This morning, amidst the quiet and dark streets of Lisbon, I found myself pondering the editorial for our monthly newsletter. As my thoughts swirled, I gazed at leafless trees, realizing a profound truth: “The problem is not the problem!”. The problem is an opportunity. The problem is not to be solved, the opportunity is to be found. Writing the editorial is a chance to express, inspire, learn, and engage in dialogue I concluded.

Nature, too, thrives not by solving problems but by seizing opportunities. Winter, far from a hindrance, is Nature’s way of conserving energy for optimal growth later. Attempting to counterattack the problems posed by winter would drain the energy of trees and plants, jeopardizing their ability to thrive, likely resulting in their inability to survive as a species.

What if we apply this mindset to our challenges, viewing them as opportunities to thrive rather than problems to solve? What if we would stop fighting against problems? What if we train ourselves to find opportunities to thrive? Easy said, one can argue. No, we can start today and we can immediately start at scale, i.e. in the business we are in. In every business, we can foster regenerative practices independently of what the outside world asks. Rather than battling persistent issues, like the war for talent, we can build businesses that shape thinking and collaboration.

Many companies limit human potential, emphasizing control over collaboration. What if we redesigned businesses around the full potential of people? By embracing critical thinking and personal mastery, businesses can evolve into regenerative entities. Companies can become places where people learn to think systemic, learn to see what the other can’t see, learn to bring the emergent patterns and tendencies of an evolving world at surface. The qualities of such companies lie routed in wholeness, potential, reciprocity, authenticity, nestedness, all key elements to build a regenerative organization. Such organizations will be able to enable its people (not employees anymore) to effectively address the challenges presented by today’s world. Such companies will set the stage for people and groups to proactively direct change in themselves, in the lives of the people they interact with and finally in democratic societies as a whole. Businesses, people, Nature and democracy are interconnected—this is an opportunity, not a problem.

As business leaders we have the responsibility and the possibility to create such organizations. As such business leaders, beyond pursuing success, hold a key to democracy’s health. A shift in mindset within a company can ripple into society, impacting our democracy positively. Innovating our business models becomes a contribution to a democratic world where everyone, regardless of age, strength, or background, finds their place. This shift, starting at the business level, has the potential to create a positive narrative for future generations, a narrative we so much need. A narrative that can be started by the business leaders.

Present times may seem chaotic and unsettling, yet they also offer us the chance to reshape how we think, act and live together. Let’s embrace these opportunities and build businesses that foster the thriving of all life on Earth.

It is an opportunity, not a problem.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Max Planck, Quantum Theorist and Nobel laureate.

pIEt Haerens

Vice-President.

For me it is obvious that diversity provides resilience, but not yet for many. It relates to accepting differences, listen to the disagreements, accept different opinions, but also to agree on how to go ahead and create mutual respect, rather than to find and work to consensus. Consensus results in people who are winning, people who are losing, people who only have part of what they thought would be in it for them. Consensus erodes collaboration on the long-term. Consensus is not Natural. Where else in Nature do you find consensus? Diversity indeed comes with tension and disagreement, but also with acceptance. That’s OK.

Tension and disagreement are the food for interactions to co-create richer outcomes. They are an opportunity to create conditions conducive to life. Diversity also comes with acceptance. Accepting the other is different. Acceptance as the foundations to create synergy. Diversity is abundant in Nature. Where there is diversity, Nature flourishes. Acceptance as well is abundant in Nature. A tree accepts its role in Nature and evolves to co-exist with all life around it. It does not fight against its existence nor wants to train itself to become a wetland (for example). Can we learn from Nature to work with the tension and diversity? Yes, by doing, erroring and adapting.

Diversity is also what we encounter in the Chamber of Commerce. A diversity of backgrounds, individual knowledge, age and experience. A diversity of interests, but a common goal and reasoning of belonging: making the chamber the primary contact point for any Portuguese or Belgium enterprise or investor wishing to relocate between or interact with the two countries. Together we provide our members with a solid network of opportunities and events, making sure they feel at home in the Belgian and Portuguese context. In the context of actual geopolitical changes, ever changing technological evolution and individual developments, the Chamber can be seen as a cross-sector hub, where diverse stakeholders come together, to form a circle of hands-on interaction where conversations and relationships combine the intelligence of head, hands and heart. Diversity also exists in combining the thinking, with the feeling and the doing. Blending these elements that are inherently abundant in each of us, will allow us to find the way to a paradigm shift where new ways of operating and innovating goes hand in hand with nourishing all life on earth.

With the Chamber of Commerce, we are doing small things, but with great love. It is all we have to do: “Cultivating and conserving diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival imperative.” — Vandana Shiva

For those willing to read, study or discover how Nature can inspire us, you can read the books of Giles Hutchins (“The illusion of separation – Exploring the Cause of our Current Crisis”), Charles Eisenstein (“Climate – a new Story”), Leen Gorissen (“Natural Intelligence”), Robin Wall Kimmerer (“Braiding sweatgrass”), Laura Storm (“Regenerative Leadership”) and many more. Or view the TED talk of Leen Gorissen:

https://www.ted.com/talks/leen_gorissen_discovering_the_way_life_works.