Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement

Wayne Visser
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Join me, Prof Wayne Visser, for inspiring conversations with leaders in the breakthrough movement to regenerate nature, society and the economy. Thriving is about going beyond sustainability to a net positive agenda of innovation and regeneration. Each episode is a dialogue with thought leaders and pioneering practitioners, capturing their perspective on the six great transitions to thriving: how to go from degradation to restoration of ecosystems, from depletion to renewal of resources, from disparity to responsibility in communities and workplaces, from disease to revitalisation of health, from disconnection to rewiring through technology, and from disruption to resilience in infrastructure and institutions. We also explore what kind of leadership are needed to create a thriving future, and how organisations can take action to integrate thriving into their strategies, products and services. This is not about false hope or blind optimism, but we actively focus on innovative solutions and positive tipping points for change. The podcast builds on the foundations of my bestselling book "Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy." I look forward to having you join the movement for thriving and welcome your suggestions for who I should feature as invited guests on the podcast. Credits: Host: Wayne Visser. Podcast music: Amil Raja

  1. 3d ago

    S3.E12: Hope is an Action Verb: A Final Call to Change the World

    Episode 12 is based on "Witness" (Epilogue). Core Theme: Joining the global collective movement for socio-ecological regeneration. The Six Sixes Matrix: A final synthesis of the keys, breakthroughs, market opportunities, and leadership qualities of thriving [801, Table E.1]. Thriving as a Superorganism: Drawing inspiration from Utah's "Pando" (the Trembling Giant)—a single shared root system supporting 45,000 genetically identical quaking aspen trees across 107 acres. Hope as an Action Verb: Moving away from passive optimism to a proactive, infectious commitment to be part of the solution. Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

  2. Sep 30

    S3.E11: The Fantastic Four of Leadership: Finding Your Inner Superhero

    Episode 11 is based on "Leadership" (Chapter 10) Core Theme: Nurturing the specific characteristics and archetypes required to guide systemic change. Thriving-Driven Qualities: A breakdown of the six core leader traits: being Systemic, Inclusive, Strategic, Caring, Innovative, and Courageous [754, Fig 10.1]. The Fantastic Four Archetypes: Finding your superhero leadership style among Experts (focused on detailed learning), Facilitators (empowering others), Catalysts (altering corporate strategy), or Activists (challenging the status quo). The Power of Synthesizers: Why the future belongs to "boundary spanners"—open-minded unifiers who find synergies across disparate fields. Pioneering Shepherds: Celebrating leaders like Wangari Maathai, whose Green Belt Movement saw 51 million trees planted, and Henrik Poulsen, who courageously transitioned Ørsted from 85% fossil-fuels to wind energy. Finding Your Ikigai: Shifting focus from corporate checklists to discovering your Japanese "reason for being alive". Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

  3. Sep 23

    S3.E10: The Return on Thriving: The 10-Rs of the Business Case for Regeneration

    Episode 10 is based on "Integration" (Chapter 9). Core Theme: Embedding thriving and value creation into the core DNA of organizations. Watermelons to Biogas: Exploring Biogen's anaerobic digestion plant in Cambridge, which processes rotting municipal food waste into clean biogas and high-yield biofertilizer. SQuELCH Issues: A unified approach to managing core corporate challenges: Safety, Quality, Environmental, Economic, Ethical, Labor, Carbon, Health, and Human rights. Integrated Value Management (IVM): A six-stage management cycle mapping out how organizations can rethink patterns, realign partners, renew principles, redefine purpose, reassess performance, and redesign portfolios [682, Fig 9.1]. Case Spotlights in Integration: Real-world successes like Interface's Mission Zero cutting carbon intensity by 96% compared to 1996 and Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan reaching 1.3 billion people. The 10 Rs of Return on Thriving: The definitive business case proving that sustainable companies outperform, driven by Risk mitigation, Reputation, Resource efficiency, and Recruitment benefits [725-732, Fig 9.2]. The True Cost of Harm: Contrasting value creation with the cautionary tale of Bayer's $10 billion legal settlement for Roundup following its acquisition of Monsanto. Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

