#7: Announcing our next 4-part series: The What, Why and How of System Change

#1: System Change? What exactly do you want to change?

The concept of system change is increasingly sparking a lot of debate, often accompanied by a fair amount of confusion. Some view it with apprehension, fearing a dismantling of capitalism led by radical forces. Others find the topic overwhelmingly complex and disengage. Even those who see system change as crucial for solving the many challenges we face often hold diverse perspectives, which doesn’t help much needed progress.

All enough reason we thought to share our definition of system change and how it fits into the System Change Investing approach.

In short:

• SCI uses the Global System Change (GSC) framework to assess corporate system change performance.

• In this series, we use the framework as the basis to describe system change. It provides a whole system vision of sustainable society and the means to achieve them.

• This understanding of system change overall is essential for accurately rating corporate system change performance.

• By employing the GSC framework, SCI is able to provide accurate, return-enhancing, sustainability-driving corporate system change assessments.

Ok, that most likely requires further explanation. Before we go there, let’s step back and take a look at the bigger picture in the context of business and finance:

What is system change?

System change can refer to changing systems at any level, from the individual to the whole Earth system. For SCI, system change means evolving human systems and society into sustainable forms.

Why is system change important?

Companies do what systems demand. Current economic, political and other systems compel businesses to harm the environment and society. They are the root causes of climate change and nearly all other major challenges. Improving these systems is the most important action needed to achieve the SDGs and protect business and society.

Throughout history, all flawed, destructive systems changed, usually by collapsing quickly. Current destructive systems inevitably will change through voluntary or involuntary means. Rapidly growing problems show that humanity has entered a phase of accelerating system volatility and possible breakdown. If we do not voluntarily change systems soon, they will change themselves through collapse and massive disruption of business and society.

How do we change human systems?

That is the key question and focus of this post series.

Leaders and experts have been trying to improve economic, political, social, financial and other systems for decades. Many improvements were made and benefits provided. However, they were not nearly enough. Modern systems continue to put business in conflict with society and humanity in conflict with nature. These systems are in the process of breaking down. More effective system change approaches are essential.  Developing them is facilitated by examining and resolving the weaknesses of existing approaches.

There are many barriers to system change that are not adequately overcome by current approaches. These include lack of a whole system approach, complexity, and failure to engage the corporate and financial sectors in system change.

Lack of the whole system approach

In reality, everything in the Earth system and its sub-element human society is part of one interconnected whole system. As a result, major issues cannot be effectively addressed in isolation. But that is exactly what we’ve done. Considering everything at once is highly complex. As a result, we often break society into parts (e.g. economy) and study them without adequate reference to the whole system that contains them. This reductionism produced and continues to produce unintended consequences, such as massive environmental and social degradation.

Complexity

Einstein said we must think at a higher level to solve our most complex challenges. That higher level is whole system thinking (i.e. the opposite of reductionism). But the human mind evolved to focus mainly on its immediate concerns and vicinity. As noted, considering all aspects of the whole system is difficult.

Adding to complexity is the wide variation in human philosophies, biases, opinions and perceptions of reality. Considering everything at once and aligning humanity around a common vision of sustainable society can seem impossible.

Lack of corporate and financial sector involvement

With citizens often divided into debating factions and government controlled by vested interests, the corporate and financial sectors frequently are the most powerful segments of society. In collaboration with others, they have the power and resources needed to drive voluntary system change.

However, the corporate and financial sectors typically have been main barriers to system change. They regularly use their power and influence to block systemic changes that benefit society, but threaten investment returns. Strategies for blocking change include using campaign finance and lobbying, misleading the public with deceptive media, and fomenting debate about various philosophies (e.g. capitalism versus socialism).

The Global System Change framework

The GSC framework overcomes these and other barriers to system change. It describes sustainable society and the means to achieve it in ways that the general public can easily understand. It uses an objective reality framework based on the laws of nature to minimize debate. And it practically and profitably engages the corporate and financial sectors in system change.

The framework provides a true whole system vision. It can be used to guide and coordinate the many local, regional, national and international system change efforts needed to achieve sustainable society. It helps experts to keep the big picture in mind and address all relevant factors as they dive deeply into the immense complexity and details of evolving human systems. And it provides the whole system framework needed to accurately define optimal corporate system change performance and use this as a standard against which companies are rated.

The GSC framework has three parts:

1.     Sustainable society defined by the laws of nature

2.     Systemic changes needed to achieve it

3.     Actions required to bring about these changes

The next three posts will describe each of these components.