WEBVTT

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I believe life is connected.

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I believe people are connected
to their social and physical environment,

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and I believe mankind
is connected to the planet;

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but our society has lost
touch of this connection.

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We've built a society
that thinks in straight lines:

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we buy things, we use things,
we throw them out, period.

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We have companies that try to achieve

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maximum growth,
maximum profit, maximum efficiency.

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Nature works slightly differently.

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In nature, when you use something
and you throw it out, it rots,

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and it becomes a source of new life.

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It's a cyclical process.

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In nature, there is
a dynamic balance of species

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that are intricately connected
to each other,

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I believe our future

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is based on an integration
of these two worlds,

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integrating that industrial society
with its natural roots.

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So, after I graduated from university

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I started making shoes, as you do;

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but they weren't just any shoes,

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they were the world's first
biodegradable shoes that bloom.

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They were shoes that you could wear
just like any other shoes,

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and once they were worn down,
you could plant them in the ground,

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and the seeds that we put inside
the tongue of the shoes could grow

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into a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers;

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and of course, the shoes
would decompose into the earth.

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It was based on a notion
I had in university

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that products can be more

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than just perform a function
and look a certain way.

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They can offer us a new perspective
on how we see the world.

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They can connect us to a bigger reality.

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That goes into how we experience products,

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and to explain a little bit
how that works,

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I'm going to do a little quiz with you.

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You don't have to raise your hands
or call out any answers;

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just play along in your head,
and we will see where we end up.

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I'm going to show you three axes.

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The question is

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which is the best axe for cutting wood
when you look at these three?

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Chances are
you probably took the first one.

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This is how we experience
the first dimension of product design:

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utilitarian function, what does
the product do, how does it do it,

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how well does it do it,
is it comfortable, is it durable?

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Second question:

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if you have to divide
these three words between the axes,

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which one would you say
is aggressive compared to the other ones?

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Which one is modest?

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I'll give you a little bit of time
to make up your mind here.

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If you are anything like my friends,
you said something like this:

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first one's modest, second's elegant,
the third one looks a little aggressive.

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This is how we experience
the emotional attitude of a product,

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it's how a product strikes us
when we see it.

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It can be supportive,
it can even be arrogant,

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it can be tough, it can be cute.

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That was the second dimension
of product design.

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Third question: imagine the person
that would own this axe.

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I can already see the images
racing in your head,

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but I'm going to help you a little bit.

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(Laughter)

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Which one goes with which axe?

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I put it down like this; is that
what you had in mind more or less?

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I see a lot of people nodding,
that was good.

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First one: a regular axeman,
cutting his wood;

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second person,
or the creative type, let's say

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(Laughter)

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and the third one might not have
cutting wood in his mind

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at the moment.

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(Laughter)

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This is the third dimension
of product experience

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and it's the cultural style of a product.

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It's basically the style
that we identify with.

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A British aristocrat
will have a different style

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than a breakdancer from New York.

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So when products connect with us
on all three levels,

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that's when it hits us in the sweet spot,

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and we identify with that product,

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and when we buy it,

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it becomes an extension
of our identity to the world around us.

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But to say that the products 
are really meaningful,

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that they have a purpose ...

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No, you need something else.

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I believe there's one more dimension

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of product experience we need to consider:

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and it's fundamental to creating
those meaningful products with a purpose.

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It's based on the work of a psychologist
in the 1960s, called Clare Graves

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- look him up -

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and in relation to product design,
I call it the belief system of a product.

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To explain how that one works,
let's go back to the axes.

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Which sentence fits which axe the best?

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Which axe fits the idea that life is
about power and conquest?

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Which axe is more about
hard work and dedication?

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And finally, which maker of the axe,
or the buyer of the axe sees life

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as being about self-expression?

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I'm making this easy on you.

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Anything like you thought?

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That's the way we see the world.

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The belief system is
basically how you see the world,

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and that is the basis
for the purpose of your actions.

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If you see life as a competition,
and you want to win it,

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you're going to spend
a lot of your time doing things

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to try to beat the competition.

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So when we go to the axes, and we imagine
the people making those axes,

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we can imagine what purpose
they might have making these axes.

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I ventured to guess and said,
"If life is about power and conquest,

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chances are you're making
that axe to help your tribe

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conquer some other tribe."