  4. Sep 16

    S3.E9: The 5-D Strategy for Survival: Our Cheapest Climate Safeguards

    Episode 9 is based on "Resilience" (Chapter 8). Core Theme: Preparing infrastructure, economies, and communities to bounce back from systemic shocks. Stories of Survival: Highlighting Fahrije Hoti and the widows of Krushe e Madhe in Kosovo, who overcame profound tragedy to build Krusha—a thriving red pepper cooperative, alongside the Go Beyond program empowering rural breadwinners at Sri Lanka's Bodyline factory. The 5-D Strategies: A robust framework for organizational resilience: Defend assets, Diversify portfolios, Decentralize infrastructure, Decouple growth, and Define a larger purpose. Bursting the Carbon Bubble: A look at the "transition risks" facing fossil-fuel intensive industries. Over 80% of coal and 1/3 of oil reserves must remain unburned to limit warming to 1.5°C, risking a $1–4 trillion global financial write-down. The Carbon Rainbow: Unilever's model to eliminate fossil-fuel-derived "black carbon" from home care products, substituting it with gray (plastic), green (plant), blue (marine), and purple (captured CO2) carbon sources. Project Drawdown: Shifting focus to the top five global climate solutions, led by onshore wind turbines, utility-scale solar PV, and reducing food waste. Mangrove Safeguards: Why natural climate adaptation is incredibly cost-effective; coastal mangroves prevent $80 billion in flooding damages per year while protecting 18 million lives. Ushahidi's Open Crisis Mapping: How Kenya's crowdsourced mapping tool rapidly geolocated and translated SMS emergency messages to guide aid agencies in the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

  5. Sep 9

    S3.E8: Demons, Digital Twins, and TrashBots: Teaching Technology to Serve the Planet

    Episode 8 is based on "Rewiring" (Chapter 7). Core Theme: Aligning the Fourth Industrial Revolution to serve nature and society. M-Pesa and M-Kopa: Tracing the rise of the "Silicon Savanna" in Nairobi. M-Pesa's mobile text-based banking brought financial services to millions of previously unbanked Kenyans, inspiring the M-Kopa "pay-as-you-go" solar system which osets 2 million metric tons of CO2. AI for Social Good: Deep learning has been successfully applied to 160 cases of social good, ranging from diagnosing cancer with advanced grayscale scans to CleanRobotics' TrashBot automatically sorting municipal waste. Digital Twins: Harnessing virtual representations of supply chains and entire physical environments—such as the EU's high-resolution "Destination Earth" project mapping global weather extremes—to drastically improve resource efficiency. Open Innovation and Sourcing: Showcasing how crowdsourced initiatives, like the global competitions of XPRIZE, Creative Commons licenses, and open-source marine sailing drones like Cesar Harada's Protei, accelerate solutions to planetary problems. Kio Kit and BRCK: Empowering schools in emerging markets with wireless-charging tablets and solar-powered BRCK routers to bypass the digital divide. Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

