Field Notes: Circularity is a series where I share inspirations from the people actually making circularity work.
Recently I spoke with a circularity front-runner in the automotive industry — someone who has made it work in practice, not just talked about it. Three things stayed with me.
1. Circularity has to live inside the business — literally in the org chart
Not as a separate central function off to the side, but where products, sales and business decisions actually happen.
Where circularity sits on the org chart shapes which conversations it becomes part of — and which decisions it can influence. Placed inside the business, it’s part of the discussion. Placed outside it, it’s forever knocking on the door.
2. Give circularity one business logic, not a competing one
This is where a lot of friction disappears.
If sales is measured on new-product sales while circularity is measured on reuse, refurbishment or services, the two naturally pull in different directions. But put them in the same business unit, with one shared result and one P&L, and the question changes.
It is no longer:
“Do we sell a new product or a circular service?”
It becomes:
“What creates the most value for the business?”
3. For buy-in, start small and short-term
Circularity is often presented as a huge, long-term transformation. This front-runner took the opposite approach: start with small projects that can deliver visible results quickly.
Those early wins create something more valuable than another strategy presentation — confidence:
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Confidence that the approach works.
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Confidence that the business can do it.
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Confidence to take on the next, bigger project.
You earn the ambition. You don’t start with it.
The thread running through all three
Circularity works when it is embedded in the business — structurally, economically and culturally — not bolted onto it.
I hope these field notes help you move one step further in your own circularity journey.