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If life is about hard work and dedication,

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maybe you're making this axe to sell it

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and provide for your family,
send your kids to school.

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If life is about self-expression,

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maybe you're helping young artists
to express themselves

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by having to make this axe, these axes.

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Chances are

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one or two of these belief systems
are things that you might identify with;

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I doubt you identify
will all three of them.

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Chances are as well

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one or two of these purposes
might be something

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that you could empathize with,
you might want to even support them.

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That's the key to making
a product meaningful.

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Meaningful products are based
on a belief system we can identify with,

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and they serve a purpose
that we can empathize with.

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If you look at our little circles
of the product experience dimensions,

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I put in this fourth one.

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There's still the sweet spot
in the middle, obviously,

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where, if a product aligns with our ideas

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of the function, the attitude,
the style, and the belief system,

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we all want to have it;

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but it becomes meaningful,

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we want to support
the people making this product.

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So the belief system is really the core

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behind all the activities
and all the design decisions

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that you make as a product designer.

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If we look at the dominant system
in Western society

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as I've said in the beginning:

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we're all about maximizing growth,
maximizing profit, efficiency,

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and we can see that in the products
that we find in the stores

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when we go to shop.

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Most products are cheaply made,
they're not great quality,

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we don't use them very long,
they're not easy to repair,

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so we thrown them out, buy new stuff

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that's usually made with toxic materials,

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unhealthy materials, unhealthy ingredients

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by people that don't get paid
what they should be paid

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not in the circumstances
that they need to survive well.

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Is that a system
that we can identify with?

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Is that a purpose that we believe in?

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No.

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We're already seeing

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a growing attention
for sustainable products

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because subconsciously,

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we're already starting to make our choices
based on this belief system, as well.

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I think by being aware, consciously,

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of how a belief system affects
all the decisions that a company makes,

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it allows us to make these choices
more consciously

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and show to these companies

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that it's worth their while
to change their ways.

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Sustainability implies a belief system

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that values a dynamic balance

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and a symbiotic relationship

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between people and their environment.

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That was the whole idea
of these shoes I was making.

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By adding to the function
based on the belief system,

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we added this function of biodegradability
of these seeds that grow into flowers.

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And this way, we could connect people
to their natural environment,

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make people part
of the natural cycle of life.

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It added the bonus

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that natural materials turn out to be
really nice for your feet;

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it's a great feeling.

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It affected the style and the attitude

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because we were working with
these natural materials,

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putting them
into a very linear, geometric design;

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created a unique attitude
for an urban, creative lifestyle.

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But it affected our decisions in terms of
supply chain and other things, as well.

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We chose to make them
in Europe to keep the line short,

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to be able to secure that people got paid
what they needed to be paid

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- the right circumstances -

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we sourced
all of ours materials in Europe.

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Even the people making the shoes
said, "We really like you guys

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because otherwise,
we make shoes with glues inside,

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and we're inhaling these vapors
the whole day, we go home stoned."

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Our shoes are made without glue,

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it's a much better experience for them.

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It's our choice what products we buy,

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and by making that choice,
we force companies to make this change.

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When companies are aware

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of how the belief system is at the core
of all their activities,

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they can evaluate all those activities,

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they can look at who are the owners,
whether private or public.

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What are their purposes?

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What do they see as the goal of life?

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How do we treat our employees?

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Is it a competitive system?
A cooperative system?

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How do we award them?
How do we approach our customers?

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How do we relate to them?

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How do we treat our partners
in the supply chain?

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Finally, how do we treat the planet?

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As a company,
that's a daunting thing to do.

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If you have to shift gears like that,

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it's an enormous change to make,

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but you can do that
one little step at a time.

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Once you make that commitment,
and you communicate that to people,

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you create a purpose for your company,

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a purpose that customers like us
can empathize with,

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a purpose that connects us

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to the shared environment
that we have with the companies,

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and the purpose that we want to support

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so when we're going to come back
and buy those products,

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we'll tell our friends more actively
what we think of these products.

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That's, I think,
how we change this system.

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So, if we talk about sustainability,
I think we have to start at the root

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which is the belief system,

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and then, the first question to ask is,

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"What is life about for you?"

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Thank you.

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(Applause)