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Design Thinking- Does it live up to the hype

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Igniting creativity to transform corporate culture: Catherine Courage at TEDxKyoto 2012

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The Era of Corporate Social Responsibility is Ending | Rachel Hutchisson | TEDxWilmington

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Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories -- and maybe, a way forward.

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How to build a greener, more circular economy | Pavan Sukhdev

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When China began to emerge as one of the major global economies, the dominance of English as a global business language was challenged by Mandarin. Would this lead to barriers? Apparently not. The reality is, it doesn't matter what language you speak, as long as it's the universal language of business.

Some say that the premise of the circular economy gets lost in translation and is misunderstood. There's a perception that it's an ongoing battle between environmentalists versus corporations. It goes that one side wants to see the environment preserved and protected, and the other prioritises profits. But in fact the circular economy connects both, delivering economic as well as environmental gains.

Despite the growing case for the circular economy, barriers still exist. As former CEO of Kingfisher, Sir Ian Cheshire, recently wrote, there are "examples of deliberate blocking of progressive business policies by dinosaur corporates that claim they cannot adapt to the new economy". So, if you are confronted with this attitude, here is a basic translation reference for the circular economy, or a handy rebuttal guide.

Perception: the circular economy is just another way to describe recycling

Reality: The circular economy is much more than recycling. A linear economy makes, uses and disposes materials. The circular economy looks at all the options across the chain to use as few resources as possible in the first place, keep resources in circulation for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them while in use, then recover and regenerate products at the end of service life. This means designing products for longevity with repairability in mind so that materials can be easily dismantled and recycled, not to mention the alternative business models that encompass trade-ins, sharing models and service packages.

Perception: encouraging people to re-use or keep products for longer doesn't encourage sales, so profits would slump

Reality: In the UK, there's a saying - 'the customer is always right'. In France, they say, '' le client n'a jamais tort", meaning the customer is never wrong and in Germany, "der Kunde ist König", the customer is king. There's a clear status quo to prioritise customer satisfaction. Currently, we are short-sighted and build products without longevity in mind, which costs UK businesses some £400m a year (pdf) in product returns. A circular economy encourages people to keep products in circulation for longer, which creates business opportunities for service packages that include repairs and maintenance services and drives customer loyalty.

A colleague recently returned from South Korea, where he was exploring LG Electronic's approach. Like a doctor's surgery for electronics, customers can take their broken products to LG's service-repair centre, where they are issued with a ticket and seen by a technician, who fixes it on the spot.

Perception: the circular economy might be an opportunity for some, but it will have a negative impact on manufacturers

Reality: Natural resource and materials prices are rising, and they are also volatile. Refurbishment and remanufacturing offers shelter from these fluctuations. Walter Stahel, originator of the circular economy concept, recently said that if a businessman suggests opening a manufacturing plant to make money, you should counter that they can make five times as much from opening a remanufacturing plant.

Greater circularity can also benefit existing manufacturers. Rolls-Royce, for example, is known for the "power by the hour" service model, and Caterpillar is known for its remanufacturing arm, Cat Reman. More recently, Jaguar Land Rover embedded circularity into its design and assembly process and is using 50% recycled aluminium (pdf) in some of its latest car models. Considering that cars are so reliant on aluminium, a high- value material, it makes economic sense to use recycled content.

Perception: the circular economy may be the latest buzzword, but my business has been steady for years, why change now?

Reality: It was only 10 years ago that we would happily rent a video and turn pages of a newspaper. Now online streaming and internet news prevails. Many businesses that were once leaders have disappeared as new trends have emerged, such as internet shopping and digital technologies. Business as usual is not always the safest path. The companies that prioritised short-term profits rather than future-proofing themselves ultimately paid the price. The sooner businesses understand ways in which to adapt to change, the less risk of a hard blow.

Perception: the top priority is the economy and jobs, especially in times of austerity

Reality: The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said he wants to focus on jobs and growth, and rightly so. There are a number of routes to get to a destination, but the end result will be the same. Jobs and economic growth are no exception and one possible route to achieve this ambition is growth of the circular economy.

Globally, Innovate UK claims resource efficiency measures could add $2.9tr to the economy by 2030 (pdf), with returns on investment of more than 10%. There are also major job opportunities. WRAP and Green Alliance recently identified that more than 200,000 jobs could be created in the UK if circular economy activities continued to grow. In a recent report (pdf), the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation also identified that a shift in reusing, remanufacturing and recycling products could lead to more than half a million jobs being created in the recycling industry across Europe.
Perception: if the environment is on the agenda, shouldn't the top priority be climate change?
Reality: The circular economy could go a long way to helping reduce carbon emissions. According to a recent report (pdf) by the Carbon Trust, Innovate UK's Knowledge Transfer Network and Coventry University, remanufacturing typically uses 85% less energy than manufacturing, and on a global scale has the potential to offset more than 800,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum.

