Circular Business Transformation and Moving Towards Circular Economy with Mike Townsend
Episode 042: Podcast Show Notes
Today we are talking with the Earthshine Group’s Founder and CEO Mike Townsend! Mike is passionate about sharing knowledge and skills in support of the transition towards a sustainable economy. In this episode, Mike talks about the business of change and how transforming business towards circular ways of working starts with capability development. You’ll also hear about some recent circular economy projects that Mike has been involved with, including a fascinating project with Norsk Ombruk, which remanufactures white goods such as washing machines.
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About Today's Guest
Mike Townsend
Mike Townsend is an influential business and economic transformation leader, board member, speaker, teacher, and writer – with thirty-five years of experience in business, supply chain, consultancy, education & training, and engineering. He has worked with a wide range of organisations, large and small, in all sectors in UK, Europe, North America and Japan, including: Aviva plc, BAA, Barclays Bank plc, Birmingham Business School, British Airways, Copenhagen Business School, DIS-Copenhagen, Environment Agency, EY, Home Office, IKEA, Life Technologies, LoyaltyOne, Mace Group, Lund University, Norsk Ombruk, Severn Trent Water, Thames Water plc, Triodos Bank, and many others, including Paul Polman at Unilever.
In addition to running Earthshine Group, Mike serves on an advisory board with University of Oslo, teaches courses on Sustainable Development, Sustainable Business Strategy, and The Business of Change. He also delivers inspirational keynote speeches. Mike is author of The Quiet Revolution (Routledge, forthcoming), Editor of Reframing the Game (2015), Lead author of A Journey in Search of Capitalism 2.0 (2013). He is a regular contributor for Huffington Post, 2-Degrees, Edie.net, The Guardian, Medium, Sustainable Brands, and others. He has also published extensively in the field of strategic procurement and supply chain management.
Mike holds an MBA from the University of Birmingham Business School (UK), a bachelor degree in Civil Engineering Management from the University of Wolverhampton (UK). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK), and Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (UK).
About the Show
Getting In the Loop is a weekly podcast dedicated to exploring how to transform to a more circular society. Join host Katie Whalen as she examines the challenges facing our current resource use and discovers alternatives to the ‘take, make, dispose’ way of doing things. Each week she interviews circular economy experts about what they’re doing and learning. Together we'll uncover what circular economy means in practice and find out what's being done to keep our resources in a loop rather than sent to waste. Let's get in the loop!