History

Oikos was first founded by me (Nick Mayhew) in 1996, thanks to support from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Its purpose at that time was to bring a creative and radical contribution to the evolving field of corporate social responsibility and Oikos employed various people engaged in innovative work to that end.

At the heart of this work was an early version of the presentation ‘Tall, Dark, Handsome and No.1’ which, over the years, has featured at the events/venues listed here.

This work was complemented by research and writing – including articles such as the Financial Times’ review of Shell’s first corporate social responsibility report in 1997.
In 2000, Oikos became largely dormant, while I focused full-time on developing the personal and group process skills, as well as the organisational consulting experience, required to serve ambitious institutional change in an increasingly rigorous and effective way.

Meanwhile, I continued to develop ‘Tall, Dark, Handsome and No.1’ into a more sophisticated offering – teaching each year on the increasingly influential Bath University Management School MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice and being invited to deliver sessions to organisations such as the World Bank.

Oikos has recently been re-launched as a response to the increasingly urgent social and ecological challenges of our time - in the context of an unprecedented financial crisis, promising considerable social and economic restructuring ahead.