Sustainability rising:  

2022 was the hottest year on record and 2023 has started with more of the same. Pakistan was submerged by once in a lifetime flooding, Europe is experiencing record temperatures in January, the Horn of Africa is devastated by the worst drought in decades and China’s Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) dried up due to once in a century drought conditions. In the business world, ESG measures came under scrutiny for being ineffective and weak indicators of behaviour, and scope 3 emissions became the new frontier for commercial practice. 

Biodiversity is set to become the theme of the decade as increasing pressures from industry and climate change cause massive loss of essential species, and a real possibility of biodiversity collapse in the not-so-distant future.  

Accelerated adaptation is going to be the order of play for all businesses to operate successfully in an increasingly stressed environment. The focus on climate is nothing new, but increasingly destabilised supply chains and increasing costs have added a new tension, forcing action instead of discussion from industry to innovate practices that can withstand uncertainty.  

Staff-driven System Change:  

The last few years have seen society increasingly divided politically, socially, and culturally. Social media has been intrinsic in creating ever more concentrated bubbles of audiences with a common interest. But more recently we have seen broader collective engagement, with a greater sense of citizenship, we have seen a rising community spirit centred on collective change in the face of uncertainty.  

So many businesses are struggling to leverage the massive power and influence of their staff because they do not engage them in the right way at the right time. Businesses to shift from traditional hierarchical systems, to a more inclusive collaborative and co-creation approach based on communities of common interests. 2023 will see far greater emphasis on giving staff a much more significant role in shaping what a business does, how it does it and importantly what a business no longer does. 

Highs and lows of instinct:  

In response to perma-crises, instability, and a significant absence of leadership, going with your gut has become the mood of the moment. Unlike the spirit of solidarity that is working at a group level, instinct is operating on an individual one. This is flight, fight or freeze on a mass scale. But how is it manifesting?  

In an environment devoid of clear progress on the crisis we face, fantasy and hedonism are growing increasingly popular; it looks like a 90s/00s approach to living with frivolity and a desire to have some fun, as well as a receding into digital environments to escape some of the harsher realities of life as a form of relief. COVID-19 has also created a swathe of post-pandemic recluses seeking creature comforts, who continue to depend on delivery and maintain a focus on hygiene and safety. The green thumbed preppers see a pattern of increasing instability and have responded by beginning to form their own systems – building their own gardens, forming coalitions to tackle larger scale problems in industry and seeking more independent ways to live as a form of longer-term security.