Tag Archives: Ecosystem thinking

A case for change; thinking out the evolution of platforms and ecosystems

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What we offer today needs a change in emphasis of thinking out the evolution of platforms, into ones that are designed for building out thriving business ecosystems for all to collaborate around and build together.

I argue today, we need to change our stories into ecosystem thinking ones.

We need to shift our platform rhetoric into a vastly different one, one based on building the Ecosystem story, well defined in its understanding that requires a very intense focus on what it means within Industry design and expected outcomes.

Over the past three or more years, I have been studying and researching platforms and ecosystems. I feel we are at an inflexion point of significant business change from embracing ecosystem principles in the business world.

The key message from my reflection was, at the time, two years ago, “we do need to change our story; it is simply not about platforms“. It is thinking for the design for ecosystems, into “ecosystem mobilization.”

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Killing the Planet

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I was reading a wonderful article but worrying, today by

Capitalism is killing the planet – it’s time to stop buying into our own destruction

In a week where those meeting at the COP26 in Glasgow begin the daunting task of trying to negotiate and keep limiting global warming of the planet to 1.5c degrees, this article hits at something that we all need to recognize as a major part of our troubles on this planet.

George Monbiots central point was: “The main cause of your environmental impact is your money. You persuade yourself you’re a green mega-consumer, but you’re just a mega-consumer”

I do suggest you read it, I have taken some extracts from it and left these extracts as is, why should I change them or add to them, as they provide a great view and examples of our own behaviours. My only fear “lifting extracts” might alter the main points of George Monbiots article. For that, I apologise.

I extracted these as these are the points that resonate with my concerns about where we are heading on this planet and my worry we can’t break the vicious cycle.

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Affordability versus Sustainability – a cause to be addressed

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The concept of Sustainability is still being pushed out in the future for many of us.

Why should we worry today? The “judgement” is that those Eco-friendly products seem to always be more expensive due to often unexplained or unfamiliar concepts.

As long as we can afford what we know and trust, then why worry or change? The question is, will this abundance, this acceptance that it is there, finally be changing?

Today we can’t see the value in shifting to a more sustainable pathway. We are expected to pay more for that higher cost of producing locally, growing food organically, using recycled materials, and many other factors that do add up to make a significant price difference when you compare.

We are reluctant to make the shift as it is still not compelling enough to change when we have abundant options.

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Human Ingenuity, Ecosystem Thinking, Embracing Innovation

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Today and in the future, we continue to take where we are in our technology and digital understanding and feed it more remarkable human ingenuity. Combining the collected knowledge found in a network of collaborators can dramatically advance the solutions sought by unlocking previously intractable problems.

We have entered the innovation era as we combine in ways not possible until recently. If we take any industry, any societal problem, as we tackle climate challenges, the power of connected innovation will make a difference and give us our breakthroughs.

We are still searching for the “how and what.” We need to push ourselves by opening up to the “where and why” in a network of connecting ways. We are recognizing sharing what we know accelerates understanding for all those involved.

Recognizing ecosystems are vital, combining human, technology, and data allows us to pursue multiple possibilities, explore them faster than before, evaluate them in quicker, more imaginative ways and scale those that show promise. Continue reading →

Ecosystems are really important, are we correctly applying them in Business?

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I have been reading the Ecosystem Restoration Playbook – a practical guide to healing the planet, developed for World Environment Day 2021 to kick off the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030)

I do like the explanation of Ecosystems, lifted from the restoration playbook (see below). There is some real contradiction to how business applies the ecosystem thinking, and this post attempts to look at the differences and implications of treating ecosystems differently. This use of “ecosystems” is degrading as much as we are in our Natural Systems, mostly in the eventual resource depletion and our insatiable consumption.

By taking this business thinking of Ecosystems into continually pushing for greater consumer consumption is a growing problem. We are at a time when we need to place a break on this, and take a different position of replenishing or restoring what we have, and reuse it. With our drive for continued growth consumption and exploitation, we are compounding our planet’s problems.

I wanted to explore some differences within Natural Ecosystems and how Business uses Ecosystems to search for growth, scale, and dominance. We are in need to change our consumption habits and business growth models.

This is not a definitive list. It is more to stop and reflect where we are heading on applying ecosystem thinking, perhaps addressing its accepted context or adapting it to fit its new one being push in the business world.

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