The Economics Of Abundance

One of the interviewees surprised me in the first few minutes of our time together, before I had a chance to ask the first question: “Before we start” she said “tell me your greatest wish for this conversation.” I wasn’t sure quite how to answer, and was candidly a little thrown by the magnitude of the question. I eventually mumbled something about a sense of ‘pockets of business people’ who are realizing that something pretty fundamental might have to change about how business is done, and I’m trying to get a sense for what that change might look like in real terms... Frankly my answer wasn’t all that pointed. However, at the end of the interview I stole a page from her play book and asked “What is your greatest wish for me, now…meaning, what do you wish I would do next with the information I’m gathering from my ‘spirituality and business’ interview project?”

Without missing a beat she answered with a precision and specificity characteristic of all the people I have spoken with thus far. And again, there was that sense of urgency underlying the tone of the answer. “I want you” she explained “to make the mathematical case”. She explained more: someone needs to ‘prove’ that operating in alignment with spiritual principles in a business context leads – causally and undeniably - to a better financial outcome for all concerned. And ‘better’, in this case, means more fiscally profitable today, creating less negative impact on the future, and generating more ‘net human happiness’! In this new ‘economics of abundance’ these three elements are, it seems, not mutually exclusive but rather mutually dependent.

Fascinating challenge. Which I’m grossly under-qualified to tackle…..however….

One of my tactical next steps coming out of this series of interviews is to host a series of discussion groups on some of the core imperatives that emerged from the dialog. And this new economic case was certainly one of those imperatives. Until you can prove that it is good business to operate in an ‘enlightened way’, the logic goes, you will forever be preaching to the converted. In preparation for the first discussion group, I have been pondering models, structures and exercises that might stimulate thinking about making the case. Here are a three. It’s most definitely work in progress:

What does a controlled experiment to test the hypothesis look like? Imagine two basically identical start-up business situations…let’s say two lemonade stands. One operates according to classic, ‘traditional’ business principles; the other operates according to ‘universal law’ (a phrase borrowed from one of the interviewees). What would the core operating principles of the two businesses be, and what would be the key differences. What would you predict the outcome to be & why?

A progressive CEO of a major corporation wakes up (literally and metaphorically) one morning and decides that running her business along more ‘enlightened’ lines will be better for business, for people, for the world and so forth. What would be the three most important shifts she would have to make? Let’s be more pragmatic and consider that questions for three specific types of business – an oil company, a supermarket chain and a sneaker manufacturer. Would the shifts be the same for each or different? What would the commonalities in the shift look like? And what would their business dashboard look like, meaning specifically which metrics of success would be most important to them in the new approach?

And finally, what are the real world cases out there that demonstrate these principles? Who are the businesses and organizations that appear to operate in a more ‘enlightened’ way? How so? How can we draw the economic line from enlightened action to superior results within the context of their business models?