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Strategy:
From competition and extraction to collaboration and regeneration


In the regenerative paradigm, the role of strategy is changing.

Like in a forest ecosystem, the strategies of regenerative organisations take into account the broader ecosystem. 


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We move from competition and extraction to collaboration and symbiosis.

Thinking in forest-like ecosystems raises the questions:
  • What type of tree are we? What is our unique strength, essence and role in the larger ecosystem?
  • What do we need to flourish?
  • What can we give and contribute?

We are rethinking value creation and value circulation across networks and are striking a balance between absorbing what we need ourselves and circulating nutrients to others.

Here are some learnings from systems change in the New Plastics Economy initiative. 


What is strategy, and why does it matter?

Strategy as a word stems from the Greek stratēgos and stratēgia and has its roots in the context of warfare. However, over the last decades, its meaning has evolved and is now often used in business, politics, sports, and psychology.

A few prominent definitions are:
  • “a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim” Oxford Dictionary
  • “a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty“ Wikipedia
  • “...a set of guiding principles that, when communicated and adopted in the organization, generates a desired pattern of decision making”. Michael Watkins in HBR on strategy in the business context1


It’s important to note that while the term strategy historically has been associated with war and competitive win-lose thinking, it can also help us create bright collaborative futures if we interpret it in a modern way.

Once we see that life is not a zero-sum game and that we are living in an interconnected reality, ‘strategies’ as plans of action can help us achieve the thriving of all involved. Specifically, they can help us co-create futures where emergent forms of (artificial) intelligence, humans, animals and all types of species thrive together. 


Core elements of a strategy 


Understanding the dynamics

Strategy is about seeing and designing ‘dynamics’ - effects in a system of elements that are positively reinforcing towards the target outcome.

Depending on the complexity of the system and our resources, the sweetspot often is around 2-4 carefully chosen elements that are reinforcing:
  • 2: Harvesting the symbiosis between two elements
  • 3: ‘The power of 3’: Easy to grasp and ‘hold in our minds’ during execution. Some adaptivity and resilience arises from the fact that there are 3 dynamics/relationships (dynamic between A & B, B & C, A & C).
  • 4+: ‘The pillars approach’. This approach enables more resilience and adaptation, but also comes with more complexity (are we able to give enough attention to all elements?) and the risk of dilution of focus. 


Focusing on the essence

Strategy is at least as much about what not to do as it is about what to do.
Greg McKeown’s Essentialsm provides a wonderful overview. 

The game ‘Magic - The Gathering’ has taught me: Adding another card/element to a 60-card deck (no matter how powerful the card is individually), dilutes the remaining momentum of the deck. It is key to identify a combo of reinforcing elements - a lean core dynamic of the strategy - and to keep it pure and lean.


Looking at the system, not the individual element

The system health and ‘performance’ is more than adding up parts.

We can add a great individual player to a team. However, it doesn’t help if the overall team isn’t in flow. It’s not about optimising individual parts, but understanding system dynamics and designing positive feedback loops between elements.


Path dependencies: Getting to a point self-reinforcing momentum

Certain constellations can unlock further momentum. On our strategic journey, the key is therefore to get to these constellations early. We focus our initial efforts on reaching ‘self-reinforcing constellations’ which then unleash energy for the further evolution. Next to releasing energy, there is also less curation and intervention needed down the road, if the core dynamics are healthy from the start.

Example community building: When we start a fire, we focus our initial efforts on nourishing the fire to a point of self-reinforcing momentum. We choose the initial logs carefully. We are mindful of the constellation and interplay between elements (the spark, wood shavings, oxygen, shelter from wind and humidity). We choose smaller pieces of wood that form a symbiosis with the nascent flames. They absorb the tender initial energy and give back nourishment to the fire for its evolution - unlike a big log that would be smothering at an early stage. 

Similarly when building a community, we focus on choosing early community members who are in symbiosis with the spark/idea. We build a small circle of initial core members. We prototype activities that are valuable to the members as well as nourishing to the system/the community. This way, our small community is ‘stable’ and positively reinforcing early - addressing the needs of the initial members. From there onwards, the community requires less energy to curate. Initial members who enjoy the community might become natural ambassadors and invite others by word of mouth.

This is in contrast to the strategy of going broad quickly: Inviting many people, focusing on social media, creating flyers. Going broad quickly comes with the risk of losing energy in many directions and the lack of a reinforcing dynamic between the individuals. Later, we need more energy to curate a variety of divergent forces. 

Example sports. When we see progress quickly and have fun, we are more likely to continue the training, eat healthier, get more effective in our training, learn more about the science behind health and fitness, etc. Therefore, the initial focus should be on feeling progress and having fun, rather than a comprehensive programme. Getting to a point of a positively reinforcing dynamic might involve combining it with enjoyable sensory experiences (e.g. doing sports with others, using enjoyable equipment, combining training with music/delicious food/nice smell), intertwining sports with strong existing routines, finding training opportunities nearby for easy integration into daily life. 

Example learning an instrument: Initially, I tried ‘learning to play the harmonium properly bottom up’ and I signed up to an online course. I found the process of looking at the screen and switching between listening and playing draining. I therefore stopped the course and focused on finding early happiness moments. I learnt the chords for a simple song that is close to my heart. Being able to play and sing it after a few hours brought me joy and enthusiasm. It was a strong source of inspiration to dive deeper into it. 

Learning a language: What if our early strategy is to get to a point of ‘having fun being exposed to many hours of that language’? Getting to a point where we can watch movies/listen to songs and enjoy the process (because we understand enough of it) unlocks a whole universe of learning moments and helps us learn a language much faster than focusing on spelling, grammar or formal lessons early on. 

Let’s explore:
Focus areas: Circular - Regenerative - Wald Yoga
Towards a world of thriving