Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble?

…Books! ’tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet,

How sweet his music! on my life, There’s more of wisdom in it.

These verses from the Lake District poet William Wordsworth, written over two hundred years ago, reflect the spirit of the Festival starting on July 16^th in the UK’s Lake District, organised by the Brathay Trust and the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS).

Scholarship is great, but immersing in nature and refreshing our creative desires is key for developing practical wisdom. The festival will be an exploration of ideas and also format, by mixing engaged scholars with radical professionals from across sectors and cultures. The aim is for a maximum mix of people, ideas and processes with few frills. Lifeworth has supported the event with IT services. As the academic chair of the Festival, I’m chuffed we will be welcoming scholars presenting over 40 papers, and speakers who are participating without charge, some coming from across continents.

We are aiming for interaction and reflection, with the Open Space, World Cafe, Open Mic and Storytelling sessions, amongst provocative plenaries and interviews. I’m looking forward to hearing philosopher Charles Eisenstein, actor Nandita Das and author Nicole Schwab. Underlying the range of sessions is the deeper question: “How might I lead greater wellbeing?”

It is an important question, because while more people speak of sustainability, the environmental news is really bad. While more people work on wellbeing, austerity bites and few address the power relations that undermine opportunities for collective wellbeing. While more people call for leadership, we risk forgetting the need for us all to lead together.

But tough issues don’t have to be explored in a tough or dull way. We can enjoy getting to know people on a deeper level as we explore whether to let go of our old stories of success and wellbeing, and where that will lead our work and life. That kind of fresh thinking likes fresh air, so we have organised a range of outdoor activities for participants… in the forest, on the lake, on the lawn.

The festival is also a celebration. I love what Brathay Trust does day-to-day in promoting young people’s wellbeing. We want to share the beauty of the Lake District, which inspires through the cultural heritage and contours of the landscape. It can be argued that contemporary conservation was born in the Lake District in the 1800s. Today, nearly 3 years after IFLAS was conceived, with around 2000 students from over 100 countries, it is time to share the IFLAS approach to sustainability leadership more widely.

So, Up, Up, friends, come join us for these days of exploration: www.leadingwell.org

Jem Bendell

Professor of Sustainability Leadership, University of Cumbria

Founder of IFLAS (www.iflas.info) and Lifeworth

Do you think a spirit of adventure will help us to discover new ways of sustainable living and working? Maybe not. Do you want to explore this idea further? Good. Then consider joining me at the Royal Geographical Society in London on May 22^nd 2013. We are hosting a celebration of adventures in sustainability, with stories from explorer and broadcaster Paul Rose, environmental travel writer Kate Rawles, former Faithless band cofounder and 1 Giant Leap producer Jamie Catto, Wild Swimming author Daniel Start, sustainability communications guru Ed Gillespie, and myself, Professor of Sustainability Leadership Jem Bendell, amongst other eco-adventurous guests. The event introduces the new Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at the University of Cumbria. www.cumbria.ac.uk/iflas

The event is mostly by invitation only, but some tickets will be on sale from March (email martin.pyrah@cumbria.ac.uk to register your request for an invite). Currently we are looking for sponsors to help make this event accessible to a wider range of people and for a film we are making on the topic and event. If your organisation could sponsor this, and thereby invite your friends and business partners, please get in touch with me directly (jb-@-lifeworth.com). More information on the speakers follows below.

The speakers:

Paul Rose is one of the world’s most experienced divers and polar experts, a regular presenter of BBC programmes on exploration, and Vice President of the Royal Geographical Society. For the past 30 years he has been helping scientists unlock global mysteries in the most remote and challenging regions of the planet. His new BBC documentary, Frank Wild: Antarctica’s Forgotten Hero, has just aired on BBC ONE and BBC TWO. Paul is now using art to bring attention to sustainability challenges. www.paulrose.org

Jamie Catto is a former and founding member of the band Faithless. He left to form the double-Grammy nominated, global music and film project 1 Giant Leap. He blended sounds, images and ideas recorded across 5 continents, to explore the unity in diversity. Jamie also leads uniquely transformative workshops, which draw from the diverse wisdom, techniques and processes he encountered during his musical and philosophical voyages. www.jamiecatto.com

Ed Gillespie is Co-Founder of Futerra Sustainability Communications and a flight-free round the world traveller. In 2007-8 Ed circumnavigated the globe without flying in a slow, low-carbon travel adventure using trains, buses, cargo ships and the occasional belligerent camel. He works internationally on ‘selling the sizzle’ of sustainability, inspiring change through powerful, compelling visions of a positive future. www.futerra.co.uk

