Last updated: 12/26/08, newer items are above the original ones.
Only those are successful in their business who make that pursuit which affords them the highest pleasure to sustain them. [Edited for gender-inclusive language.]
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
If I had to pick one quality that best predicts success (other than wanting to be successful) it would be the willingness to risk embarrassment.
One day, about ten years ago, I was alone in my office, sitting on the couch and reflecting on the fact that I had managed to become rich and famous in my dream job. For the first time in my life, I had no goals. And for a goal-oriented guy, that’s an empty feeling. Success was supposed to feel good and stay that way. But it tricked me. There was a huge hole in my soul.
I sat in my office and sobbed. Then the change happened. It wasn’t something I thought about. It wasn’t an indication that I am a good person or a bad person. It was just some sort of chemical reaction in my moist robot head. It was natural.
I turned outward.
And in so doing, bit by bit, I found meaning. I found ways to use my success to make the world a little bit better. It’s surprising how often the opportunity comes up. It ranges from personal favors to investment decisions to my choices to continue making a comic and a blog post for you every day.
Scott Raymond Adams (1957 - )
Source: Dilbert Blog: The Meaning of Meaning: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/03/the_meaning_of_.html
I'm slowly becoming a convert to the principle that you can't motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.
Scott Raymond Adams (1957 - )
Why should the Golden Rule be so difficult in business and foreign relations? The happily married treat each other as they wish to be treated. They treat their children better than they wish to be treated themselves. Unless we do unto a friend as we do unto ourselves, we lose a friend. In an emergency we rush to the aid of our neighbor. Is it so great a step to realize that all people everywhere are neighbors?
Arthur Dunn
No organization can depend on genius; the supply is always scarce and unreliable. It is the test of an organization to make ordinary human beings perform better than they seem capable of, to bring out whatever strength there is in its members, and to use each person's strength to help all the others perform. The purpose of an organization is to enable common people to do uncommon things. [Edited into gender-inclusive language.]
Peter F. Drucker (1909 - ) Source: Management (HarperCollins)
The success and ultimately the survival of every business, large or small, depends in the last analysis on its ability to develop people. This ability is not measured by any of our conventional yardsticks of economic success; yet, is the final measurement.
Peter F. Drucker (1909 - ) Source: Perspective, A Topical Letter for DPD (IBM) Management, 12/23/68.
Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a person for work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined. [Edited into gender-inclusive language.]
Peter F. Drucker (1909 - )
If a business is to be considered a continuous process, instead of a series of disjointed stop-and-go events, then the economic universe in which a business operates--and all the major events within it--must have rhyme, rhythm, or reason.
Peter F. Drucker (1909 - )
Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
Peter F. Drucker (1909 - )
Today's newest breed of employee is the self-manager. These workers are the ones who survived the recent. waves of downsizing, both by seeking and capitalizing on new opportunities and by learning new skills. Because these employees increasingly possess the skills and technological tools to supervise themselves--individually or in teams--they are eliminating the need for layers of management.
More executives will soon find their jobs redundant, while self-managing frontline workers become highly valued and virtually fire-proof. Everyone should strive to become self-managed. It is clearly the direction business is taking.
John A. Challenger Source: The Christian Science Monitor
To me it seems pretty obvious that it would be simple to build a business around helping people achieve autonomy, a feeling of competence and relatedness. In fact, every web company that has been successful thus far has their business build solidly on one or all of these. And I believe that as people discover that these things are within their reach, they will gravitate more and more towards companies that offer tools to helping them achieve happiness.
Tara Hunt
Source: Happiness as Core to Your Business Model: http://www.horsepigcow.com/2008/02/03/happiness-as-core-to-your-business-model/
Patricia Aburdene said Welcome to the Dawn of Conscious Capitalism-a popular, decentralized, broad-based crusade to heal the excesses of capitalism with transcendent human values. Every day Conscious Capitalism wins new converts in the paneled boardrooms of global business…. Equally important, the actions millions of us take, “from the supermarket to the stock market,” are drafting a more wholistic brand of free enterprise which will forever outshine the Chicago School--and win someone somewhere a brand-new Nobel Prize.
