Regenerative Economics: Generating Systemic Wealth

Part 2: What is Real Wealth?

Photo at Merida Meridian

Real wealth generation requires increasing capacity in all members of a living system — all stakeholders — so that each new generation of wealth building extends and evolves the last. It is rooted in their evolving ability and propensity to express essence — for themselves, their materials, and those that they serve.

I’m often asked how far out the responsible corporation should extend itself in thinking about systems. “Should I go all the way out to the universe?” people joke. I reply, “Go out as far as you can understand. Ultimately, you should be able to hold onto the planet on which we live. But start with the systems that you affect, and learn to see them whole. This grows the mind’s capacity to take into account increasingly larger, more complex, or more ordered systems.”

For a responsible corporation, this means looking beyond those who directly provide raw materials or buy finished products (that’s the open systems view.) It requires establishing beneficial and contributing relationships with the places from which raw materials come and finished products go. It requires adopting the habit of seeing everything as alive and able to be developed.

Merida Case Story

Merida Meridian produces natural fiber (such as jute, sisal, or wool) rugs for commercial and residential use. It emphasizes design quality and innovative production practices to fully engage the creative skill of its co-creators, many of whom live in or come from rural communities in the developing world. The company strongly values the cultural expertise brought by its co-creators and acknowledges their stature as artisans.

Though Catherine Connelly, the president of Merida Meridian, is quick to point out that her company falls far short of its aspirations, it continues to work on development for its suppliers. Merida supports cooperatives in Brazil and small weaving companies across Asia, working with each to improve its design capacity and ability to manage a business so that it can grow into employing more community members over time. Merida helps these small businesses understand the effects of their raw materials on the living systems they draw to secure an increasingly reliable source of livelihood. The aim is to help local communities and landscapes increase their ability to determine their futures through their ongoing relationship with Merida.

These relationships are also mutually beneficial. Merida has moved from offering generic bulk products for big box retailers to working directly with leading interior designers to create bespoke rugs that fit their vision. Their skilled craftspeople participate in a co-creative process with the designers’ brands, and Merida is able to communicate the value of their natural, non-toxic, and handmade offerings much better than when selling through chain stores. Ultimately, Merida is positioning itself to be nondisplaceable in the lives of its customers while contributing to the health of their supplier’s communities and growing its bottom line at the same time.

To read more about Merida’s transformation, see my article in Conscious Company Magazine. In the next part of this series on generating systemic wealth, we’ll expose three myths about wealth generation, as revealed through the living systems view of what constitutes true wealth.