Regenerative thinking will help businesses prosper

For generations, businesses were built on an extractive model: take resources, create products, generate profit, repeat. It was efficient but not enduring. With today’s extreme weather events, resource scarcity, social unrest, and declining employee sense of well-being, the cracks in that model are increasingly hard to ignore.

Simply put: Extraction is no longer sustainable. Humans long for what is real and enduring.

When I look to the natural world, I see a different blueprint for our future: regeneration. Healthy ecosystems don’t just survive; they replenish, adapt, and thrive.

At Rodale Institute, where we have championed regenerative organic agriculture for 78 years, we see this every day in the soil beneath our feet. Our founder’s son, Robert Rodale, defined regeneration as an innate, natural capacity for renewal and healing.

It’s time for business leaders to take notice. The future of business—and our society—depends on our ability to move from extraction to regeneration.

How businesses can embrace regenerative practices

Regenerative thinking is more than a philosophy for farming; it is a framework for leadership and enterprise. It calls on us to ask ourselves how we create systems that renew themselves, including the human beings who work within those systems. How can our companies generate not only financial profit but also ecological, social, and human resilience?

In agriculture, regenerative organic practices rebuild topsoil, sequester carbon, and increase biodiversity, leading to healthier soil, healthier ecosystems, and healthier people. In business, regenerative practices can similarly replenish the human and natural resources we rely on. Organizations that focus on the well-being of their employees, invest in sustainable supply chains, and build trust with communities are laying the foundation for long-term success in a volatile world.

The top 500 U.S. companies, with their scale, influence, and capital, are uniquely positioned to go beyond sustainability and embrace regenerative practices by reimagining how they use profits, design products, and engage with place. By reinvesting a portion of their earnings into regenerative capital, such as funding ecological restoration projects, employee wellness initiatives, community-owned enterprises, or nature-based solutions, they can shift from extractive profit models to ones that actively repair and renew.

At the product level, adopting circular economy principles, like designing for durability, reuse, and offering products as a service, helps eliminate waste and align business success with long-term environmental health. Additionally, through place-based stewardship, companies can partner with local communities to restore ecosystems around their facilities, support indigenous land practices, or co-create green spaces. Together, these approaches move large enterprises beyond sustainability toward becoming active agents of regeneration across economic, material, and ecological systems.

Even small organizations, though limited in scale, have a unique ability to embed regenerative practices into their everyday operations in deeply meaningful ways. By cultivating a living employee culture—offering flexible schedules, well-being stipends, or regeneration days for rest or community service—they can foster workplaces where people thrive, not just perform. Sourcing from local, ethical suppliers, such as nearby farms, artisans, or BIPOC-owned businesses, helps regenerate regional economies and ecosystems while reducing environmental impact. Even seemingly small actions like upcycling materials, composting, or collaborating with local artists and nonprofits to reuse waste can transform byproducts into creative value. These practices not only restore ecological and social systems but also build more resilient, purpose-driven businesses from the ground up.

Leaders in regenerative work

We already see this shift in action. Companies like Patagonia, Citizens of Humanity, Dr. Bronner’s, and SIMPLi are embracing regenerative principles and attracting loyal customers, retaining top talent, and building resilience against supply chain disruptions and environmental risks. They are moving beyond quarterly earnings to measure impact in terms of stakeholder well-being, carbon reduction, and community health. They are finding that purpose and profit are not mutually exclusive; they reinforce each other.

This shift requires courage. Regenerative systems do not offer instant returns. They require a willingness to invest patiently, to think beyond the next quarter, and to cultivate resilience rather than extract efficiency. Just as healthy soil yields stronger crops year after year, regenerative businesses are more likely to weather the storms, literal and metaphorical, that the future will inevitably bring. Regeneration is about playing the long game.

Rooted in regeneration

At Rodale Institute, our mission is simple, yet critical: soil health is human health. I believe the same equation applies to business. Healthy organizations rooted in regeneration will create healthier economies, healthier societies, and a healthier planet.

The future will belong to leaders who recognize that regeneration is not a buzzword; it is a survival strategy. It’s time to ask ourselves: Are we depleting the resources we depend on, or are we cultivating their renewal? Are we building companies that will outlast us, or ones that will collapse under their own weight?

The choice is ours. The time is now.

Jeff Tkach is CEO of Rodale Institute.