Kate Rawles is senior lecturer in Outdoor Studies at the University of Cumbria, environmental campaigner and outdoor philosopher.  She is author of The Carbon Cycle; crossing the Great Divide, chronicling her ride through the Rocky Mountains. Kate cycled 4553 miles from Texas to Alaska along the spine of the Rockies, exploring attitudes to climate change and searching for solutions in the belly of the oil beast.  Kate finds that crossing the great divide from here to sustainability is an adventure we’re all on, however unchosen. http://www.tworavenspress.com/TRP_The_Carbon_Cycle.html

Daniel Start is a writer, facilitator and consultant specialising in environment, community and economic development. He is the author of a series of cult classic books on ‘wild swimming’ in the outdoors.  What could be more refreshing than slipping into the cool, clear waters of a secret lake? And what could be more exciting than plunging into a hidden waterfall? Daniel shows that adventures can be found not so far from home. http://www.wildswimming.co.uk/

Jem Bendell is a Professor of Sustainability Leadership and founding Director of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at the University of Cumbria. In 2012 the World Economic Forum recognised him as a Young Global Leader for his pioneering work on innovative collaborations for sustainable development. His work has taken him to live and work in 8 countries on 5 continents. Alongside his academic career, Professor Bendell has worked for the United Nations and the World Wide Fund for Nature. His next book is called Healing Capitalism. http://www.jembendell.com

Lifeworth is delighted to be helping IFLAS to produce and promote this event.

Jem Bendell, Founder of Lifeworth and IFLAS (January 9th, 2013)

Singapore, on 4th, at Syinc, evening talk on the future of money

Crete, Greece, 10th and 11th, at ESA, 2 day workshop on alternative exchange and currency systems

Barcelona, Spain, on 19th, at Future Economy, a talk on the future of luxury and brands

Lancaster, UK, 31st, at University of Cumbria, with Thomas Greco on alternative exchange and currency systems

In the First Policy Brief of the EU’s ‘SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles’ project, they identified five pivotal issues for sustainable lifestyles. One of these is “the emergence of non-monetary systems: reward schemes, alternative currencies and the principle of reciprocity to incentivize people to rethink the value of services and goods in terms of their actual costs and benefits.” It recommends “a Toolbox for change makers” to “enable the transition” that should include “alternative currencies and reward schemes..”*

There is a growing sense that we are on the cusp of disruptive innovation in sustainable exchange, as EU SPREAD notes, “web and mobile technologies can play a critical role in building large-scale, sharing communities for the future.”* Data from the NGO I advise, Community Forge, show a significant uptake in the last 2 years, with now 400 currencies using its free open source software and 130 fully hosted on its servers.

If you are interested in these areas, then I recommend attending one of the following events in the coming months:

Sweden, 24^th August: a short workshop on community currencies with myself and Matthew Slater. Contact the organisers of Future Perfect for more information.

Greece, 10^th and 11^th October: a 2 day workshop on community currencies with best selling author and expert Thomas Greco, myself, Matthew Slater and innovators of local currencies in Greece. Contact the organisers of the European Sustainability Academy for more information.

UK, 30^th and 31^th  October: a talk and then half day workshop on community currencies with Thomas Greco, at the Lancaster Campus of the University of Cumbria. Contact the organisers at Transition City Lancaster for more information (email:  th@  reliablegreenweb.co.uk)

Later this year, at the University of Cumbria, I will be launching a trans-disciplinary programme of research, dialogue and training on alternative currencies and exchange systems, and how they might enable a sustainability transition. If you are interested in this agenda, Id be pleased to hear from you (jb at lifeworth . com).You can also follow tweets on this topic via https://twitter.com/jembendell

Thanks,

Jem Bendell

Director, Lifeworth

Professor of Sustainability Leadership, University of Cumbria (Incoming, Oct 2012)

* Quotes from: Emerging Visions for Future Sustainable Lifestyles. Preliminary policy considerations from the SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 European Social Platform project. Developing pathways to more sustainable living. First Policy Brief, February 2012

Click here to view the embedded video.

• “Don’t worry, they won’t fail you, you’ve already paid”, from a student to another caught cheating during exams;
• “We’ve already accepted that we need to compromise our values to work in the business world”, from a business ethics student to his professor;
• “The business ethics course goes against the grain of every other course that is taught as part of the programme”, from a student to a programme director.

If statements like these are indicative of the culture in business schools today, can we seriously expect management education to be the source of globally responsible leaders to address the urgent needs of our times?

