Much of the first part of my adult life was spent in and around business, including one of the largest professional firms in the world (it’s also one with, I think, the longest name in the professional world). I learned a huge amount and was a great period of my life. But ultimately there was something missing and it took me a long time to figure out what it was.
I still spend a lot of time around business people and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard them tell me they cannot be fully themselves at work, because that’s just not how business operates. I’ve heard so many laments about the work place lacking authenticity, compassion and love.
In short, the full range of humanity is rarely encouraged in the corporate world.
In ‘Heart of Business‘ I explored what might be some of the factors behind this and then I got to wondering in more detail what might a ‘compassionate business‘ look like?
Here’s what I came up with and I’d really like to hear your thoughts on it.
1 Purpose
A compassionate business is clear about its purpose and how it peacefully contributes to the world. Its actions are always informed by and measured against this.
Ask many people what’s the purpose of the business they work in and most will reply ‘making money’.
I just don’t believe it – it’s a myth we’ve grown up with. Many businesses have sadly lost sight of their purpose and how their existence benefits mankind as a whole. They’ve come to believe that it’s all about money.
Every successful and sustainable organisation has a purpose – a reason to exist – beyond the profit motive. If making money is truly the only purpose then I don’t believe a business will survive long. It’s just not possible to fool enough people for long enough that they’re getting something of value when they’re not. Sure, it’s possible to trick people long enough to make some quick money (maybe even a lot of it) but really, what’s the point?
It’s all about making the world a better place. It might be hard to find and may take some digging around, but I believe it’s there, lurking under the day to day pressures to bring in revenue and cut costs.
Long term success can only come when a business exists to provide value, makes people’s lives better, and serves some human needs without being at the cost of others. And if the business as a whole is crystal clear about it, then the day to day work itself becomes far more meaningful for those working inside.
2 Decision making
A compassionate business involves people in decisions that affect them.
For me it’s a fundamental human need to be involved and heard in decisions that have an impact on me. It’s one of the foundations of the democratic tradition many of us hold so dear.
Yet we’ve got used to being told what to do and to allow others to make decisions for us.
Dependency has no real place in the life of a mature adult. We expect to have a say in many areas of our lives yet put up with the opposite in much of our working lives. I think it’s habit and largely a relic from our childhood when we relied on our parents to decide (even then we didn’t like it much of the time). It appears in business as the myth of ‘boss knows best’.
Many businesses make some attempt to involve workers in the name of ‘empowerment’ or other such things. A compassionate business will open up decision making all the way and include all those affected by a decision. It doesn’t mean that decisions won’t be delegated, it doesn’t mean that difficult decisions will be avoided but it will mean the basic desire we all have for control over the direction of our lives will be honoured.
3 Hierarchy
A compassionate business will value equally each and every employee. Structure will be used purely as a functional tool to help order complexity.
I think we all want to be treated as human beings – with respect, understanding and an appreciation for the unique contribution we each make to the world.
In many organisations people carry a label and a place in a hierarchical structure. Often they get seen for position first and for their humanity second. The functional need for structure often gets mixed up with the ego desire for status and power.
The organisation I worked for was more human friendly than most. Even so I was treated very differently when my label changed (because of promotion) from ‘Manager’ to ‘Senior Manager’. My voice was listened to more, I had greater privileges, more money, involved in more confidential matters and more highly respected. I felt that I was more valuable and important – and was treated that way – yet I was exactly the same person. All that changed was one word attached to my name.
A label does give some indication of experience and breadth of perspective. ‘Senior’ indicated I had more of the big picture, was less involved in day to day affairs and internally could make more expensive decisions. It didn’t make me – Ian Peatey – more important or valuable as a human being.
A compassionate business will not only recognise people according to their experience, capability and breadth or depth of view – but value them equally as human beings. Hierarchy will be minimal and used solely for ordering the complex web of relationships and organisation.
4 Duties and Responsibilities
Things will only be done in a compassionate business if they serve a purpose, add value to the world and are done willingly and freely.
