Tachi Kiuchi, Chairman and CEO of Mitsubishi America, once gave a talk entitled “What I Learned In the Rainforest: Lessons for World Environment Day.” During the talk, he told listeners that “my most important lessons about business did not come from my companies. My most important lessons about business I learned were from the rainforest,” explaining that the rainforest possessed a level of productivity far in excess of any existing corporation. As home to 2/3 of the world’s known plant and animal species, it represents a perfect codependent “fusion” that continuously improves the productivity of the forest as a whole. Imagine the possibilities if corporations could begin to replicate the creativity and productivity of this system!

Most businesspeople assume that trees are the rainforest’s most valuable component. In reality, however, the rainforest’s commercial value lies not in the trees themselves, but rather in the ecological planning represented in the forest as a whole – planning that would be lost were the forest to be destroyed. As corporate success becomes increasingly dependent on effective planning and coordination, the knowledge we might glean from rainforest ecology could represent a model for corporations to substantially increase profitability and operating effectiveness. And how should we begin? Kiuchi believes this process can be divided into two steps: first, we must broaden our analytical framework to link economic, cultural, and environmental costs with corporate profits. Second, on the basis of this broadened framework, work to lower costs, increase profits, and meet newly-identified needs. In short, the business environment of the future would be sculpted to represent a sort of “corporate rainforest.”

Reference and Extending Readings: in Chinese; Speech "What I learned in the Rainforest: Lessons for World Environment Day" published on www.future500.org.