Holistic Business
What would you add to this Diagram to make it a holistic approach?
Tamara’s Story: A Journey to Holistic Business
I graduated with a degree in environmental economics from Middlebury College, VT in 2007. I was passionate about merging the natural world and business world. Inspired by this passion and purpose, I embarked on my journey of creating the Tailwind Jungle Lodge. However, a few years into the creation of the lodge, I was struggling. I'd been focusing all of my energy on creating a sustainable business that was mindful of the health of the natural environment, my family, my community and local economy. Meanwhile, I had completely neglected my personal health. My body was exhausted and my brain was fuzzy.
Luckily, a guest at the lodge suggested that I consider taking a class with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). This sparked an "ah-ha" moment for me. I suddenly understood that if I wanted my wild business to thrive, I needed to invest some time and money into myself as well. I was soon enrolled at IIN and spent several years getting my health back on track.
Your health and the health of your business are intertwined.
My personal experience has led me to what I call "holistic business." What is this exactly?
My post-undergrad studies of holistic nutrition allowed me to broaden my perspective of sustainability—personally and professionally. Why not take a birds eye view of your business? It truly is a graceful sum of parts with health at the essence of it all.
Holistic business is a fusion of a variety of principles:
Holistic Nutrition (nourishing your body and mind completely, without this you can't do everything else! Find out more about integrative nutrition here)
Biomimicry. An approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies (Biomimicry Institute)
Triple Bottom Line Philosophy (business framework with 3 key elements: social, environmental and financial)
Conscious Capitalism (a way of thinking about capitalism and business that better reflects where we are in the human journey, the state of our world today, and the innate potential of business to make a positive impact on the world)
Green Business (a business functioning in a capacity where no negative impact is made on the local or global environment, the community, or the economy)
Natural Capitalism. Illuminates the critical inter-dependency between the production and use of human-made capital and the maintenance and supply of natural capital. Proposes the "next industrial revolution" driven by four central strategies: the conservation of resources through more effective manufacturing processes, the reuse of materials as found in natural systems, a change in values from quantity to quality, and investing in natural capital, or restoring and sustaining natural resources".
