7 Key Insights the Biosphere Can Offer Brands

Finding Our Way, by Asher Jay, created for the IUCN Migration report.

Brands can learn seven key principles from the biosphere that can imbue their entity with a sense of intrinsic purpose, interdependent identity, contextual positioning, relevant differentiation, and intuitive alignment. These nature-based lessons help reframe a corporation's deleterious strategies to embody inclusivity, equity, diversity, and circularity while ensuring their practices are an extension of the living biosphere. 

7 key Insights:

1. Diversity and Interdependence: Nature thrives on diversity and interdependence among species. Brands should embrace diversity in their workforce, supply chains, and customer segments. This allows for different perspectives to coexist, which ensures resilience in the face of change.

2. Sustainable Practices: Nature operates within the limits of available resources and seeks to sustainably use and regenerate them. Brands can adopt sustainable practices, such as minimizing loss, repurposing waste and pollution, promoting responsible sourcing, and supporting renewable energy initiatives.

3. Adaptability and Resilience: Nature constantly adapts to changes within its expanse and modulates its expression productively toward unforeseen externalities. Environments, both globally and locally, exhibit elasticity and ease. Brands should have the ability to swiftly adapt their strategies, products, and services to meet the evolving needs and expectations of customers while remaining flexibly adaptive toward shifting extrinsic variables. This denotes that the brand continually iterates its environmental and social impact.

4. Transparency and Authenticity: Unlike concepts birthed by the human mind, like brands, the wild does not need artificial facades. Brands should strive for similar transparency and authenticity, ensuring their communications, values, and actions align with their stated commitments. This fosters trust and credibility among customers and stakeholders.

5. Collaboration and Cooperation: Ecosystems thrive through collaboration and cooperation among different species. Brands can learn from this by building partnerships and collaborations with stakeholders, including competitors, to create collective impact and address shared challenges.

6. Regeneration and Giving Back: The earth regenerates and nourishes itself, giving back to the ecosystem. Brands can follow suit by incorporating environmental and social initiatives into their core business practices, contributing to the well-being of local communities, and supporting conservation efforts.

7. Long-term Thinking: Nature operates on a long-term scale, with processes and impacts spanning decades or centuries. Brands should adopt a long-term perspective, considering the potential consequences of their actions in the future and establishing sustainable strategies that prioritize the well-being of the environment and society.

By incorporating these 7 principles into their branding, positioning, and differentiation strategies, brands can minimize unintended negative consequences while fostering sustainable growth and positive impact.