Source: Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism, Page: 25
While in Asia, I heard a great expression, “Before You Can Multiply, You Must First Learn to Divide.” I now find myself using this saying nearly every day.
The idea is that if you want to grow your business, you must learn to partner with others - and give them a slice. This means you take a smaller slice of a bigger pie.
Stephen Shapiro Source: Before You Can Multiply, You Must First Learn to Divide: http://www.steveshapiro.com/2008/07/30/before-you-can-multiply-you-must-first-learn-to-divide/
Yes, business really does change. 400 years ago, corporations were formed by royal decree. 300 years ago, many countries were powered by slave labour, or its closest moral equivalent. 200 years ago, debtors didn't go bankrupt, they went to prison. 100 years ago - well, business is largely the same as it was a century ago.
And that's exactly the problem. Business hasn't changed, but today's array of tectonic global shocks demands a different, radically better kind of business. Yesterday's corporations visibly cannot meet today's economic challenges.
Umair Haque Source: Four Challenges for Tomorrow's CEOs: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/2008/08/four_challenges_for_tomorrows.html
Making money isn’t the backbone of our guiding purpose; making money is the by-product of our guiding purpose. "If you’re doing something you love, you’re more likely to put your all into it, and that generally equates to making money."
Warren Buffett (1930 - ) Source: Warren Buffet on Simplicity and Happinesss: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/israel-vicars/israel-vicars-cinemichigan-bizdom-and-other-entrepreneurial-endeavors/warren-buffet#
Business social responsibility should not be coerced; it is a voluntary decision that the entrepreneurial leadership of every company must make on its own.
John Mackey Source: Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business: http://www.reason.com/news/show/32239.html
I think that today, more so than ever, corporate responsibility is the best strategic as well as financial path that most businesses can follow. For most businesses there are both compelling reasons to be responsible and compelling statistics that validate that responsible businesses do better according to traditional financial metrics. Of course, how you define "responsible" is somewhat of a conundrum.
Jeffrey Hollender Source: Meet the MasterMinds: Jeffrey Hollender on Corporate Social Responsibility: http://www.managementconsultingnews.com/interviews/hollender_interview.php
Preserve the core, and let the rest flux. In their wonderful bestseller Built to Last, authors James Collins and Jerry Porras make a convincing argument that long-lived companies are able to thrive 50 years or more by retaining a very small heart of unchanging values, and then stimulating progress in everything else. At times "everything" includes changing the business the company operates in, migrating, say, from mining to insurance. Outside the core of values, nothing should be exempt from flux. Nothing.
Kevin Kelly Source: New Rules for the New Economy, Page: Chapter 8
Sacred Commerce reverses the common assumption that business and spirituality are mutually opposed, and instead looks at business as a path of destiny. The notion of capitalism infused with the sacred expands the notion of profit with the concept and the reality of the fourth bottom line: spirituality.
Ayman Sawaf Source: Sacred Commerce: The Rise of the Global Citizen
Many companies operate from more of a command-and-control environment — they decide what's going to happen at headquarters and have the organization execute. That doesn't work here because it's the community of users who really have control.
So we enable, not direct. We think of our customers as people, not wallets. And that has implications for how we run the company. We partner with our customers and let them take the company where they think it's best utilized.
The fact that used cars is our largest category is a good example. We would not have sat in a conference room and said, "Hey, how about used cars?" So what can be learned that is extensible to other companies is [to ask] what are your customers doing with your products that maybe you didn't anticipate that they would do? How do you think of your customers as your research and development lab, as opposed to having an R&D lab at headquarters?
Meg Whitman Source: Let the Customers Run the Company: http://www.smartmoney.com/smartmoney-magazine/ceo/index.cfm?story=august2005
If you love your company and love what you do, you will serve your customers better—period!
