Today’s conversation with Laura Hatley about using business as a form of activism fits under the P of Partnership.
Laura Hartley is an activist, writer and founder of Public LovEd (pronounced Public Love Ed), an online school empowering changemakers & forward-thinking entrepreneurs to radically reimagine the world, creating the conditions for social healing and collective thriving.
Laura’s work centres around the three areas of transforming self, business and changemaking. She runs programs on healing burnout culture, business beyond capitalism & the inner work of dismantling capitalism and supremacy culture.
Laura lives and works on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia but can frequently be found travelling the world.
"Internalized capitalism is the equation of our worth with our productivity and with what we produce." – @sarahsantacroce #humanemarketing Share on XIn this episode, you’ll learn about business as a form of activism as well as…
- The problem with capitalism
- If not this, then what? How can this new form of business look like?
- Laura’s framework, The Business of Revolution
- Why business is political
- The difference between human-centered and life-centered
- How to approach the transition out of capitalism
- The importance of the inner work
- And so much more
Laura’s Resources
The Public Love Project Podcast
Download a free guide to Business Beyond Capitalism
Connect with Laura on:
Sarah’s Resources
(FREE) Sarah’s One Page Marketing Plan
(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter
(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto
(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course
Marketing Like We’re Human – Sarah’s book
Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course
We use Descript to edit our episodes and it’s fantastic!
Email Sarah at sarah@sarahsantacroce.com
Thanks for listening!
After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There’s no opt-in. Just an instant download.
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Warmly,
Sarah
Imperfect Transcript of the show
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Sarah: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] [00:02:00] [00:03:00] [00:04:00] Hi, Laura. It’s so good to speak to you today. I’m so excited for our conversation.
Laura: Oh, thank you. So am I, I’m so excited to be here, so thank you for having me on the show.
Sarah: Yeah, thanks. It’s, it’s good. We’ve had a couple of exchanges already, first on LinkedIn where we met, and then I attended your workshop, and then we’re like, Oh, we gotta talk about this more.
So now you’re here and yeah, super excited to talk about business as a form of activism. [00:05:00] So as you know, Kind of organizing the conversations on this podcast around the seven Ps of humane marketing. And I was thinking, well, where does does fit? And to me it really kind of fit under the p for partnership.
, in a way we’re almost like partnering with activism. We’re also partnering, you know, with our clients, but. In a bigger way, we’re partnering kind of with our future and, you know, the future paradigm of business. So that’s where I felt like it fits best. What do you think about that? Pick? How, how does that sound?
Laura: I actually think it’s perfect. You know, it is, It’s partnering with our future. It’s partnering with life, with a different world, with the vision that we want to see born. So I think partnership was the perfect p to put this.
Sarah: Nice. Great. All right, so, we’re talking about business as activism. I know, you also talk a lot about, you know, the, postcapitalism world, right?
Like that’s, that’s really what [00:06:00] we’re. Talking about here is like, there’s something wrong with the way we do business now. And let’s face it, the way we do business now is after, is according to this model of capitalism. And, and I just kind of touch upon it in, in my, marketing, like we’re human book. I don’t go too much into it, but I would love for you, because you talk about this a lot, I would love for you to kind of tell us, well, you know, capitalism maybe served us for a certain amount of time.
Now there’s definitely something probably wrong with that model, so take us through that. What’s broken with capitalism the way we, , use it now.
Laura: Oh gosh. I mean so many things, but I think to start, you know, this answer, it’s really I wanna establish a business and capitalism and not the same thing.
They’re actually two very different things. You know, business is just a form of trade of goods or services, and it’s existed for. Thousands of years, right? [00:07:00] It predated capitalism and it will exist after capitalism as well. So business itself is a bit different. Capitalism is the way that we organize wealth and commerce and you know, we tend to think that it’s the, just the way the world works or it’s the best system we’ve come up with.
But capitalism’s only about 500 years. And there are kind of three fundamental problems with capitalism. One is it’s based on the pursuit of infinite growth on a finite planet. It’s why it is the leading driver of the climate crisis. It’s why we have this problem with extractivism with biodiversity loss.
The second is the artificial production of scarcity. So capitalism is reliant on scarcity. It is scarcity that drives the growth. And you see that scarcity in a lot of different ways. You see it in marketing, You see it in planned obsolescence where we design products not to last. They’re deliberately designed to die in order for us to buy more, and therefore we need to extract more, to have [00:08:00] more. And of course the third problem is the devaluation of complex living systems to lifeless resources.
