A Letter From Our Founder

Dear Capital Institute Stakeholders, 

The year 2014 marked Capital Institute's fifth year in service. Astonishing how fast the time goes by when you are having fun! 

In this, our second annual report, I would like to review just three themes that I think best represent our contribution to the unprecedented global challenges we face. 

The first is our work on a theory of regenerative economics, very much the "source code" of everything we do. I was honored to have the opportunity to present this framework at a roundtable of sustainability leaders convened in 2014 by the Norwegian global classification and advisory company DNV GL. The framework was advertised as a work in progress, and an amazing thing happened. Rather than the too often experienced attacks from participants around flaws and failures, I received an embrace of warm support and constructive contribution that has since been integrated into the framework. 

The theory has been further enhanced with the arrival of Dr. Sally Goerner as Capital Institute's Science Advisor this year. Sally brings serious science chops to our work, providing a more rigorous foundation to the theory. Interestingly, Sally's understanding of energy flow science served to affirm and reinforce the framework, giving me great confidence that we are on the right track. As a point of reference, here is what Jane Jacobs wrote about Sally's book Clockwork Universe: The Emerging Science and Culture of Integral Society (1999/2007): "...fascinating and amazing in scope. This is the current human condition, socially and scientifically, laid out for all to see." 

Theory is important at times of great change, when it becomes clear that existing theory is inadequate. Now is such a time in the realm of economics. To quote Einstein, "It is theory that determines what can be observed." We are blind to the systemic solutions we need without first seeing a new conceptual framework. But of course, theory alone is inadequate. For theory to be valuable, it needs to be validated in the real world. This brings me to my second theme: storytelling...