Creating globally responsible leaders is one of the three pillars of a new vision for management education developed by the 50+20 project, a collaborative effort between the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI), the World Business School Council for Sustainable Business (WBSCSB) and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UNPRME). Launched in June at the Rio+20 summit, the 50+20 project presented a report, which proposed a cognitive re-framing of management education, so rather than being the best in the world, business education becomes a driving social force for the world.

Anders Aspling presents 50+20 report on panel with Lifeworth’s Ian Doyle at Global Ethics Forum 2012.

The vision was also outlined at the Global Ethics Forum at the end of June where I (Ian Doyle), joined a panel with Mr Anders Aspling, Secretary General of the GRLI, to discuss how such a vision to create more purposeful business education could be implemented. I suggested the following building blocks for holistic business education:

• A clear social purpose: What is a business school for? Its time to be clear and, if necessary, to update missions. The Community Individual Development Association (CIDA) University in Johannesburg is a good example. It aims to provide education in business administration for the rural poor with a view to transforming its students into leaders of their communities in turn advancing socio-economic transformation of the country and the broader region.
• Pedagogic innovation. Schools need to work more on the pedagogic competence of their staff. This includes how staff can transmit the desire to want to discover/learn rather than assuming ‘he who knows can teach.’
• Combine theory with action-oriented research. If schools are going to have a social purpose, they will need to adapt course content so that research is centred on resolving social problems. That way, students can put theory into action and challenge it if necessary. Furthermore, this is a fun way to learn!
• Adapt management systems. Action research means that schools will need to create platforms to exchange with stakeholders on social issues. The 50+20 report calls this platform a “collaboratory.” Not only would such a platform be useful for research purposes, but it could transform the role of academics so that they become public intellectuals. To do so will also require that schools provide incentives for faculty to engage in such a process: and to be honest about shortcomings.

In the same vein, a sense of purpose requires that one measures success differently. One way to do this is to evaluate what extent research output produces results that can be used to resolve pressing issues in business and society.

• Collaborate for Systemic Change. On a systemic level, what could be some practical recommendations for action and next steps in business education to help create scale? Firstly, there needs to be a cognitive reframing of the purpose of business. Secondly, business school ranking systems currently have graduate salary as a measure of the school’s reputation. Ranking systems could be adapted to measure the social utility of projects and careers, rather than equating success with monetary worth. This will require the co-operation of business school leaders in lobbying for change to ratings systems. Thirdly, school heads would do well to reflect on the future needs of society in 5-10 years and plan for them, as government regulators and funders will no doubt follow these trends, not to mention employers. Fourthly, challenge the ‘Publish or Perish’ mentality in view of career advancement, which encourages the siloing of academics. Issues such as climate change demonstrate that the world is ill-equipped to deal with such systemic issues. Schools need to encourage interdisciplinary work and applied research so that academics are rewarded for the social relevance of their work.

Previously at Lifeworth, in a study in the Journal of Corporate Citizenship, we whittled these issues down into a 16 step process that business schools could follow to embed social purpose into all their activities.

But what might be the guiding values to implement these building blocks? I’d like to propose the following values:

Humility – an issue-centric learning focus requires a spirit of communication. This necessitates humility, not power, as people are humbled before the problem they face so that they can think together.

Love – because love tells us what is important and ultimately guides our happiness. Gary Hamel, considered the world’s leading thinker on business strategy and visiting professor of strategy and international management at London Business School, says that the word ‘love’ needs to be reintroduced into the workplace. I’d go a step further and say that the verb ‘to love’ needs to be lived out in the workplace.

Faith – to believe that there can be something other than it is, for example, the world can be a better place. If students have resolved that they need to compromise their values for the work environment then this is a sign that they have lost faith and our world then becomes stuck in a rut. People need faith so that they can be moved to action.

Accountability – the word ‘responsibility’ has been hijacked so that it only has voluntary significance but its original meaning implies a sense of obligation. It is more than just an ability to respond, and thus a choice, but a commitment to responding and a willingness to be accountable for it. Thus promoting systems for ones own accountability is the highest form of responsibility.

The 50+20 vision is timely, as it highlights that ‘responsibility’ is not something that can be instructed but can be inspired and is something that needs to be lived out. This insight is one of the key aspects of a new training course developed by Lifeworth for Globethics.net. Called ‘Voicing Your Values’, the training draws on psychological studies, executives’ personal experience, case studies, peer coaching, role play and film, so that participants:

• are empowered to create the contexts that enable ethical action.

• clarify their personal and professional purpose and associated definitions of success.

• develop a personal ethical action framework.

• can develop and deploy counter arguments to typical rationalisations for unethical behaviour.

• identify processes for working with others to create values-supportive organisational systems.

