I’ve been sitting with this for a while now. Watching as the world fractures—politics, climate, human decency, systems of extraction, hoarding, stealing, and diminishing. It’s impossible not to ask: Is this really the best we can do?
There has to be a better way.
That thought led me to Kevin Kelly’s idea of Type 2 growth. When I first read about it, something clicked. A lightbulb moment. Growth that isn’t about simple expansion but about transformation—growth as emergence, connection, and possibility. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
But then I wanted to push it further. Could this idea—so elegant, so full of potential—hold up when applied to the messy realities of business, corporate systems, and the way brands operate? Could it offer more than a critique and actually point toward a solution?
Here’s the honest truth: No, I haven’t solved capitalism. No, this isn’t a neat, all-encompassing answer tied with a perfect bow. But it’s a start. A provocation. A hypothesis designed to be challenged, debated, shaped, and refined.
What I’m sharing isn’t popcorn for the brain. This isn’t a quick read or a list of easy takeaways. It’s an invitation—to think deeper, to sit with uncomfortable truths, and to begin charting a new path. The premise is simple but profound: What if growth wasn’t about more but about better? What if value didn’t just add up but multiplied across networks, interactions, and possibilities?
This manifesto is a call for depth, substance, and meaning in a world obsessed with speed and scale. A new kind of growth—Growth².
Let me be clear: This is just the beginning. It’s not an endpoint but a starting point. A pencil sketch, not a finished masterpiece. But if you’re ready to think differently about what’s possible—for business, for society, for ourselves—then let’s begin.
A better way is possible. We just have to build it. Together.
I really enjoyed this, thankyou for writing. I'd add in that we need to change how we wokr, as well as the type of work we do / the outcomes we work toward. I've seen brands set themselves up as being 'for the future' but the day to day working practices - meetings, 9-5, email, admin, etc continue, and so the outcomes never really live up to the promise. I'd love to see Type2 Growth kick off wholesale evolution :-)
I’m blown away by your thinking Zoe (and so brilliantly articulated and presented). I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on why Byron Sharp’s approach made sense on a logical level but just felt wrong on some more human level. ‘It’s like breaking poetry down into a collection of individual words and losing sight of the emotion and meaning they create when put together.’ Yes!
I’ve built my business on helping organisations and teams think deeply about what value they are trying to create, why that matters to them, and how they do it, so I am going to be noodling your thinking for a good long time and introducing it to my clients and network. Excited to see how the conversation unfolds.
Thank you.