Meet Richard Johnson, Founder of New Model

x+why member Richard Johnson is an independent researcher, consultant and facilitator. Available in early 2021, he has authored the ‘Mission Lit’ Guidebook for entrepreneurs trying to fix an enrich the world. We chatted to him about this, as well as his varied roster of social and environmental impact projects from the last year.

{{divider}}

Tell us a bit more about your role and how you got into your Industry?  

{{divider}}

I previously spent five and a half years at a sustainable business research and consulting firm called Volans. It was founded by John Elkington, one of the pioneers of sustainable business and creator of the Triple Bottom Line (people, planet and profit).  

{{divider}}

Working at Volans ignited my passion for sustainability and innovation, specifically innovation that can take sustainability beyond incremental change. Over time my interests shifted to focus more on the entrepreneurial side of things, and ways in which businesses can bring these innovations to market to create transformative change.  

{{divider}}

At the start of 2019 I went freelance and started experimenting with lots of different things around these 3 themes. They fall under my umbrella company ‘New Model’, which I created as a wrap around for the work that I’ve been doing.  

{{divider}}

Where did the New Model name come from?  

{{divider}}

The name came from the godfather of sustainable design, Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller. He was a sort of philosopher architect who wasn’t very successful commercially during his time, but his designs had a huge influence on the generation of designers that came after him, which you can see in landmarks such as The Gherkin and The Eden Project.  

{{divider}}

Bucky Fuller was a great source of pithy quotes and provocations about the world and where it needed to go, and his words seem more relevant today than ever. In this particular case, I was influenced by this quote of his:  

{{divider}}

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete”

{{divider}}

— Buckminster Fuller

I want to focus my efforts within sustainability on helping to build that new model.  

{{divider}}

Tell us more about the Mission Lit book you’ve been writing  

{{divider}}

My first big project this year was actually with x+why as a client, I helped them to research and write Mission Lit, a guidebook for entrepreneurs. The reason for the book was that we could see entrepreneurs popping up in a variety of different industries who all shared some sort of magic sauce. They all had missions to enrich the world, and appeared to understand instinctively how to translate that mission into successful companies which displaced incumbents.  

{{divider}}

The book tries to decode their processes. How they frame their mission and  how they operationalise it. How it affects the way you run a business, and how you design, products and services. Essentially it was a chance to interview  entrepreneurs who were building the new model of business, and synthesise their wisdom into a guidebook so others can follow in their footsteps.  The book should be out early next year.

{{divider}}

The content from the interviews were great, so I was never in doubt I had something interesting to share with the world, but finding a narrative to weave it all together took many head-banging hours sat alone in front of a laptop.  

{{divider}}

What other projects have you worked on recently?  

{{divider}}

Currently I’m working 4 days a week with Ashoka and 1 day a week with a startup called DAME.

{{divider}}

DAME launched the world’s first reusable tampon applicator, and are challenging many of the negative aspects of the period industry. They’ve really gone from strength to strength since launching last year. They are definitely mission lit. I helped them win funding support from the UK government, which has allowed them to research the problems of the industry and explore what can be done to solve them.  

{{divider}}

I actually bumped into Ashoka on the stairs at x+why. Ashoka is the world’s biggest network of social entrepreneurs. As part of their offering for corporate partners, they run challenge prizes called Changemaker Challenges. They get corporate partners to identify a social or environmental problem, and run competitions to find the best innovators to solve them.  

{{divider}}

I’ve always loved the work of The X Prize, an organisation which embraces open innovation and the wisdom of the crowd to try and crack some of the world’s most pressing challenges. I think in the future we are increasingly going to see large companies accept that they need to open, that they don’t have all the answers, and they need to collaborate with the outside world. That’s going to be key to thriving in the accelerating decade ahead of us.    

{{divider}}

The challenge I’m running is in partnership with HSBC, and it’s looking for innovation around the issue of future skills. We need more ideas as to how the global workforce will completely up-skill or re-skill during the coming period of technological disruption. I think the most important skill in the future is going to be the ability to keep learning new skills. From Ashoka’s perspective, this skill gap will likely further increase the inequality gap, and it will happen quicker than anyone anticipates. I can’t wait to see the ideas we unearth, because they’re needed urgently.

{{divider}}

In relation to automation and job loss, do you believe in the UBI?  

{{divider}}

I think it’s important to experiment with it, it doesn’t make sense to commit to something like that without enough evidence or pilots to back up its efficacy. I know they recently did a few trials in Finland, and I’m not sure if they’re still going or if they have now moved into a phase of further thought and refinement. I’m not an expert on it, but I can see why people see it as an inevitable part of where we’re headed.  

{{divider}}

How do you find life as a freelancer compared to being an employee?  

{{divider}}

I think I have what they call a portfolio career currently. I’m 4 days a week with Ashoka, and 1 with DAME. So there’s definitely no time for anything else.  

It can be slightly chaotic and you never really switch off, but I’m really enjoying the combination of working with a big company which is very structured, alongside a slightly scrappier, creative start-up.  

{{divider}}

“When you’re employed, everything is certain but there’s limited possibility. When you’re freelance, nothing is certain but everything is a possibility. I’m still trying to get the best of both worlds”

{{divider}}

Why are you passionate about sustainability?  

{{divider}}

I didn’t identify as an environmentalist when I was younger, but came to it through business and a rejection of the idea that companies should make profit at the cost of people and planet, and through that I began to learn about the existential damage humans were doing to the planet.