By integrating personal ethics in a professional context, managers are equipped to transform ethical reflection into ethical action.

The one day training, which also includes Training Of Trainers, so you can deploy this in your own organisation, is being offered in Geneva on 18^th October and 9^th November, and can also be offered in a location of your choice if you are able to host. A shorter version will be offered on October 11th in Crete. Please contact me at idoyle at lifeworth .com or on +33 9 52 00 53 60 if you are interested in this opportunity.

Ian Doyle,

Associate, Lifeworth.com

Business travel is taking Lifeworth’s Jem Bendell to these cities in 2012 and he wants to make his carbon count by speaking with and training professionals committed to the necessary transformations in business and finance. So if you live in one of those cities and could organise an event, or know someone who does, please read on.

The challenge is to take promising innovations in social and environmental practices to the mainstream, fast. After 16 years working on collaborative innovation for sustainable development, Professor Bendell dug deeper into our need to heal capitalism. He is identifying the businesses, investors, community leaders and policy makers who are getting to the roots of our problem.

• In a keynote presentation “Healing Capitalism”, you can hear about the actors and opportunities within this transformation and be inspired to connect with them (a lecture from 30 mins to 1 hour).
• In the skills workshop “Critical Collaboration” you can learn the methods for working together on transformative change, which Professor Bendell has been using in his work (a training of a half day to 1 day).

Hosts of keynotes or training workshops will demonstrate their commitment to this agenda through various communications channels available to Lifeworth, and could be featured in his forthcoming book “Healing Capitalism: business opportunities in global transition.”

The windows of opportunity to book Jem include:

Abu Dhabi – 2nd week of October
Bangkok – last week of May
Beijing – September 10th or 14th-19th
Brisbane – last 2 weeks of September
Dubai – 2nd week of October
London – 1st week of July
Hong Kong* – September 10th or 19th or 1st-2nd October
Istanbul – 1st week of June
Madrid – 1st week of September, last 2 weeks of October, or last 3 weeks of November
Paris – last 3 weeks of either June or July
Singapore* – last week of May or 30th September or 1st-2nd October
Stockholm – 22nd to 27th August
Sydney* – 29th or 30th September or 1st October
Zurich – last 3 weeks of either June or July

There is a fee to host, but no travel costs. The starred* cities need to be booked before March 30th to be definite. Other cities and dates may be possible, but will incur significantly more expense and a clear strategy for impact (so as to maximise the time and resources). In November, Professor Bendell will launch his latest book “Healing Capitalism”, co-authored with Ian Doyle.

If interested, please copy and paste the following questions and answer them in an email to connect @ lifeworth.com

1) The dates, times and location we propose:
2) Speech or workshop or both:
3) If the speech/seminar is part of another event, provide link:
4) The organisers:
5) The likely attendees (type and number):
6) How the event is funded:
7) If fees will be charged for the event, the amount:
8 ) What accommodation is offered for Professor Bendell:
9) The amount of the speakers fee guaranteed even if your organisation cancels later (for speech and/or training):
10) What other activities requested of Professor Bendell, if any:
11) Whether professional video filming and editing with free online release:
12) Name of contact person:

More on Jem Bendell:

A strategist and educator on social and organisational change, specialising in responsible business development, alliances for sustainable development, and transformative philanthropy. Professor Bendell has helped create innovative initiatives, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, to endorse sustainable fisheries, and The Finance Innovation Lab, to promote sustainable finance. He leads a consulting network, whose clients include UN, NGOs, large firms and family foundations, in over 25 countries. With a PhD in international policy, over 100 publications (including four books and five UN reports) and Visiting Professorships in management (GBS and IE), Professor Bendell is an award-winning international authority on business-society relations. He works with people who seek to contribute to, and benefit from, the transformation of markets to promote global well-being. His latest book on collaboration is “Evolving Partnerships”, and his latest TEDx talk is on sustainable currencies.

The winner of the Best Sustainable Luxury Performance in Latin America in the fashion and accessories category was Pachacuti. The British-based company works with indigenous communities in Ecuador to produce fairly traded high-end panama hats. The Paris-based Ainy won the award for beauty company. It works with Latin American producers to sustainably harvest key ingredients. Argentine company Perma Hue won the award in the tourism sector. An eco-resort in Patagonia, Perma Hue seeks to promote the wellbeing of their visitors through re-connecting with nature. In the jewellery sector, a special mention was given to Oro Verde, not as a company, but as a community cooperative, pioneering the production of ethical gold. They work with Afro-Colombian communities to support small-scale alluvial mining operations in the Choco region of Colombia. Oro Verde™ have pioneered an environmentally sustainable, socially responsible form of artisanal mining that seeks to preserve the unique and vital virgin rainforest ecosystems while providing a fair, regular source of income to miners, their families and their communities. Also for work on jewellery, a special mention was made of Ian Doyle, from Lifeworth Consulting, for his research on a new agenda for responsible jewellery, focusing on social development. A spanish version of his report “Uplifting the Earth” was launched at the awards.

