ONGOING REFLECTIONS
Mary Johnstone-Louis Senior Fellow in Management Practice and Skoll Centre Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
As I reflect on my experience co-convening this collective conversation of remarkable businesses, I am struck by the vision, candour, and practical determination present every time we gather. These companies, diverse in sector and geography, share a commitment to wrestle with the hard questions that define what it means for business to pursue systems change in practice. None claim perfection. Instead, participants stay laser-focused on how much they would like to achieve, creating space for authentic learning and collaboration. The questions that have surfaced in our collaboration thus far point us towards the work ahead. Given incumbent market realities, how can business continue to effectively build strategy for systems change in tandem with commercial goals? This question highlights the urgency of shifting from defensive positioning to shaping markets and policy conditions. Relatedly, the question of when, how, and where companies strategically use their collective voice remains central, as participants recognise the power of aligned advocacy but also the need to focus on the systems they each know best.
Overall, my time with these companies highlights the need to more clearly understand mechanisms and strategies that enable firms to achieve systems-level goals. No single business can deliver systems change alone, and the question of trust is ever-present: how can companies communicate progress on systems-level goals in ways that are authentic and inspiring, while acknowledging the work is ongoing? Taken together, these questions form a research and practice agenda that bridges governance, advocacy, measurement, and organisational culture. While each company participating in this collective is uniquely placed to deliver change through its own strategy and business model, any future of “regenerative business” will be written through shared inquiry, iterative practice, and collaboration.
BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 18
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