  6. Sep 4

    S3.E7: The "Hey, It's OK!" Movement: Tackling Workplace Burnout

    Episode 7 is based on "Revitalization" (Chapter 6). Core Theme: Prioritizing health, vitality, and well-being as the ultimate measures of a successful society. The Miracle of Andi: A deeply personal story of Wayne Visser’s son, Andi, who suffered a severe heart valve infection and went into cardiac arrest three times at age six. Now a fit, healthy adult and basketball coach, his recovery serves as a powerful testament to the force of individual revitalization. Tackling the Silent Killers: Shifting the focus of the well-being economy from merely treating symptoms to addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which cause 71% of global deaths. The hosts discuss how lifestyle choices, plant-based diets, and fighting predatory patent pricing—such as the Open Insulin Project reverse-engineering insulin—can democratise health. The Bio Revolution and Frugal Tech: Exploring how the confluence of synthetic biology and low-cost "frugal innovation" is transforming medicine. This includes 3D-printing prosthetic limbs, deploying empathetic AI chatbots like Woebot to support mental health, and using telemedicine to cut hospital readmission rates by 44%. The 10 Good Work Goals: Introducing a revolutionary workspace blueprint designed to put people first. By prioritizing safe, healthy, happy, and balanced work, organizations can combat the burnout crisis that currently costs the global economy $1 trillion annually in lost productivity [170, Table 6.1]. Curing the "Aspiration Deficit": Investigating why half of all workers feel their jobs lack a deeper sense of meaning and how pioneering companies like Patagonia counteract this by allowing employees to "go surfing" and dedicating 1% of sales to environmental preservation. Shinrin Yoku (Forest Bathing): Diving into the Japanese practice of forest bathing and the hard scientific evidence proving that spending just two hours a week in nature significantly reduces stress, blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels. Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

  7. Aug 19

    S3.E6: Nownership: The Seismic Shift from Private Property to Shared Access

    Episode 6 is based on "Responsibility" (Chapter 5). Core Theme: Turning disparity into responsibility by making the economy truly inclusive. The Access Economy: Challenging "global apartheid" by giving marginalized groups fair access to economic opportunities through shared services and inclusion. Solar Mamas: The inspiring story of Barefoot College, which trains illiterate grandmothers to be solar engineers, proving that high-tech sustainability can thrive in remote villages. B Corporations: The movement of thousands of companies—like Patagonia and Danone—that are legally committed to balancing profit and purpose for all stakeholders. From Ownership to "Nownership": How the sharing economy uses technology to shift us from private property to shared access, building community and efficiency. Human-Scale Development: Applying Manfred Max-Neef’s matrix of nine fundamental needs to remember that there is no hierarchy to dignity—we need affection and freedom as much as food. Stanley’s Story: A moving account of how an inclusive tire-recycling business provided a former protester with self-worth and healing in a post-apartheid society Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

  8. Aug 12

    S3.E5: The Boom of Biofabrication: Growing Bricks, Clothes, and Meat

    Episode 5 is based on "Renewal" (Chapter 4). Core Theme: Redesigning the economy to mimic nature’s zero-waste cycles. Borrow, Make, Use, Return: Shifting from the linear "take-make-use-lose" model to a circular economy where every output is a nutrient for another process. Bio-loops vs. Techno-loops: Understanding the vital distinction between products designed to return to nature (like compostable phone cases) and those that must be recycled by industry (like ocean-plastic sneakers). Urban Mining: Treating our "e-valanche" of electronic waste as a resource goldmine rather than digging new holes in the ground for finite metals. Sponge Cities and Pocket Forests: Designing urban landscapes with terraced wetlands and dense mini-forests that passively absorb rainwater and grow 10 times faster than conventional woods. The Boom of Biofabrication: "Growing" the products we need—from bricks and clothes to leather—using living cells like mycelium (fungi), bacteria, and algae Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!

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Join me, Prof Wayne Visser, for inspiring conversations with leaders in the breakthrough movement to regenerate nature, society and the economy. Thriving is about going beyond sustainability to a net positive agenda of innovation and regeneration. Each episode is a dialogue with thought leaders and pioneering practitioners, capturing their perspective on the six great transitions to thriving: how to go from degradation to restoration of ecosystems, from depletion to renewal of resources, from disparity to responsibility in communities and workplaces, from disease to revitalisation of health, from disconnection to rewiring through technology, and from disruption to resilience in infrastructure and institutions. We also explore what kind of leadership are needed to create a thriving future, and how organisations can take action to integrate thriving into their strategies, products and services. This is not about false hope or blind optimism, but we actively focus on innovative solutions and positive tipping points for change. The podcast builds on the foundations of my bestselling book "Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy." I look forward to having you join the movement for thriving and welcome your suggestions for who I should feature as invited guests on the podcast. Credits: Host: Wayne Visser. Podcast music: Amil Raja

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