{{divider}}

My passion for sustainability really comes from frustration and a refusal to accept that this is the best we can do. It’s borne of a refusal to give into a status-quo that’s ultimately self-defeating and self-destructive.  

{{divider}}

I heard you recently attended Unleash, could you elaborate on this?  

{{divider}}

Yes, the first time I attended was actually as a mentor / expert in 2017, and then I was selected as a ‘talent’ this year. Unleash gathers 1000 young talents from around the world in one location, and puts them through an intense innovation process to find solutions to the SDGs.

{{divider}}

There were over 160nationalities present - it’s pretty surreal.  They put you in teams of 5, made up of a mix of skills and personality types, and often from all corners of the world. Crucially everyone in the teams has a shared passion for a specific SDG. Mine was SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production.  

{{divider}}

This year in Shenzhen my team won one of the major awards. We created a digital assistant called Chloe which we hope can double the utilisation of women’s clothes, and thus dramatically reduce consumption. It’s aimed at high consumers of fashion, and it helps them find outfits they like in their existing wardrobe. The AI gets smarter the more it's used, so that they can enjoy and utilise their purchases better than they currently do.  

{{divider}}

What Qualifications did you complete before securing the roles that you’ve had?  

{{divider}}

I studied Business Studies at university. I was slightly directionless at the time but I'm glad that I did it. Learning about Milton Friedman and his view of the world was the first time I became passionate about studying and felt like I’d woken up. I genuinely enjoyed researching and writing a dissertation expressing why I disagreed with him.

{{divider}}    

I’ve sometimes wished I studied other interests like Philosophy, Geography or English but Business Studies is what set me on this path. During the course I also read Cannibals With Forks by John Elkington and discovered that someone had already expressed everything I wanted to say about business. Little did I know I would be working with John at Volans a few years later.  

{{divider}}

It’s like Steve Jobs says:

{{divider}}

“You can only connect the dots looking backwards ”

{{divider}}

— Steve Jobs

{{divider}}

Where do most of your clients find you?  

{{divider}}

I’ve been fortunate to have a good network from past work with various organisations and feel relatively well connected as a result. Places like x+why are really amazing for someone like me.

{{divider}}

I’m a big believer that in life and in work your default should to be as generous as you can be, even when it’s a pain in the ass. I’ve always rejected conventional business thinking, and I think you should give others the chance to be generous as well, more often than not they will want to make it happen.  

{{divider}}

I’ve had a lot of introductions and been connected to people with no intention other than to help, and people always remember that, so the outcomes have mostly been positive for everyone. It’s amazing how your intentions can create these circles of good will.  

{{divider}}

What have been some of your career highlights?  

{{divider}}

Being a part of the team that launched B Corp in the UK was one. It’s undoubtedly the future of business and it was great to be able to give a name to something people were already doing, and turn it into a movement.  

{{divider}}

I also built Project Breakthrough while I was at Volans, where we interviewed some of  the world’s leading innovators. . I still think some of that content is the best around. I created an online lecture series for MBA students at the University of Exeter in 2018, which centred around the future of entrepreneurship, based on insights from Project Breakthrough.  

{{divider}}

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?  

{{divider}}

Work hard and be generous. If you haven’t got an exact plan or career path worked out it’s enough just to stay curious.  

{{divider}}

How has what you do changed you as a person?  

{{divider}}

I’m 31 so although I’m not that old, I do feel like I got into sustainability just before it became completely ubiquitous, like it is now. It’s made me question everything, and I’m far more interested in the world and how it works as a consequence.

{{divider}}  

Looking at the youth movements around the climate strikes, people are so much more passionate and informed than they’ve ever been. It makes me realise how little I was like that at that age, but in a way I’m lucky that I didn’t have to be. I just got to enjoy an immature and ignorant youth for longer, which is something that’s been stolen from that generation.  

{{divider}}

What’s your vision for the future personally and professionally?  

{{divider}}

To keep experimenting and learning how best to contribute to building the new model. I don’t know exactly what that is yet, but I don’t feel pressured to know either. I’m incredibly lucky to be doing the work I’m currently doing.  

{{divider}}

When working on your passion it can be difficult to put on the breaks and easy to burn out. How do you prevent this, and manage anxiety and stress?  

{{divider}}

By talking to people and asking for advice. Having a group of people I know I can count on and looking after myself by cycling to work every day, playing football constantly and doing yoga.  

{{divider}}

Any books or blogs on your recommended reading list?  

{{divider}}

I just read Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight, it’s a memoir by the founder of Nike and I found it fascinating to see how a company can really transform culture. It also demonstrates that this thing around purpose is nothing new. Nike’s company’s purpose was to build products which sportspeople loved that’s what made it so successful.

{{divider}} 

We only have such a dramatic push for change now because we’ve been sleepwalking into an environmental and social crisis for much of the latter half of the 20th century. Everything that’s trendy was already true back then, but now we have clarity over the immediate need to stop exploiting the world.  

{{divider}}

The second fascinating thing about the book was the concept of  form following function. Nike was one of the first companies to make athletic shoes part of everyday fashion. Not only were they high performing but people loved the sleek look of  them so much they started wearing them with jeans.  

{{divider}}

Athleisure became a cultural phenomenon not through intention, but because the shoes were primarily so functional and innovative. I think that’s where true greatness and beauty comes from. I wish we had more people who focussed on making things superbly functional, and trusted that the form will follow.  

{{divider}}

What do you love most about x+why?  

The courtyard. Although it’s winter now, so it’s more for looking at than being in. But I still appreciate it being there.  

‍