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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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You are here: Home / About / Professional / Volans

Volans

JE British Museum wings 2

An inspiration: Antony Gormley statue, British Museum

Now based in London’s Somerset House, Volans was founded as Volans Ventures Ltd early in 2008 to stretch our horizons and ambitions—and carry forward a range of projects beyond my continuing involvement with SustainAbility. The team began to evolve late in 2007, in conversations between John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan, Geoff Lye and Sophia Tickell—quickly drawing in Sam Lakha and Kevin Teo.

Two early strap lines were: ‘The Business of Social Innovation’ and ‘Helping the Future Take Flight.’

For further details on our current team, activities and offerings, please take a look here.

Background

As for our name, we have the flying fish (Piscis or Pisces volans) to thank for that. In Latin, volans meant ‘flying’ or ‘flying thing’—which seemed appropriate as we began to work toward a big jump forward in our field and working lives.The family name Exocoetidae is used for flying fish. It comes from the Greek exo-koitos, “lying down outside” or “sleeping under the stars”, which, according to Wikipedia, derived from the common occurrence of sailors finding stranded flying fish lying on the decks of their boats.

Volans is also a constellation in the southern sky, first described in Johann Bayer’s Uranometria in 1603, which brought to mind thoughts of navigation and the deep structure of things.

Since 2011, Volans has focused on what it has dubbed Breakthrough Capitalism, launching with the first Breakthrough Capitalism Forum in 2012. This saw the launch of our second book, The Zeronauts: Breaking the Sustainability Barrier. The book included 50 Zeronauts, among them Elon Musk of Tesla.

Tesla 2

Just looking in Palo Alto: a favorite Zeronaut is Elon Musk, the man behind Tesla, SolarCity and SpaceX

I have driven a Tesla, in Vienna, and no question this is astounding, breakthrough automobile technology. But what really brought Musk into the Breakthrough space, for us, was his astounding offer to share Tesla’s patents with competitors. His goal: to boost the chances that electric recharging infrastructures will roll out across key markets much faster than would other wise be the case.

Our thinking on all of this has been further distilled in reports (for example, Breakthrough and Investing in Breakthrough), in further events (in places as disparate as Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Bogotá, Colombia, London, Mumbai, Nairobi, Potsdam, Singapore and Toronto) and in a new book, this one co-authored with former Puma Chairman and CEO Jochen Zeitz (The Breakthrough Challenge: 10 Ways to Connect Today’s Profits with Tomorrow’s Bottom Line).

JE Jorge Martin winged figure 2

Volans 2: A Jorge Marín sculpture I loved during a memorable walk around Mexico City

The original idea behind Volans was to be able to take bigger risks with a smaller team. With the inevitable ups and downs associated with any start-up, it has been great fun (as the picture below, taken across the road in Bloomsbury Square, suggests) – and I think we have quite an impact already. It is also a huge pleasure that both Volans and SustainAbility are now certified B Corporations.

V Team 2

Volans Core Team when we were about 6 years old

JE No speed limit anymore 2

Sam’s card to me as we began to form Volans

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From the Journal

Dropping In On MoMA

16 September 2023

In very much the same way that I have long loved to visit the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., when there, so I try to do the same with the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, when in New York. Walked there today, around 20 blocks either way. Long queue to get in, […]

Cleaner Fish, Dirty Waters

15 September 2023

I always forget how late even major Brazilian events are in kicking off. The second day of the UN Global Compact event for Brazilian business today started 30 minutes late, precisely when I was meant to speak – and time-keeping didn’t improve much thereafter. Great fun, even so. Note to self, though: ensure you deliver […]

Jubilee Marsh, Wallasea

7 September 2023

Serendipity can work in mysterious ways. Some years ago Elaine showed me a media report on Jubilee Marsh, near Southend-on-Sea, where 3 million tonnes of spoil from the Elizabeth Line tunnelling project had been used to reinforce and extend a saltmarsh. I made a mental note to visit it someday. Then, today, the Volans team […]

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.

Contact

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

John Elkington

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