You know, forests, oceans, these beautiful, incredible natural world that we live in. Only has value when we can extract something from it. Mm-hmm. , even if that is tourism, it’s still a way that humans can use it and therefore it has value as opposed to having an intrinsic right to have value in and of itself.
So these three kind of principles of pursuit of infinite growth, you know, this artificial requirement and production of scar. You know, we’re not talking real scarcity here. We’re saying scarcity is embedded into the system in order for it to perpetuate. And the devaluation of complex living systems, the devaluation of our living world, is really what leads us to the crises that we see today.
So what leads to the climate crisis? The loss of wildlife that we face, and in other forms as well, it perpetuates racial injustice and it perpetuates increasing wealth inequity. [00:09:00] Hmm. So capitalism. Has served us to a point, but we really need to look to go beyond it if we want to create a more beautiful world and if we wanna solve some of the challenges that we’re facing as a speciess.
Sarah: Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. There’s so much in here. sounds like, okay, 1, 2, 3, but. Yeah, there is a lot, , in here that obviously, like you say, 500 years ago, those didn’t seem like problems, right? We had no idea that eventually this growth, , oriented attitude would lead to certain problems. We were just like, Yeah.
Oblivious to what was coming. But I would say probably even 50 years ago now, we were already, or at least a scientific, , kind of people, they were seeing that, okay, that this is gonna end so, , and, and yet not much was done. But as a marketer and as a kind of marketing [00:10:00] oriented podcast, obviously what really, , speaks to me and, and you know, that, that we have so much things that are aligned There is the second one, The scarcity cuz , yeah, that’s, that’s the one where, you know, I was also seeing, oh my God, there’s something just so wrong with marketing and already we were starting to talk about using business for good and yet, , We didn’t look at the marketing piece, that if we do business for good, we can’t also still use, , you know, the marketing with the scarcity approach.
We still, we also need to change that conversation. So, , yeah, for, for me, , when I started looking at, you know, a marketing revolution, it really, this word, , Anxiety came up so many times in the conversations that people felt marketing gave them anxiety or being the marketer gave them anxiety and, and I believe it had to do with the scarcity, right?
Feeling that we are living in scarcity gives us anxiety. Would you agree to that? [00:11:00]
Laura: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that’s kind of the point of it. Mm-hmm. Is, you know, when we sell from scarcity is we’re actually activating a person’s flight or freeze response. Yeah. You know, that kind of panic decision to go, Oh my gosh, there’s something wrong.
I need to make a decision. If I don’t take it like right now, I’m gonna miss out. And then if I miss out, What’s gonna happen? You know, we, we insinuate these feelings like, You won’t belong, you won’t fit in. This is a one time offer. You won’t be able to build your business as much. You’re not gonna be able to enjoy this product.
You won’t be as cool, whatever it will be. You know, there are intended consequences that. We don’t explicitly say, but are kind of underlying that scarcity tactic. Mm. And so whether it is simply countdown timers or you know, this real like by now there’s only two seats left type thing, you know, this artificial and very often, , completely false scarcity that we could try to sell.
Is creating this [00:12:00] constant stress and survival response within us. Mm. And of course, if we’re then taking that into actually wanting a more beautiful world, none of us are making our best decisions when we’re stressed. No. Like when we’re in this state of being panicked and anxious. Yeah, we’re making poor decisions from that
Sarah: place.
Yeah. Because we, we feel like we can’t have the energy to look out for future generations or, or even just, you know, other people. We just feel like, Oh, there’s not enough for ourselves. So first we need to feel safe ourselves, which is normal. I like totally understandable as well. But like you say, some of the scarcity is actually.
Created. It’s false. And if we do not always think, Oh, I have to get more and more and more, and kind of live outside of our maybe, comfort zone or, or, you know, realistic, , living what we actually need, then, then yeah, we’re in this cons, constant tussle. Oh yeah. So [00:13:00] much. , agree with what you said.
Okay. So we know that this is the state of things right now, so I’m curious to hear how you envision a new type of business. So the postcapitalism business, how does that look like? Paint the picture for us.
Laura: You know, I think the beauty of post-capitalism is that it’s not actually born yet. We’re kind of co-creating it together.
Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So when people talk about going beyond capitalism, I wanna establish first as well, most people automatically talk about conscious capitalism as the alternative. Mm-hmm. and conscious capitalism. Obviously we had the kind of triple bottom line of like people, planet profit, and it seems like a great alternative to capitalism, but conscious capital.
Has kind of added in some values. It’s added in like some justice, like we need to care about people, we need to care about the earth. But it hasn’t really dealt with the actual issue of looking for infinite growth [00:14:00] and it hasn’t dealt with the issue of, , embedded scarcity within the system. It’s perhaps dealt with the third issue.
It’s actually given some value to living systems. So, but it hasn’t dealt with the other. Right. So when we’re looking to go into post-capitalism, we’re looking to kind of create an all new system together, you know, and this is something that’s going to arise out of this time. Now, as entrepreneurs, this can mean a lot of different things for us, but really I think it’s coming back to the values.
Of our business and how we want to embody those values in every area, in our operations, in our marketing, in our sales, in our strategy, and to really bring them to life. So, you know, the first thing that I’ve mentioned here is this need for infinite growth that we see on the collective scale. And most of us have internalized this as well, to a degree, the sense that there’s never enough.
There’s never enough time [00:15:00] that I’m never good enough that we end up internalizing perfectionism in the same way that, you know, I’m not quite there yet. It needs to be a little bit better. Where the sense that my business needs to grow faster, it needs to grow bigger. You know, I haven’t got enough clients yet, and what we lost in this is this ability to know what it feels like to be satisfied, you know, to feel satiated, to feel enough.
Right. And so when I’m looking at post capitalist business, it’s not saying that growth doesn’t have a place, It’s not saying that we should all be struggling, that we shouldn’t be earning money cause we should, you know, we need to support ourselves. We deserve to live flourishing, abundant lives. But it also means understanding what this feeling of enoughness is.
Like, what actually feels good to us? What is the actual vision of the business that we want? And then how do we start to look at some of these other principles like abundance, like justice, like regeneration, and embedding them into all that we do.
Sarah: I think once you [00:16:00] feel that you are enough and you have enough, then you actually get time to look at the other stuff, right?
Which you can’t, , if you’re still struggling with de gotta get more clients and gotta grow and gotta scale and whatnot, then you just, your focus is not on, the other two things. I talk about. You are enough also in the marketing, like we’re human bug. And it’s, it starts in a way with the definition of success.
I think that’s where a big, problem lies as well, is like, how do we define success? Because if we never take the time to define it for ourselves, we’re chasing after everybody else’s definition of success, which, you know, is what we are fed. That it’s always more and more and more. , so it sounds to me like.
This new business, , as entrepreneurs, especially cuz that’s who we we’re talking to here is really starting with the, the inner work and starting there rather than always, you know, starting with [00:17:00] the business and who I am as the business owner. Uh, Do I hear that right? Yeah.
Laura: Absolutely. I mean, oh, there’s so many places I could go with this, but certainly in terms of success, you know, culturally we have such a narrow definition of success.
Like we generally define success as more or growth, and certainly we define it in terms of money. Right. But you know, and this isn’t to say that money doesn’t make us happy because actually a certain level does. Right. , but we can have a much wider definition of success, right? So I remember. I was really fortunate a number of years ago to visit Bhutan, this tiny country between India and China that’s famous for its development philosophy called Gross National Happiness.
And you know, they measure the overall happiness of the nation as their primary determinant of success or wellbeing as opposed to countries like Australia where we primarily, , measure and value gdp, right? Or gross domestic product. And you know what I loved about [00:18:00] their model? Was, there were so many, layers and complexities to it, but also so many ideas which we could actually transfer into business.
Mm-hmm. into redefining success for us entrepreneurs. You know, let’s take time. Use as an example. You know, are we just using our days to fill the nine to five or you know, eight to six much more often or even longer, Or are we doing it to break free? You know, are we still feeling or experiencing that sense of time?
Scar. Can we measure success through our health, You know, and how stressed we are, or how relaxed we are, or how relaxed our consumers or customers are when they interact with us, right? You know, we could also look at our working environment, how it makes us feel, or our contribution to the planet and the world around us.
