Conscious-Business.org.uk

A home for the Conscious Business community in the UK


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The language of business

Had a very interesting chat with Reuben Turner of the Good Agency the other day.

As Reuben pointed out,  many of the ad men of Madison Avenue, that I have loved to watch on Mad Men, were returning to work from the Second World War, and they brought with them into advertising and marketing the language of war.

To this day we continue to use the language of targeting, for example. The idea is that we can select a target group of customers and then bombard them with our ideas and messages, until we win their hearts and minds and turn them to our point of view.

I have written about the language of business before. From a slightly different angle, Sam Keen said ‘Business is just warfare in slow motion’.

But it is fascinating to think how the language of war has spread so widely into business – presumably through the huge influence of advertising and marketing. In business we fight the competition, and our choice of terms such as goals, milestones, burning platforms and beachheads all smacks of struggle and the wrong kind of conflict.

It’s all about winning and losing. Business is only rarely about reparation, or giving.

This frame has been adopted in many market segments, and has also spread more widely into society and every day culture.

For example, we talk of the ‘battle against cancer’.  Poet Anthony Wilson writes about this. It would be interesting to try to track the spread of this language from the ad men into the pharmaceutical industry and then into medicine.

The rise of executive coaching doesn’t seem to have done much to halt this process. Senior managers are encouraged to set goals, and achieve their targets. Work life becomes something we all need to battle through. Ultimately we need to compete, and to win.

Of course, we can’t completely blame the ad men.

Psychologists also had remarkable influence on the thinking in Madison Avenue – as documented in Vance Parkard’s great book ‘The Hidden Persuaders‘. For example, how was it that spending rather than saving became the moral thing to do? Just how did consumerism arise?

But then these psychologists were also perhaps high on the apparent success of various psychological innovations (such as the development of personality typing) that arose during the Second World War.

And I suppose ultimately there is nothing wrong with having a frame. Any frame can be helpful, whether it is war, or sport or something else. We can use the language of a particular frame to distinguish and separate things and to make ourselves clear.

But I do think it is helpful to be aware of the frames we choose. This, for me, is at the core of Conscious Business.

For me, Conscious Business isn’t just about behaving ethically, and doing good. Nor is it just about ‘holism’ and everything being connected. It isn’t just about transparency, or personal responsibility, or even better communication.

It is all these things.

But for me, and it is a personal view, Conscious Business is really about trying to understand how we experience the world, and what effect that has on the results we create – both good and bad. It is about seeing our frames.

With that kind of consciousness comes choice. And that feels very worthwhile.


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Taking a day off – from selling

A couple of my colleagues and I went to an interesting talk on Friday by the excellent Anil Seth from the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex.

The event was hosted by the Headstrong Club, which has been debating the hot topics of the day since at least the 18th century, although it only more recently relaunched – in 1987.

Anil gave a very lively run through eight key areas that he and his colleagues are researching. I really liked the way his team are integrating recent technological advances such as virtual reality into their research – as with their VR version of the rubber hand illusion (here’s the background).

I am a sucker for this kind of thing, and also like the perceptual illusions which are often used to illustrate some of the surprising ways the brain works; I especially enjoyed Anil’s version of the amazing colour changing card trick.

But I don’t know if it was this talk or something else that meant I woke up this morning deeply aware that everyone is always selling something.

I respectfully include Anil, because actually one of the bits of his talk that most stuck in my mind was his answer to a question about which other key aspects of consciousness are worthy of research.

His perhaps only partly flippant answer was something like “those that attract funding”.

I liked this answer because it seemed to me to be an honest acknowledgement of that need that I also share – to be always selling.

There’s a probably apocryphal story of an academic and a salesman meeting at a party.

Quickly they engage in a debate around the value of each others’ profession. The story ends with the academic unconsciously proving the salesman’s point, by saying “Just give me 5 minutes and I’ll tell you why my profession is worth so much…”.

At its worst selling is a intrusion, a subtle form of violence. An attempt to manipulate someone into doing what they don’t want to do.

At its best it is a form of helping – a way of gently discovering what another person really needs and helping them gain it for themselves.

And I am not just talking about buying a physical product. I am also talking about ‘buying’ ideas. Selling is just as relevant to politicians and therapists.

So I suppose what I am really noticing this morning, and objecting to a little, is that desire in me to manipulate another.

