Three Key Lessons from ‘The Catalyst’s Way’ for Ethical Investors

17 October 2023

I’m excited to share a few of the many insights from Professor Chellie Spiller’s recently launched The Catalyst’s Way – A Handbook for People Who Want to Change the World and, companion guide, The Catalyst’s Way – Foundational Storytellers. Authored by Chellie during her experience as Leader in Residence at the Atlantic Institute, at Oxford University these resources are available at no cost here.

Chellie Spiller’s research and development helps keep Money Matters at the forefront of ethical investment and ethical leadership globally, and her latest book offering takes this a whole new level. In this blog I share from The Catalyst’s Way three key principles for ethical investors who wisely want to invest with businesses that are ethical leaders. These are the principles of hope, courage and authenticity.

1. Hope - Apply Activated Hope

A fundamental quality of a leader rated most highly by ethical investors is what Chellie describes in The Catalyst’s Way as the quality of ‘activated hope’ – a sense that taking purposeful action will change outcomes and make a positive impact by creating sustainable wealth and wellbeing.

Ethical investors and the business leaders they regard most highly recognise the sharp dissonance between how things are and how they could be regarding sustainable development indicators – economic, social and environmental. They take a pragmatic approach to shift the collective needle to a better-envisioned future. They’re neither deluded by naïve optimism, nor paralysed by despair.

The Catalyst’s Way provides many insights on how this is developed. For example, Sarah Ray, who leads an environmental studies programme at Humboldt State University, describes a virtuous circle whereby action delivers results, which fosters hope, leading to more action. Sarah says, “hope is the by-product of action, not a prerequisite for it.”

Catalyst leaders hold a radical imagination and are committed to individually and with their teams, unlocking potential for more positive impact by inhabiting with activated hope the place between now and the future. Ethical investors share this mindset.

Hope is a deep-seated conviction that things can become better if we make a conscious choice to act, often in defiance of the majority view or societal norms. Activated hope is not wishful thinking or crossing one’s fingers, but a sense of agency that taking purposeful action will change outcomes.

2. Courage - Explore the Chamber of Dis-comfort

Ethical leaders, like ethical investors, need to have the courage to experience the discomfort that naturally arises when a person is willing to feel, face and question the shortcomings of conventional investment and business as usual.

Bringing awareness to our discomforts can open a doorway to insight. It can bring us to our edges where we get a different view, listen in, speak up, and stand by our convictions. Discomfort can mean speaking up even when it makes us feel uncomfortable. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Conventional business leaders and investors often stay silent because it’s more comfortable to do so, which gives tacit support to bias and prejudice. Ethical investors are speaking with their money and investing in ethical leaders taking action that makes our view of ourselves as ‘good humans’ authentic.

You might find as you enter the Chamber of Discomfort that a number of emotions arise, including anger, frustration, grief, and sadness. Some people thrive on this emotional discomfort, others withdraw, and some stay silent. The key is to be with your emotions and accept them as part of the complexity of our shared human experience.

The Chamber of Discomfort is also home to something called the ‘Amygdala Hijack’. This occurs when our limbic brains override our emotional intelligence. If triggered, we can end up caught in a state of reactivity, making decisions based on what ‘feels safe’ even when we know better choices could be made.

Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is an unavoidable part of the catalyst’s journey, and ethical investors as well as the leaders of the businesses they invest in need to be prepared for it too. The key is not to see discomfort as a negative, but rather a necessary and insightful part of the process of change.

3. Authenticity: Dis-Covery

As valuable as it can be to learn to sit in the Chamber of Discomfort, you don’t want to get stuck there, as it can become an echo chamber that perpetuates one’s defaults, habits, judgements, assumptions, and familiar alignments.

That’s where Dis-covery comes in. Dis-covery is like taking an uncomfortable walking tour of our life. It transforms discomfort into awareness, learning, and growth.

Here are some things you can reflect on to prompt discovery in your own journey:

• Dive into the flux. True discovery comes from throwing ourselves into the unknown.

• Find the opportunity in adversity.

• Be your authentic self, even if it goes against the grain of cultural conditioning or challenges so-called professional ‘norms’.

• Hit the pause button. Discover requires a conscious effort to allow unstructured space.

The Catalyst’s Way also looks at discovery from a developmental viewpoint. Key points include the following mindsets defined by Harvard’s Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey (who Chellie and I have both trained with):

·   The socialised mind: We are oriented to our social environment and take our cues from family, peers and communities. Our identity and ideas are highly influenced by particular belief systems and community protocols.

·   The self-authoring mind: We step back and generate our own belief system and values; we might still choose to align with or social context but we bring more consciousness and awareness to the process. 

·   The self-transforming mind: We are able to see the limitations of different perspectives and approaches, including our own.

For both an ethical leader and an ethical investor, discovery is an important step in understanding how your discomforts, emotions, relationships and culture have shaped your approach, and identifying changes that can benefit you, your business and your investments moving forward.

Chellie beautifully sums up the reality of being a catalyst as follows.

“Catalysts peel back the layers, shed old skins, and go to their growth edges. They unpack their own received norms and ideas, often imprinted by upbringings, colonisation, corporatisation, professionalism, and dominant cultures. They are not pulled into conformity and are willing to flex and disrupt themselves.”

Who Will Be Your Guide?

Last but not least, a critical question all investors need to answer is who is the best guide for them in navigating the challenging journey to creating sustainable wealth and wellbeing and having the most positive impact as mapped out in The Catalysts Way. Given the in depth expertise that Chellie’s research adds to Money Matters, we are exceptionally well-placed to guide you on that journey of making money and making a difference.

Feel free to contact us to discuss possibilities. In the meantime, Chellie’s book is well worth a read for anyone interested in ethical leadership, which is an integral part of true ethical investing.