Saturday, January 15, 2011

Awaken the Soul of a Corporate

A corporate is referred to as an artificial person. It is a separate legal entity. It is different from its owners. It has a signature etc. If it is a person with an identity, it should have the characteristics of a human being too. In this article the author makes an attempt to explain this metaphor of a corporate.
A company is born, it grows, it lives, it becomes sick and it also dies. It is born with its incorporation and grows with time. If it is like a person who is born and who lives, it should have a body. One cannot really comprehend the body except through the annual report. The physical aspect of the company is understood by its balance sheet and income statement. They show the physical dimension of this being, how tall or short, fat or thin, healthy or sick it is. These statements are made in order to record the progress of the company in a particular period of time like health reports of individuals. Income statement is information about its general well being while Balance sheet shows its picture on a particular day. All activities are primarily aimed at keeping this physical aspect of the company in good shape by earning good income to feed itself and its family. In other words the main attention is on profit maximization.
If a corporate has a body, it surely has a mind. The Board of directors is the mind of the corporate. Directors are the ones who do all the thinking and directing for the company. The Board takes decisions based on the past experience and keeps focus on how to steer the company forward. The role of the members of the board is of great responsibility and vision. Thus a diversified balanced and sound board is the requirement not only for corporate governance issues but for any healthy mind.  Decisions of the mind are also focused on maintaining and improving the physical picture in order to make the company more beautiful and attractive. The purpose behind this is better valuations, luring investors and lenders. The aim is wealth maximization.
The third dimension of any person is his soul. Unlike the mind and the body the soul cannot be seen and does not have a physical form. Does a business really have a soul? Certainly!  When a corporate is born, it lives and dies like individuals, it is bound to have a soul. How can the soul be felt? Well, the soul of any business can be felt by the energy each of its stakeholders radiate when they take pride in their association with it. What makes the soul? In spite of the fact that a corporate is an artificial person, it is composed of real living human beings. The spirit of its people makes the soul of the company. The philosophy - on which the corporate is based -and its culture make its soul. The vision statement is the essence of that soul.
What is the role of the soul in a human life? It is the guiding light which shows the right path, helps in making the right choices and inspires right actions. It always helps an individual to focus on a bigger and greater good than merely selfish motives.  It is unlike the mind and the body which are more self-centered.
Long term sustainable growth is possible with the coordination of all the three aspects of a company. Not many businesses are able to find their soul. Most of the focus is on the mind and body and only a few discover and operate with their soul.
Management studies have been focused on how to keep a healthy body with a sound mind while there is little or no focus on the soul. It is so obsessed with the more recent technical developments in management science that the ancient wisdom is left behind. It needs to remember that no tree can grow strong and tall till it is very deep rooted. It is time for us to learn and practice the awakening of the soul of a corporate.
Most human beings are also driven by the needs of body and mind. A very small population of individuals is inclined towards the soul. People who have a spiritual bent are awakened and are the ones who lead a happy and prosperous life. They do not just live for themselves but they serve a bigger purpose in life, for the society and the planet. All individuals who are termed great were (are) people of wisdom. Wisdom will come through the soul.
Profit maximization is often done at the cost of the employees, suppliers and customers. This has been the main focus of business and time has shown that when the real philosophy is ignored businesses decline and ultimately die.  What is the death of a business? It is when its soul leaves its body. It loses strength; the mind is unable to function properly and a “going concern” comes to an end. Most of the businesses today are living without awakening their soul, moving them towards decline or long sickness and finally death. Thousands of small and big businesses in the corporate world die each day. No one really knows the real reason.
For a corporate to live and grow to its maximum potential it will have to nurture its soul. This is possible when the management and the employees of the company are aligned with the corporate philosophy. It is on this very basis that the vision statement of a company is written. In most cases the vision statement loses it’s meaning with time, it is only hung on the walls as a display article.
This alignment is possible when the top management sees to it that the individual goals are aligned with those of the corporate. This will bring about a sense of purpose in the employees and they will take responsibility of their jobs. In the absence of this alignment, they are merely doing a job in order to earn a living. They are driven either by a promotion or the fear of losing a job. When they are assured that their job helps them achieve their bigger purpose in life, this alignment is natural. They will take pride in their work and create a corporate culture which will be self sustaining. A self driven work force will produce excellent results by adding strength to the top line and reducing costs. They are the real brand ambassadors of the company. Their contentment will assure less spending on marketing, innovation recruitment and bad debts. They will feel the responsibility of the owner, owners of their own destiny. Then it will not be about salary but about their life and its purpose and not merely a Job.
Once this is done there will be harmony in the organization, which in turn will help it to serve its customers better. The energies and time employees waste in cribbing and gossiping will be channelized into more creative and productive actions in the form of improvement and innovation for the company.
When the employees and the Management are inspired the soul of the company will come alive. This in turn will benefit all the other stakeholders. When all stakeholders are happy good numbers are bound to happen. The top management just needs a paradigm shift. Numbers should not drive people, people should drive numbers.
Each corporate is serving a unique need of society. Society is the source for its input and society is the end user too. Society is composed of labor, employees, suppliers, customers, investors and shareholders. Imagine a society without businesses. It is impossible to think of one. Technical developments and innovation in any field are brought to society through businesses.  So we see businesses are the vehicle on which mankind is evolving. They have a far greater responsibility than they understand. They are so obsessed with profit and wealth maximization of the company that this main purpose is generally overlooked.
If a corporate could ever park its greed and think with a clear mind, what is the end result of the money that it squeezes out of most stakeholders and puts in the hands of a few shareholders? The Policy makers and bureaucrats make sure they get a fair share of the kill in the form of bribe. The government takes it as taxes. Most of the big shareholders have so much abundance that when they cannot put it to better use, they eventually give it in philanthropy. The money completes its cycle and reaches back to society. If only a corporate mind could have this understanding it would allow the fair share of each stakeholder in its hands, allow and facilitate everybody’s growth and development. It would not only save itself of the charges of greed but also be instrumental in achieving emotional, economical, environmental excellence and balance for all to cherish.
In this way businesses will not only be the vehicle of evolution of mankind in form of goods and services but also for its intellectual and spiritual development, making this world a better place to live in.

3 comments:

  1. Couldn't have said it better!!
    If the organizations (and the individuals that make them up) do a little soul searching, it will be obvious that in the welfare of all the stakeholders lies the long term good of the organization. Too much emphasis is put on being the most profitable or the most successful company/organization. While that per se is not a bad thing, the definition of the the most successful company needs to be revised.

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  2. Nice one...its high time, wish the corporates realize how important the soul is to help the mind grow and keep the body fit(of the company and its people)

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  3. Try to be "Soulfish" and not "Selfish"..
    People in corporates only think of their growth and that too by pulling others down.
    Talent pipeline, high level of trust, transparency and openness are vulnerable nowadays..

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