The Case for Systemic Transformation

The past week has offered a sobering reminder of the intricate relationships binding climate, business, and society. With the UN now describing recent droughts as a “slow-moving global catastrophe” and another scorching European heatwave driving fatalities in Spain and France [1, 2, 8] while flash flooding in Kerr County Texas saw the water level of the Guadalupe River rise from about 7ft to 29ft in less than four hours (that's almost 7 meters), the vulnerabilities of companies, people, and our entire way of life, have rarely been more exposed. The human tragedy is horrendous, and so is our inability to truly respond to this "once in a lifetime" events that now happen every year.

Our response must go well beyond incremental adjustments. Of course, governments will need to help people right now. But we also need systemic transformation.

Environmental Shocks Meet Market Realities

Beverage industry CEOs, consulted recently in Forbes [3] are deeply aware of the accelerating environmental shocks. Water scarcity, changing consumer preferences, and regulatory uncertainty have rendered business-as-usual obsolete. Companies in this sector are being compelled to look beyond efficiency tweaks and invest fundamentally in resilient supply chains and circular business models.

This is not simply a question of corporate social responsibility. It’s existential. Climate is now a business continuity issue; the latest heatwaves are exacerbating drought cycles and destabilizing agricultural regions. Even temporary shifts in weather, such as the UK’s brief reprieve from heatwaves[4], are cold comfort in a broader context of climate volatility.

Feedback Loops and Tipping Points

What we’re witnessing are not isolated incidents, but feedback loops that threaten to tip critical systems. Water scarcity spikes food and beverage prices, amplifies social unrest, and prompts migration. And it does not help that US trade policy is, how to put this delicately, volatile? Extreme weather erodes infrastructure and compresses insurance markets. Markets respond to these physical risks, often in volatile or self-reinforcing ways.

Notably, energy policy shifts have exposed new vulnerabilities. The rollback of clean energy incentives in the US, described by Forbes as a “massacre”[5] and undoubtedly a major setback for the fight against climate change, risks gutting local economies, particularly in red states dependent on renewables, while also robbing AI-driven climate solutions of the power they require to scale [5]. These are cascading, interconnected impacts: a single political decision echoes far beyond its original intent.

Are Businesses Ready to Act? Or Just React?

Is there any cause for cautious optimism?

Some companies are reassessing portfolios: for instance, the rise of efficient plug-in hybrids, highlighted by the EPA [6], reveals tangible demand for lower-carbon options even as the electric vehicle market experiences uncertainty [7]. Companies like French ride-hailing startup Allocab are moving beyond carbon and embracing a wider sense of environmental responsibility. Yet, one must ask: Are these transformative pivots or merely adaptive reactions? Is the right question which car to buy or whether it makes sense to own a very expensive asset that loses half of its value the moment you buy it, sits idle for 96% of the time, and contributes to both scorching heat and torrential rains.

Sustainability, if it is to mean anything, must be embedded within the system boundaries from from process to product design, from policy advocacy to consumer engagement, from the boundaries of the firm and the value chain, to the nine planetary boundaries, six of which are being transgressed against. 

The companies that will succeed are moving beyond the narrow perspective that has plagued the sustainability space (responsibility = footprint = the damage I do) and are embracing a more holistic perspective (sustainability the world needs right now, the handprint approach). Resilience will hinge on our capacity to hold a long-term, systemic view, and not just a transactional mindset.

Where Next? A Call for Reflective Action

Reflection invites provocation: Are we treating symptoms or addressing root causes? The year 2025’s climate and market disruptions are urgent calls to look beyond quarterly cycles and toward a regenerative, systems-oriented future. They are not just caused by Trump's grand experiment with the world. Climate risk is here. Water risk is real. Biodiversity risk is existential. As scholars and entrepreneurs, it is our responsibility to advance frameworks that reward true handprints — net-positive impacts — and not merely footprints or short-term risk mitigation.

In uncertain times, resilience is not mere endurance but the active cultivation of future value for both business and biosphere.

On Sunday July 3d, 2025, I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural Future of Regenerative Travel Symposium in Asia, hosted at Parkroyal Collection in Singapore. The event brought together a community of hoteliers, travel brands, designers, online travel agents, certifiers, regenerative thinkers, hotel CSOs, and founders committed to reshaping the tourism industry into a force for good.