So really. Taking the time as an entrepreneur, I think to redefine what success actually means to us and to give it a much more holistic picture. Mm-hmm. of things that actually contribute to our wellbeing is really important. [00:19:00] Yeah. And then of course this inner work comes with that. You can’t redefine success and actually understand what it means to you unless you’re able to kind of stop and be with yourself for a moment and understand what is most important to you.
Sarah: Yeah. And you brought up something that really was also a big aha in my, Personal development journey is this correlation between time and money. You know, you feel like, okay, finally you’ve dealt with your money story and you kind of detached yourself from this, tight hold on, on the money stuff.
And then you realize, Hold on a minute, , I have the same kind of scarcity approach to time as I did to money. Because obviously also there’s the saying time is money and all of that, right? and so, I feel like the new business paradigm also values time much more than or to an equal amount, at least as money.
and really looking at how do we want to spend our time? And I, we [00:20:00] see that already post pandemic, right? People are like, Well, I don’t want to commute two hours anymore. I’d rather spend that time with my family. So time has really gotten a new, Yeah, a new weight in terms of the values that , we, you know, prioritize.
So I think this idea of figuring out how do you approach time? Are you still always hustling? and usually yeah, it’s linked to money because you wanna. Use your time more efficiently in order to make more money. Right. It’s just,
Laura: it’s crazy. It’s linked to money, but it’s also something that I think that I refer to as internalized capitalism.
You know, internalized capitalism is the equation of our worth with our productivity, with what we produce. So it’s not just about getting more money, it’s, it’s when we feel guilty, when we. Yeah. It’s when we go into work, even when we’re sick. Yeah. It’s that sense of, you know, we’ve got a lot to power through in this meeting.
We’re just gonna squeeze a little bit more in mm-hmm. , [00:21:00] or, you know, I’m gonna like make this phone call while I’m on my run, while I’m like cooking dinner in the microwave or whatever it is. This feeling that there’s just not enough time. Mm-hmm. , and it’s partly because, you know, We have internalized the cultural systems around us to such a degree that says if I’m not doing enough, if I am not maximizing my time, if I’m not making every ounce of this, you know, which is scarce because everything is scarce.
Then I’m not worthy. Right. Then I’m not good enough. Yeah. And so there’s a lot of that kind of steeped into it as well.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. So good. , let’s talk about the transition because you know, as people are listening, they’re, they’re like, Yeah, that sounds great. You know, Yes, I wanna be feeling more, , at ease and relaxed about my business.
And, but how do I make the transition and. I just feel like I’m not there yet, but I’m definitely on a good pass. I feel like , I, you know, I block time now [00:22:00] for, , walks outside, like every day I have an hour, , going for walks either with a dog or with friends. I make that my priority before any kind of business stuff.
And, and I do my yoga, so things that matter to me and that I know they’re, , Things that matter, , you know, 10 years from now. So it’s, it’s kind of this longer vision rather than just, you know, what do I do today in order to make my business grow? So, , and yet I do have that, I feel like this internalized capitalism because as a Gen Xer, That’s just how we grew up with, right, How we grew up.
It’s like all these things that we hear in our head and it feels, it feels very challenging to want to do things differently when. Every where you look, people are still talking. You know, the old talk about scaling and hustling and you know, maybe, maybe in the corporate [00:23:00] world there’s a bit less of that because you still get paid if you don’t, you know, if you don’t commute or whatever.
But has entrepreneurs, Well, it’s still about, you know, how do I make a living and how do I make enough so I feel like. It would be interesting for you, you to share also, how do you take care of yourself while going through this transition knowing that we’re not there yet, and so you are probably gonna be one of the few who thinks like that.
I think that’s the point I’m trying to make because believe me, I feel alone a lot of times when I feel like my week is really easy and I don’t. You know, a lot of work and I give myself time to grow the circle, for example, and I feel. Am I doing this right? You know, who, who, who else is out there? Who does it like, like I wanna do it.
Laura: Oh, you know, I so get that , few weeks ago, I think I decided to kind of just take a step back from launching anything. I was a bit [00:24:00] overwhelmed. I had a lot happening in my personal life. I wasn’t ready with the materials like I wanted to be.
And I’ll say, Okay, no, like just pause. Take the time. You know, I’m very privileged and fortunate that I was in a position that I didn’t have to make money right then and there. You know, that may have been a different story, right? But of course then in taking this time, then this is Pushful of, am I doing enough?
