The Solutionists: How Businesses Can Fix the Future

by Solitaire Townsend

Overview

WINNER: 2023 Goody Business Book Awards - Business - Environment

In the face of our climate emergency, we desperately need solutionists working to fix the future. This is your handbook for becoming the leader that the world needs.

The Solutionists sets out what it takes to join the new generation of entrepreneurs, CEOs and leaders transforming business to create a more sustainable society. Using a change blueprint, this book coaches you through the steps, mindsets and strategies that will put your organization at the forefront and take personal ownership of sustainability solutions.

With an inspiring selection of stories from leading entrepreneurs and organizations, this book illustrates how sustainability solutionists are paving the way to solving the biggest crisis our planet has ever faced whilst driving business innovation and growth. Including plant-based food sources, net-zero technologies and circular platforms, these stories demonstrate how sustainable disruption can transform your business, regardless of size or industry.

Solitaire Townsend has been inspiring the world's top brands for over two decades and, along with some of the world's leading solutionists, she invites you to join the answer activists and grow your business while co-creating a better world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781398609327
Publisher:	Kogan Page, Ltd.
Publication date:	04/25/2023
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	266,509
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.83(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Solitaire Townsend is the co-founder and chief solutionist of Futerra, an award-winning sustainability agency. Townsend works with clients like Ikea, Formula 1, Google, the United Nations and Lancôme to make sustainable development happen. The 2008 Ethical Entrepreneur of the Year, she has chaired talks at COP26 and COP27, delivered a TED talk on the creative industries' responsibility to act on climate emergency and is an in-demand sustainability and change speaker. A Forbes contributor, she writes for or has been featured in The Guardian, Management Today, Campaign, Raconteur, and The Independent. She is based in London, UK.

Table of Contents

** Chapter - 00: Introduction; ** Chapter - 01: Welcome to the Solutions Economy; ** Chapter - 02: Your star; ** Chapter - 03: Architects, Accelerators and Actioners; ** Chapter - 04: The Mississippi mind; ** Chapter - 05: Fix it formula; ** Chapter - 06: Hope is a business plan; ** Chapter - 07: The quarter rule; ** Chapter - 08: Storytelling the solutions; ** Chapter - 09: Myths and traps; ** Chapter - 10: Joyful entrepreneurship; ** Chapter - 11: Signal boost; ** Chapter - 12: Conclusion; ** Chapter - 13: References;

Editorial Reviews

"The Solutionists is a good reminder that each of us is the solution. It is a breath of pragmatic optimism and inspiration. And best of all, Solitaire extends an open invitation to be a part of the greatest opportunity our generation has ever had: to tackle climate change together."

Vaitea Cowan

"In The Solutionists, Solitaire Townsend lifts the weight of the many challenges we face with a new way of thinking about how we build a fairer and more sustainable world. This is the book - and the motivation - we need to build the world that we can all thrive in, and be proud of."

Aron Cramer

"Here it is.... all in one book: how each of us can and should actively contribute to solving our urgent global challenges. Deeply transformational and yet delightfully light reading."

Christiana Figueres

"Actions speaks louder than words, and The Solutionists is all about that. This book gives you the insights and the learnings of how to lead with purpose and get things done."

Jesper Brodin

"Solitaire Townsend's The Solutionists provides experience-based insights and concrete examples and guidance to help young business people become agents for change within their organizations."

Professor Tensie Whelan

"Solitaire Townsend's unique perspective on the challenges we face, enables understanding of how we can be involved in making urgent and necessary changes to the way we think about how live and work."

Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE Lola Young

"I hope The Solutionists becomes a much-used reference in every business leader and changemaker's library. Solitaire's brilliant, uplifting prose reminds us - we can still rise and solve our existential challenges - within our generation."

Karimah Hudda

"This book is a breath of fresh air in our transformational change discourse. If you are not yet a Solutionist, Soli Townsend entices you to become one with her easy "solutionist star methodology", and if you are a Solutionist she'll make you recognise once again the thrill and deep sense of being that solving today's complex challenges offer."

Sandrine Dixson-Declève

"We don't need another hero, we need a world of solutionists ..."

Jon Khoo

"The world needs many more solutionists - and if you're going to read just one book about them this year, it should be this one!"

Professor Rebecca Henderson

"I love the term Solutionist and have now proudly adopted it for myself and so many other wonderful colleagues and friends! We need a movement of Solutionists and people should read this book to get inspired to become one."