And I am recognising the difficulty of staying in a place where I seek to get my own needs met, without having to persuade others to adopt my point of view.

And perhaps I am making a little plea? Could we all take a day off from trying to persuade others that we are right? Or that we have something that the other needs?

Let’s all just stop selling for the day, and see what happens.


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Preaching, fear and hopelessness – the holy trinity of resistance

If conscious business makes sense, why is it not more universally adopted?

If good or conscious businesses can be empirically shown to be more profitable, as more and more studies appear to show is the case; and if it can be shown that a more human approach to business makes the people who work in them happier, committed and fulfilled; then what is it that stops more people and businesses from embracing and adopting the principles willingly and gleefully?

Well, the first thing is simply knowing that there are other ways of doing things. That bad behaviour doesn’t have to be accepted under the guise of ‘that’s business’. That’s an awareness exercise.

But often what stops people is a simple case of resistance.

Human nature, by instinct, is very often naturally resistant to change, because there is a certain comfort in doing things the way you and other people have always done them, even if you don’t like the process or the outcomes. This can be put simply under the label of habit, and explains why people continue to smoke when they know and feel it does nothing for them.

And beyond that I also wonder if there other forces at play that might turn people off.

The first is hopelessness. If the size of the task or the change seems overwhelming, such as changing the nature of business, then starting the change alone can seem just a bit futile. (See climate change).

The second is preaching. From toddler to pensioner, no-one likes being told what to think and do, particularly if you’re being made to feel bad about what you have been doing.

That’s why all good engagement should start with a question – why should you, or anyone else, be interested in this? Or a story. That’s why the most famous preachers haven’t been preachers at all in the fear and damnation mould. They have been the more inspirational types, storytellers, the ones who help create a positive vision of the future. “I have a dream…”

And what is most prevalent in any stopping any form of change? An underlying sense of fear.

If I do this, because it’s against perceived wisdom or practice, what will happen? Will the world stop, will my customers and staff leave, will we make any money?

Fear is a very powerful emotion. Indeed it has been used for years as a sales tool to gain action. Sell your client a story based around fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) and you will scare them into action. But honestly, who wants to build a life or a career based around something as destructive as fear?

The truth is, the trick to overcoming  this holy trinity of resistance – hopelessness, preaching, and fear – is to challenge them wherever you find them, and share and create new practice and stories that inspire and reassure.


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Collecting our thoughts around conscious business for eO&P

As people show an interest in writing for the Winter edition of eO&P on Conscious Business it is striking how many different angles there are to the subject.  They are all important in their own way.

This poses both a risk and an opportunity.

On the one hand conscious business could mean anything to anyone – becoming buried in its own fuzzy well meaning. On the other, the number of avenues offers the possibility of making real sustainable change: change that we can look back on and say ‘this is the difference we have all made’.

A quick look at our list today includes subjects such as:

  • The role of the law in building and sustaining relationships in conscious business.
  • The impact that an enlightened approach to human resources can have.
  • Consciousness within capitalism.
  • Moving from straightforward management models to paying attention to long term sustaining ‘communities of influence’ to bring about change.
  • The role of forgiveness in how we manage to work together.

 There needs to be some centralising theme around which these different paths consciousness business can develop.  For us, in this edition of eO&P, this needs to be the interaction between ideas of conscious business and what happens on the ground to make this happen; in other words a ‘groundedness’ to consciousness business.  We especially want to hear what goes well and what doesn’t as people struggle with making an abstract ideal to a practical reality.

However, these are our thoughts today as we start the process of sourcing articles and editing eO&P, a process that will take several months.  In those months to come we will be sharing with you our consciousness as we work with these ideas and make sense of them with the authors.  In other words, it is consciousness in practice.

Rob Warwick and Pete Burden


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Conscious Business – Call for Papers

Pete Burden and I are the guest editors for the winter edition of eOrganisations & People (eO&P) on the subject of Conscious Business.  If you would like to write a paper for the journal we would very much like to hear from you.

We are looking at papers from practitioners, academics, consultants – basically anyone who has anything thoughtful to say.  One angle that we are particularly interested in centres around the challenges people face in making conscious business a part of their day-to-day reality.

Writing is not just about writing.  We are looking for this edition of eO&P to develop into further action and gatherings.  We don’t know what this might look like yet.  That is something that we will develop with authors and collaborators.