You know, am I doing this the way that I should? Because like everything out there says that I need to be doing this now. Mm-hmm. , you know, but there’s a part of me that’s going, No, it’s actually. Everything has a season, everything has a time. And to trust that, Yeah, So there is so many different practices I think in, in taking care of ourselves throughout this, but for me, I think it’s about returning back to my body, to what it’s really feeling, what it’s offering, what its energy level is.
Because so often, We override our body. You know, when our body needs rest or it needs pleasure, or it [00:25:00] needs stimulation, or whatever it is. And we go, No, I’ve gotta work. No, I’ve gotta do this. I’ve gotta send this email, I’ve gotta launch this course. I’ve gotta put this out into the world. And when we do this, when we override our body enough, when we’re so disconnected from it, then we really lead to a state of burnout very easily.
Mm-hmm. . So coming back to. What am I really feeling? What is true for me in this moment? And then what do I ac? What are my desires right now? What am I callings right now? And so, yes, I need discipline. Yes, I need structure. These are important things that every entrepreneur needs, but also a little bit of trust of ourselves and trust that there is a.
And if it is not the time now, that it will be the time at some point that you need to be ready for that. Right. And you need to trust that you’ll know when it is. Mm-hmm. .
Sarah: Yeah. It really sounds like, , this balance between the being and the doing that I talk a lot about on the podcast, you know, this yin and yang, all of this, and.
And if you are [00:26:00] struggling in your mind, which we often do when we’re thinking about growth and those things, then it’s time to come back to the yin, which in what you said is the body, and you know, just the energy and, and give the mind and break and say, Yeah, I know you want to, you know, grow or whatever, but right now we need to focus on on other things.
Yeah. This is so good.
Laura: Yeah. I wish there was some nice easy answer for so much of this. Like, you know, you just like, tick this box or like, you know, you take this pill or press X button, whatever it is. Like it doesn’t exist. It is this nuanced kind of place between the being and the doing that is like the perfect description.
Sarah: Yeah. Do you feel like though, I mean you already are younger than I am, and do you feel like the new generations. It will come easier for them because maybe already they see more people doing it in a different way.
Laura: [00:27:00] I want to say yes. , yes and no. I think it really depends on, The environment in which you have for young people been raised in and what they’re coming out of.
Mm-hmm. , You know, I think for the younger generations there is already an inherent distrust of the system and a desire to do things differently, and I think that is really powerful. And then it will be how, and I know some amazing young people who are already doing this, but how they choose to challenge those systems, right?
It’s very easy still to kind of fall into. A, or resistance to systems, or as opposed to, Okay, let’s actually build something new. Right? And so my hope for the generation younger than me and also for my own, is that we continue to build something new that we do both. That’s a place for resistance, and there is a place for trialing and prototyping and experimenting with a new way to do business and a new form of entrepre.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. I think this is a good segue into your business of Rev [00:28:00] Revolution. So I talk about the Humane marketing revolution. You talk about the revolution, , for business itself, and you have this framework also with the six leaves. Maybe just quickly, , cuz we don’t have that much time left, but quickly give us the different leaves and then I wanna dive into the one about choosing life and human centered versus life centered.
But give us the tour of the six pillars.
Laura: Yeah. So I run a program called Business for the Revolution, and this is really. I hesitate to use the word anti-capitalist, but it’s really about exploring what it is for entrepreneurs and solo entrepreneurs to explore business beyond capitalism using feminist principles and anti-oppressive principles.
So there’s six pillars upon which the work is based, which is really about using abundance over scarcity. So really looking at what it would mean to feel like there’s enough. To know that there’s enough and to really market and sell at the speed of trust and relationality. The [00:29:00] second is understanding that everything is relational.
Everything is connected. You know, there’s so many sayings like it’s business not personal, and you know, the ends justify the means, or, you know, it’s, it’s not, it’s not real. It’s just what I do here, or leave your personal life at the door, whatever it might be. But recognizing that actually business is an extension of us.
It is just another ways we’re relating to one another. So understanding everything is relational and we need to come back to everything is connected. Now, the third that you mentioned is choose life. You know, in an age of ecological breakdown, which we are in, it is not enough to be sustainable, like sustainability is too often about maintaining the status quo.
