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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Thomas Rau: Market Revolutionary

John Elkington · 14 February 2016 · Leave a Comment

Thomas Rau
Thomas Rau

‘The End of Ownership’ is the theme, but first let me wind back the clock to just before Christmas.

On 11 December 2015, I flew to Amsterdam for a session at THNK with some 20 people co-evolving a new system change platform.

Arriving at Schiphol, I went outside to catch a taxi to THNK, to find that maybe half of the taxis were now Teslas.  The odds worked out, I didn’t get a Mercedes, and my driver was a tall, distinguished man with a bow tie. As we sped into the city, and with no clues from me as to my interests, apart from my compliments on his Tesla, he began to give me an enthusiastic run-down on the sustainability agenda.

In full flow, he mentioned that he had recently seen an astonishing TV documentary featuring the architect Thomas Rau. After the THNK session, I sent an email to Thomas’s wife, Sabine Oberhuber, saying that Thomas seemed to be ubiquitous – and complimenting him on his popular impact.

But I hadn’t yet seen the documentary

Then, yesterday, Sabine came to lunch in Barnes, and this morning, back in Holland, sent a link to the documentary, The End of Ownership.

We sat down this evening to watch it – and, with no exaggeration, I think it’s one of the most powerful pieces of film I have ever watched on our agenda and on how Homo sustainabilis can rise to the eternal challenges of life on Earth.

As part of our new program of work with the United Nations Global Compact, we plan to develop a portfolio of key resources for business leaders – and for tomorrow’s sustainability champions – and The End of Ownership will be in pride of place.

There are many reasons to watch the documentary, including the 100th birthday party for a light-bulb that still burns brightly.

But other key takeaways include how we need to apply the deep principles of the funfair to tomorrow’s economy, how companies like Phillips and Bosch have responded to the provocations of this extraordinary market revolutionary, and how future materials will not only have passports  but also their version of human rights.

And then there is the woman in the red dress, about 35 minutes in. That’s the sequence where the irreducibly human dimensions of the coming transformation literally well up as old realities give way to the new.

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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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