About conscious business

There are many definitions, but features we are drawn to include:

  • being profitable but with more than just financial goals
  • delivering value to a wide set of stakeholders
  • providing a safe place for human development and growth
  • where all involved have the power to influence outcomes
  • where transparency, communication and awareness are paramount

About eO&P

eO&P Is the journal of the AMED, the Association of Management Educators and Developers (Hyperlink to: http://www.amed.org.uk/) in the UK.  It is a quarterly journal written for both practitioners and academics who are involved in management and leadership development.

Interested? Please contact us or click here for more information.


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Book review: Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia

Here’s a review I wrote for Amazon. I think I could probably write several reviews of this book – there’s such a lot in it. But here is a snapshot:

This is a great book.

I must declare a bias: I am a real fan of the ideas presented here, and I have met one of the authors.

But trying to put that to one side, I still think it is a great book.

It is very thorough, very complete, and like my colleague Will McInnes’ book Culture Shock: A Handbook For 21st Century Business it is full of practical advice and suggestions on building a different type of business.

It is clearly written, full of good stories and quotes. It also seems to include a good measure of honesty – as when John Mackey describes the problems he had with the SEC.

It is ideological, yes, but I think that is what we need right now. There’s a lot of talk in business about disruption, and how business should respond, but this book sets out the beginnings of an intellectual and emotional framework for business in the 21st century.

Umair Haque’s Betterness: Economics for Humans (Kindle Single) also comes to mind.

After an introduction, which aims to reset the narrative of business, the book is broken into several sections on making practical changes to the way a business works:

– Higher Purpose
– Stakeholder Integration
– Conscious Leadership
– Conscious Culture and Management

The book pulls together a lot of thinking from a range of very diverse sources. That is the whole point I suppose: to bring topics such as economics, sustainability, business management, psychology and systems thinking together. Indeed, the authors aren’t afraid to mix words like love and care in with the kind of terminology (innovation, collaboration, decentralisation) you will read in many modern books on business management.

There are lots of practical examples and stories from Whole Foods Market. That company is obviously better known in the US than the UK, and there is a notable lack of any European examples (John Lewis, the Co-op, Cadburys etc). But as founder and CEO, John Mackey has been through most of the major decisions that need to be made in setting up and growing a large, listed company.

Once or twice I had a bit of a sharp intake of breath.

The term “free-enterprise capitalism” personally reminds me of “free market capitalism”, in the style of Reagan and Thatcher. Something to which I have an instinctive and somewhat negative reaction. But, after a moment, I reminded myself to suspend a little, remember that I am not an economic theorist or expert, and read on.

And their real point is that capitalism generally has given itself a very bad name with the people who should be supporting it – those of us who believe in freedom for individuals and also in sharing, giving etc.

The other slight intake of breath came when Margaret Thatcher is listed amongst a list of leaders with high integrity, including Gandhi and other personal heroes. Again personally, I found this hard to take.

But again the truth is this is probably more about my biases and prejudices than anything else. And a good book, I believe, should challenge one’s thinking, not just confirm one’s prejudices. I resolved to dig out a biography and do some deeper research.

The book ends with sections on starting a conscious business, and transforming to become one.

An appendix covers the business case for Conscious Capitalism – including reference to Raj Sisodia’s work on Firms of Endearment and a comparison with the “Good to Great” companies. This, in my view, is a very strong and compelling financial case.

Another appendix gives a very useful list of similar, related approaches (such as sustainable business, B-corporations etc), and explains why conscious capitalism is different.

In a final section, which contains a call to action, I was pleased to see a reference to Tom Paine, author of Common Sense and the Rights of Man. These, at the time, were seditionary works. They stirred people up.

This book is similar – some will hate it, but the mixture of emotion and intellect is powerful. Which is important, because, as the authors say, there’s no time to waste.

Overall, this is a manifesto for a new type of business. Or, if you simply want to find out what Conscious Capitalism and Conscious Business are all about, this is a great starting point.

It is a big book as well as a great book. It will take you a while to read. But in my view it is really worth the effort.


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Learn-Learn

I have always liked, and disliked, the term “win-win”.

I guess I heard it first from Stephen Covey, or at least that was when I first ‘got’ it. The concept appears widely in both popular and serious business books. I have been known to bandy it around myself with clients – and even use it at home with the kids (much to their amusement).

The term has developed, of course. The most recent version I have seen is from John Mackey’s and Raj Sisodia’s great book on Conscious Capitalism – Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business.

Raj and John use the term Win6 – they use a superscript 6 to signify the 6 different stakeholders of a business.

They mean a refusal by a business person to accept a trade-off (or a “win-lose”) in every one of 6 domains:

  • with customers
  • with employees
  • with suppliers
  • with investors
  • with communities
  • and with the environment

I particularly like the idea that any business person has a choice (Covey made the same point, I think) to either seek a win-lose, or seek a win-win. In fact, I think we may face that choice many times a day.

Hopefully, we choose the win-win. Even though, as Raj and John seem to suggest, seeking a win-win, or a win-win-win, or even a Win6, may be harder work in the short-term. Finding solutions that help more than one stakeholder may require much creativity and innovation.

I guess most of us involved in Conscious Business buy in to the idea that in the long-term that effort will be amply rewarded.

In fact, I think many business people, especially people running smaller and medium-sized businesses, do take a win-win approach.

Raj and John are simply suggesting we expand that approach – to multiple stakeholders.

But back to my dislike.

I suppose it is partly because win-win has been so well parodied over the years, in comical take-offs of business people. The husband in the brilliant “Little Miss Sunshine” comes to mind.

But maybe it is also partly to do with my approach to life? I am definitely more comfortable with learn-learn. That is an easier choice for me – to promote learning, amongst colleagues, and clients.

Although, now of course, I need to promote that to Learn6.


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Christmas Message

Dear Conscious Business members,

Merry Christmas to one and all, below is a little update about the year we’ve had and the the year ahead as things start to warm up in the mainstream business world around Conscious Business. So if you want to know more read below while enjoying a mince pie (not provided).

There is definitely more mainstream momentum, and we’re finding that the Meetup groups (below) are a great place to develop real world CB practice and also to form great and mutually beneficial relationships.

Jamie, Lasy, Pete & Ray

What’s Happened?

In March this year when we decided to start the CB meetup groups and the LinkedIn forum, it was a bit of an unknown, but we thought, what the hell, let’s just do some and see what happens. We’re so glad we did. The idea was to create a welcoming place to bring together people who share a different vision for business, share ideas, learn practical skills and get a movement started.

The success of the Brighton group we started in April gave us encouragement to form the London group in July and we now edge closer to 200 members in the meetup group, about 120 in the LinkedIn forums, with nearly 30 people regularly attending in Brighton and between 15 and 20 regularly in London.

Most rewardingly, we’re seeing business ideas and working relationships forming around shared values, self development, embedding CB practice in some organisations and having a lot of fun along the way too. We’ve started a wiki  as a means of capturing ideas, practice and knowledge and have some great plans for 2013 to develop all of these things further, thanks to the energy and contribution of people in the group so watch this space and feel free to get involved, your energy is what keeps us afloat.

What’s Next?

As with any movement it’s about spreading the word too. We would like you to think about whether the meetups might be a good place to bring other like-minded business colleagues, associates, and even clients. There’s a huge amount that can happen when people meet. We’re also very grateful for any volunteers offering workshops or talks at the meetings. The ones we’ve just done with Rob and others were great and we had some great feedback from you all too.

We have some new developments lined up for 2013, more talks and insight initially from Tom Nixon and Nate Whitestone, we might even convince Ray to get us ‘doing something different’, but a community is about participation and incorporating ideas from everyone. If you have something to share with the group that you think might be helpful, we want to hear your voice. We’re always also looking for ways to improve, so please don’t be shy. Feedback has shaped many of the changes we’ve made to date and there are lots of ways you can contribute and be heard at the bottom of this message.

Once again, here’s to a great new year, Jamie, Pete, Lasy & Ray.

PS if you want to get (more) involved here are ways you can:

Meetup

If you’re not registered on the Meetup site – but want to get notifications of future meetings – please register here: http://www.meetup.com/consciousbusinessuk/

LinkedIn

If you’re not already on the LinkedIn forum, please join in here. http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4403257&trk=hb_side_gIf you’re already a member, please post thoughts and questions – there’s a real resource there in all the members.

Wiki

If you’ve not looked at the wiki – take a look now, and consider adding something as a contributor, again this can be our knowledge base for furthering our ideals. http://consciousbusiness.wikidot.com/

Blog

Fancy sharing something on the blog: http://conscious-business.co.uk/

Your Initiative?