Most businesses operate around roles and job descriptions. If you do what your boss tells you, carry out your duties, fulfil your tasks and meet your goals then you’ll get paid. Do it consistently and you might even get promoted.
There’s little room in most workplaces to freely decide if you want to do something or not. In turn that probably means many activities are not done ‘willingly’ but done because ‘that’s what the job requires‘.
I often hear ‘ … but there are some things that just have to be done. If you give freedom to people then nothing will get done.‘
I have two responses to this.
First, yes, there are some things that need to be done that are not enjoyable. But most of us seem to manage quite well outside work to attend to these kind of things quickly and efficiently.
Second, I wonder how many of these things that are effectively ‘forced’ at work, are in fact serving life. My experience was many things I did were to feed the egos of those higher in the organisation or, more likely, were just a waste of time.
A compassionate business will liberate it’s workers from the ‘duty and responsibility’ mindset and will cull all activities that do not contribute directly to fulfilling the purpose of the business.
5 Competition
A compassionate business will compete to be the best that it can, respecting and valuing those with whom it competes.
Competition can be a wonderfully creative force to improve performance. It can also be a terribly destructive force.
As I see it, the key differentiation is the attitude I take towards my competitor. Destructive competition channels energy into winning whatever the cost and irrespective of the consequences. Winning is about beating the competition – making ‘the enemy’ lose.
There’s another approach to competition which is about channelling the energy into being the best I can. I use my competitor to help me measure how good I am and to raise my own game beyond what I would do on my own. Winning is about performing better than I did yesterday. It’s respectful to my competitor as an ally not as an enemy.
What have been your experiences in business?
Are there compassionate businesses out there or is it all cut and thrust?
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I love the idea of compassionate business, and I believe that there are a few of them out there. However, I have never been fortunate enough to work for one. I think the larger the corporation, the less-likely it is to be “compassionate’ to either it’s employees or the world at large. Certainly there are exceptions to the rule, but the sad truth is that most corporations only exist to make money. Whatever value they provide is done only to increase the bottom line. Very rarely is there any other motive involved.
I agree that it seems that way. Pick up any financial paper and it’s all about deals and profits and results. Rarely about what the companies actually do to make the world a better place. But – I still think that’s because they’ve lost the plot and gone off the script. Most businesses set out to provide a product or service that has a value and makes the world a better place. Problem is that once they get successful that goes to their head and they get greedy and want more. And then the purpose of producing quality and value gets lost in the chase for profit. Businesses need to make a profit. That should be the result and the means to produce more – not the whole reason for being.
Most of my professional experience has been in the legal field, so NO. Not so much with the “compassionate”.
I’ve met many warm and loving lawyers. It’s a bit of a mystery to me why they transform when they enter the office.
Well expressed, and compassion wraps the brainstorming I see here, which made this entry a pleasure to read.
I did think, too, about the idea of compassionate business. Then I reminisced abit about people in my life who have indulged in the business workforce. They too, have given answers like “I do this for money, why else” kind of thing. And I remember thinking to myself “this person is such a compassionate humanitarian, when she’s not talking about work, or is working in her business” …. And, I’ve always been trained to choose a career that channels “who I am”. And I am my feelings, my connection to others in the world.
All this by way of saying, this person who I know, who is a compassionate humanitarian when not working is now looking for a new job. We spoke the other day. She says:
Her: ” I want to work in imports and exports, market products of demand in one country and show them how they can use it proficiently”.
Me: “Oh, in other words, provide people with their needs”.
Her:” … yeah…”
Then, I thought to myself, this is so much like her, when we hang around as friends she makes sure everyone is taken care of, even if at a party or at a social gathering.
All this by way of saying, take what exists and rephrase it to the compassionate business man or woman. Put it in different words so it looks like they’ve changed the world over, when in fact, they’re seeing the same thing, in different ways.
