Gross Relational Potential (GRP): Reimagining How We Measure Value

Introduction: Beyond GDP
Gross Relational Potential (GRP) represents a fundamental reimagining of how we measure progress and value creation. While Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has served as the primary economic scorecard since the 1940s, it captures only transactional exchanges and fails to account for the quality of relationships between humans and between humans and other species. GRP offers a complementary measurement system that values the energy and potential that exists in the spaces between us.

As Jack Manning Bancroft explains: "Gross relational potential is our way of trying to look in and measure the value of the space in between each node in a network. So between two humans, what is the energy current that moves between those two humans? What is that worth?"

‍The Historical Context
GDP emerged from a single paper written in the 1940s during World War II, when production-focused metrics served the immediate need to mobilise resources for war efforts. Within ten years, over 80 countries had adopted GDP as their primary national scorecard. However, the context that made GDP useful massive industrial production and resource mobilisation no longer reflects our current challenges or opportunities.Today's context demands different measurements. We're not trying to produce as many cars or extract as much oil as possible. Instead, we face complex systemic challenges that require collaborative intelligence, regenerative relationships with nature, and sustainable approaches to human flourishing. GRP provides measurement frameworks appropriate for this evolved context.

Two Core Dimensions of Relational Value
1. Human-to-Human Relational Value

GRP measures the energy and potential that flows between human beings in relationship.