<Your idea for something that might move the movement further might fit right here! Why not try something?>


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Keep it clean

JR Ewing is dead.

Actually Larry Hagman is dead, and I always had a soft spot for him. But I understand the JR character for many epitomises the amoral, covetous and above all selfish worst of the archetypal fat cat business leader.

Selfishness is a theme than seems to be the back story behind much of the discourse around business and capitalism. Surely ‘fat cats’ are selfish? Isn’t the entrepreneurial dream of success a selfish journey? Isn’t business about selfishly taking what you want for yourself?

Indeed, selfishness may seem downright wrong to those who think that Conscious Business is all about doing things for others.

But contrary to this, talking to a friend the other day, I was reminded of how much I do things because I am trying to please. There’s a sense, nearly always at the back of my mind, of trying to help, to support, and to put right, to mend, to solve. I suppose that’s understandable given how I make a living, and perhaps explains it.

That statement – “I am trying to please…” – raised a question for me. Exactly who am I trying to please?

The answer was not immediately obvious. It has taken a lot of soul searching for me to realise that very often I am seeking to please other people. Parents, siblings, old friends, and various derivatives thereof.

And that has been big for me – to realise that much of my effort goes into giving to others who are actually long gone. Who might not want that particular burden anyway. And, therefore, that my selfless giving may not be quite so noble after all.

So, in praise of selfishness, I will from now on do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it. I will ignore the ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts’ of the typical day. I will enjoy the moment. Give myself what I need, when I need it.

In the words of Joseph Campbell I will follow my bliss.


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The Sustainability Opportunity

The horrendous Jimmy Savile story has recently entered a new phase: towards criticism of the institutions – the BBC, the hospitals, the Department of Health – that allowed him to operate with such impunity.

All across those organisations I imagine people are now asking themselves how they let this happen. And I can hear the reply: “it was just how it was back then” or “I didn’t know what I could do” or “I just went along with it because it was the ‘culture’ of the day”.

This issue of conformity has come up before in this blog – reflecting similar examples from different fields: for example, institutional racism. The ability of any organisation – like the police, for example – to confuse itself, to collude amongst its members, to “sleep-walk”.

History provides, of course, many even worse examples of self-delusion amongst groups.

The Solomon Asch studies – video here – are shocking to watch. They demonstrate, to me at least, how powerful these effects are. I am pretty sure that if I was the young man in the second video, I too would have gone along.

I have also often seen this kind of sleep-walking in the businesses where I have worked.

In large and in small businesses alike I have seen management (and the staff) sleep-walk into a worse and worse situation. “Wake-up” I want to shout. Sometimes I do shout that 🙂 Sometimes it works. And sometimes not. The zombies sleep on. Walking over the cliff.

And I also worry that I am doing it right now.

Perhaps twenty years from now someone will finally blow the whistle on the biggest scandals of our generation, in a way that sticks. The things we know, but now ignore, will suddenly rise painfully into consciousness.

How, for example, at the beginning of the 21st century did we collectively dream our way through one of humanity’s greatest disasters – the completely avoidable deaths of millions and millions of people – through the wanton destruction of our environment, and by allowing starvation and curable disease to kill men, women and children at unbelievable rates?

Today, in case you were asleep, 30% of the world’s population don’t have access to essential medicines. 13% of people in the world are undernourished. (Source: Oxfam.)

That day, when we all wake up, I, like all of us, will probably try to justify my behaviour and say “it was just how it was back then” or “I didn’t know what I could do” or “I just went along with it because it was the ‘culture’ of the day”.

There is an argument that this is just part of the human condition. That our failure is inevitable – because we, as humans, are flawed.

But, personally, I think that is only one side of the argument. I do think it is important to accept that we are human and we do make these mistakes. All the time. We are weak.

But it is also, in my view, important to recognise that we are strong and able to do something about all this.

Of course, lots of people are doing things. I really like this recent approach by Oxfam – the doughnut – a simple, graphical model that allows us to contemplate the complexity of a world threatened by multiple environmental disasters and by multiple social and human ills.

I like the model because it is simple. But I also like what it doesn’t show: that as long as businesses operate within the doughnut there is huge scope for innovation and creativity of all kinds. For prosperity and a meeting of needs.

That to me is to the great opportunity presented to business in this sometimes difficult world.