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A Must Read from the Godfather of Sustainability

Volans and Fast Company Press are proud to announce the release of Tickling Sharks: How We Sold Business on Sustainability, the 21st book by John Elkington, aka the “Godfather of Sustainability.” It offers a candid and comprehensive look at the evolution of the sustainability agenda over the past 50 years, offering unparalleled insights from the man who coined the term “triple bottom line”—People, Planet, and Profit.

John Elkington has been at the forefront of the sustainability movement since it began, advising some of the world’s most influential companies and business leaders. In Tickling Sharks, he shares an insider’s perspective on the trials, triumphs, and transformations that have shaped the journey towards sustainable business practices.

The book’s central message is that the next 15 years will see more change than the past 50 years—but that it will drive us towards systemic breakdowns as well as breakthroughs. The quality of leadership will be even more critical than in normal, less disrupted times. 

Tickling Sharks is a call to action for business leaders, policymakers, and sustainability advocates. Whether you read it on a plane, on the beach or back in the office, this is a must-read for anyone committed to driving positive, systemic change.

If you would like John to talk about Tickling Sharks to your organisation, please contact Natalie Jude. 

Reviews

“John is a legend. Throughout my 30-year career in sustainability leadership, he has been a source of insight and inspiration. By extension he has influenced the thinking of thousands of senior executives on our programmes.” Dame Polly Courtice, founding director, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership 

“Thank you, John, for being our godfather, soothsayer, advocate, provocateur, and—ultimately—inspiration.” Hannah Jones, CEO, The Earthshot Prize 

“By coaching the enlightened—and confronting the laggards—John has helped put the issues and opportunities firmly on the top tables of some of the world’s largest and most impactful businesses.” Sir Dave Lewis, former CEO, Tesco PLC; chair, WWF-UK 

“John has seen farther, sooner, and better than anyone how commerce could reimagine the world and has done so with modesty, eloquence, and kindness.” Paul Hawken, environmentalist, entrepreneur, author of The Ecology of Commerce, Drawdown, and Regeneration 

“With his patented mixture of humor and ardor, the father of the triple bottom line distils the most important lessons learned during a long career spent at the bleeding edge of ESG.” Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970; former head, Solar Energy Research Institute; president, Bullitt Foundation 

“John Elkington is unusual in that he has ridden—and helped shape—so many waves of change. But perhaps his central contribution has been in helping to ensure that the tremendous opportunities offered by responsible and sustainable business models are increasingly understood by CEOs and boards.” Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, campaigner, and co-author of Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take 

NOTES

Availability: Tickling Sharks is now available at major bookstores and online retailers in hardback, paperback, Kindle and audio versions. 

Media Inquiries: For more information, please visit Fast Company Press’s website or contact Natalie Jude at +44 (0)7788212915 or natalie@volans.com. She can also help with review copies, interviews, and other media requests.

A bit of a whistlestop week. Started with Peter Byck and his family coming to lunch on Sunday – and continued with the premiere of his docuseries, Roots So Deep, held in Soho on Monday evening.

Then on Tuesday I was up horribly early to do an opening plenary at RESET Connect, held at the ExCel Centre in London’s Docklands. Part of London Climate Action Week (LCAW). Capacity audience. First time on the Elizabeth Line, which I loved. Then back for a meeting with Harry Wright of Bright Tide and a presentation of the new Volans Brand Book by LEAP. On Tuesday evening we had the Volans Salon on corporate climate advocacy, held in the Exchange area of Somerset House. Great turnout of companies and stakeholders.

On Wednesday, Diana Verde Nieto came across for coffee in the morning. Then, in the evening, I went into town for the Volans Book Club, where Louise interviewed me on Tickling Sharks – and then I raced across to Goals House for a Google dinner marking LCAW. Made some fascinating connections.

On Thursday afternoon I went across to Holborn Viaduct for an event celebrating the second Pineapple Day. Did an opening fireside chat with Pineapple Partnerships founder Andy Dewis. Then over the next day or two whipped up my latest Substack post on the subject of pineapples. Rather liked the image I conjured for the purpose using Artiphoria (see below).

Then on Friday I did an advisory board meeting for GIST Impact, followed by a podcast recording on Tickling Sharks with Lawrence Jones for the Edison Electric Institute.

