Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. – Albert Einstein

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “failure?” Which sort of feelings does the sound of it engender within you? Not very good ones, probably.

As a society, we have been systematically wired and re-wired to abhor failure – F’s on quizzes, exams and science projects when you were younger were embarrassing…

Copyright (c) Kyra Choucroun

Despite years of thinking about the traditional model of economic growth, it wasn’t until I drove through rural Ghana that it truly hit me just how spectacularly it has failed to deliver on the promise of global prosperity.

In my last blog I challenged the widely held belief that infinite growth is both necessary and viable. That piece generated a flood of responses, from howls of protest at one extreme to speaking invitations at the other. And it was one of those invitations that led me to Ghana in the first place, to share my views on how Africa can play a part in tackling the world’s most complex challenges at a youth-led conference in Kumasi.

A particular remark has been ringing in my ears for two weeks: “We have an economy where we steal from the future, sell it in the present, and call it GDP.” Those are the words of Paul Hawken, who, in my opinion, has come up with the most accurate definition of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) so far.

When I heard it at TEDxOxbridge, I thought: Bingo! We’re finally weaving growth into the debate, and acknowledging that our obsession with stellar GDP and economic growth is simply an “intergenerational Ponzi scheme” biding its time.

Cindy Gallop is a force. She is a magnetic, dynamic character that oozes positivity and passion in ways I have never encountered.

An ex-advertising queen, she recently founded IfWeRantheWorld.com, an incredibly innovative micro-action platform designed to turn good intentions into concrete action. Based on a crowd-sourcing principle, Gallop’s venture is meant to motivate people to do things by partaking in micro-actions that can effect great change in the world…

SustainAbility’s Kyra Choucroun chats with Vinay Gupta, founder of WhipCar, about the opportunity to exploit ‘idle assets’ like your neighbor’s car….

SustainAbility interviews the founder of WhipCar, a new take on car-sharing that helps you rent your neighbor's car.

Is the 'Big Society' merely a troublesomely vague hope that civil society will effectively replace government?

Rachel Botsman is co-author of a fun, informative and influential book – What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption – which describes a powerful cultural and economic force that is literally re-inventing not just what we consume but how we consume it….

Rachel Botsman talks about a powerful force that is re-inventing not just what we consume, but how we consume it.

The Edelman Trust Barometer highlights the fragility of public trust in business, and how conditional trust is.

The oil industry should, instead of isolating one culprit, commit to addressing systemic failures that led to the spill.