Early on, many Green Swan innovators and entrepreneurs tend to be dismissed out of hand, very much like the Ugly Duckling in the fairy tale. Black Swans, by Elkington's definition, are huge "wicked" or "super wicked problems" (these are true business terms now in the corporate terminology) that usually are usually not foreseen so they could not be prevented. Whilst the timing of the Anthropocene is highly debated, humans are clearly having an outsized impact on the environment and driving a number of environmental trends in a negative direction globally. This is very eye-opening book, where the reader is taken on a shock start, by an economist updating his work. It is a framework of thinking about risks associated with the Biosphere, terming them ‘green swans’ (or environmental black swans) (Bank of International Settlements, 2020a).

Imagine if we could come up with a reliable way to notice Ugly Ducklings at an early stage, and to identify what support they need to nurture and nudge them toward a greener future. In the same spirit, the title of my most recent book is Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism (Fast Company Press, 2020). i132497906 |b 1030003649197 |d cmg |g - |m |h 10 |x 4 |t 0 |i 2 |j 18 |k 200910 |n 04-18-2023 15:05 |o - |a HD60 . This is an annoying puff piece by a business consultant who uses a lot of invented jargon to promote his talks to businesses. He is the founder of several businesses and thinktanks advocating corporate social and environmental responsibility and he has widely published on green consumerism and sustainable development.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Daniel Christian Wahl — Catalyzing transformative innovation in the face of converging crises, advising on regenerative whole systems design, regenerative leadership, and education for regenerative development and bioregional regeneration. People often ask me this question and also whether the Green Swans idea is to replace one or some of them.

So how can we make sure that the coming innovations steer us toward regeneration instead of pulling us down into a world ridden with Black Swan characteristics? Drawing on first-hand experience from boardrooms around the world, and our Inquiry findings, the book examines wicked problems and the ‘ugly ducklings’ of today that have the potential to become tomorrow’s world-saving Green Swans. Who knew that the combined mass of the 23 billion chickens alive at any point in time now outweighs all other birds earth? It is different from socially responsible investing which traditionally avoids those inconsistent with the values of the investors (tobacco, arms, etc. The second part of the book, ‘Black Versus Green’, describes how slowly, but surely, the Anthropocene paradigms are shifting towards a greener future, and highlights the role of markets and business in this coming revolution.Bold long-term goals and vision is what catalyses breakthrough thinking, but that alone is not enough, says Elkington.

Readers may spot that the Green Swans metaphor inverts the one Nassim Nicholas Taleb used in his 2007 book, The Black Swan. According to Elkington, Green Swans boast “exponential progress in the form of economic, social, and environmental wealth creation”. Elon Musk’s decision to start Tesla, producing electric cars himself because no other car manufacturer would invest, is a good example.And of course, any book appearing in the middle of such profound social and economic changes is in danger of not quite keeping up. Using case studies, real-world examples, and profiles on emergent technologies, Elkington shows how the weirdest "Ugly Ducklings" of today's world may turn into tomorrow's world-saving Green Swans.