What is Industrial Healing?

And what does it have to do with me and you?

Photo inside Tena Kabena — a school, medicine garden, honey producer, river clean up, and so much more — in the heart of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia exhibiting #IndustrialHealing at its best. (Photo by me/2016)

I talk about “Industrial Healing” a fair bit. I use it regularly as a hashtag. I work it into most of my articles. It’s kind of a big thing for me. But what does it mean? And, more importantly, what does it have to do with any of us?

In this piece, I’ll sketch it out with a little more texture than a hashtag can offer. And I’ll highlight the two simple — and essential, yet challenging to achieve — things each of us needs to do, to get there.

To be clear, I am by no means the Knower Of All Things. However, I have a fair bit to draw on. Over the decades, I have been backstage with many industry sectors across many regions, working on the evolution of “sustainable business” as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures. I have been in a lot of factories, mine sites, plantations, and executive presentations — in a few languages for extra good measure.

Throughout all of this, I have observed that in spite of all the ambitions and resources dedicated to improvement, we…