Shattering the Impact Illusion

The voice that charts the course.

Impact. At first glance, a simple word, yet it holds entire worlds inside. It represents both the tangible changes that redefine our daily lives and the deep social and environmental commitments shaping the mission of companies today. However, too often we perceive only a fraction of it, believing we've grasped the whole, when in reality, we remain trapped by our narrow perspectives, blinded by limitations we no longer even see.

Impact at Scale—Or Not at All

Acting for the greater good—for the planet, for society—is not a compromise of ambition. Far from it. Many believe that serving a noble cause justifies a lack of drive, as if impact can exist without performance. "We’re mission-driven, so it’s okay if we generate less revenue." But impact is not the enemy of efficiency. It either scales, or it fails. How can we claim to change the world if our actions don't rise to meet the overwhelming challenges before us?

Impact isn’t only about numbers, but it can’t ignore them. Too often, we excuse a mediocre experience in the name of a good cause. But if the experience doesn’t resonate, how can we expect the message to hit its mark? How can impact grow, shape minds, and transform behaviors?

Sustainable and Desirable

Let’s take an example everyone can relate to: second-hand brands. They carry a powerful promise, yet too often they fail to attract anyone beyond the already convinced. Most of these brands also struggle to be profitable. Is the cause alone enough? No. We shouldn’t sacrifice awe in the name of saving the planet.

Take the French brand Cent Neuf, for instance. Every piece is meticulously reworked, collaborating with artists to create unique collections. This isn’t just recycling; it’s reinvention. 

Now, let’s journey across the globe. In March 2024, Japan’s Safari boutique launched Second Life, a second-hand platform where every garment carries a unique story—the story of its previous owner. With each purchase, customers receive a postcard, illustrated by AI, that brings this memory to life. A simple piece of clothing becomes a bridge between lives, creating an impact that resonates deeply and moves the soul. This is how you stir hearts.

Beyond Appearances

But beyond this poetry, a crucial question arises: how do we truly measure impact? While some settle for symbolic gestures—“subscribe and we’ll plant a tree”—others embed impact at the core of their business model. Take BlaBlaCar (a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform in France), for example. The company doesn’t just offer shared rides; every kilometer traveled reduces CO2 emissions while generating revenue. Here, impact isn’t a side note; it’s their very purpose.

However, it’s easy to get caught up in illusions in our quest for a better world. Consider a food waste reduction app. At first glance, it seems virtuous, but if it reduces donations to food banks, where’s the real impact? We must go beyond appearances. Impact isn’t measured by good intentions but by tangible results. It requires a careful assessment of externalities, a constant re-evaluation of our actions, and, most importantly, a refusal to accept half-measures.

Impact Demands Coherence

There are also ambiguous initiatives, torn between ignorance and contradiction. Take solid shampoos, for instance, designed to reduce plastic use but often more energy-intensive than the products they replace. Or electric cars, which appear eco-friendly on the surface, but rely on batteries made from rare materials extracted under disastrous conditions. What about clothing made from recycled bottles? A compelling idea—until the bottles run out. While this scarcity may be a victory for the environment, it also spells the slow demise of companies that ironically depend on what they aim to eliminate.

Sometimes, the lack of foresight is glaring. Consider offshore wind turbines, a relatively new technology. Are we sure their benefits outweigh the yet unknown effects? Noise, collisions, disruptions to marine and bird ecosystems—these are just a few concerns often brushed aside, but they could call everything into question.

Impact cannot be reduced to simply mitigating one isolated problem. It requires a systemic understanding and consideration of long-term consequences. True impact isn’t a quick fix; it’s a demanding responsibility, one that forces us to think critically at every step.

Nature Personified

This lack of coherence reminds me of directionless management, a state of chaos where nothing seems prioritized. There’s no guiding vision, no clear voice. What if it’s the same for nature, reduced to a distant whisper? But now, they are stepping out of the silence. In India, glaciers and mountains have been granted legal rights. In Canada, a river has become a legal entity.

In art, nature no longer just inspires; they claim their place. At the Beyond Water Biennale in Geneva, sensors gave aquatic ecosystems a voice. Even more surprising is the Sounds Right initiative, where platforms like Spotify treat nature as an artist in their own right. Tracks feature "Feat. NATURE," where the rustling of leaves and birdsong become part of a collective composition. Nature, credited as an artist, sees their royalties funneled back into biodiversity conservation.

Some companies are taking it even further. Faith In Nature and House of Hackney have given nature a seat on their boards of directors. Now, every strategic decision must answer the essential question: “What would nature say?”

Changing Accounting to Change the World?

If nature becomes a subject in its own right, our economic models must evolve accordingly. It’s time to rethink our balance sheets and redefine what we value. Tools like carbon accounting have shown that nature can be included in our calculations, but that’s no longer enough. We’ve consistently failed to account for the hidden costs of unsustainable solutions. These practices seem economical only because they shift their true environmental and societal costs elsewhere—depleting ecosystems, polluting resources, and accelerating climate change. When we factor in the full costs of environmental degradation, these "cheap" options reveal their long-term expense.

For too long, we’ve treated ecology as a luxury, a cost to be avoided, allowing short-term gains to obscure the long-term damage. Yet over half of the world’s wealth depends directly on nature. How can we afford to ignore that any longer?

Bhutan understood this with its Gross National Happiness: prosperity isn’t measured by financial growth alone. It’s time to broaden our economic vision, to measure environmental impact with the same rigor as profit. A healthy economy cannot thrive without a healthy ecosystem.

At its core, impact should never be an excuse to lower our standards. Instead, it must become a driving force—one that compels us to achieve more, and to do better, at every level. For if impact doesn’t permeate every aspect of what we do, it turns into nothing more than an illusion.

MD

The future of food? I talk about it in this interview for French Food + Tech!

No filter: I also took part in a Q&A with Ben Dietz, author of [SIC] Weekly—whose newsletter I absolutely love. Read it here.