As the world spirals into crazy, do you get the distinct feeling that you are powerless. Don’t. Our world is just programmed to make you feel that way.
A few days ago I stumbled upon this – “If you were going to take over society and keep humanity from reaching its full enlightened potential, how would you do it?” The question was asked by Rob Sidon of Common Ground.
Sound familiar?
Before we turn into crazy conspiracy theorists, let’s pause for a moment.
Why is everything such a disaster: our politics, mass deportations, the climate crisis, Ukraine, Gaza. COP 29, the World Cup,? How is it possible that on almost every single problem in the world, we make the wrong choice> Is it our flawed decision-making? Nope. Our democracy is doing exactly what our system was designed to do – protect the status quo and make the hyper-rich even more money.
The world is unprepared for the level of violence we are going to see in the streets.
Gaza is coming to your neighborhood. The election of Trump in the United States and the complicity of the West in the genocide in Palestine are interconnected. We have lost all sense of societal empathy – and the more desensitized we are – the easier it gets to commit atrocities in broad daylight.
Take, for instance, the soccer-violence in Amsterdam which is being labelled as an outpouring of anti-semitism.
The corporate narrative about Israel has done a disservice to Judaism. By equating Zionism and Judaism, our media has opened the gates to public violence.
The propaganda machine has been spinning its head off trying to frame soccer brawls in Amsterdam as a horrifying “pogrom” against Jewish people because the side instigating the violence were supporters of team Maccabi Tel Aviv who flew in from Israel.
The total collapse of the media is the precursor to the collapse of society.
Our institutions are failing – and flailing.
Meanwhile in Bangladesh, regime change has led to violence and murder of Hindus. This is not a one-off, but rather a systematic wave of terror visited on the minorities in what was considered a moderate Islamic country. Hindus make up about 8% of the country’s nearly 170 million people, while Muslims are about 91%.
In Gaza, we know that 70% of the dead are women and children. We learned nothing from the Holocaust – not the Israelis, not the West.
Religious violence has returned to center stage.
The tired wars of ideology have returned. Watch next for Christian Fascism – the rising star of American politics.
What can stop the inevitable leap from individual acts of violence to institutional conflict?
Here’s a blueprint of how individual violence can evolve into institutional conflict:
Personal Grievances and Identity Polarization: Individuals who feel marginalized, threatened, or discriminated against engage in isolated acts of violence. Over time, such individuals come together based on shared grievances, forming group identities that reinforce “us vs. them” mentalities. This polarization can be a catalyst for collective action, especially when individuals feel that violence is a valid expression of resistance against perceived oppression. (Sound familiar? USA! USA!)
Formation of Ideological Justifications: Shared beliefs and narratives, spread through media, community leaders, or charismatic figures (funded by billionaires), help legitimize violence as a justified reaction. These ideologies may emphasize historical injustices, cultural superiority, or existential threats, fostering a sense of moral obligation to act against an opposing group or institution. Ideology provides cohesion and purpose, which can help turn isolated violence into organized conflict.
Organizational Support, Mobilization, and Belonging: As groups grow in number, they formalize their existence through organizations that provide resources, training, and (mis)leadership. Support networks can include political parties, militant organizations, or even religious institutions that see value in promoting collective action. Mobilization at this stage typically involves funding, weapons, and a more structured approach to violence, creating a pathway for sustained institutional or systemic conflict. (Paramilitary pop-ups!)
Institutionalization of Conflict: When violence becomes systemic, it permeates institutions, such as the military, police, or political organizations, embedding conflict into governance structures. Institutions may adopt policies or practices that perpetuate violence, or opposition groups may form “shadow institutions” that operate as parallel governments or military forces. This stage signifies a shift from sporadic violence to a protracted conflict with a degree of legitimacy within political structures.
Escalation and Entrenchment: In this stage, violence and conflict become deeply embedded in societal norms and institutional practices. As groups formalize warfare or prolonged institutionalized discrimination, the potential for peaceful resolution diminishes. Conflicts often become harder to resolve because they are now integral to the power dynamics within institutions, influencing policy, identity, and daily life.
Government as an Institution of Violence: In progress – watch the US. When your government turns on its own people – the enemy within – and starts a loyalty-program, banishing everyone but “true believers” and billionaires from the levers of power. (Game over for Democracy?)
This is an old, worn tune. But still we dance – our monkey minds gripped by fear.
Meanwhile, the Planet is dying. And lest you forget, the billionaires won’t take you to Mars.