The symposium wasn’t about sustainability as usual, it was about regeneration. This profound shift was reflected in every panel, workshop, and conversation. Instead of focusing on reducing harm, the community here is focused on restoring ecosystems, strengthening local communities, and embedding circularity and care into business models. The atmosphere was one of hope, experimentation, and not just intention.

Hotels like the Datai Langkawi in Malaysia, Shinta Mani Mustang in Nepal prove that real luxury is eco-conscious. Sumba Hospitality Foundation shows that a non-profit hotel in which all staff are students going through a donor-funded hotel school show that local empowerment can lead to loyal customers.

From biodiversity protection to community-led marine restoration, from decolonizing travel narratives to embedding Indigenous knowledge systems, the event showed that regenerative travel isn’t just possible. It’s already happening across Asia. The challenge is now one of coordination, amplification, and accountability.

What This Means for Organizations Creating Positive Impact

For those of us building businesses like Handprint, the symposium offered both inspiration and direction. Regeneration is not a fringe idea, it’s becoming a strategic opportunity that drives differentiation and loyalty. As the regenerative travel movement grows, it offers a blueprint for how businesses across industries can align profit with ecological and social flourishing.

The key takeaway? Impact must be lived and experienced, not just reported.

In travel, this means integrating local impact into the guest experience. This is where opportunities lie. While the hotels are doing an excellent job at analog experiences, the digital experience before and after guests come and go can significantly be improved.

In fintech, it means embedding impact in every transaction. In ride-hailing, companies can regenerate the planet with every kilometer. In consumer goods, it means aligning supply chains with planetary boundaries and community wellbeing. What unites all these is the commitment to embed impact into core operations, not bolt it on as a CSR afterthought.

At Handprint, we often talk about the transition from footprint reduction to handprint creation. This event reaffirmed that businesses must go beyond doing “less bad” and instead become active participants in healing the world. It’s not enough to count your carbon. The regeneration movement is much more ambitious. Those taking part want to grow corals, plant mangroves, and support local communities and so with with integrity, transparency, and continuity.

And in order to achieve that, you need to figure out how to make regeneration good for your business.

To everyone I met at the symposium, thank you for the inspiration. Let’s keep building this future together.

In his groundbreaking study, Adam Smith highlighted how self-interest and competition are key drivers of economic development and enhance the well-being of society (Smith, 1776). Over a century after Smith, Pigou presented the concept of externalities (Pigou, 1920) describing them as the unaccounted costs or benefits affecting uninvolved parties, thus underscoring a potential tension between economic growth and societal welfare. On the other hand, innovation is introduced as a crucial driver for economic prosperity and growth at the macro level (Schumpeter, 1934). Yet, this primary engine of growth also plays a role in intensifying major issues like climate change and social inequalities, which emerge as unintended consequences of economic progress. At the organizational level, balancing sustainability with innovation can also create conflicts.

This symposium discusses how innovation can help tackle these critical sustainability challenges

The Strategy Capstone is a unique course at business schools around the world. It is expected to reinforce students’ prior learning in core business disciplines, to introduce theories and tools of strategic management, and to provide experiential learning opportunities that prepare students for their future careers. As emerging technologies and pedagogical innovations reshape business education, the Capstone must evolve to meet these challenges while maintaining its integrative role. The Strategy Capstone PDW brings together an international panel of scholar-teachers to address foundational challenges and emerging developments in Capstone education. The panelists represent diverse perspectives that range from senior chaired professors to emerging scholars. The interactive discussion and audience Q&A will cover such topics as: innovative teaching methods and final deliverables; the increasing importance of artificial intelligence in strategic management, both as a teaching tool and as a subject of study; integration of sustainability frameworks and objectives (e.g., UNPRME); and opportunities to enhance cross-functional integration among various business disciplines and student experiences. Building on the success of the first Strategy Capstone PDW in Boston 2023, the three co-moderators bring a combined 40+ years of experience teaching capstone and inter-disciplinary classes. The session aims to strengthen our community of Strategy Capstone educators while advancing traditional best practices and creative approaches to enhance student learning outcomes.