About Podcast
This Episode is Sponsored By:
In a world where business operations are too often treated like machines efficient but lifeless what if the key to excellence lies in seeing them as living systems instead? That’s the shift Carol Sanford set out to spark. What followed was a decades-long journey as a five-time bestselling author, founder of multiple regenerative institutes, and advisor to global giants like Google, Intel, and Seventh Generation. In this episode, Carol invites us to rethink the very language we use in business from mechanical metaphors to regenerative mindsets. She shares how precision in words shapes culture, how real transformation requires more than change it requires capacity building and why true leadership doesn’t coach or consult, but helps people become the source of their own growth. Here’s what you’ll take away:
- How regenerative thinking redefines operational excellence as a living, evolving process.
- The difference between transformation and regeneration and why it matters.
- Why ditching two-sided thinking (right vs. wrong) unlocks deeper insight and agility.
- How Seventh Generation achieved 35–65% annual growth by aligning operations with essence.
- What it takes to turn your back office into a thriving ecosystem of people, purpose, and performance.
Join us for a conversation that blends deep systems thinking with practical business wisdom perfect for leaders ready to evolve their operations from mechanical to meaningful.
- Humanized Operations: Empower teams with people‑first language and mindsets.
- Adaptive Thinking: Use multi‑perspective frameworks over fixed best practices.
- Purpose‑Driven Strategy: Align every initiative to your core organizational purpose.
- Systems Thinking: Design workflows as resilient, interconnected living systems.
- Integrated Leadership: Develop leaders in tandem with strategic goals.
Special Guest: Carol Sanford, Founder & CEO – Carol Sanford Institute, Regenerative Paradigm Institute, and Seed Communities
Location: Seattle, WA USA
Air Date: July 18, 2021
Websites:
- Carol Sanford: Carol’s professional website where you can learn more about her professional endeavors and how to connect with her.
- Carol Sanford Institute: learn more about creating and growing a regenerative business here on Carol’s company website.
- Regenerative Business Summit: online home to the annual action-oriented, experiential event designed to reimagine the role of business in society.
Professional Organizations:
- Regenerative Paradigm Institute: an organization, led by Carol, dedicated to supporting organizations and the people behind them in “…shifting whole fields and industries toward a living systems paradigm” by focusing on thinking patterns and their effect on the businesses and communities we create as a result.
- Seed Communities: an organization offering three types of seed communities focused on learning and collaborative co-creation processes based on the Carol Sanford Institute’s proprietary technology. “…members have access to multiple perspectives in sessions with fellow business peers, outside thought leaders, and expert resource speakers. They are able to expand their view beyond their company walls interactions that traditional executive leadership training just can’t offer.”
Carol’s Books:
- The Regenerative Life: Transform Any Organization
- The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability & Success
- The Responsible Entrepreneur: Four Game-Changing Archetypes for Founders, Leaders & Impact Investors
- No More Feedback: Cultivate Consciousness at Work
- The Regenerative Business: Redesign Work, Cultivate Human Potential, Achieve Extraordinary Outcomes: foreword written by Michiel Bakker, a Google VP.
Podcasts & Articles:
- Regenerative Business Podcast: Carol’s podcast where she and her guests “…educate and inspire startups, second and third stage growth companies, entrepreneurs in larger corporations, and impact investors.”
- Business Second Opinion Podcast: Carol’s podcast where she examines and critiques business pracitices considered best-in-class. She teachers listeners how to “…read between the lines and peep behind the curtain on where business ideas come from and what their effects are likely to produce as a result.”
- Medium.com: see Carol’s writings and other musings about regenerative business here on Medium.
Check out Carol’s TEDx Talks! TEDxBerkeley, TEDxBGI, and TEDxBellevue
Carol Sanford – Talks at Google:
- Writer, Producer & Host: Alicia Butler Pierre
- Podcast Editor: Olanrewaju Adeyemo
- Video Editor: Gladys Jimenez
- Show Notes: Hashim Tale
- Sponsors: HubSpot, ThinkSmart Whiteboard
More About Guest, Carol Sanford:
Carol Sanford is a consistently recognized thought leader working side by side with Fortune 500 and new economy executives in designing and leading systemic business change and design. Through her university and in-house educational offerings, global speaking platforms, multi-award-winning books, and human development work, Carol works with executive leaders who see the possibility to change the nature of work through developing people and work systems that ignite motivation everywhere. For four decades, Carol has worked with great leaders of successful businesses such as Google, DuPont, Intel, P&G, and Seventh Generation, educating them to develop their people and ensure a continuous stream of innovation that continually delivers extraordinary results.
She is a Senior Fellow of Social Innovation at Babson College as well as the CEO of The Regenerative Paradigm Institute. Carol is also an educator and social change designer for people in change agents roles, organizational leaders who aspire to make a difference, and business and organizational teams pursuing meaningful work and business effectiveness.
Carol is the author of five best-selling books, including The Regenerative Life: Transform Any Organization, Our Society, Your Destiny, No More Feedback, The Regenerative Business (Michiel Bakker, Google VP wrote foreword) and has won 22 Gold Awards thus far for her books. All five books are built around case stories of specific transformations in people, business, community, and regions. She is the Executive Producer of The Regenerative Business Summit and the Producer & On-Air Talent for the Business Second Opinion Podcast.
More About Host, Alicia Butler Pierre:
Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc. Her career in operations began over 20 years ago while working as an engineer in various chemical plants and oil refineries. She invented the Kasennu™ framework for business infrastructure and authored, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. It is the world’s first published book on business infrastructure for small businesses. Alicia hosts the weekly Business Infrastructure podcast with a global audience across 53 countries. 
More About Sponsor, HubSpot:
HubSpot offers a full platform of marketing, sales, customer service, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software — plus the methodology, resources, and support — to help businesses. Their CRM platform is powered by the same database, so everyone in your organization — Marketing, Sales, Service & Operations — is working off the same system of record. This allows for a smoother handoff between teams and results in a more delightful experience for your customers. More About Sponsor, ThinkSmart Whiteboard:
Thinksmart Whiteboard is a Windows App that turns your Tablet PC into a shared whiteboard. It allows you to create a whiteboard on your computer screen, then allows other people to write onto your whiteboard, even if they are in another location! Learn more.