About Abound
The business mission of Abound is to build capacity within organizations and leaders (Presidents, directors, executives and key change leaders) who possess a commitment to and focus on sustainability. This alone is a differentiating factor. What sets us apart from other sustainability and/or leadership organizations is our approach to sustainability and our target of abundance. Based on my experience with Fortune 100/500 companies like BASF, Daimler, the Mitsubishi Group (Fuso, Pharma, Chemical) P&G, Pfizer and Unilever I can say that there is a clear connection between the level and quality of leadership within an organization and its level and commitment to sustainability. Abound’s mission is to raise the leadership level and quality of our members. In short, to be sustainable, leaders and organizations have to be capable of both technical (ex: wise use of resources, process improvement) and adaptive (individual and collective mindset/behavior change and evolution). We have the expertise and experience to support both.
Sustainability is the journey from a “me” based perspective (siloed, self-centered, scarcity mindset-my work, my division, my company) to a “we” based perspective (inter-connected, community centered, abundant mindset-our work, our collective effect, our environment/communities & families/cities, infrastructure & economy). Most large (and many small) organizations still view sustainability as a compliance issue or one of conforming to social norms or stakeholder pressure. Those perspectives, as I’m sure you know, are reactive and, ultimately, unsustainable. They are highly “me” focused. By bringing together leaders locally and globally and explicitly having them commit to supporting each other we are working to deepen the practice and habit of collaboration and interconnected, mutually enhancing support. This is the shift from “me” to “we”. This is the shift from unsustainable to sustainable. This is the beginning of the shift from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset.
On a local and global level we are “connecting the dots.” Sustainability is still young. There is little clarity about what it actually is or how it should best be practiced. In my work I’ve met some extraordinary leaders. Each of them has a piece-their own fragmented understandings and practices. By bringing these diverse approaches to sustainability together we are creating deep support and collaborative structures that currently exist only informally and, generally, at a surface level. To do this we are setting up chapters around the US and globally. The heart of each chapter is the Leadership Circles (see below). Portland is our flagship chapter. This year we will have chapters up and running in Seattle, Ohio, Australia (Adelaide), Tokyo and, possibly, Atlanta and Ottawa, Canada. Other chapters currently on the horizon include San Francisco, Chicago, Seoul, and Singapore.
Why Abound?
The mission of Abound is to build capacity within organizations and leaders (Presidents, directors, executives and key change leaders) who possess a commitment to and focus on sustainability. What sets us apart from similar organizations is our approach to sustainability and our target of abundance. There is a clear connection between the level and quality of leadership within an organization and its level and commitment to sustainability. Abound’s mission is to raise the leadership level and quality of our members. In short, to be sustainable, leaders and organizations have to be capable of both technical (ex: wise use of resources, process improvement) and adaptive (individual and collective mindset/behavior change and evolution). Abound has the expertise and experience to support both.
The Real Challenge of Sustainability
Sustainability is the journey from a “me” based perspective (scarcity mindset: my work, my division, my company, silos) to a “we” based perspective (abundance mindset-our work, our collective effect, our environment/communities & families/cities, infrastructure & economy). Most large (and many small) organizations still view sustainability as a compliance issue or one of conforming to social norms or stakeholder pressure. Those perspectives tend to be reactive and, ultimately, unsustainable. They are highly “me” focused. By bringing together leaders locally and globally and explicitly having them commit to supporting each other we are working to deepen the practice and habit of collaboration and interconnected, mutually enhancing support. This is the shift from “me” to “we”. This is the shift from unsustainable to sustainable. This is the beginning of the shift from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset.
On a local and global level we are “connecting the dots.” Sustainability is still young. There is little clarity about what it actually is or how it should best be practiced. We have met some extraordinary leaders. Each of them has a piece-their own understandings and practices. By bringing these diverse approaches to sustainability together we are creating deep support and collaborative structures that currently exist only informally and, generally, at a surface level. To do this we are setting up chapters around the US and globally. The heart of each chapter is the Leadership Circles.
Our global mission is to
- Strengthen and enhance sustainable leadership
- Connect and commit locally and globally
- Create and support abundance
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