Just because you don’t like Al Gore, doesn’t mean he isn’t telling you the truth:
“…the climate crisis is a fossil fuel crisis. The solutions are going to come from a discussion and collaboration about phasing out fossil fuels. And there’s only so much longer they can hold this up and tie us down and keep us from doing the right thing.”
So our book is finally here. At one point – when we were at 500 pages – I almost gave up. But then I remembered Gail Mazur‘s advice: “anything worth doing is worth doing badly,” and decided to carry on. Now, at 320 pages, this book tries to cover the various angles and sights and buzzwords we see creeping into the regeneration ecosystem (pun intended).
What’s the big idea? Actually we think there are several.
Climate change is the greatest market failure in history. Its costs are not priced into market transactions because third parties overwhelmingly bear them – they are euphemistically called “externalities.” There is a fatal misalignment between what is in the interests of the economy and the incentives of the companies that comprise it. Nature, and the communities we live in, are nowhere part of the equation!
Regeneration means regenerating the Common Good. Our position is this: The Climate Crisis and the Collapse of Society are both symptoms of the same fatal sickness: the destruction of the Common Good. We cannot compartmentalize the climate and separate it from the rest of society or our activities.
Here are the questions we – Philip Kotler, Enrico Foglia, and myself, asked ourselves:
The choice is clear. It is regeneration, or extinction.
This week I interviewedCettina Martorana, a candidate in Sicily’s regional elections on the subject of regenerative politics.
Can politics be regenerative at all?
Martorana is a professional business woman who finds herself in an election because she was drafted by Caterina Chinnici – the candidate on the left for president of the Sicilian Assembly.
Cettina Martorana asks: “What kind of Sicily do you want?”
Here are five points I got out of our discussion:
Nature must be at the heart of all future decisions.
The climate crisis is an economic crisis and a social crisis.
Regeneration is an alternative to polarization
Regenerative politics is beyond left vs. right
Regenerative politics is based on problem solving
If our politics don’t engage the youth, what’s the point in politics at all? Martorana’s idea is simple: ask the students what they want and find ways to create opportunities for them. She does this through an old media format – comics!
But her message is serious.
Here is Martorana’s tree of regeneration – a symbol to capture the interconnected nature of all things in the community:
Martorana’s unique campaign is based on a deep understanding and empathy for the plight facing Sicily’s youth. Jobs and employment are scarce, and now with COVID and climate change, things may get much worse. As a problem-solver, she aims to explain why regenerative politics is not just a word, but the way forward.
You can check Martorana’s ideas out at www.cettinamartorana.it – with the help of Google translate!
The legendary reggae band Steel Pulse (one of Bob Marley’s favorites) raises its voice to challenge the world to come together – a “movements of movements” – to save the Earth:
Special thanks to Jessica Lieng from the W7 Working Group for putting together the video. Maximum respect to Steel Pulse and David Hinds in particular!
It was my great honor to interview the “Father of modern Marketing” on his lifetime of achievements in marketing.
Professor Philip Kotler received the Thinkers50Lifetime Achievement Award for his work over the past 50 years. I am deeply grateful for his friendship and mentorship – and everything he has done to demonstrate how marketing must be a force for good.
Regenerative marketing is defined as marketing practices which nurture communities and build local prosperity over the long term. The outcomes of regenerative marketing include value creation for customers, employees, and local communities. Regenerative marketing practices must – by definition – build community wealth.
It’s time to put aside our toys – our ideologies and guns – and look at this time in history as our final exam. This is a test, as Buckminster Fuller said, to see if we, the human species, deserve to carry on. COVID has shown us that we cannot find consensus on how to deal with the virus.
Time’s running out. Philip Kotler, Karthiga Ratnam, and I think it’s time for a movement of movements.
Once again, it is useful to study the past to learn what applies here to our ecosystematic journeys. Of particular interest is the work of Donella Meadows, who taught us how to focus on having the most impact on a system (Bill Gates, listen up!) >>
Where to intervene:
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards). 11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows. 10. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures). 9. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change. 8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against. 7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops. 6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information). 5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints). 4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure. 3. The goals of the system. 2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises. 1. The power to transcend paradigms.
A special thanks to the Business Ecosystem Alliance and Dr. Annika Streiber for hosting me on the topic of “Ecosystematic” – the forthcoming book co-authored with Philip Kotler:
I still think of Larry Keeley‘s 10 types of innovation – and think about how the model can be applied to social innovation – to meet the “unmet needs” of society.
The 11th type of innovation is purpose – to what ends are your capabilities and talents being deployed? Are you inclusive or is your company supporting new forms of apartheid? That is what Brand Activism, and by extension – the Wicked7 Project – are about.
