?
The term “transformation” is trending in many sectors, especially business, policy, and education. But what kind of change does it signify? In sustainability and systems research, transformation is not just a synonym for “change.” It refers to a deep reconfiguration of the systems—economic, cultural, and political—that produce and reproduce harm.
Adaptation responds to crisis while staying on the same trajectory.
Transformation changes the trajectory itself.
It involves shifts in behavior, policy, and regulation—but also in the narratives, norms, and values defining what is possible, desirable, or imaginable. It asks different questions: Who benefits from the status quo? What needs to be composted—not simply improved—for something more life-aligned to take root?
Leading Through Thresholds: From Insight to Action
Research (Per Olsson et al) on transformative change identifies three interdependent phases:
- Preparing the ground (recognizing limits, challenging assumptions, making alternatives visible)
- Navigating the in-between (working within uncertainty, holding tension, experimenting collectively)
- Crossing the threshold (stabilizing new structures, embedding different values, cultivating resilience)
These phases are not linear. Each demands distinct capacities, both technical and organizational, relational and affective. Emotional sobriety, humility, intellectual discernment, and intergenerational responsibility become not optional virtues but essential tools for navigating complexity without collapsing into control or despair.
Not Just Technical: The Cultural and Psychological Work
Too often, institutions focus on designing better policies or strategies without addressing the deeper stories and identities that shape them. However, without shifts in worldview, even the most innovative interventions risk reinforcing old patterns.
Transformation is cultural work. Psychological work. Relational work.
It asks us to create spaces of collective inquiry and safety, where difficult truths can be faced without blame, new questions can arise, and values can be re-examined. In these spaces, educators help unlearn assumptions. Policy makers reframe the purpose of governance. Business leaders begin to see prosperity as rooted in regeneration, not extraction.
From Extraction to Regeneration: A Shared Mandate
To lead in this moment—whether in boardrooms, classrooms, or legislative halls—is to stand at a choice point. Will we continue to extract, optimize, and perform “sustainability” within an unsustainable logic? Or will we step into the hard and humbling work of regeneration—of realigning systems with the rhythms of life?
This is where näringsliv reclaims its power. Nourishing life is not a metaphor. It is a mandate. It invites us to ask:
– How do our practices nourish or deplete the ecologies we are part of?
– What needs to be released so that something more viable might emerge?
– How do we align our roles with the deeper purpose of stewarding planetary possibility?
Final Invitation: Composting Modernity with Care * Vanessa Andreotti
This is not a call for heroic saviors or perfect plans. It is a call for grounded courage and collaborative clarity, to compost what no longer serves and to co-create with what does. Transformation is messy. It asks us to stay with the trouble, sit with uncertainty, and build the future not from certainty but from commitment.
To nourish life is to remember that all our systems—economic, educational, and political—are temporary expressions of deeper entanglements. And if we listen closely, these entanglements whisper. They ask: What might grow if we made room for life again?
Further Reflection and Practice
Educators:
How are your curricula reinforcing or disrupting the myth of separability? Where might you create space for grief, wonder, and planetary literacy?
Policy Makers:
Are you designing policies that only respond to symptoms, or are you addressing the root causes of harm? How might you model the humility needed for collective unknowing?
Business Leaders:
How does your organization metabolize feedback from Earth’s living systems, not just the market? What would it mean to become a site of ecological reciprocity?
Why not take a deep dive into Nature >>
Glossary 1
Translating Deep Concepts into Actionable Insight
1. Organization Metabolizes
Processes complexity, discomfort, and feedback into transformation.
Executive Lens: How your company digests challenge into insight. Like corporate gut health.
2. Ecological Reciprocity
Mutual, accountable relationship with Earth and ecosystems.
Executive Lens: Giving back to the ecosystems that your business depends on. ESG with depth.
3. Composting Modernity
Letting go of harmful legacy patterns to create fertile ground for new futures.
Executive Lens: Retiring outdated assumptions (e.g., growth-at-all-costs) and transforming them into regenerative value.
4. Factuality of Entanglement
We are inescapably interconnected with all life systems.
Executive Lens: Social, ecological, and relational realities shape your company’s outcomes. Interdependence is not optional.
5. Relational Field
The unseen emotional and historical dynamics that shape interactions.
Executive Lens: The fundamental room dynamics—trust, fear, power—beyond the agenda. Culture as atmosphere.
6. Thresholds of Transformation
Turning points are where new systems become necessary.
Executive Lens: Strategic pivot points—like digital disruption—where legacy models must evolve.
7. Emotional Sobriety
Staying present with discomfort and complexity without collapse.
Executive Lens: Leading through crisis with grounded clarity—not reaction. Real calm under pressure.
8. Intellectual Discernment
The ability to hold paradox and avoid simplistic answers.
Executive Lens: Strategic thinking that resists binary traps. Complexity-savvy leadership.
9. Relational Maturity
Capacity to work with differences, conflict, and tension with care.
Executive Lens: Turning disagreement into innovation. True psychological safety.
10. Metabolizing Paradox
Holding tensions until new possibilities emerge.
Executive Lens: Leading without rushing for clarity. Strategic patience.
11. Nurturing (Life) Planetary Metabolism
Supporting the Earth’s ability to regenerate life.
Executive Lens: Regenerative business strategy. Not just less harm—more life.
- Cred. Vanessa Andreotti ↩︎