In film, music, and content creation, nobody really believes in masterplans. This aligns to our previous piece on the best leaders thinking in mico-moves. Careers don’t unfold neatly.Algorithms change.Funding disappears.Platforms shift incentives without warning. Yet work still gets made. Not because creators have perfect strategies — but because they make small, deliberate moves  that let them stay in the system long enough to be seen. Why Masterplans Fail in Creative Indust

Business didn’t begin with companies, currencies, or contracts. It began more than 10,000 years ago , when people first started exchanging goods, labour, and skills to survive. Long before governments or formal institutions existed, trade shaped who lived where, who depended on whom, and how communities formed. Business wasn’t an abstract system layered on top of society — it was one of the earliest ways society organised itself . And despite how complex the modern economy ha

B Corp is often treated as a shortcut to “doing good business”. A certification.A logo.A score. But frameworks don’t create impact on their own. Decisions do. So the real question isn’t whether B Corp exists — it’s whether frameworks like it actually change how businesses behave , and whether communities feel the difference. What Frameworks Like B Corp Are Designed to Do At their core, frameworks like B Corp try to solve a practical problem: Business decisions are complex, an

This piece follows on from “Why the Future of Work Depends on Small Businesses Giving Young People a Chance ” , which explored why early, real-world exposure to work matters more than polished career advice or corporate programmes. The question now is practical: What can a small business realistically do — without a dedicated HR team, budget, or formal scheme — to make that opportunity real? This isn’t about solving youth unemployment. It’s about designing small, workable ent

Ski businesses don’t just operate in  mountain environments — they rely on them. In our earlier piece, Skiing, Hiking, and the Mountains They Depend On — What Do These Businesses Owe the Ecosystem? , we explored how responsibility in these settings often begins after the sale , in everyday operational decisions rather than branding or intent. What follows isn’t a rulebook. It’s a short set of practical considerations  ski operators are increasingly grappling with as conditio

Cities don’t just manage services.They design the conditions under which businesses operate. In Rio de Janeiro, that design work is becoming more explicit. In late 2025, the city entered a strategic partnership with X – The Moonshot Factory , Alphabet’s innovation lab, to tackle some of its most persistent urban challenges — waste, licensing, infrastructure, and connectivity — using advanced data and AI systems. This isn’t a branding exercise or a “smart city” showcase. It’s

Toronto’s small, independent businesses are more than storefronts. They are the economic and social glue of neighbourhoods — employers, community hubs, and taxpayers whose decisions shape the city’s everyday life. But when economic pressures intensify or external shocks hit, these local economies can quickly become vulnerable. In early 2025, the City of Toronto launched the Love Local  campaign as part of a broader strategy to protect local businesses and strengthen economic

Most businesses treat the sale as the finish line. In reality, it’s the handover point — where responsibility either becomes operational or quietly disappears. In our earlier piece, Why Responsibility Starts After the Sale , we explored why trust, impact, and real-world consequences are shaped long after money changes hands. This toolkit answers the next question: What does responsibility actually look like once the sale is done? Not in theory. In decisions, systems, and ever

Across Mongolia, a small but growing group of businesses are using commercial models to address practical social and environmental challenges. These are not charities or pilots. They are trading enterprises operating under real constraints. One of the organisations coordinating this activity is the Mongolian Social Enterprise Association (SEA Mongolia) , a national network that supports businesses whose operations are designed to generate both income and measurable community

In early 2025, when a salmon farm in New York prepared to shut down, it faced a decision most businesses never plan for: what happens to food that still exists when the business no longer can. LocalCoho, a land-based salmon farming company in Auburn, New York, was closing after failing to secure further investment. Inside its tanks were more than 18,000 kilograms of coho salmon  — edible, high-quality food with real economic and nutritional value. Instead of allowing that foo

December also marks " Write a Business Plan Month"  — usually associated with revenue forecasts, pricing models, and funding decks. All of that matters. But many of the business failures we later describe as “unavoidable” were quietly designed in at the planning stage — long before the first customer arrived. Purpose is cheapest when nothing exists yet Once a business is running, change becomes expensive. Systems are locked in. Habits form. Shortcuts appear under pressure. At

Every December, the world marks Food Service Safety Month . Not as a celebration, but as a reminder of something most of us rarely think about: how much unseen work it takes for people to eat safely, every single day. We eat at home, at school, at work, in hospitals, cafés, events, and roadside stops. We trust that the food will not make us ill — not because we’ve checked, but because modern life depends on that trust holding. When food safety works, nothing happens. When it

Winter is everywhere. From Northern Europe to Central Asia, from mountain regions to inland plains, cold seasons test how societies and businesses function when conditions turn hostile. In this story, we use the United States and Canada as reference points — not because winter belongs to them, but because they offer clear, well-documented examples of how businesses operate when cold, distance, and disruption are structural realities rather than exceptions. When temperatures f

Most businesses treat the moment of sale as the finish line. The product is delivered. The invoice is paid. The transaction is complete. But in reality, that’s where responsibility begins. In a world of complex supply chains, digital products, and long‑lasting environmental and social impact, what happens after  the sale often matters more than what happens before it. The Comfortable Myth of the Completed Transaction Traditional business thinking is built around a simple idea

Today, 14th December is Monkey Day  — a slightly unusual observance that celebrates curiosity, intelligence, and adaptability. At first glance, monkeys and business don’t seem to have much in common. But look closer. Because monkeys don’t survive by being the biggest, strongest, or most perfectly organised. They survive by being observant, adaptable, and deeply social . That combination turns out to be a pretty good business model too. Monkeys Learn by Watching — Not by Manu

Somewhere along the way, “good business” picked up a reputation for being… exhausting. Perfect sustainability reports. Perfect carbon accounting. Perfect language. Perfect credentials. And if you don’t tick all the boxes, it can feel like you don’t belong in the conversation at all. But here’s the truth we don’t say loudly enough: Good business isn’t about being perfect. It’s about intent. You don’t need a 40-page ESG strategy to be a good business. You don’t need to speak fl

(Observed every year on 10 December — marking the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) Every year, Human Rights Day  arrives as a reminder of something bigger than law, politics or policy. It’s a reminder of how we choose to treat one another  — and how those choices shape the world we build. And in 2025, one truth is becoming impossible to ignore: There is no sustainability without human rights. And there are no human rights without a sustainable world. The

(International Pastry Day — December 9) Pastry may look simple — flour, butter, water, a little magic — but it carries centuries of movement, migration and adaptation.From ancient Middle Eastern laminated doughs to French viennoiseries, Portuguese custard traditions, Japanese precision baking and the Scandinavian love of enriched breads, pastry has always travelled well. Wherever it goes, it picks up new techniques, new stories and new meanings. And in 2025, pastry businesses

Most people think of veterinary practices as places you go when something is wrong with your pet. But on the International Day of Veterinary Medicine  — observed every year on December 9th  — we’re reminded that vets are some of the quietest, strongest examples of what good business looks like. Not because they talk about values, but because they live  them every day. Behind every consultation room door is a lesson in trust, integrity, service and community. When Veterinary C

Every year, International Anti-Corruption Day  arrives on the 9th of December with the same message: Integrity isn’t a legal requirement — it’s a leadership decision. Corruption is often spoken about in big systems, big governments, big institutions. But the truth is simpler and closer to home: Every business makes daily choices that either strengthen or weaken trust. And in 2025, trust is the currency that matters most. Ethics Isn’t a Department. It’s Culture. You don’t need