Wtf is regenerative growth?

Part 1/3 + how to apply the concept to smaller brands

If growth at all costs is a broken aspiration, then what’s the alternative? In this three-post mini series, we’re exploring three alternative concepts that are thrown around a lot in this conversation:

1. Regenerative growth (this post)

2. Degrowth

3. Post-growth

What do they mean?! Why should we care?! Can we, as small business owners and operators, integrate any part of them into our own approach to growth? If so, how so?

If you’re new here please note I am not an economist. I am a strategist and recovering growth marketer who has spent a lot of time growing brands and businesses online and who is now questioning why we worship at the altar of infinite growth at all.

This is my low-brow, high-curiosity interpretation of three big ideas that can help us build differently. Despite our infinite growth problem being macro and systemic, we all have the power to create positive change even if through tiny actions. At the very least, these three alternative approaches to growth provide us with additional perspectives and hopefully some inspo, too.

First up! Regenerative growth. Take what inspires you and leave the rest.

Regenerative thinking has been applied to agricultural practices by indigenous communities for thousands of years. Think, farming methods that enrich the land so that it will remain fertile for future generations.

Today, regenerative business growth refers to moving beyond simple minimising harm and being #sustainable, to actively improving the ecosystems and communities within which they exist. Although they prioritise driving profit, it’s not to the detriment of human beings or the planet.

As Cécile Girardin, Ecosystems Scientist at the University of Oxford, put it in this roundtable discussion:

“[Regenerative growth] is about giving back more than you take. And that applies to climate, biodiversity, and human well-being.”

Specifically, regenerative businesses focus on these four core pillars:

🌍 Climate positive - Not just reducing emissions, but contributing to long-term climate health.
🌱 Nature positive - Actively preserving and restoring biodiversity.
💗 Socially positive - Supporting human well-being and equity in the communities they touch.
💸 Economically positive - Still generating profit, but not as the only measure of success.

Why does it matter?

We’re living through the hangover of the industrial era. The ways we conceptualise and operate businesses are based on the industrial priorities of optimising productivity and maximising output and profit at all costs.

A regenerative approach acknowledges that businesses can play a positive role in environmental and societal improvement whilst generating profit.

What does it look like in practice?

In practice, regenerative growth requires working to goals beyond the financial. For example:

• Ecosia’s primary KPI is trees planted.

• Patagonia’s purpose - “We’re in business to save our home planet” - guides every decision they make.

• VEJA don’t advertise their trainers. Instead they invest the 70%(!) of the retail price of a pair of trainers that typically goes into marketing and advertising into materials, people, and production.

How you can start today

You’ve probably heard of the examples above, but how can small, creative businesses implement a regenerative approach? These 3 steps are a good place to start:

1. Audit your current impact.

What’s your business currently taking from and giving to the world? Be honest.

2. How do you define success beyond profit?

We are bombarded by dashboards from Stripe to Meta to Shopify to Substack that tell a singular story of what success looks like. Graphs showing dollars + eyeballs up and to the right = good, anything else = bad.

Don’t let big tech platforms create your own definition of success for you. Your KPIs are yours to craft because success is entirely subjective. Hours dedicated to charity? Profit invested in women’s health? Money donated to your local biodiversity initiatives? % of carbon neutral suppliers? Time spent outside?You decide!

3. Let this purpose shape every decision.

Marketing is the least important. Action within the business is what counts.

4. Focus on one thing at a time.

You’re small and agile (a superpower) but you can’t do everything all at once. Try picking one pillar beyond profit per year (climate, nature, social) and focus your attention there.

Even though the idea of generating profit and “doing good” is co-opted by big businesses who don’t intend to make any meaningful change, the four pillars are an accessible way for small brands to think more holistically about success within the context of our current system.

At the heart of regenerative growth is a radical rethinking of what value really means that I am completely on board with.

But does it go far enough? Next week we’re looking at what we can learn from degrowth. No more growth you say? What would that even look like? How does apply to small businesses?

I’d love to know your thoughts on whether you are already or want to implement more regenerative practices within your work or business! How’s it going?!

Chat soon

Matilda

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If you want to dive further into this topic:

• The End of Big Solutions by Resilience.org

• The Regenerative Lens: A conceptual framework for regenerative social-ecological systems

• Future Fit Business Benchmark Methodology

• Regenerative Business Roundtable by University of Oxford and Smith School of Business - this is a really good watch/listen for a high-level overview

• Donut Economics by Kate Raworth

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer