Thriving Quotes

“We seem to be trapped in a world of myopic short-termism, driven by a capitalist system that is obsessed with quarterly returns for absent shareholders. According to McKinsey research, this does not even make economic sense. Their 15-year analysis of short-term- versus long-term-oriented companies found the long-term firms showed 47 percent more revenue growth and 36 percent more earnings, had $7 billion more market capitalization growth and a higher total return to shareholders, and led to the creation of 12,000 more jobs. One distinguishing feature is that long-term companies invest almost 50 percent more in research and development, including during financial crises. It is time companies challenged quarterly capitalism and focused on long-term value creation.27 According to the former managing director”
― Wayne Visser, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society, and the Economy

“Another way of phrasing the question is: Are the technology innovations appropriate to the context where solutions to our social and environmental challenges are most needed?”
― Wayne Visser, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society, and the Economy

“the search for solutions, data scientists are studying how DNA packs information so tightly. It’s a mind-boggling fact that if we managed to copy the data-storage technique used by our DNA, we could store all the internet’s data on a device the size of a shoebox.”
― Wayne Visser, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society, and the Economy

“We can learn lessons from the antiplastics movement. It started with nonprofits complaining but having no real impact. Business and government were content to make superficial responses (such as litter-education campaigns). Meanwhile, the science was building. But it took entrepreneurship (notably Boyan Slat with Ocean Cleanup) and media (numerous documentaries, including Drowning in Plastic, A Plastic Ocean, and Plastic Is Forever) to trigger consumer and public pressure. Legislation followed (plastic-bag bans, the EU plastics strategy, and the Basel Convention changes). Now we get serious innovation, investment, and change.”
― Wayne Visser, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society, and the Economy