Dear Honeybees,
I’m happy to present our second graphic blog series, featuring the six transformations of finance that form the core of The Nature of Investing. These ideas have emerged from the six sets of principles of biomimicry – the natural guides to life itself. When taken together, these evolutions illuminate a path towards investing that is reconnected, resilient and regenerative, in service to life.

#1:  FROM EFFICIENT TO EFFECTIVE

Our first transformation is FROM EFFICIENT TO EFFECTIVE, which reflects the natural concept of being energy and resource efficient.  In human systems, we are often aiming for “faster and cheaper”, but in natural systems, there is a deeper sort of effectiveness at work.  Designs are multifunctional, low-energy processes are the norm, all materials are recycled, and forms fit functions.

Think of a beehive – one simple design that serves for rearing young, food production and storage, and ongoing life of all sorts.  In addition to serving all of those functions, it turns out the hexagon is the most efficient shape, producing the most structural integrity for the least amount of energy and material (citation).  You might be able to build a cheaper beehive, and you might be able to do it faster, but there would probably be a lot of waste produced, and less overall effectiveness.

If we incorporate this natural principle into our own endeavors, we can eliminate needless complexity and focus our energies on areas where the extra effort is needed and beneficial.

We can move from shallow efficiency to deep effectiveness.

* With great thanks to the Guts and Glory team for the fantastic design work!