And now, on Sunday, am preparing to take to the Eurostar to Brussels in a couple of hours for an advisory board meeting for UBQ Materials, to include a visit to their new manufacturing site. Then to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport to fly to Lisbon to keynote a BCSD conference – before flying back late on Wednesday evening. If all goes well.

After all my travelling in recent weeks, Elaine and I took a bit of time out today to walk around Kew Gardens – and enjoy the Marc Quinn sculptures scattered across the landscape. Very impressive. A gloriously sunny day, perfect weather to view many – but nowhere near all – of the artworks.

The second day of South Summit Madrid was at La Nave. Yesterday had ended with a dinner on the outskirts of the city with an astonishingly wealthy family, with an impressive art collection, but with smoke from the barbecue drifting across the landscape just after a I had seen the terrified eyes of cattle in a giant truck speeding to the abattoir. After a while, I turned tail and headed back to the hotel thanks to an Uber wage slave.

Enjoyed my session with Lara Birkes, who has sent me the photo below of Tickling Sharks at her home in Paradise Valley, Montana. Audience here was much smaller than we had in Brazil, so not sure whether that reflects competing attractions or different national priorities. Then a bunch of conversations and a small lunch hosted by María Benjumea – before zooming out to airport and, eventually, home.

Overall, a fantastic trip – and met some fascinating new people. One who I had met before, Booking.com founder Jeff Hoffman, and I had a fascinating conversation as we were ferried out to La Nave – which has further stimulated my thinking on what needs to happen next with the whole ESG, impact and sustainability space. Serendipity at work, again.

Travelled across by train to St Austell on Friday, with Elaine. Then as we walked up the hill between the Cornwall Hotel & Spa and the sea, I looked back and had one of those arresting moments where life almost spools in front of your eyes, like the credits at the end (or beginning) of a film.

So what triggered that? Well, on the far horizon were a line of china clay spoil heaps, both the “old men’s tips” and the later, more industrial, spoil heaps. It was to investigate the reclamation of the latter that I had first visited the English China Clays workings back in 1977, while writing an article for New Scientist, titled ‘Restoring the Cornish Moonscape’. And from that period of writing flowed the subsequent invitation to set up and later run ENDS (Environmental Data Services) in 1978.

And while I was doing the ECC visits and interviews, Elaine, Gaia (aged but a few months) and I stayed with Teddy Goldsmith, founder-editor of The Ecologist magazine. He and I had first met earlier in 1977 in Reykjavik at a conference organised by Professor Nicholas Polunin, where Teddy and I productively shared a bedroom for a week. I met a bunch of people I wouldn’t otherwise have met – and wrote that 3-page article for New Scientist on much of that story, including my memorable breakfast with Buckminster (“Bucky”) Fuller, on the flight back to London.

Gaia’s name, in turn, linked back to James (“Jim”) Lovelock’s 1975 New Scientist article on his Gaia Hypothesis (later Theory) – and years later I had the great pleasure of coming to know him quite well. And so the connections spooled – and that was even before I got to the Eden Project, which occupies one of ECC’S former open-cast mines, and whose founder was the ultimate reason why we were back in Cornwall.

From early afternoon on Saturday through to late, we joined the celebration of Tim Smit’s wedding to Charlotte Russell in the Lost Gardens of Heligan – a pre-Eden venture of his. Wonderful to catch up with people we knew, including (Professor) Mike Depledge and his wife Juliana (who I had first met when all three of us staying with Tim a while back), former Soil Association CEO Patrick Holden and a bunch of other Eden friends, alongside some new folk.

Later, a great dance band played some of our favourite songs, including Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell” as we arrived. These two old folks certainly wished the newlyweds well – but the sound level was such that it soon had us retreating to the edges, behind a brazier in which marshmallows were to be toasted.

That’s a smell that evokes powerful memories, too, linking back to holidays in Cornwall, alongside the River Tamar. And particularly to one summer holiday with the three March girls we knew from our Cyprus days. We whirled along between the high Cornish hedgerows in the family Land Rover, all singing Troggs songs like Wild Thing and With A Girl Like You. Those were the days, my friend.

A peaceful interlude during turbulent times. Indeed, on the train, I was reading Fareed Zakaria’s extraordinary book, The Age of Revolutions. If and when I next look across that valley, there will be even more for my brain to call to mind – when, to borrow Paul McCartney’s phrasing, often feels as if it is very much at the Memory Almost Full stage.