The Circular Industries Talks are organized every second Wednesday at the Circular Industries Hub. In this edition, Kim Polder, Professor Circular Business at HHS, talks about how to go from circular economy to regenerative leadership. Curious for more? Take a look at the recording at the bottom of this page.
Aiming for a circular economy is not enough, we need to transition towards regenerative futures."
In this presentation, we’ll explore the limitations of the circular economy, the emerging concept of regenerative leadership, and the possibility of transitioning from the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene.
First, we’ll examine why the circular economy alone is not enough to address the pressing environmental challenges we face. While the circular economy promotes reducing waste and reusing materials, it often focuses on sustaining current systems without fundamentally healing or regenerating our ecosystems. To truly address the ecological crisis, we need to go beyond sustainability and move toward systems that actively restore the planet.
Next, we’ll discuss regenerative leadership, a transformative approach to leadership that emphasizes restoring and nurturing both ecological and social systems. Regenerative leaders foster environments where people and nature can thrive together, encouraging a mindset that goes beyond "do less harm" to "create more good." This leadership style prioritizes resilience, adaptability, and collaboration, essential qualities for guiding organizations and communities toward a regenerative future.
Finally, we’ll consider whether humanity can shift from the Anthropocene—a period defined by human impact on the planet—to the Symbiocene, an era characterized by harmonious coexistence with nature. This shift would involve reimagining our relationship with the environment, moving from exploitation to partnership, and fostering systems that support life on Earth holistically.
In summary, achieving true sustainability requires us to move beyond simply closing loops and minimizing harm; it calls for leadership that regenerates ecosystems and a cultural shift toward living in symbiosis with the natural world.
Curious about the whole story? Listen to Kim in the Circular Industries talks.
The Circular Industries talks
The goal of the Circular Industries talks is to share knowledge across Leiden, Delft and Erasmus and to complement and deepen the knowledge already available within the Circular Industries Hub. The talks are organized on Wednesday morning from 10:00 to 11:00. The talks are online (Microsoft Teams).