Tom Peters (1942 - )
Source: A Personal Top Ten Tom Quotes from London: http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?rss=1¬e=http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/010363.php
I think one of the things people don't understand is we can build more shareholder value by lowering product prices than we can by trying to raise margins. It's a more patient approach, but we think it leads to a stronger, healthier company. It also serves customers much, much better.
Jeff Bezos
Source: Amazon CEO takes long view: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-07-05-amazon-bezos_x.htm
Our premise is there are going to be a lot of winners. It's not winner take all. Other people do not have to lose for us to win.
Jeff Bezos
Source: Amazon CEO takes long view: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-07-05-amazon-bezos_x.htm
Do what you love, but be damned sure it’s profitable. If you do work you love, but it doesn’t generate income, your business will fail. If you do work you hate, but it generates income, your health will fail… and your business along with it. If you can’t do what you love and make it profitable, you’ve either got a hobby or a headache, not a sustainable business. Don’t settle for anything less than passion and profit.
Steve Pavlina
Source: 10 Business Lessons From a Snarky Entrepreneur - http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/01/10-business-lessons-from-a-snarky-entrepreneur/
...one of the most inventive forms of creative capitalism involves someone we all know very well. A few years ago, I was sitting in a bar here in Davos with Bono. Late at night, after a few drinks, he was on fire, talking about how we could get a percentage of each purchase from civic-minded companies to help change the world. He kept calling people, waking them up, and handing me the phone to show me the interest.
Well, it's taken time to get this going, but he was right. If you give people a chance to associate themselves with a cause they care about, while buying a great product, they will. That was how the RED Campaign was born, here in Davos.
RED products are available from companies like Gap, Motorola, and Armani. Just this week, Dell and Microsoft joined the cause. Over the last year and a half, RED has generated $50 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and Malaria. As a result, nearly 2 million people in Africa are receiving life-saving drugs today.
Bill Gates
Source: Bill Gates: World Economic Forum 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2008/01-24WEFDavos.mspx
As I see it, there are two great forces of human nature: self-interest, and caring for others. Capitalism harnesses self-interest in a helpful and sustainable way, but only on behalf of those who can pay. Government aid and philanthropy channel our caring for those who can't pay. But to provide rapid improvement for the poor we need a system that draws in innovators and businesses in a far better way than we do today.
Such a system would have a twin mission: making profits and also improving lives of those who don't fully benefit from today's market forces. For sustainability we need to use profit incentives wherever we can. At the same time, profits are not always possible when business tries to serve the very poor. In such cases there needs to be another incentive, and that incentive is recognition. Recognition enhances a company's reputation and appeals to customers; above all, it attracts good people to an organization. As such, recognition triggers a market-based reward for good behavior. In markets where profits are not possible, recognition is a proxy; where profits are possible, recognition is an added incentive.
Bill Gates
Source: Bill Gates: World Economic Forum 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2008/01-24WEFDavos.mspx
Why do people benefit in inverse proportion to their need? Well, market incentives make that happen.
In a system of capitalism, as people's wealth rises, the financial incentive to serve them rises. As their wealth falls, the financial incentive to serve them falls, until it becomes zero. We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.
The genius of capitalism lies in its ability to make self-interest serve the wider interest. The potential of a big financial return for innovation unleashes a broad set of talented people in pursuit of many different discoveries. This system, driven by self-interest, is responsible for the incredible innovations that have improved so many lives.
But to harness this power so it benefits everyone, we need to refine the system.
Bill Gates
Source: Bill Gates: World Economic Forum 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2008/01-24WEFDavos.mspx
Yeah, leading an examined life, I always say, is a pain in the ass. It adds an element of complexity to business that most businessmen don't want to hear about. They just want to call a fabric manufacturer, and say, "Hey, give us 10,000 yards of shirting."
Yvon Chouinard
Source: The TH Interview: Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia (Part One): http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/the_th_interview_yvon_chouinard.php
...we've teamed up with some Japanese companies to, basically by 2010, make all our clothing out of recycled and recyclable fibers. And we're going to accept ownership of our products from birth to birth. So if you buy a jacket from us, or a shirt ,or a pair of pants, when you're done with it, you can give it back to us and we'll make more shirts and pants out of it.