We need to be actively regenerating both the earth and our culture. So really exploring this idea of a regenerative culture. Right. The fourth principle is dream deeper. You know that we need to embed our vision, our values, and [00:30:00] our vocation. Those callings into everything that we do. We need to really reimagine the world and then reimagine how we want our business to serve a more beautiful world.
So we’re kind of widening the scope of what we’re trying to picture. Fifth principle is that business is political. , for too long business has upheld and perpetuated, , racism, white supremacy, injustice. It still does, Capitalism does, and a lot of global business does where, where more disconnected from it than perhaps we used to be, but it still exists.
So understanding that business is political and that we need to be conscious of how we’re embed. Anti oppressive and feminist principles into what we do. Mm-hmm. . And the sixth and final principle is about wide streams of value. So Edward Abbey once said that growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
And you know, I love that because when you think about the natural world, the only thing that grows with [00:31:00] that end is cancer until it kills itself. Mm-hmm. . So what we. Looking defined with this principle is really redefining success away from growth. What are our wide streams of value over our tall mountains of growth?
So these six principles are really about reimagining how we do business and how we want to show up in our business. It’s about embedding these values into our strategy, into our operations, into our marketing, into our sales, into every aspect. So it’s no longer about just what we sell or what we do or what we’re offering to customers, but the way in which we run the business.
Sarah: Mm. Yeah. I just love that so much, really, resonated with me. And on that workshop we, I was on, I was like, Yep. I gotta talk to you, Laura, and have her on my podcast and, and I learned a lot more having this conversation, so thank you so much. One of the concepts that I also kind of had a big aha around was this idea of [00:32:00] human centered versus life centered, right?
, human centered is a term that. Myself and other people in business marketers, , have been using a lot, these past years. And it kind of almost got like, you know, like authentic. It became this buzzword. Oh, if you say human centered, then, then that means you’re, you’re getting it. And, and so when you, , said, Well, actually we need to extend it to life centered, it really kind of blew my mind a little bit.
I. Wait a minute, I thought I’d been having it right. All this, all this time, and now here you are expanding my thinking and saying, Yeah, human centered is good, but let’s extend it to life. So maybe just talk to us a little bit about the difference in what life centered really means and how, how that looks like in, in the marketing world, for example.
Laura: So for me with this point, I think I was speaking about, you know, when we’re [00:33:00] talking about the ideology of how capitalism shows up in business, is that it’s very human and and human centered. And when we’re looking to go beyond capitalism, what would look different? And we’re like, well, actually it would just be life centered.
And really what this was about was breaking down the binary that there is a difference between humans and the planet or humans in the natural world. Mm-hmm. as if somehow what is good for humans might be good for the planet, it might not be. Or you know, what’s good for the planet probably won’t be good for humans and vice versa.
They’re not. We are of the natural world. We are the natural world. We are intrinsically linked. Right. When we’re looking as well at these deeper mindsets that actually influence capitalism that have led to the climate crisis and some of the struggles that we are facing today. So much of that comes from a place of separation or a place of domination that humans are somehow separate from everything else and that humans are somehow.
Better than or above. And you know this principle, [00:34:00] it’s not about being all airy fairy and like, Oh, we need to just, you know, like save every dolphin. We should all be vegans, or whatever it is. It’s really just about widening the sphere of value to go beyond the human and to look at the essence of life, you know, the essence of life that animates all living things on this planet and to understand.
Where there might be value for that. Now you can apply this really looking at regenerative culture into our supply chains, you know, and what is happening at the ends of the supply chain that perhaps we don’t see, you know, really examining every end in our marketing. I actually am very curious to hear from you, cause I think you are the expert here around what it might mean to have a life centered approach.
Yeah.
Sarah: Actually, I’d love to hear from you on that. Mm-hmm. . Yes. So to me, really. I think it, it’s a, a different stage, , and maybe, you know, depends on where people [00:35:00] are in their journey. Coming to human centered is the first stage in some kind of development, right? Maybe they have been just. Focused on growth and numbers and scaling and money making.
And so coming back to human centered, I feel like that’s the first stage maybe in this personal development and kind of seeing the bigger picture. And yet, and once you, you know, got that and you’re like, Yes, human connections are important, I think then you are ready to go to the next stage and say, We might have a very limited time here on Earth.
It’s not enough anymore to just talk about human connections. We really need to extend it. And to me, that brings in this idea of the triple bottom line and doing marketing in a way that involves, yes, our human relations, but then also the win for the planet. And so really, using. [00:36:00] What I talk a lot about in humane marketing is our worldview in our marketing.
