In 2012, we stumbled upon the Swedish-rooted NGO The Natural Step and our worldview was completely overturned. Triple Bottom Line, Brundtland Definition, SDGs, etc., terms we recited like many others, suddenly lost weight. In their place came a completely new understanding of sustainable, successful entrepreneurial activity, based on holistic systemic thinking and the resulting interplay between individuals, organizations, business, society and the environment. All of it deeply rooted in a science-based definition of socio-ecological success, on which any economic, entrepreneurial, and ultimately individual success is absolutely dependent.

Thus, our name Sustainable Growth Associates took on a whole new meaning.

But how would we bring this insight into the corporate world?

Influenced by The Natural Step, the way we worked with our customers evolved.

More holistic, more integrated, more versatile. From strategy to operations to leadership & culture change. As trainers, coaches, consultants, interim managers, entrepreneurs, always with our core purpose in mind: to catalyze and accelerate the transformation of companies towards FutureFitness (a term we backed with a very hard definition 😉).

In 2016 we finally became a certified B Corp and the German representative of The Natural Step, demonstrating also formally how much we want to help companies to become a Force for Good, since 2022 also as B Corp Way Partner, among others.

Over the years, with a highly collaborative approach and enormous personal commitment, we have succeeded in building a bridge between academic understanding and entrepreneurial action. On this basis, we have worked with companies to create visions, develop strategies, set up innovation initiatives, initiate and accompany cultural change, develop process landscapes, design organizations, develop leaders, restructure companies, establish partnerships, lead projects, setup reporting, etc.

We know first-hand what works and what doesn’t, and yet we continue to learn every day.

We have translated existing and developed new concepts, methods, tools, use cases, etc. into a clearly structured yet open architecture, a Sustainability Operating System tailored to business transformation. This “Operating System” brings together all aspects of corporate activity in both economic and socio-ecological contexts; top-line and bottom-line, short-term and long-term, and always taking into account the people involved.

In this way, we provide a shared language, the grammar and vocabulary, so to speak, for making corporate transformation work as effective and efficient as possible. Due to its science-based architecture, this Sustainability Operating System provides the necessary interfaces to connect further solutions on system-, success-, strategic guidance-, action-, method-, and tool-level.

With our support, numerous companies have moved into the fast lane OR embarked on their value-based transformation journey with this new way of thinking and acting.

But there are still far too few!

The vast majority of companies continue to pursue a reductionist approach, even with the best of intentions. Thus, symptoms of socio-ecological and economic unsustainability are treated instead of their root causes being eliminated. We are losing valuable time.

This has to change!

We recognized early on that the linear transformation of companies, one after the other, would not come close to meeting the high pressure to act that results from the major societal challenges of our time. Moreover, successful transformation requires collaboration along the value chain, often across industries.

Against this background, we wanted to systematically share our knowledge and experiences years ago and work together on this basis to accelerate the necessary change. Keynotes, panels, publications, interviews, social media, all of this was and is simply not enough. So as early as 2017, the idea of RECONCILE was born. However, the time was obviously not yet ripe for a platform that we wanted to create for and with like-minded and acting Change-Makers.

Now in 2023 we have managed to build a first version of RECONCILE on our own. Still limited in functionality, still limited in content, but with the potential to galvanize a critical mass of Change-Makers and to achieve things together that none of us can achieve alone. The decisive element for this, in addition to Purpose, Vision, Mission and Core Values: the RECONCILE Sustainability Operating System.

We consider this version 1.0 of (y)our RECONCILE Platform as the starting point for building a conditioned-open community. RECONCILE Change-Makers not only share values, purpose, vision, and mission of the Platform, but especially have a shared understanding of what entrepreneurial success in a socio-ecological context means and how it can be achieved. We consider this shared understanding to be an indispensable condition for efficient and effective collaboration on projects of any kind that catalyze and accelerate the necessary transformation at any level.

To develop this shared understanding, RECONCILE provides step-by-step curated teaching and learning materials, methods, tools, etc., starting with the FutureFitness 101 course. Conditioned-open means that everyone is allowed to participate in the public area of RECONCILE by reading. However, an active communicating role requires at least successful completion of FutureFitness 101, which means that any change-maker can rely on the other person sharing a minimum level of grammar and vocabulary related to strategic corporate sustainability development.

At the same time, we do not want to give the impression that RECONCILE is the only and best solution for a holistic, methodical approach to corporate transformation. As we all know, better is the enemy of good. With this in mind, we invite every change-maker to improve the RSOS, close gaps, uncover contradictions, advance methodologies, etc. After all, it is not about this platform, the RECONCILE Sustainability Operating System, SGA, TNS, B Corp but solely about the fastest possible realization of a critical mass of enterprise transformations.

Currently, RECONCILE is running on the Circle community platform. We have chosen Circle because at this point in time, in addition to the curated training part, the activation and interaction of interested change-makers is the main focus. However, we already see a compelling need for the functional expansion of the marketplace solution in order to be able to optimally implement the decisive step from collective discussion to collective action.

There is no shortage of relevant learning content for a wide variety of target groups and roles. However, it is necessary to process and deliver this content in a reasonably tailored fashion, compatible with the RECONCILE Sustainability Operating system: scientifically sound, holistic, complete, business compatible.Thereby, the needs of the community with regard to Meaningful Assignments and Impactful Ventures come first.

In addition to the RECONCILE core team’s own contributions, experienced Change-Makers are invited to contribute their own content to RECONCILE in line with the RECONCILE Sustainability Operating system; whether at the strategic, operational, or leadership & culture change level, or with technical, methodological, or industry expertise.  Let’s bring our collective skills and experiences together in a meaningful way based on current science.

It goes without saying that each individual content provider shall benefit appropriately, true to our motto “Value-for-Value”.

Together, we can become a valued, influential community.

We see our shared Vision, Mission, Purpose, Core Values, and language as indispensable prerequisites to getting things done. Our guardrails, so to speak. And yet we won’t get anything done if we don’t succeed in engaging in continuous, meaningful, and productive exchange. It is these interactions that ultimately lead to concrete, effective collaboration.

With this in mind, we will do everything in our power to develop and foster these dialogs and invite every Change-Maker to become active themselves in accordance with these guardrails.

Whether from dialogs in the community or through individual initiatives, the ultimate goal is to have a real impact. After all, we don’t want to become a debate or know-it-all club – there’s already enough of that 😉 .

We want to achieve positive impact together, fast. This requires two essential elements that need to fit together:

• RECONCILE-qualified, attractive projects for which it is necessary to find the right Change-Makers to fulfil them, AND
• RECONCILE-qualified, experienced Change-Makers who find the right projects for them.

Initially, this is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, but it should take care of itself as the community grows. We will definitely be posting our own assignments (for which we are looking for Change-Makers) on RECONCILE as soon as possible.

Let’s face it. Our current technical solution for RECONCILE has clear shortcomings. The Academy functionality is extremely limited. No quizzes, no connection of badges, no dependable certification. The marketplace is also only a prototype in this form.

We want to change this step by step and hope for the support of one or the other Change-Maker who is interested in helping out. The development of a business model that makes it attractive for all change-makers to participate in the further development of RECONCILE is also on the agenda.

In this sense, we cordially invite individuals and organizations to join us so that together we

RECONCILE the Economy with the Society and the Environment.