2025 03 Impacta Mais: Impact Economy Forum 2025. 

Challenging the Status Quo: Investing for Systems Change and Lasting Impact

Introduction

Thank You

  • And thank you, Dear Enrique, for the kind introduction
  • Thank you, Dear organizers of the Impact Economy Forum 2025
  • And a very special obrigado to all of you, who are attending this inspiring event
  • I very much look forward to the rest of the Forum and to many meaningful conversations with some old friends, and with many new friends

Brazilian Anecdote

  • I live in California, where we have a large population of Brazilians
  • They taught us Samba and Capoeira – and we became friends
  • They invited us to visit their/your beautiful home country to show us places that ordinary tourists would never see
  • And we visited:
    • We played Capoeira in Recife
    • We danced Samba Bahia
    • We surfed in Buzios
    • We explored the rivers and jungles around Manaus
    • We roamed the big cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo
    • And we enjoyed the occasional Caipirinha
  • But that was 20 years ago
  • Look at Brazil today! 
    • The beauty, the complexity, the challenges and the opportunities. 
    • I am eager to dive in and to learn more 
    • And I am excited to continue to build relationships that last  

Outline

  • The title of my keynote is: Challenging the Status Quo: Investing for Systems Change and Lasting Impact
  • I will first tell a few stories about how I have been challenging the status quo throughout my life
  • And then I will talk about the following three topics
    • Why systems matter
    • How systems change, and
    • How to invest for systems change

My background challenging the status quo

  • Austria -> immigration
  • I had a chance to work with Steve Jobs in the 90’ies 
    • Compare him to Bill Gates
  • After we became wealthy, my wife Lisa and I challenged the status quo of philanthropy and classical investing 
    • Toniic
    • 100% Network
  • Over the last few years, we have been challenging the world of impact investing itself
    • We wanted to go deeper by dealing with the root causes of the systemic issues we are facing 
    • Now we want to change many of the systems that humanity has invented over the course of the last few hundred years, like the financial and the economic system itself
    • And we became convinced that inner transformation and mindset shift are necessary ingredients for systemic change. 
    • I call the deep end of the pool of impact investing ‘deep impact’, which is systemic in nature and is practiced with a non-anthropocentric – non human-centric – level of consciousness and awareness. 
  • We co-founded multiple organizations and efforts that reflect this focus
    • Twist
    • Deep Impact Circles
  • I will dive more into ‘deep impact’ later in my remarks
    • Let me now go to the first topic of my keynote: 

Why Systems Matter?

Let me start to answer this question by reflecting on why humanity is in a poly crisis

  • We are at the beginning of the biggest transformation that humanity has ever experienced: a transformation that will move us from an extractive worldview to a regenerative one. 
  • It has become clearer than ever before that we need to fundamentally transform all of our systems, particularly our economic and the financial system
  • These systems are not serving humanity and the planet anymore, they are just serving themselves
  • They are designed to deplete earth’s resources, they are designed to increase social injustice & inequality; and they are designed to lead to humanity’s self destruction by causing run-away climate change and the break down of our social fabric. 
  • The design flaws of our economic and financial systems are at the heart of our poly crisis. 

So, what is wrong with the current economic and financial system?

  • The economic system’s deadliest design mistake is that it is based on exponential growth on a finitely resourced planet. 
    • This cannot go well a la longe, particularly as we approach 9 to 10 billion people. 
  • The financial system’s deadliest design mistake is that it is built on the notion of maximizing profits at the expense of everything else … 

We can and have articulated a bold new vision, the new narrative:

  • A regenerative and just world for all beings – based on a radically new economy, which we call ‘the deep impact economy’

Geopolitical and macro-economic context

  • From a geo-political and macro economic standpoint we are massively going backwards … 
  • accelerating the break down of the systems that have already started to crack
  • We – our movement: the impact investing and systems change crowd – were not ready for this! 
  • The Europeans briefly thought they were kind of not so much affected by the current mad-men duo in the US
  • But the last 2-3 weeks have shattered that false sense of independence
  • And Brazil is in a unique position in taking on a global leadership role … with COP 30 …. and in leading the way to that new & regenerative economy
  • Cracks and backlash to the current craziness are occurring and will accelerate. 
  • Are we ready for boldly taking advantage of the emerging leverage points?
  • Which one of the following 3 responses are we choosing to respond to the current craziness: conform, resist, or do nothing?
    • I believe that many participants in this Forum will support each other in co-creating the resistance movement and in continuing to implement our vision of a regenerative and just world
    • Just look around this room: Look at all the networks and the relationships that we collectively have to do just that. 
    • Revolutions have never start top-down
    • Let’s co-create the bottom-up revolution – islands of coherence … as Otto Scharmer calls them
  • OK, I shared with you a few thoughts about why I think Systems matter. 
  • The consequences of how our economic and financial systems are designed, DO matter1
  • Let me now explain (on a very high level), how systems change

How Systems Change?