Dana Thomas presenting at the awards

The award to Perma Hue was presented by Maria Eugenia Giron, former CEO of Carrera y Carrera, and author of “Inside Luxury”. Award winners received a leaf bowl of Palo Santo wood carved by the Wichi aboriginals of the Argentine North East. The awards were judged by Maria Eugenia Giron (IE Business School), Dana Thomas (best-selling author), Eduardo Escobedo (United Nations, UNCTAD), Summer Rayne Oakes (Source4style),

Awards Judge Maria Eugenia Giron with winners from Perma Hue

The main Argentine newspaper covered the event and the winners. Awards organiser Miguel Angel Gardetti announced that the awards would stay in Argentina for one more year, but extend their reach in nominations and coverage. Further information on the winners, the speakers, the awards, and others working on sustainable luxury, is available at: http://www.authenticluxury.net

Professor Gardetti and Professor Bendell, founders of the awards

Nominations for the 2012 Sustainable Luxury Awards should be sent to www.lujosustentable.org

“I want to thank the team at the Wellness Summit for making sustainability a theme this year. It has been rather challenging times for many in the industry these past 2 years, and that could have led some to focus purely on the near term, rather than providing a space for reflection on what it is we are doing and why. The location is also refreshing. We do not have to put ourselves in concrete jungles to be smart and serious. We are part of nature, and when we are in sight of nature we are more relaxed and thus more creative… and the science on that process is in.

I am here because I think wellness professionals can be leaders in the transition to a fair and sustainable world. You can be part of what I term in my latest book, The Corporate Responsibility Movement – A movement that is pursuing a transition to a fair and sustainable economy through new approaches to enterprise.

I was invited partly because of a report I researched and wrote about sustainable luxury, for the environmental group WWF. In Deeper Luxury, we mapped out the sustainability challenge, and how luxury brands perform, the commercial reasons why they can do more, and some examples and tips for companies. The report took off around the world. I even ended up pictured in Tatler; a dubious indicator of success for an environmentalist perhaps.

Wellness services target the same market as many luxury brands, and many wellness services are themselves luxury brands. The luxury industry has been under an increasing spotlight on its social and environmental performance. From the sourcing of metals and stones in jewellery, to the working practices for models, to the use of endangered species in its products. More and more luxury brands have made steps to improve practice, and some luxury groups have even decided to make major investments in buying niche ethical luxury brands, such as LVMH buying half of Edun, which focuses on ethical clothing. The trends they are responding to are trends that also affect wellness industries – a growing realisation amongst people around the world of social and environmental malaise and how our consumption affects that, and how our choices at work matter. If you are in a business where the products and services are highly discretionary, and where personal motivation of staff is key to your success, then these broader public issues affect your business, because they affect customer and staff mood.

I’m new to wellness, and I need some. Having flu at my first wellness conference maybe tells me something I need to hear. I’ve been working on sustainability for 15 years and it is a huge agenda. It can seem complicated, with more stuff to have to think about, to check on, and so on. But actually its quite simple. At its most basic sustainability is about people being in harmony with nature, including our own natures. As our societies have developed our work and ways of living have separated us from that harmony with nature, with each other and with our true selves. You have likely heard that before. Right now I’d like us to take a moment to sense what restoring that harmony could feel like. You may find it helpful if you close your eyes for the next few moments.

So, now with you eyes shut, try to recall a moment when you think you won an argument, or clinched a deal, or got promoted. Think of how it felt at the time.

Still with your eyes shut, next, try to recall a moment when you were in nature, perhaps looking at a sunset, or where you completely lost yourself in the moment of something you enjoy doing. Try to taste that feeling.

Now contrast that feeling with the first – the feeling generated within you when you won out on something.

Consider whether that first feeling is one of self-promotion – a worldly feeling, while the second feeling comes from somewhere else, something some would call your soul.

This is a reflection recommended to us by Anthony De Mello, a Jesuit priest from India. He says the worldly feelings control us, and make us controllable, and don’t provide the nourishment and happiness from when one contemplates nature or enjoys the company of one’s friends or one’s work. He suggests we are weighed down by these worldly motivations for approval, popularity, and power.

