logo
  • Consent
  • Details
  • [#IABV2SETTINGS#]
  • About
Cookies help us improve the website

We use cookies and similar technologies to better understand how our website is used, and to show you more relevant information about our study programmes and services.  

 

With your consent, we collect information such as an anonymous ID, the type of device and browser you use, the country you're visiting from, and how you interact with the website. Some data is shared with third-party tools we use for analytics and marketing. It's your choice - and you can withdraw your consent at any time using the button in the bottom-right corner.

Consent Selection
Show details
Details
  • Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
    • Cookiebot
      1
      Learn more about this provider
      CookieConsentStores the user's cookie consent state for the current domain
      Maximum Storage Duration: 1 yearType: HTTP Cookie
    • bos.cbs.dk
      1
      NSC_#Used to distribute traffic to the website on several servers in order to optimise response times.
      Maximum Storage Duration: 1 dayType: HTTP Cookie
  • Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.

      We do not use cookies of this type.

  • Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.

      We do not use cookies of this type.

  • Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
    • Google
      1
      Learn more about this provider

      Some of the data collected by this provider is for the purposes of personalization and measuring advertising effectiveness.

      NIDRegisters a unique ID that identifies a returning user's device. The ID is used for targeted ads.
      Maximum Storage Duration: 6 monthsType: HTTP Cookie
    • YouTube
      20
      Learn more about this provider
      #-#Used to track user’s interaction with embedded content.
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTML Local Storage
      __Secure-ROLLOUT_TOKENPending
      Maximum Storage Duration: 180 daysType: HTTP Cookie
      iU5q-!O9@$Registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTML Local Storage
      LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEYUsed to track user’s interaction with embedded content.
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTTP Cookie
      LogsDatabaseV2:V#||LogsRequestsStoreUsed to track user’s interaction with embedded content.
      Maximum Storage Duration: PersistentType: IndexedDB
      nextIdUsed to track user’s interaction with embedded content.
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTTP Cookie
      remote_sidNecessary for the implementation and functionality of YouTube video-content on the website.
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTTP Cookie
      requestsUsed to track user’s interaction with embedded content.
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTTP Cookie
      ServiceWorkerLogsDatabase#SWHealthLogNecessary for the implementation and functionality of YouTube video-content on the website.
      Maximum Storage Duration: PersistentType: IndexedDB
      TESTCOOKIESENABLEDUsed to track user’s interaction with embedded content.
      Maximum Storage Duration: 1 dayType: HTTP Cookie
      VISITOR_INFO1_LIVETries to estimate the users' bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos.
      Maximum Storage Duration: 180 daysType: HTTP Cookie
      YSCRegisters a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTTP Cookie
      YtIdbMeta#databasesUsed to track user’s interaction with embedded content.
      Maximum Storage Duration: PersistentType: IndexedDB
      yt-remote-cast-availableStores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTML Local Storage
      yt-remote-cast-installedStores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTML Local Storage
      yt-remote-connected-devicesStores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video
      Maximum Storage Duration: PersistentType: HTML Local Storage
      yt-remote-device-idStores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video
      Maximum Storage Duration: PersistentType: HTML Local Storage
      yt-remote-fast-check-periodStores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTML Local Storage
      yt-remote-session-appStores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTML Local Storage
      yt-remote-session-nameStores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video
      Maximum Storage Duration: SessionType: HTML Local Storage
  • Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.

      We do not use cookies of this type.

Cross-domain consent[#BULK_CONSENT_DOMAINS_COUNT#] [#BULK_CONSENT_TITLE#]
List of domains your consent applies to: [#BULK_CONSENT_DOMAINS#]
Cookie declaration last updated on 6/16/25 by Cookiebot
[#IABV2_TITLE#]
[#IABV2_BODY_INTRO#]
[#IABV2_BODY_LEGITIMATE_INTEREST_INTRO#]
[#IABV2_BODY_PREFERENCE_INTRO#]
[#IABV2_BODY_PURPOSES_INTRO#]
[#IABV2_BODY_PURPOSES#]
[#IABV2_BODY_FEATURES_INTRO#]
[#IABV2_BODY_FEATURES#]
[#IABV2_BODY_PARTNERS_INTRO#]
[#IABV2_BODY_PARTNERS#]
About

CBS processes information about you in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. Read more about the processing of personal data in our privacy policy.

If at any time you wish to change your consent, then you can do so at this page.

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient.

The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission.

This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.

You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on our website.

Learn more about who we are, how you can contact us and how we process personal data in our Privacy Policy.

Please state your consent ID and date when you contact us regarding your consent.

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Business of Society

The Business of Society

  • Insights
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Connecting, Cohering, and Amplifying: The Work of Transformation Catalysts

17 September 2021
By Sandra Waddock, Steve Waddell

The shocking 2021 IPCC report on the climate emergency makes clearer than ever that many human systems are in dire need of significant change. Today’s harsh growth-oriented economic systems are particularly implicated in the growing chorus of demands for purposeful system transformation towards a flourishing world for all. Significant systemic transformation is needed to bring human activities in line with both social and planetary boundaries now being breached. That means that the way we think about economics, how our businesses operate, and even how communities and whole societies operate likely need to change – and radically.  

But transforming such whole systems – economies, societies, communities, even organizations – is incredibly hard. Transformation inherently involves fundamental changes to core aspects of a given system. Things like purposes, values, goals, important assessment metrics, and even the mindsets or paradigms of people in the system must change, whether the system to be transformed is an organization, economy, or society. Our research suggests that a new type of entity – transformation catalysts – may be able to help.