My take, best wishes,
Quest
Hi Quest. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I like this idea of rephrasing what people say – and seeing beyond the words. It reminds me of a couple of years ago I was at dinner and the guy I was sitting next to was going on and on about making money and his plans to make as much as possible. It was really annoying me and I stopped myself from attacking and instead asked him why it was so important. That was quite hard for me because I really saw him as a shark with no soul. He told me how much he’d always dreamed of having a huge family with lots of kids, and while he was young he wanted to be able to save enough so that he’d be able to provide them with a nice home and good education. That really shook me and since then I’ve seen people who talk this way in a new light.
Hi Ian,
Oh man, every time I have something really cool to say, Jay’s already said it.
Really, though, I think there are some really great, compassionate businesses out there. My favorite is Patagonia, they are a US company, which started out as a climbing store. The person who started the company, Yvon Chouinard, wrote an awesome book called, “Let my people go surfing.” I highly recommend it.
All of my experiences as an employee in business (big and small), other than my own, have ended with a certain sadness and disdain for the corporate machine.
I have hope, though, that things will continue to evolve towards compassion and humanity.
Thanks for another great read.
Yes .. that Jay. Always getting the first word and always cool!
I absolutely agree there are some great companies out there. And some really interesting approaches to doing business. You might have heard of Semco? I recommend the books written by the CEO (Ricardo Semler) – they’re great stuff.
I’m with you on the hoping.
Business is a relationship and like any other relationship trust is important. There are also expectations and reciprocal responses. Putting a heart into business will guarantee its success. It shouldn’t focus on profit, instead it should be on connecting with other humans for the equal benefits of all. As what’s been stated above: compassionate business.
Walter .. thanks for the great summary! I couldn’t have put it better myself.
It’s funny how the universe works…a similar thought had been on my mind earlier today. In my experience many companies-corporations are not operating as a compassionate business.
My recent experience was with a corporation, working as low man on the totem pole-so to speak- was the numbers game. “Make x amount of sales, spend X amount of time with the client, do not offer any assistance beyond x premise.”
The result-it’s time to move on and provide value to others. Excellent post!!!
Sounds like it’s definitely time to move on! It’s also my experience that most are not compassionate. People are .. but put them together in a business and often something very strange happens to make them lose their hearts. No idea why.
At my first and longest job, was robot girl. Pretty cool and it was all business. I never interacted with too many people in my department, maybe I was in safe mode, I found by observing that too much gossip and back stabbing was going on.
I never have experienced a compassionate company but I think I am inclined to make sure as our business grows that is compassionate. I think it is very important to remember that people are people and have a life outside of work.
Robot girl? Sounds cool in a manga kind of way .. but I don’t think that’s what you meant! Definitely keep your business compassionate. The world needs it and I’m certain it’s the key to success.
Your ideal of business is a wonderful thing Ian, and there are businesses out there that are heading in this direction, but I think that as long as there are profits to be had then the vast majority of business will run after them.
Ultimately our current model of business is not sustainable in the long term, and I don’t just mean environmentally. It would be very interesting to see the world in 100, 500, 1000 years time. I doubt our current model of business will be around then, I suspect it would have self-destructed!
I sometimes wonder what the world will look in the distant future. For sure we haven’t evolved any of our institutions (business, government, education, health etc.) to the point where we can honestly say we’ve reached the peak of potential. Not even close in fact.
Hi Ian, a big and important topic.
In some places it is legislated that the purpose of business is to make money. For those with a more enlightened agenda this can lead to tensions.
I think the decision making habits have more to do with schooling than parents. (In my observation children develop skill in manipulating their parents.)
The things that ‘have to be done’ are usually OK by some and not others. I hate details some of my friends love them. It’s rare that a job is universally hated.
The compassionate businesses I know of are overwhelmingly non-profit and usually religiously based. (Perhaps this is a strong enough identification to break the power of identifying with money.) I have spend almost no time in the standard corporate world (thankfully).
The surprising thing is how easy it would be.
I enjoyed your comment, Evan – as always!
I don’t know for sure, but I imagine the legislated money makers are part of the financial institutions that have sprung up around the world of commerce. They are there to hold up the myth that it’s all about money.
It’s hard to be sure how much parents v schools account for the development of kids. Yes kids develop skills of manipulation – but i suspect they learn it from the adults – be they parent adults or teacher adults.