That is also a sustainability message. Because sustainability is not so much a challenge out there, but in here. It comes down to how mindful we are in our work. A sustainable wellness industry will flow from a sustainable wellness profession of people inspired by creating experiences that generate well-being for everyone involved, not just the client, and restoring the biological diversity and balance of our planet in the process.

The good news is that more and more people want that from us.

This time tomorrow you will hear from Adam Horler of LOHAS Asia, some new data on consumer attitudes to the environment and consumption, from across South East Asia. So I wont go into the data I have from last year. The positive news is that contrary to myth, middle class urban Asian consumers are concerned about the environment and would prefer better options on that issue. But today, Ill share with you some statistics on why it is so important we try to meet those consumers’ aspirations and help them turn it into behavioural change.

Since the conference opened here at 9am yesterday morning, just 24 hours ago, over 80,000 acres of tropical rainforest have been lost. Over a million tonnes of toxic waste have been released into our environment. Since 9am yesterday, 98,000 people on our planet died of starvation, tens of thousands of them children. In just a day, 137 species have been driven into extinction. In that time, up to 200,000 sharks have been killed, many of them endangered species, by removing their fins to flavour our soup. Perhaps it is no wonder then that an estimated 2 million people around the world took a day off work yesterday due to stress or depression.

We are exposed to bad news in the media on most days, and it seems so abstract and unconnected to us. It can make us numb, partly because we don’t know what to do. But if we repress certain feelings then that can come out in other ways, damaging ourselves and others. The numbness can also hold us back from acting on what we know and what we care about. There’s an American poet Drew Dellinger, who I particularly like for the way he reaches through this numbness. Suffering with this flu, I was bored in bed and listening to his poetry. One poem reached me in the middle of the night. It goes something like this:

“It’s 3:23 in the morning
and I’m awake
because my great great grandchildren
won’t let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do while the earth was unravelling?
Surely you did something when the seasons started failing
when the animals, reptiles and birds were all dying?
Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen?
What did you do?
Once you knew…”

When that touches us, even if its painful, we can be grateful for that, because we are feeling our extended self, our fuller self, expressing itself.

We are lucky we are not one of the people who suffered in the last 24 hours. We are probably lucky we are not our great great grandchildren. But we are also guilty. Not of inaction or apathy. Because we are already active in causing the problems I’ve described, through what we buy and what our savings get used for, who or what we work for or on. The problems in the world are not there from an absence of human action, but because of human action, in pursuit of profit and pride. The building, the lights, the food, our clothes, credit cards, the works, its all of us involved in all the difficulties I’ve just described.

Am I making you feel well? The sustainability agenda must make us question what we mean by wellness.

Some may cynically surmise that such malaise may mean a growth in demand for wellness services. But wellness seems to be more than health, moments of happiness and thin veil of calm. Rather, wellness is a form of contentment and balance, a way of being where one is both healer and whole. Providing people opportunities to awaken to their higher selves can be part of the wellness agenda. It might be unsettling, but ultimately can be deeply affirming. In any case, new evidence confirms that personal wellness and well-being is often affected by collective wellness and well-being.

Personal and collective wellness are connected in two key ways – environmental and social. A US government study published last month found a strong, consistent correlation between adult diabetes and particulate air pollution. There are also scientific studies published this year that correlate levels of air pollution, such as nitrous oxides, with levels of personal happiness. Studies also correlate more traffic congestion with less sense of well-being. We probably didn’t need scientists to work that one out.

Our proximity to nature also matters. Studies have found that post-operation patients housed in rooms with views of nature require less time in hospital and require fewer pain killers. In a study by the University of Illinois “those who lived in housing units with no immediate view of or access to nature reported a greater number of aggressive conflicts with partners or children than their peers who lived near trees and grass.” Our natural world is our common well-being.

The second way that personal and collective wellness is connected is through social factors. One study reported this year finds that if you are not in a good relationship, your injuries will take twice as long to heal, than if you are in a positive and nurturing relationship. Studies show correlations between unemployment, or poverty or economic inequality, with higher rates of crime. It is not surprising then that one study found that in the most economically unequal of states of the USA, 35 to 40 percent of the population feel they cannot trust other people, compared to only 10 percent in the more equal states. Not trusting each other, and being anxious of our rank in society, and what will happen if we slip back, is one explanation for why growing GDP has not correlated with growing levels of happiness, beyond a fairly low threshold. Even UN studies report more unequal societies are more unhappy, top to bottom.

Can one be well when many are not? Apparently not.

There are two major implications for the wellness industry from recognising this connection between personal and collective wellness, or from now on, between personal and global wellness. First, are implications for the relationship with the client. Second, the relationship with everyone else involved, and the environment.