What is a transformation catalyst?

A chemical catalyst brings about a chemical reaction without necessarily changing itself. Used in a social sense, a catalyst is a person or thing that makes something new happen or precipitates change. In the spirit of any catalyst, a transformation catalyst works with the mix of different efforts and activities that already exist and that are geared towards significantly changing a system – transformation. When this mix of change efforts, which is usually fragmented with different activities operating in separate silos, is organized, it can become a transformation system. Organized as a transformation system, these activities can be much more effective at producing desired change.

The transformation catalyst’s role is to bring together an array of efforts so that together they can emerge or develop new ways to do their work more effectively – that is, operationalize the transformation system.

We like to say that transformation catalysts connect, cohere, and amplify transformation efforts that are already underway. Four catalytic actions make this coherence and amplification of efforts possible: seeing, sensemaking, connecting, and radical action and learning.

The four catalytic actions

Seeing means helping change agents figure out what their emerging transformation system is all about and who is doing what, where, and how. Seeing involves various forms of stakeholder analysis – figuring out who is in the system, which can use a variety of approaches, including interviews and mapping tools to identify key participants, resources, and system dynamics. Doing so helps participants identify where gaps and possibilities exist to create more effective action.

Sensemaking means creating a shared and coherent vision among various participants to, quite literally, make new sense of their actions and system, and tell new stories about it. These new, more powerful framings can have broad appeal to draw in other participants, raise funds, and create energy moving forward. Sensemaking also means helping participants understand how to pull together into a coherent transformation system so they can act in new ways to take more effective action.

Connecting is the process by which actors learn about each other and begin to devise new ways of acting more coherently together. Connecting involves aggregating, cohering, and, ultimately, amplifying efforts that may already be underway, but have not been as effective as desired to date. Connecting can mean creating a shared set of aspirations and identity and awareness of their own efforts as part of a broader transformation system. Then they can learn from those actions – the radical action and learning process.

Radical action and learning needs a safe space, so that participants in a transformation system can question, explore, analyze assumptions, and experiment with new ways of doing things that are transformative. Experimentation is crucial, since transformation is unpredictable by its very nature. Mistakes will be made, and things will not always work out as planned. Sometimes creating prototypes can be helpful, too, as a kind of testing ground for further action.

Catalyzing change through 1000 landscapes for 1 Billion people

One example that we describe in our paper is that of 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People. 1000 Landscapes is an initiative creating sustainable solutions by recognizing that long-term sustainability means emerging a shared foundation of land and water resources for all.

In its early stages, 1000 Landscapes consulted with more than two dozen landscape partnerships globally to figure out who was doing what (seeing). They identified what the barriers were to managing landscapes in new ways were (sensemaking).

1000 Landscapes is now building collaborative capacity for holistic landscape management in many different places, starting with an initial group of 20 and growing the number over time (connecting). Holistic land management means, as the initiative states on its website, “integrating action for food, water and health security, sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, climate action, and the transition to inclusive green economies” (sensemaking).

1000 Landscapes plans to expand to 50 areas in its second phase (amplifying). Its goal is reaching at least 1000 landscapes “meeting locally defined development and environmental goals, with benefits for over one billion people” by 2030 (amplifying and radical action). 1000 Landscapes even uses the language of catalysis to describe its work: “working in radical collaborations with dozens of organizations to catalyze system change”. It thereby “unlock[s] the transformative potential of inclusive landscape partnerships and to scale their impact”.

The mantra for transformation catalysts

The key to understanding transformation catalysts is knowing that they themselves are not doing the actual transformation work. Instead, they are helping to organize other change agents who are already doing that work in new ways so that they can become more effective. Indeed, they are helping them to become effective transformation systems with the potential to overcome the many inertial forces that hold systems in place.

Small, fragmented, individual efforts cannot achieve that type of scale impact. But the potential that transformation catalysts bring is the ability to bring those actors together in new ways. They can help change agents see and understand new, radical possibilities for transformative change if they can act coherently together. Then they can amplify their own efforts by figuring out where the gaps in their transformation efforts are, filling those, sharing resources when appropriate, and acting more effectively.

Connect, cohere, and amplify. That is the mantra for transformation catalysts.


Further readings

  • Waddock, S., and S. Waddell (2021). Transformation Catalysts: Weaving Transformational Change for a Flourishing World for All. Cadmus, 4(4), 165-182.
  • Lee, J.Y. and S. Waddock (2021). How Transformation Catalysts Take Catalytic Action. Sustainability, 13(17), 9813. 
CBS favicon

Sandra Waddock is Galligan Chair of Strategy, Carroll School Scholar of Corporate Responsibility, and Professor of Management at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

CBS favicon

Steve Waddell is founder and co-lead steward of Bounce Beyond, a transformation catalyst oriented to changing towards transforming towards next economies.


  • Newsletter
  • Linkedin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Primary Sidebar

The Business of Society

BOS is a research insights platform by the CBS Sustainability Centre to discuss, inspire and reflect on CSR and sustainability-related issues.

  • Newsletter
  • Linkedin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

The Business of Society

About

Explore

Blog

Podcast

Newsletter & Social Media

  • Newsletter
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Contact & Information

CBS Sustainability Centre
Copenhagen Business School
Dalgas Have 15
2000 Frederiksberg

sustainability@cbs.dk

Copyright © 2025 · Copenhagen Business School

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Impressum
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
Cookiebot session tracker icon loaded