ABSTRACT

The people behind these statements inhabit very different worlds. The frrst are major business leaders who are talking about a source of success of their organisations with respect to sustainability. The second quotation comes from a person who grew up in poverty in Peru, works for an inter-governmental agency to address poverty and is talking about the complicated work of fair trade. But both are describing critical elements of the profound society-wide innovation that is essential in order to address the major challenges that confront us. This innovation is reconstructing our world by creating an intricate network or web tying together diverse organisations into a new governance structure that is generating innovation and producing societal learning and change.