Let’s consider the client. Instead of retreat many people seek reconnection. Jeorg DeMeuth, who runs Organic Spa and who you heard from yesterday, told me that he finds more “people are looking for a holistic experience, where they experience soul, mind and body. The new Spa is a kind of dreamland for new ideas and life concepts”. For those clients who don’t yet have this awareness, as professionals with access to the latest science on the relation between personal and global wellness do we have a responsibility to help lead more people towards that thinking, as it is in their own interests? Serving people by proposing something they don’t yet know they want is an old challenge. Henry Ford knew it well when he famously said, “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they’d tell me a faster horse.” We can serve customers by seeking to lead them.

How to lead customers in this way is an important questions. I want to learn about that, and am looking for examples to include in my next book, on sustainable luxury, so Id welcome chatting after, if you have tried it. I think one subtle way of leading consumers is to communicate how you are providing your services in more responsible ways. Demonstrating a practical manifestation of values can be a good teacher. This also connects to the the second main implication of the connection between personal and global wellness – unless you are supporting collective wellness through the actual operations of your wellness business, you are not really helping your clients’ individual wellness. If the products you use have no contaminants but their manufacture polluted the air we breath, rising our rates of diabetes, destabilising our climate, then that’s not so ‘well’.

I hear that there are many companies embracing this agenda, and some of them we are hearing about at this conference.

There are a variety of initiatives bringing people together to make this happen, such as The Campaign for Greener Healthcare, The Green Occupational Therapy Network, The Green Yoga Association and the Authentic Luxury Network which I launched with some people in the luxury world. There are also initiatives such as Green Globe’s standard for environmental management of Spas, which the luxury resort chain Six Senses developed with them. What is exciting is that we do not have to only focus on making less impact on the planet and people, but we can create products and services that make a positive impact on people and nature. For example, I’m an advisor to The UN’s Biotrade initiative, which is working with skincare and fragrance companies to develop product lines that create new revenues to pay for the conservation of species and their ecosystems. One participant is the Swiss fragrance firm Firmenich, who worked with the NGO Care International, to improve the lives of Vanilla farmers in Uganda, and incorporate that into the brand proposition for a new perfume by Estee Lauder and Donna Karan, called PureDKNY.

This is not about companies offering charity. It is about upgrading normal business operations. The sustainable wellness agenda is about how you make your money not how you give it away. It may seem complex but you can start anywhere, for instance by empowering your staff to become aware of issues and how they relate to their values and their healing practices, and then together discover ways of reducing negative impacts and making more positive contributions. You can look for guidelines and standards, and you can take lots of notes during Jeorg’s skills development session tomorrow.

In summary, I think wellness professions are important to sustainability and vice versa. It will soon be impossible to separate personal wellness from working on collective or global wellness. We will only integrate these properly if we have a heartfelt intention to serve all life through our work. That is an intention most of us share, but it gets covered up with all the stresses and strivings of everyday life. The reflection from Anthony de Mello at the start, helps us see that our world needs from us simply what we deeply need for ourselves. To be authentic, soulful and purposeful. We don’t have to be whole to heal – we just have to be on the way. Thank you.

[References to the data mentioned will appear in my forthcoming book, “Higher Ends”. Thanks to Lifeworth's Hanniah Tariq and Sara Walcott for research assistance, and comments from Matthew Slater and Ian Doyle on an earlier version. A video of the talk will appear soon].

View the summit at http://www.wellnesssummit.com

So, the field of measurement and disclosure of CSR and sustainability has become a bit funky. So, with that in mind, I was asked by Ethical Corporation contributor Rajesh Chhabara for my thoughts on the new disclosure agenda…

When considering the implications of the new ideas and interests, it is important to remember what CSR measurement and disclosure has been good for until now. Social and environmental reporting serves both internal and external communications functions. A reporting process is helpful for motivating people in an organisation to share information with each other. For that reason a deadline for an annual report works well. However, for external communications, not only is an annual report flawed, any report is flawed, because hardly anyone other than CSR consultants and ESG analysts actually read such reports.

Therefore, for internal communications reasons and to establish a baseline, all organisations should at some point complete a social and environmental report, but such a stand alone report does not need to be annual one. In saying that I’m not letting Chiquita off the hook – revelations in 2007 about relations with paramilitaries would have prompted many companies to appear concerned enough to do a stock-take of the company’s CSR. But a specialist annual report is not essential, because each stakeholder group has different interests, and can be engaged in different ways.

