Three Unconscious Practices In Business Today

Few people would disagree when I say that our current business model is no longer working – and may, in fact, be broken. The debate begins, though, with trying to diagnose and then fix it. I propose there are three unconscious practices in business today that, if reversed, would result in a more productive, sustainable and efficient way of doing business. Consciousness, on the other hand, with its timeless and formless nonattachment is counter to the very principles of capitalism as we currently know it. And it is in that difference that we may find the solution.

Short-term and myopic vision – While publicly traded companies are the extreme with their focus on quarterly reports and their stock valuation, almost all businesses seem more conce
ed with short-term results than long-term implications. Companies are making really big decisions that have significant and detrimental long-term effects on our environment, the economy, workers and even the quality of our lives. A timeless perspective, on the other hand, would honor the present and the future at the same time, finding the appropriate strategies and taking the proper actions that benefit each without harming either.

One-way communication – There was a time when business was about a good product or service that people needed, offered at a fair price so that you made money when people bought it. While some businesses still operate this way, there are far more operating in reverse – they see commerce as an opportunity to simply extract money from their customers. It’s a one-way communication talking to customers rather than with them. And in so doing, forgets we are actually all in this together. An approach of formlessness moves beyond the confines and constraints of one’s own experience to include that of others as well as that of our entire environment. In stepping out of our own “form” we are able to take a broader, more inclusive perspective.

Simply working to live – In the last 50 years women moved fully into the workplace as the world population doubled. That’s a lot more people working – yet we aren’t working any less or even easier. In fact, we are actually working much harder and longer in jobs many of us don’t even enjoy, often managing email and other tasks once home in the evening and before out of bed the next morning. Can you imagine how this will look in another 50 years? It’s as if we are just working to live – an open loop draining our energy. It’s just not sustainable.

What if we were instead living to work – making meaningful contributions without attachment to or even expectation of outcomes? It’s a radical perspective fully occupying the present moment, sharing our talents and trusting we will have what we need when we need it. From this non-attachment our focus is entirely and utterly in the present moment and only with what’s occurring. It is here that we have access to an intelligence that is directly relevant to that moment enabling everything to get much easier.

Timeless, formless and without attachment – It’s a paradigm shift in perception and an entirely new way of doing business – consciously – through deepened awareness. In future posts, I will describe what that looks like and explore how we might possibly get there.