Barry Patterson is a Sustainability Change Agent. He has a unique ability to create innovative ideas, and then rapidly transform them into viable strategies and organizational development opportunities – all designed to take an organization to the next level of sustainability. He has worked on a wide range of organizational development and sustainability projects – in the US, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, and China – over the past two years, including:
- Regenerative agriculture
- Renewable energy,
- Bio-inspired design,
- City sustainability master planning,
- Health and wellness,
- Web 2.0, and
- Conservation
Patterson has worked with and consulting for a wide range of organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, governments, non-profits, and universities. A partial list of these include:
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Caribou Coffee
• HOK
• The LifeWorks Foundation
• 5 Deep Integral
• Medtronic
• Biomimicry Guild & Biomimicry Institute
• The Way of Nature
• Sustainability Institute
• Push Product Design
• UAB Medical School
Patterson has been utilizing the Integral Framework with clients for the past two years. Recently, he received his first level of Integral Certification, Core Integral Level One, and is now working on his Advanced Integral Certification, Core Integral Level Two.
A detailed bio is available on LinkedIn.
Contact email: barry [at] barrypatterson [dot] com.
A personal story…
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved the outdoors — just being outside and exploring. When I was seven years old I hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim with my family. I remember sleeping in our sleeping bags on the ground in the bottom of the canyon staring up at the stars. Looking up a cliff face we could see Ringtail’s popping their heads out. (This was right before they climbed down the cliff to begin eating the food they found in our backpacks.) Having these types of experiences growing up no-doubt provided the anchors for my commitment to sustainability today.
During college I became hooked on the intersection of innovation and sustainability. I pursued interdisciplinary studies in environmental science, climate change, chaos theory, and marine biology. One semester I helped a professor build a prototype of a solar powered commuter car. ‘These could be on the street today’ I remember thinking, ‘if there was only the corporate and political will-power to make it happen.’ The next semester I worked as a staff scientist for the University of Hawaii’s Humpback Whale Research Project. Having my scuba instructor’s license provided the opportunity to be in charge of all the underwater work. An absolutely amazing experience, during which I also began learning about all of the negative effects our actions have on the oceans – such as acidification. Connecting our car-dependent, consumer society with the humpbacks I began to realize that everything is inextricably interconnected.
Now 20 years later, sustainability is finally catching-on, and I’m still working as a change agent to help create more innovative approaches through business, NGO’s, and government – as well as through a change in consciousness. For me this means applying the AQAL Integral Framework to sustainability, engaging in Conscious Capitalism, and designing and developing new shared-value business models to help move us through sustainability and into an era of restoration, resilience, and regeneration. When I’m not working, I spend as much time as possible outside exploring with my amazing wife and two wonderful daughters….hiking, running, doing yoga and qigong, meditating, fly-fishing, birding (well, my wife points them out and tells me what they are, and I look), kayaking, swimming in the ocean…and at times just ‘being’ fully present in the natural world.
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