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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Respect Your Elvers

John Elkington · 26 October 2014 · Leave a Comment

E-Square study tour group from Japan
E-Square study tour group from Japan
Part of Covent Garden Central Market Building seems to float
Part of Covent Garden Central Market Building seems to float
View over Thames from a Gallup corner office
View over Thames from a Gallup corner office
Cherubs await the arrival of Michael Palin at The Palace theatre
Cherubs await the arrival of Michael Palin at The Palace theatre
Ceiling of The Palace, overhead
Ceiling of The Palace, overhead
Chilled out, with beer, on screen
Chilled out, with beer, on screen
During the dinner at Lutyens Restaurant, Fleet Street
During the dinner at Lutyens Restaurant, Fleet Street

Once again, the last week or two have been a bit of a blur – leaving little time for blogging, though I try to keep the Twitter stream going at @volansjohn.

The week before last started with a visit from a Japanese study tour, with representatives of quite a few leading companies (including the likes of Mitsubishi, Nissan and Panasonic), organised by our longstanding partners in Tokyo, E-Square. Great fun – and apparently very well received.

Our Breakthrough agenda remains a bit of a stretch for such companies, however.

Later on in the week, I flew to Pennsylvania with Amanda (Feldman) for a session with a company where we are subject to a very tight NDA, so that story will heave to be for later. But a lot of driving (Amanda’s) through torrential rain, past at least one road-train that had apparently aquaplaned off the road and then down a slope, leaving its rear end sticking up into the air.

Didn’t stop a Duel-like truck driver from continuing to break the Sound Barrier alongside, however.

This last week, Sam, Astrid and I visited Gallup, to explore areas of shared interest, particularly in the area of well-being, which was fascinating – and on the way back (so the photos are the wrong way around) we stopped to look at part of the old Central Market Building in Covent Garden, which seemed to have taken leave (if not of its senses) of its columns.

Then, on 20 October, Elaine and I went to see Michael Palin’s penultimate show in his Travelling to Work tour. Wonderful, though the front row circle seats we were in were about as cramped as it is possible to be.

Next, on 22 October, we went across to SustainAbility for a celebration of two things: my 27 years with the company (I finally volunteered to step down as a Director earlier in the year) and my appointment as Honorary Chairman: a life sentence, I was told.

(I am beginning, on occasion, to feel a bit like an Elder in the sustainability space, and the delightful speeches celebrating my contributions to the firm, the team and the wider field strengthened the impression.)

Then they announced that, in honour of my work to date, SustainAbility was  sponsoring the release of 1,000 eels for each year that I have been involved with SustainAbility, which by most people’s calculations added up to 27,000, via the Sustainable Eel Group. This builds out from the eel release Elaine and I were involved in earlier this autumn.

Talk about a gift that will (hopefully) keep on giving …

(This blog’s title, incidentally, was accidentally suggested by Gaia’s husband, Paul Eros, when they came through yesterday to pick up the car en route to Little Rissington.)

Afterwards, with Rob Cameron, Tom Delfgaauw, Julia Harrison, Mark Lee, Geoff Lye, and John and Maureen Schaetzl, we went on to dinner at the Lutyens Restaurant – which was remarkable good, and remarkably quiet (in an acoustic sense).

Intriguingly, there was a blue plaque visible through one of the windows, looking onto a building where the first  edition of The Sunday Times was edited. And the building we were in used to be occupied, in the glory days of Fleet Street, by Reuters. The old ticker tape days are echoed in the marble floor.

And now I’m preparing for the Sustainia business case session and 2014 awards ceremony in Copenhagen in the coming week – and then for the trip to Chile that follows hot on their heels.

Glass eels - an earlier stage of the 27,000 eels that we will be released next year
Glass eels – an earlier stage of the 27,000 eels that we will be released next year

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

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