The Big Synergy Initiative

While ‘everything’ that is ‘consumed’ by us is changing with our ever changing demands, it is now common knowledge that most of it is not being created or evolved in the most responsible and sustainable manner. Most of our practices and habits in conducting our daily lives, the goods and services that we use, and the policies that govern those are the key elements that determine the quality of our today and the prospects of tomorrow. So, it is important to note that when not all products, practices and policies have been created or are evolving in the most responsible manner, we are all going to be affected by those one way or the other. If we analyse the big picture, we will find that the complex interdependence of products, practices and policies is already affecting each and every one of us through all means possible, starting from our health, food and wellbeing to socio-economic conditions, work and lifestyle to international tensions and territorial conflicts to name a few. Hence, it is imperative that if poorly thought through creation and evolution of the products, practices and policies continue, humanity and the planet will be irreversibly harmed, and more importantly we will deprive our next generations their right to have an able and thriving world to live in as we once had for us.

Put simply, the answer is, amongst other efforts, by attaining ‘optimal synergy’ amongst complementing initiatives that are aimed at the responsible creation and evolution of products, practices and policies.

Synergy amongst such initiatives is capable of producing outcomes those are bigger than the sum of their constituent parts- something that is badly needed to produce the much needed impacts in the foreseeable future. However, in reality, striking an effective synergy amongst innumerable initiatives is extremely difficult, but surely is not impossible. A top down and a bottom up approach that aims at facilitating synergy amongst local as well as global initiatives and individuals, guided by enlightened individuals and organisations, in principle, can create that ‘optimal synergy’ to produce the maximal impact for the benefit of all.

Hence, CBS has tasked itself to act as a facilitator to recognise, encourage and celebrate synergy amongst all such initiatives that are aimed at creating a thriving, able and responsible future. Importantly, ‘the Big Synergy’ initiative serves to meet the 2030 agenda of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the United Nations in 2015 (find out more here).

If you look at the big picture, in this increasingly interconnected world, you are already getting affected by the actions of others who you thought would have never affected you.
Hence, in the greater scheme of things, the potential of impacts produced by your actions today to create a responsible tomorrow, will affect others, and vice versa. Eventually, your actions will not only create a responsible tomorrow for you, but consequently for all.

With over 7.7 billion people in the world, growing at the rate of 1% to 1.15% per year, the challenge to change products, practices and policies is surely herculean. However, thoughtful individuals, responsible organisations and some governments have already started incorporating ‘responsibility’ in the creation and evolution of products, practices and policies. Obvious as it may sound, the scale of the problem is so large that despite outstanding contributions from people around the globe and exemplary impacts created by a majority of these initiatives, overall, such initiatives are still struggling to achieve the expected impact. There are independent as well as interdependent forces at play that determine the success of such initiatives and without the engagement of every one of us there will only be temporary impacts that may eventually fade into oblivion.

Products, practices and policies do not apparently seem to impact almost anything and everything around us, but careful observation can clearly establish that. How the creation and evolution of these three things have shaped history, how they are affecting us now, and how they will do so in the future is a complex algorithm of possibilities. Hence, understanding that big picture and acting promptly to ensure a responsible future for all is the most important need of our times. A realistic balance between products-practices-policies and people-planet-profits needs to be established to ensure long term sustainability and responsible growth.

As complex as this may sound, the simplest of our initiatives can offer a chance to bring the necessary changes.