Shift to The Stewardverse™: A Call for Courageous Business Leadership in 2025
At DevryBV Sustainable Strategies, we are committed to inspiring businesses to courageously serve humanity. Our company’s journey toward our purpose has led us to a pivotal decision for 2025: evolving and energizing our business model and invitation to clients and stakeholders to the Stewardverse™. Our shift reflects wide multi-stakeholder input and a deep understanding of the leadership and care required to foster a sustainable future for business and humanity.
Why the Change?
In 2022, our founder, Devry, derived the term ‘the humanverse’ at an open discussion on the floor of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. At the time, she used the term ‘humanverse’ as a counterpoint to the Metaverse to emphasize the centrality of humanity—a unifying vision of business solving and investing in the most critical and persistent human problems of today, not drifting to the alternative universes of the increasingly digital and disconnected nature of business.
However, as we engaged with clients and diverse stakeholders at and after our Humanverse Summit in October 2024, we realized that, while the term resonated intellectually, it fell short emotionally. It did not fully capture the broader responsibility of business leaders to care not only for people (the human component) but also for the natural world that sustains us all. It's one of the things that makes businesses different from individuals–by design corporations endure beyond individual lifespans, so it's all the more important they plan for the long-term and in societal terms, in addition to quarterly results.
Our clients, like us, are grappling with a more holistic understanding of humanity: one that integrates the well-being of individuals with the health of the planet. Businesses must acknowledge their dual impacts—both positive and negative—on society and the environment. This realization called for a term that embodies the wide-ranging responsibilities of business and the necessary actions encompassed in our proprietary Integrated Sustainability Framework® to address it.
Introducing The Stewardverse™.
Stewardverse noun | \ ˈstü-ərd-ˌvərs
: A conceptual space where leaders seek, face, follow, and share the truth of their company’s impact—embracing both its benefits and weight of responsibility—and bend in service of humanity, defined as both people and nature, to safeguard the integrity and prosperity of future generations.
Example Sentence: The CEO’s vision for the company aligns perfectly with the principles of the Stewardverse™, ensuring that every decision considers both social and environmental impacts.
The word “steward” originates from the Old English “steigweard,” combining “stig” (whole house) and “weard” (keeper). “Vers” derives from the Latin “vertere,” meaning “to bend toward.”
Together, the Stewardverse™ invites leaders to adapt, to bend toward a different style of leadership that acknowledges their responsibility to care for both the financial health of their enterprises and the broader ecosystems they influence—a process we might call "stewardversing," where leaders actively embrace their dual roles as stewards of business and the world around them.
The Stewardverse™ acknowledges the interconnectedness of people and nature. It calls on leaders to embrace a dual stewardship—of their businesses and the world around them.
A New Leadership Paradigm.
The Stewardverse™ is more than a concept; it is a call to action. It challenges business leaders to:
Turn Toward the Truth: Leadership within the Stewardverse™ requires an honest assessment of a business’s impact and the constant pursuit of the truth using the seek, face, follow, share approach. Turning toward the truth includes and amplifying positive contributions and acknowledging and addressing negative externalities, such as environmental degradation and social inequities.
Bend in Service of Humanity: Adapting to this new paradigm means being flexible and courageous. Leaders must balance financial success with ethical responsibilities, proving that love for people and nature can coexist with profitability.
Carry the Weight of Generations to Come: Stewardship demands a long-term perspective. Business decisions made today ripple through time, shaping the opportunities and challenges faced by future generations. Leaders within the Stewardverse™ bear this weight with intention and care.
Living Our Purpose.
The Stewardverse™ transition aligns with our company’s purpose: to inspire businesses to courageously serve humanity. By refining the business model through which we engage with leaders, we aim to create a more meaningful and actionable vision for the future of business. The StewardverseTM is not a gimmick; it is a business philosophy gleaned from history that guides leaders to make decisions rooted in love, care, and responsibility—without compromising the financial integrity required to sustain their enterprises.
A Call to Courage.
As we embrace the Stewardverse™, we invite business leaders everywhere to join us in this transformative journey. Together, we can create a world where businesses thrive not in isolation but as stewards of a shared and interconnected humanity, encompassing both people and nature. This is the courage we need to serve humanity—and this is the future we must build.
The time to bend toward this new reality is now. In 2025, let us step into the Stewardverse™ and lead with courage.