And remanufacturing is just one component of the circular economy. In its first phase between 2005 and 2009, WRAP's Courtauld commitment, a voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency within the UK grocery sector, avoided 3.3m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, equal to an aeroplane flying around the world half a million times.
The circular economy hub is funded by Philips. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled 'brought to you by'. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox.
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How to bust the biggest myths about the circular economy

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When China began to emerge as one of the major global economies, the dominance of English as a global business language was challenged by Mandarin. Would this lead to barriers? Apparently not. The reality is, it doesn't matter what language you speak, as long as it's the universal language of business.

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It is estimated that 9 billion of us will live on this planet by 2050. How to can we ensure that we will all have access to the resources we need in order to secure the quality of live we all want?

There are endless opportunities to re-think and re-design how we source materials for what we need. Be it chairs for your home or equipment for hospitals, through to how jets are maintained and even how you get hold of the coolest (and most sustainable) pair of jeans for a date.

Growing old together

What if we could extend a product's lifecycle and the amount of time it is active within the economy?What if we, as consumers, felt encouraged to keep products for longer because we were connected to their design and function?

"We produce 40 tonnes of waste to make a tonne of products, and 98% are dumped within six months," explains Brighton University's professor of sustainable design Jonathan Chapman. "We can enhance resource efficiency and brand loyalty by designing things that people want to keep longer - building in emotionally durable design."

With a change in perspective, we can re-design the way our economy works; we can design products that are 'made to be made again'. The question is whether creativity and innovation can build a restorative economy.

Such an economy is called the circular economy. In contrast to the 'take, make, dispose' current linear economy, in this circular economy, we separate economic growth from the consumption of finite resources. In this circular economy, innovation is key; products and services are designed to make effective use of materials' value creation.

Getting businesses on board

The circular economy is about much more than recycling. It strives to use resources as little as possible and keep them in the consumption loop longer. In other words, the circular economy requires companies to design for longevity or design for re-use, and this requires a major shift in the way businesses structure their profit creation. It has always been assumed that, if companies enable and encourage their customers to use their products as long as possible, sales will drop and profits will suffer. This isn't the case at all.

Perhaps the easiest way to get businesses to support the transition to the circular economy is by explaining the potential financial benefit of the circular economy model: it allows businesses to access 1 trillion USD, benefiting economies in the US and EU in many industries. This includes business opportunities for service packages that include repairs and maintenance services.

An example of a new business opportunity is Philips' refurbished healthcare imaging systems, an already €200 million business for the company. Philips refurbishes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), interventional X-ray (iXR), computed tomography (CT) and surgical imaging systems as part of its Diamond Select program. Under this program, pre-owned equipment is converted into 'as-new systems' with full warranty and re-configured to customers' needs by using the renewed components, latest software releases and updates.

Start thinking circular - now

Here are a few ideas for you to put into practice as an individual or part of a community to support the transition to the circular economy:

1. Your holiday could be circular  - or sustainable - in ways you might not realize. Check out what airports can be, your new skateboard is made of and from who your holiday home will be!

2. Share or trade your iron or juicer with something that you need. Think of the value of a product as opposed owning its physical form only. Cir.cl is a digital platform that helps people to share, sell, buy, and comment within a system.

3. Use it up meal  - if you do your weekly shopping at the weekend, why not designate Thursday or Friday night as 'use-it-up' meal night? Commit to using up all your leftovers in one creative culinary dash.

Do you want to get even more acquainted with the circular economy? Try taking this quiz on The Guardian while enjoying your breakfast, even better go out and explore your city as innovative initiatives are already taking place! Let's think of ways to create a more sustainable future together..

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An Introduction to the Circular Economy - Philips - Medium

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It is estimated that 9 billion of us will live on this planet by 2050. How to can we ensure that we will all have access to the resources we need in order to secure the quality of live we all want...

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Lara Setrakian: 3 ways to fix a broken news industry

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Something is very wrong with the news industry. Trust in the media has hit an all-time low; we're inundated with sensationalist stories, and consistent, high-quality reporting is scarce, says journalist Lara Setrakian. She shares three ways we can fix the news to better inform all of us about the complex issues of our time.

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How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings

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An epidemic of bad, inefficient, overcrowded meetings is plaguing the world’s businesses — and making workers miserable. David Grady has some ideas on how to stop it.

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CMO Interview: Calvin Klein’s Melisa Goldie | Forbes