Anecdote: 

  • Hemingway: First very slowly, and then all at once

Systems Characteristics

  • Non-linear (step functions)
  • Dynamic
  • Unpredictable
  • Leverage points
  • Boundaries
  • Feedback loops (negative and positive)
  • Emergence
  • Systems cannot be changed by a single actor
    • Systems change not only needs different types of capital, but also
    • Philanthropy
    • Regulatory frameworks
    • Research, and 
    • Technology

We understand Systems Principles, like

  • Circularity
  • Resiliency
  • Regenerative
  • Regional
  • Social justice

The good news is, that there are multiple successfully deployed Systems Change Methodologies and Tools

  • Three Horizon Framework
  • Doughnut Economics
  • SDG’s and Outputs
  • Living Systems Principles

And we have developed strategies for regional Systems Change efforts:

 

  • Build trust and relationships between all participants
  • Develop common vision and common Theory of Transformation
  • Prioritize impact themes
  • Map impact themes to SDGs, outputs, and doughnut economics
  • Prioritize H1/H2/H3 projects
  • Develop regulations
  • Collaborate with research community
  • Pay attention to emergence and feedback loops, both positive and negative (refine strategy and different phases of strategy)

We know what needs to be done, 

  • We know what is wrong with the economic and financial systems
  • We know the principles of systems change 
  • And we have the tools, methodologies, and strategies to do it
  • Why haven’t we been able to actually change these systems?
    • The main reason – I believe – is our own consciousness and awareness
    • We believe that we are here and the systems are out there
    • But we are actually part of nature, part of the universe: Western science, spiritual traditions, and indigenous wisdom know this or have never forgotten this. 
    • We need to work on our own mindset shift, our own inner transformation in order to be calm and peaceful inside, and to show up for co-creating the change we envision
    • Outer and inner transformation are one and the same 
  • So, we first talked about ‘Why Systems Matter’, and now about ‘How Systems Change’ and laid out a strategy for bioregional systems change
  • So let me now go into the third topic of my keynote: 

How to actually Invest for Systems Change

So, what does success mean for an investor?

  • For a single investment?
  • For an impact portfolio?
  • For systems change?

Differences between impact investing and impact investing for systems change

  • Intentional
  • Problem understanding
  • Strategy (system map, …)
  • Polycapital
  • Integration
  • Power sharing
  • Financial return expectations
  • Dynamic evaluation
  • Long term horizon
  • Mindset shift

With this grounding let me briefly differentiate between ESG, impact investing and deep impact investing

  • ESG
  • Impact Investing
  • Deep Impact Investing

Twist

  • What is it?
  • What do we do?
  • Research partnership with MIT

Regional Example 1: Changing the extractive Hawaiian agriculture system to a regenerative one

  • Hawai’i Investment Ready

Regional Example 2: Changing an extractive Alpine economy to a regenerative one

  • Specifics
    • Extractive Agriculture -> Regenerative Agriculture, from
    • Mass Tourism -> Eco-Tourism, from
    • Global Supply Chains -> Regional Supply Chains, from
    • Mass Transit Traffic Nightmare -> Regional E-Mobility, from
    • Extractive energy production -> renewable energy production, and from
    • Extractive linear businesses -> Circular businesses 
  • Impact Hub Tirol
    • Pioneer:impact
    • Impact academy
    • Alpine impact days
    • Alpine impact circle
  • Bottom-up and Middle-Out

Example 3: Moving from a shareholder economy to a stake holder economy    

  • Rainfall and Proof

We have covered the three topics that I wanted to cover. Let me now conclude.

Conclusion

The title of my keynote is: Challenging the status quo, investing for systems change and lasting impact. 

Lasting Impact is a direct expression of who we really are, of the choices we make

  • The impact of our lives is a direct expression of who we really are, not who we think we are
  • We give our life purpose, relevance, and meaning with relationships, not transactions.
  • We need to work on ourselves to show up with courage, with joy, and with inner peace in order to co-create and co-envision in turbulent times like these
  • We need to challenge the status quo, and go beyond easy solutions, one-liners, and linear extrapolations from the past.

Humanity’s destiny is a direct expression of humanity’s consciousness and awareness

Kuleana and privilege

Let’s embrace the cosmic dance of inner and outer transformation, of mindset shift for systems change. 

  • And let’s inspire others to share our vision of a regenerative and just world, by building trust beyond our own bubbles, by inviting everybody in, by insisting on plurality and diversity

Let me end with a personal story: 

  • Story about my almost 100 year old mom and my 2-week old grand-son
  • Let’s step up to the responsibility of being human, which is to be of service to humanity and the planet

Muito obrigado

Posted in Keynote Notes.