Co-Creating a New Narrative for a Regenerative Future

Further thoughts here on the Regenerative Future Summit in Boulder, CO, in mid-May 2017, which I blogged about earlier. One of the core themes of the summit was the need to create a new narrative that describes and defines the ‘what and why’ of economies and societies. Using a document developed collaboratively by hundreds of people under the aegis of the Leading for Wellbeing coalition called the Meadows Memorandum, the summit emphasized the need to create a powerful social movement to counter the current neoliberal economic narrative that so dominates much of our thinking that we hardly realize it is there—sort of like being unaware of the fact that we are breathing air most of the time.

It is the neoliberal narrative that gives us the ideas that the purpose of companies is to ‘maximize shareholder wealth,’ that markets are free, and that globalization, continual growth, and freedom of individuals to do what they want (largely without restraint) are always unmitigated goods. Yet this type of economic thinking is what has brought about growing global inequality, climate change that threatens the very existence of humanity, and the potential for collapsing ecosystems. These problems are only likely to get worse if things don’t change. One of the premises of the Summit was that to begin the ‘necessary transition’ to what I with Malcolm McIntosh called the Sustainable Enterprise Economy. The Summit’s leaders called it a transition to a regenerative future, and argued that a new narrative emphasizing an ‘economy in service to life’ with wellbeing and dignity for all is needed to begin building that future.

Creating an economy that serves life with wellbeing and dignity for all will be no mean feat given the many problems and divisiveness in the world today. Thus, conference organizers emphasized both the importance of creating a global social movement around this task and of developing the narrative itself, along with many other initiatives that support that narrative in what is hoped to be a network of networks of initiatives with aligned agendas. Beginning this task, the Meadows Memorandum sketches out what such a ‘new narrative’ might look like:

True freedom and success depend on creating a world where individuals flourish and we all prosper. Governments serve humanity best when they recognize our individual dignity and enhance our interconnectedness. To thrive, businesses and society must pivot toward a new purpose: shared well-being on a healthy planet. (Meadows Memorandum, 2017).

Effective narrative is, according to Dagny Scott, of Fearless Unlimited, one of the Summit’s speakers, true, simple, and aspirational. In other words, you have to set out a resonant vision that appeals to people because of its firm grounding in something real, and you need to think positive—you have to stand for something that draws people in without overcomplicating things with ‘just facts,’ which don’t work. Along similar lines Freya Williams of Futerra argued that to create this type of social change, change agents need to focus on meeting people where they are and identifying who you are trying to reach with a story or narrative. Add in the emotion or passion in showing people how the new story will affect them and you begin to have an effective message. Others agreed that the story told is at the heart of any successful social movement. In addition, today change agents need more technical and tactical understanding of the landscape of social media and traditional outlets. They also need to understand the importance of articulating resonant values that draw people in, and how to crate a dense and diverse, connected network of initiatives that are aligned by the guiding shared narrative.

That was where the 15+ working groups that formed at the conference became important, because they brought together many people with different perspectives and experiences to shape particular aspects of the forward-looking agenda that can potentially drive a regenerative future. The group that I worked with focused on the narrative itself and recognized the importance of four key memes (basic descriptors, foundational units of culture)—wellbeing, dignity, freedom, and security—in shaping the new narrative. But other words got used, too, and perhaps they are possibly equally relevant. Among the other words: joy, abundance, hope, healing, redemption, balance, harmony, relationships, caring, stewardship, inclusion, enrichment, and balance, to name a few. In developing its insights, the working group noted that ‘Wellbeing begins with We,’ and that we need to ‘Improve tomorrow’s world today,’ as ways of thinking about what needs to happen.

The working group agreed that stories matter because they evoke an emotional response and that creating a positive picture of a future world of joy, connection, and ‘enough,’ even abundance, a world where people can provide for themselves and their children, is important. We thought that an expanded notion of freedom provided a great foundation for a new narrative and is highly consistent with American’s ‘can do’ pioneer spirit. There are two important aspects of this expanded view of freedom: 1) freedom from, e.g., want, worry about whether you have health care, and 2) freedom to: e.g., freedom to be educated, prosper, live in harmony with others and with nature, and take advantage of opportunities presented. And these ideas only skim the surface of the great insights that people just in this small working group had. It doesn’t even begin to look at the terrific ideas from the numerous other groups that worked so hard at the Summit to shape their ideas into what a regenerative future can and should be.

The key now is to carry these ideas forward into action and for a wide variety of initiatives to be willing to coalesce around a common narrative to work collaboratively on building a future where all (including other living beings) can thrive with dignity and wellbeing. It’s up to all of us, collectively, in groups, and individually, to begin that process.