Nature on five boards (and counting…) Who’s next?
“Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.” — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
If the past year is anything to go by, there’s something in this wisdom bomb.
In September ’22, we launched Nature on the Board with this line: Faith In Nature is the first company in the world to give Nature a voice and a vote. But we don’t want to be the last.
We got a tonne of coverage about the first half of that line. Why had we done it? How had we done it? How did it work? Was this woke capitalism gone mad?! Etc etc. But we got less coverage about the last, really important, bit of that line: ‘But we don’t want to be the last’.
It’s because of that part of the line that I spent so much of last year sharing the story with anyone who’d listen. I went from (very happily) not doing any public speaking, to (slightly less happily) doing absolutely loads of it. In the year following Nature’s appointment to Faith In Nature’s board, I spoke at festivals, conferences, universities, in webinars, on podcasts, in interviews, on film — saying the same thing over and over: that the only way Nature on the Board grows teeth, is if it grows legs. In other words, the only way it brings about real, meaningful change is if it’s widely adopted.
I could see in people the real, deeply felt desire for change. They liked the idea. They got it. It was simple. And we’d given away the framework for others to do it too. So what was the hold up? Progress was glacial.
And then this happened. Far away in Arizona, Friends of Cave Creek Canyon made Nature a director of their board too. It was out of left field, but suddenly there were two of us using the same basic structure to give Nature a voice and a vote in decision making — and at Willow Tank, they showed that the framework worked.
And then, barely a month later, this happened. House of Hackney joined us in making Nature a director of their company. And overjoyed as I was, I was also just really, really relieved. Not only had the story evolved, but there was another company to tell the story. And the more I came to know Frieda and Javvy and the whole team at House of Hackney, the more I came to realise they were the perfect storytellers to join us. Full of integrity and the willingness to walk the walk — but also playful, open and curious. Already they’re improving the model to recognise not just Nature as a stakeholder, but also Future Generations.
Then barely a month later, Intradrive announced they too would be making Nature a director. And suddenly this idea had spread from natural soaps to high end interiors to eBike engineering to…
Just last month, I attended the Better Business Summit which kicked off with the announcement that the Better Business Network had also made Nature a director. To give immediate voice to their move, Nature was given a seat on every panel — and so Nature on the Board was present not just in my talk, but in every talk over the two days. To accomplish this, Nature had nine different guardians with each bringing their own perspectives and theatrics to the idea. (Yes, this is serious… but it can also be fun, right?) Here’s a panel with Nature represented by Rebecca Heaps, wearing a stag’s head as loaned to her for the occasion by Nick Hayes, author of The Book of Trespass. Is this a vision of all panels to come…?!
Change, it seems, is sloooow to start. Until it isn’t. Then it’s really, really fast.
On another note, there are two very valid questions I get asked a lot.
What changes have you seen (as a result of Nature on the Board)?
Finally I can share with you our Year 1 report, which answers this question in detail and lays bare all that’s happened in our first year. In essence: the biggest change is in mindset. But real, tangible changes have been seen too — and though you might argue some of the decisions might have happened anyway, there is no doubt that Nature on the Board has caused them to happen quicker.
Who speaks for Nature?
Brontie Ansell of Lawyers for Nature remains firmly in position, but will be joined by A.N.Other in the coming weeks. Announcement coming soon…!
