The story of Paikea is a Maori legend. Paikea escaped being killed by his brother on the back of a whale. Paikea made it to shore and the whale became an island.[1. The Story of Paikea and Ruatapu, National Library of New Zealand, September 1962] While the story is Maori, there is lesson that applies to all of us and especially to business.
We cannot survive without the help of nature. It was nature that fed us, provided us warmth and shelter, long before we began to build and expand. It will be nature that is left after we deplete the world’s resources and cannot spread our waste and byproducts anymore. There are many that see this future and have made a fundamental change in how they approach business. Business cannot go on treating the natural world as if it were separate. It is not separate. We look to nature when we need a respite. We look to nature to feed us. We look to nature to provide the lumber to build and water to drink. We must respect nature and work with it or we cannot survive. To learn more about how you can make change, visit Conscious Capitalism and give your business a higher purpose. Become the whale rider.