Action and performance on many environmental, social and governance issues are important to the commercial success of a business, and so they should increasingly be reported on in financial reports. Such reports should be annual, not quarterly, as constant reporting to investors encourages short-term and superficial targeting, as the board of Unilever have expressed more clearly than most. With such integrated reports, it is important for investors to receive information on actual impacts and performance, rather than only evidence of management systems. For instance, it needs to include hard data on actual carbon footprints, gender equality in pay, the number of court cases brought against the employer, and so on. There is more work to be done on the generation of credible protocols for producing such hard data, which is one of the conclusions of the recent UN’s Investor and Enterprise Responsibility Review, that I guest edited.

Integration is not everything, however, for at least three reasons. First, because not all environmental, social and governance issues are important to the commercial success of a business, yet are important to some stakeholders or wider society. For instance, child labour is of commercial importance due to reputational risk, while the absence of freedom of association and collective bargaining might be a root cause and potential solution to child labour, yet doesn’t present the same reputational risk and is therefore less relevant for understanding commercial performance implications. Consequently if all issues are viewed solely in terms of financial performance, some issues may be marginalised. Second, for good communication we should not whittle everything down to narrow metrics, as the field of corporate responsibility is always evolving and involves conversations between business and society. Third, because annual or even quarterly cycles of communication will not be useful for some stakeholders. Therefore, although integration of financial and other reporting is a useful trend, there is still a need for more open and engaging forms of communication on the social and environmental performance of business. Online tools and working with other organisations makes a lot of sense for achieving more interactive and exploratory conversations with stakeholders.

Companies can therefore benefit from releasing data and invite advice on various issues on a regular non scheduled basis through various online networks. They can even develop their own micro sites and smart phone apps for such initiatives, but it makes more sense to reach out to existing communities, such as JustMeans, 2Degrees and NetImpact. In time it is those independent non commercial and free websites that may be seen to host the most independent engagements with companies. I would be pleased to see a major company seek to engage the public through WiserEarth, for instance. And if you worry about not being able to control or turn off the debate if it turns bad? Forget it, the debate will happen somewhere at some point anyway.

Which brings me to the hottest part of the disclosure agenda, the deeper impacts of social networks on society and therefore any organisation. That means we should not limit our thinking to only looking at how a communications strategist may decide how a company reaches out. The changes from social networking challenge that view entirely.  Now your staff can interact outside the company with a wider range of informed professionals and the public on a daily basis. People always used to chat to people about work outside of work, but now this is wider as geography does not limit us, narrower as networks and search make relevant people easily identifiable, constant as the interactions can occur during work, and recorded as interactions often use text. Therefore staff need to be supported with the means to engage in such networks in productive ways, and that will be a major focus area for corporate responsibility professionals in firms in future, as companies begin to open up to the inevitability of needing to enable their staff to engage social media for their work.

This measurement and disclosure agenda is made all the more spicy by the rising criticism of the credibility and efficacy of the industry of environmental, social and governance analysts. Whether its NGOs, UNCTAD, industry insiders or CSR thinktanks, the ESG analysts have been coming in for some stick this autumn. The problem for the analyst firms is that as most keep their methodologies confidential, they don’t have much with which to respond. Their new owners might be wondering whether what is under the hood will be strong enough to drive through the storm, when the real issue is opening up the hood to improve the engine, and find new business models for analysis. We will look at that in issue 40 of the Journal of Corporate Citizenship.

In closing the seminar in Singapore, Mark Goyder of Tomorrow’s Company, reminded the audience that in all these debates and initiatives we shouldn’t take our eye of the real reason for working on measurement and disclosure… and that is to improve our practices in line with our values. Unless we start with clarity on our values, and how we impact others, then changes to forms of measurement and disclosure will not get to the heart of the matter, and not create real change. And heartfelt change is what makes something sexy, and what we must strive for if warranting the funky ‘chicks’ and ‘blokes’ self-image many assume in this field.

Now we are pleased to be participating in and promoting a new initiative to encourage sharing between brands on their CSR. Organised by Christopher H. Cordey, who is the founder of sustainable luxury consulting firm WholeBeauty and an associate of Lifeworth, the “Atelier for Sustainable Excellence” meets for the first time in Lausanne in September. Participating includes the Gucci Group, Jaeger-LeCoulture, Rosy Blue Diamonds, WWF, HEC Lausanne University and other luxury brands, as well as NGO and Corporate Responsibility experts.

Lifeworth’s Ian Doyle will be speaking about “Social Innovation in the Ethical Sourcing of Precious Gemstones”. He will describe trends in consumer and industry interest in ethical sourcing of gemstones, the key issues and action areas, including the importance of traceability, relationship building and a development focus, before presenting some examples of social innovation in practice.

More information on the event is at www.amiando.com/sustainableluxury20