Which is a different idea about consuming. Right now the world runs on consuming and discarding, and we're saying that we're taking responsibility for our products from birth to birth. Can you imagine if a computer company said, "When you're done with your computer, we'll buy it back from you and make more computers out of it." Instead, they sell you computer and you can't even get service from them!
It's a different way of accepting responsibility.
Yvon Chouinard
Source: The TH Interview: Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia (Part One): http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/the_th_interview_yvon_chouinard.php
Section Two: WEBSITES, BOOKS, PROGRAMS, PUBLICATIONS
http://www.holacracy.org/ Holacracy is a new way of organizing and conducting group endeavors. Very detailed, very specific, very different, very psychologically and spiritually and economically advanced. They offer training and articles."Rarely do organizations live up to their full potential. Even our most progressive approaches to human organization and management are often insufficient for navigating today’s complex and rapidly changing world.
What if we questioned our deepest assumptions about organizational design in light of the challenges and opportunities we face today? Could we transform our most fundamental approaches to organization to enable entirely new levels of agility, health, and results? These questions are being asked by a growing number of organizational pioneers, and a compelling possibility is emerging. It’s called Holacracy. "
http://www.integralleadershipreview.com/ Integral Leadership Review is the world’s premier publication of integrated approaches to leadership. It serves leaders, professionals and academics engaged in the practice, development and theory of leadership. The Integral Leadership Review offers a comprehensive framework that provides insights and tools leaders can utilize to solve problems. Appropriate guidance is a key to solve the challenges of the world. Today’s approaches are fragmented, incomplete, and inadequate for the world’s multidimensional, multilayered global issues. The Integral Leadership Review supports you in meeting those challenges.[Their list of Resources has some significant links to websites that teach new models of business. Be sure to check out this extensive and valuable list.]
http://www.pacificintegral.com/ "Pacific Integral is committed to the conscious evolution of individuals and organizations to support the emergence of a sustainable, equitable and beautiful future for humanity. Our work catalyzes the essential thought, spirit and action to create transformative change that dramatically increases personal and organizational effectiveness.
Our services include individual and organizational performance improvement and capacity development, consulting, mentoring, coaching, transformational program design and web-based education.
For executives and organizational leaders, we offer services that help your organization reach its potential, and help you create the personal and professional accomplishment you want. Read more.
For individuals seeking greater impact and fulfillment, we offer unique learning opportunities that enable you to move to a greater level of service, success, and fulfillment. Read more.
They have a program called
Generating Transformative Change (GTC)
2009 Program Information Coming Soon
Learn more
"We invite you to join us for a deep dive into embodied integral awareness in leadership. GTC is an initiation into the practical living of an integral life as transformation – an intensive encounter with the latest knowledge and theories, leadership approaches, integral life practice, integral assessment and change, learning community and fields, action inquiry, and engagement in your emerging work and global trends."
Their list of "Business" links includes the following:
Cook-Greuter & Associates
Enlightened Business Institute
http://www.koreleadership.com/ The world needs a new vision of leadership. In every sphere of work and life, from the personal to the global, we face unprecedented challenges that current ways of leading cannot address. These challenges require a new model of leadership that incorporates everything we’re made of—mind, heart, body, and soul. We need leaders today who have both roots and wings—who can navigate complexity, embrace ambiguity, and draw on all sources of knowing in themselves and those they lead.
Kore Leadership helps develop just these kinds of leaders, people who act from their “ground of being,” that profound source of authenticity, insight, and joy within every person. We offer corporate programs, coaching, public workshops, and writings designed to transform innate wisdom into effective leadership. Our research-based women’s leadership programs address the unique challenges faced by women who seek to bring all of themselves to what they do. All Kore Leadership programs use an integral approach that enables participants to engage their full cognitive, emotional, spiritual, and physical capacities in every area of living.
Experience the deep satisfaction of offering your most authentic self to the world’s most urgent needs.
Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore an essential and integral part of our exercise and practice of our religion.
None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you.
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