And that worldview has to do not just with the humans making doing business, but also, , you know, what do we stand for, , in terms of our values and how do we plan to, save this planet somehow. So I feel like it’s. a third stage of getting more connected and seeing business as having a role to play in the whole sustainability piece, Right?
So,
Laura: human flourishing is tied to ecological, flourishing, Right? You know, this idea that we can flourish when the earth is not, or that we can just go to another planet is, you know, It’s not accurate. Yeah. It’s part it. It will catch up with us. Yeah.
And so it’s really bringing it back to, Okay, well actually you’re right. As business owners, I think we have a tremendous source of power. Even those of us who are solar printers, like you don’t have major global [00:37:00] Fortune 500 companies. I don’t think they can lead the way to change because they’re too stuck in the old paradigm.
Yeah. But when you’re looking at small businesses and how we can pivot and how we can use our values and. And embed this idea of regeneration, of embedding life, giving principles into all that we do. So into physical products, into supply chains, into materials, but into our communities, into our cultures, into our interactions is so important.
I love that definition and I agree it’s this kind of next stage of looking at it beyond the human. Yeah.
Sarah: The other thing that comes up for me is also what we previously discussed of, you know, seeing the new definition of business post-capitalism. , about something that is holistic and it includes our whole life , and how do we want to create this life, and make it life centered and not just maybe business centered or money centered.
So to me [00:38:00] it’s also this idea of life centered means we want to create a sustainable life for us ourselves without burnout. So beyond the sustainability piece, which is important. I also feel like life centered means well, let’s create a life that we can sustain and, and that we enjoy living rather than, you know, going into that hustle mode and, and always making more and more and more.
Laura: Yeah, I think it’s about flourishing. Mm-hmm. , you know, it’s about thriving. Yeah. And too often we don’t think of that in our society or in business. You know, we kind of focus on like just getting by or like just being good enough, you know? You know, How are you? ,
Sarah: good. I’m busy. You know, Instead of Yeah.
Laura: Yeah. But instead we could be flourishing. We could be thriving, and. Shouldn’t we, You know, why not design our lives and design our business to promote human, our own and ecological [00:39:00] flourishing, You know, so they’re all live around us. And this doesn’t mean you need to be out there working with dolphins or whatever else.
No. Yeah. But the essence of what you’re doing is embodying the principle. Yeah. And that I think is where the change comes
Sarah: from. Yeah. I. I’m so glad you brought up the, the busy answer cuz that’s when I notice my internal capitalism every time somebody, you know tells me, Oh, I’m busy, I’m. I don’t know. I’m not that busy , so am I doing something wrong that I’m not that busy, but I just, yeah.
I’m not buying into the busy stuff anymore. I’m like, I don’t wanna be busy. And even if I’m, you know, working on something that I wanna really get out, then I don’t call it busy. I guess I just. College. Yeah. I’m working on something that gives me great joy. I just feel like busy now has a bad after paste
Laura: Yeah. You know, this idea, we need to stop the glorification of busy. Yeah. Because again, but it’s that link to the fact [00:40:00] that we’re always, well, if we’re busy, we’re doing more, where we’re keeping up, we’re doing enough. Like, so that sense of scarcity underlying. Busy is really important to notice.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah.
I know we could keep going and we’re, we’re having a real fun here, but, , I think we need to start wrapping it up, but this has been amazing. Thank you so much for coming on the Humane Marketing Podcast. Please do share, with people where they can find out more about you, your work, your program.
Laura: , yes. So you can go to my website. My school is called Public Love Enterprises. So Public Love Do Enterprises. You can find me on Instagram at Laura Do H dot Hartley. I’m also on LinkedIn and Facebook. So please check us out. Google. Laura Hartley, Public love, public love enterprises, and I look forward to, , Working with you further and getting to know your guests and thank you to everyone who is listening.
Sarah: Yeah, thanks Laura. I have one last question. , what are you grateful for today or this week? What comes up?
Laura: I’m grateful [00:41:00] for my partner. I have an incredibly supportive partner who always brings me back to myself when I start to go somewhere else. Nice. And so she’s who I’m grateful for.
Sarah: Nice. Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing and for being here. Thank you.[00:42:00]