Professor Weslynne Ashton Published in Harvard Business Review

In her latest Harvard Business Review article, “For Circular Economy Innovation, Look to the Global South,” Weslynne Ashton shares a fresh perspective on where breakthrough thinking happens. While climate disasters intensify across the globe, she argues that the most promising circular economy innovations aren’t emerging from traditional design powerhouses—they’re coming from communities in the Global South that have long practiced resourcefulness by necessity.

This kind of systems thinking—looking beyond the obvious to discover all the forces at work on any given challenge—is exactly what we help students, businesses, and organizations practice at ID. Professor Ashton’s work reminds us that the best solutions often come from expanding our perspectives and learning from diverse approaches to design.

Weslynne Ashton is a Professor of Environmental Management and Sustainability at the Institute of Design and the Stuart School of Business at Illinois Tech. She is also Co-Director of ID’s Food Systems Action Lab.

Weslynne was recognized by the 2025 Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Awards and featured on the HBR On Strategy podcast in June 2025 following her masterclass at HBR’s Leaders Who Make a Difference conference.

Read her full article in Harvard Business Review.