Kate Brandt

"The Solutionists is as inspiring as it is fun, both of which are critically important to unlocking the toughest challenges. By focusing on the change-makers, Solitaire Townsend digs behind the usual approach of identifying the solutions by instead focusing on the mindset and approach it takes to achieve the transformative change those solutions are intended for."

Diane Holdorf

"An English literature expert and a climate expert walk into a bar. Turns out they get along. Turns out they need each other! Solitaire Townsend embodies this intersection, making her one of the best climate communicators I've met."

Emma Stewart

"We have a new name for those leading change for a better world - Solutionists. Solitaire Townsend has set out clear guidance, tactics and advice for the millions more Solutionists we need."

Erik Solheim

"If the next quarter keeps you awake at night, read the newspapers. If it's the next quarter century, read The Solutionists."

Rafael Pamias

"Even partway through Soli's engaging book you recognize that anyone has an opportunity to be a Solutionist. Through the numerous conversations and Soli's research and writing, you will learn what it takes to move forward and how to become part of the next generation of stars."

Tom Szaky

"Solitaire Townsend's passion for finding answers is as infectious as it is compelling. Her core argument is brilliantly argued: move over pessimists and naysayers; the future belongs to the Solutionists."

Paul Polman

"Insights gained from the experts in "The Solutionists" will provide readers with fresh perspectives that hopefully spark even more innovative actions to help the planet."

Toni Petersson

"The Solutionists offers something for everyone, whether you are already in the mix of making change or wanting to take the first steps. Reading this book gives you a much-needed boost to keep facing the challenges and finding those solutions"

Karina O’Gorman

"It's rare that I finish a book by thinking, "Everyone who cares about the future needs to read this." But I did this time. Solitaire Townsend, a gifted storyteller, has captured the essence of what it takes to tackle the seemingly impossibly broken parts of our world and to fix them - with passion, impact and joy."

Joel Makower

"While the non-profit industrial complex continues to talk to itself, businesses operating out in "the wild" are responding to masses of consumers who vote with their dollars. Solitaire illustrates the value of that crucial link between who we are and who we want to be."

Real Estate Development Consultant and author of R Majora Carter

"Courage and stamina are always essential, but so is the playfulness to think around corners. How joyous to find Solitaire Townsend's irrepressible energy and creativity between the covers of this book."

John Elkington

"This is a must-read book and call to action for sustainable and solutions focused business innovation. Solutionists can lead us to a greener, equitable and climate-optimism fuelled future, and this is the guide to get us there."

author of The Intersectional Environmentalist Leah Thomas

"The polycrisis world needs Solutionists in every job at every level - Solutionist CEOs and workers, Solutionist chemists and farmers and accountants, Solutionist money people and energy people, Solutionist designers and marketers and customers. In this book Solitaire Townsend sets out an ebullient, well-argued and compelling blueprint for anyone who wishes to become (a bigger) part of the solution."

Bruno Giussani

"The Solutionists is unusual among books on solving the world's challenges: it's easy to read, fun, and optimistic. But more importantly, it's an invitation...to join the game of fixing the world."

sustainability strategist and author of Net Positi Andrew Winston

"For anyone beginning to despair that all is lost, this book comes as a wake-up call that solutions are not only desperately needed but are great business opportunities, and you might have some fun along the way. It serves not just as a call-to-arms, but also a how-to guide for anyone who's got a solution that needs unleashing on the world."

Helen Clarkson

"We are all obliged to act within what is possible for us to address the world's greatest challenges. The Solutionists offers tangible advice and examples that can serve as inspiration for everyone."

Mads Nipper

"The Solutionists is full of inspiring case studies from impact entrepreneurs and changemakers. If you are looking for a book to inspire you to address a social or environmental problem in the world, either as an impact intrapreneur or entrepreneur, this book should be at the top of your list."

Jamie Palmer

"The Solutionists is a breath of fresh air, where no stone is left unturned by its ambitious, yet fun and energetic search for solutions. The main lesson: the Solutionists can be all of us, we just need to find our star and begin the journey now. Reading this book is an excellent way to set sail."

Daniel Servitje

"If you enjoy saying things like '1.5 degrees is out of reach, we might as well prepare for the apocalypse', beware reading this book, it might just encourage you to dare to hope. If you've already taken the first courageous step of daring to imagine a better world, you'll have fun and take practical inspiration from every page!"

Nigel Topping

"Solitaire Townsend assembles a cast of Solutionists who combine vision, grit, flex, fun and soul to reimagine what it means to lead. Through their stories and her personal reflections, an inspiring blueprint for how to change the world takes shape."

Amanda Gardiner