This includes:
‍Individual Relationship Quality: The depth of connection, trust, and collaborative capacity between any two people. When human energy and spirit are elevated through quality relationships, what happens to our collective capacity to solve problems and create positive change?
‍Network Effects: How relationships compound across communities and organizations. A single high-quality relationship can catalyse dozens of other connections, creating exponential value that traditional economics cannot capture.
‍Cultural and Social Capital: The accumulated wealth of relationships, knowledge sharing, and collaborative capacity within communities. This represents enormous untapped value that current economic systems consistently undervalue or ignore entirely.Example: When Vitali Nwamondo's energy was up in his community in Venda, South Africa, "he has social mobility. He can create relationships with people. He can lift the energy currents in a town and he can create movement." This relational energy has measurable economic and social value that GDP cannot capture.2. Human-to-Nature Relational ValueThe second dimension of GRP measures the quality and potential of relationships between humans and the more-than-human world:Ecosystem Health Relationships: How human activities enhance rather than degrade natural systems. This includes regenerative agriculture, ecosystem restoration, and economic models that increase biodiversity and ecological resilience.Species-to-Species Collaboration: Developing formal relationships with other species as knowledge holders and partners rather than resources to be extracted. This includes Indigenous approaches to learning from and with plants, animals, and landscapes.Custodial Economics: Economic systems based on long-term stewardship rather than short-term extraction. These relationships create sustainable value streams that can persist across generations.The $125 Trillion Nature-Centered EconomyGRP positioning recognizes that we're operating within a vast nature-centered economy estimated at $125 trillion globally. This represents the total value of ecosystem services, natural capital, and regenerative economic opportunities. Currently, most of this value remains uncaptured by traditional economic measurements, representing massive untapped potential.Everything is Nature-Centered: Every product, service, and economic activity ultimately depends on natural systems. Computers, clothing, food, and infrastructure all derive from planetary resources. By excluding the value of relationships with the 7 million other species we share Earth with, current economic models artificially inflate profit margins while externalizing costs.The $800 Billion Nature Repair Market: The World Economic Forum has identified an $800 billion market specifically for ecosystem restoration and regenerative practices. GRP provides frameworks for measuring success in these markets beyond simple financial returns.Cultural Indicator Species: GRP incorporates Indigenous measurement approaches, including the use of cultural indicator species—keystone species whose health reflects the overall wellbeing of ecosystems. These biological indicators provide sophisticated data about relational health between human activities and natural systems.Measurement MethodologiesThe Message Stick SystemWorking with Indigenous Knowledge Systems Labs and Tyson Yunkaporta, IMAGI-NATION has developed the Message Stick—an Indigenous-designed measurement system that visualizes relational data. This carved measurement tool will become open-source, allowing organizations to input data that illuminates relational health patterns.The Message Stick captures complexity that spreadsheets and traditional metrics cannot represent, including:Seasonal and cyclical patterns in relationship healthIntergenerational impacts of current decisionsMulti-species relationship dynamicsCultural and spiritual dimensions of valueCultural Indicator Species MethodologyDrawing from Indigenous knowledge systems, GRP uses cultural indicator species to assess the health of human-nature relationships:Keystone Species Monitoring: Tracking the health of species that play crucial roles in ecosystem function. Their wellbeing reflects the overall health of human-nature relationships in specific bioregions.Traditional Ecological Knowledge Integration: Incorporating thousands of years of Indigenous observation and relationship with particular species and landscapes.Reciprocal Relationship Tracking: Measuring how human activities enhance rather than degrade the conditions necessary for other species to thrive.Practical ApplicationsOrganizational ImplementationCompanies implementing GRP measurement discover new forms of value creation:Employee wellbeing improvements translate to measurable increases in innovation and productivityCommunity relationship investments create business opportunities and social license to operateEnvironmental stewardship activities often reduce costs while creating ecosystem valueCommunity DevelopmentCommunities using GRP frameworks can:Value traditional knowledge and cultural practices economicallyMeasure social cohesion and community resilienceTrack environmental health through cultural indicator speciesPlan development that enhances rather than degrades relational wealthPolicy and GovernanceGRP provides policymakers with tools to:Expand economic measurement beyond GDP to include relational healthMake decisions that consider long-term relational impactsValue Indigenous knowledge and traditional ecological relationshipsCreate incentives for regenerative rather than extractive activitiesIntegration with Traditional EconomicsGRP is designed to complement rather than replace GDP, providing crucial context that current measurements miss:Enhanced Context: Like expanding a fist into an open hand, GRP provides the relational context within which traditional economic activities occur.Policy Integration: GRP metrics can be incorporated into government policy frameworks, creating incentives for activities that build rather than degrade relational wealth.Business Applications: Organizations can use GRP alongside traditional financial metrics to make decisions that optimize for long-term sustainability and stakeholder value.Challenges and DevelopmentCurrent LimitationsGRP measurement is still experimental and faces several challenges:Methodological development: Creating reliable, consistent measurement approaches across diverse contextsCultural sensitivity: Ensuring Indigenous knowledge is appropriately honored and protectedScale and standardization: Developing frameworks that work across different scales and culturesIntegration complexity: Connecting relational measurements with existing financial systemsOngoing ResearchIMAGI-NATION's 10-year research program aims to develop:Standardized measurement protocols that can be adopted by governments and organizationsOpen-source tools that make GRP measurement accessible globallyCase studies demonstrating the practical value of relational measurementIntegration frameworks connecting GRP with existing economic systemsThe Vision ForwardBy the end of IMAGI-NATION's decade-long experiment, the goal is to provide nation-states with a methodology for measuring Gross Relational Potential that can be adopted alongside GDP. Just as one person's 1940s paper became the global economic standard within ten years, GRP represents an attempt to establish measurement systems appropriate for the challenges and opportunities of our current era.Systemic Transformation: When we measure what matters—the health of our relationships with each other and with the living systems that sustain us—we create incentives for activities that regenerate rather than degrade our collective wellbeing.Future Potential: GRP opens possibilities for economic systems that create wealth through relationship building, ecosystem restoration, and collaborative intelligence rather than extraction and competition.Legacy Planning: By developing open-source measurement tools and methodologies, the GRP framework will persist beyond IMAGI-NATION's organizational lifespan, providing permanent infrastructure for valuing relational wealth."We can create at the very least a parallel set of measurements that can enhance the context around GDP... gross relational potential... the value of the space in between each node in a network." - Jack Manning BancroftGRP represents humanity's attempt to account for what has always been our greatest source of wealth: the quality of our relationships with each other and with the living world that sustains us all.