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Business for a Better World
Chris Nichols & Chris Seeley
What if we thought about business as a relationship; a relationship with people and the planet.
WE RECENTLY MET a senior executive of an international energy company. He is a member of the Soil Association, loves working with his children on their family allotment and has an interest in permaculture design.
This encounter and many others like it, convince us that the very business organisations that are often reviled for their environmental impact are frequently staffed, at least in part, by people with a love for Nature and a keen interest in finding ways of working that are more at ease with their core values and that also respect the planet.
We are therefore optimistic about the role that business could play in creating a better world. But we need to pay close attention to the language and imagery of the business world, and to the consequences these have. Over the years, we have become interested in the metaphors of business. Most metaphors about organisations are machine-like: we hear talk of “engine rooms”, “well-oiled machines”, “re-engineering” and “supply chains”. The language of business strategy is often the language of war: of competitive battles; the “war for talent” and “winning market territory”.
The words we use have implications for the kind of business we find ourselves in and the kinds of actions our businesses take. It leads many people of systemic, ecological mind to turn away in despair, which is a tragic loss. It seems to us that we need exactly such people to become more deeply engaged, to help create a way of being in business that is at home on the planet.
We wonder what would be different in our companies if business people of an ecological mind experimented a little. What if we thought about business as a relationship?
These relationships are:
- Money: what is the relationship between the business and money?
- Customers: what does the company do that meets genuine needs?
- People: what is quality of engagement between the business decision-makers and the business being done?
- Ecology: what is the relationship between the business and the ecological context in which it exists?
We have sometimes worked with senior executives who feel powerless in their decision-making because of the interests of their investors; who are driven to take business actions they feel to be wrong out of “economic necessity”. Maybe the time is right for a deep inquiry into our choice of investors? A business based on anonymous finance from the equity market is going to have different imperatives than one backed by patient and ethical funding. The choices business people make about money can lead in practice to better business actions.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS are vital – but we know that it is easy for all of us in business to get hooked into the game of ‘defeating the competition’. Is it possible instead to focus on building a unique relationship with customers: to build something of real value to people, and link to them in ways that meet real human needs? Maybe this would offer the possibility of more sustainable products, in every sense.
As for the role of the people within the organisation, with a ‘military-machine’ business model, it is likely that there will be an organisational structure similar to that of troops and cogs. Could it be that a more human and relational purpose for business would allow people to be more fully engaged in their work? Without the need for “the generals on the hill”, it may become easier to let go of the myth that top management knows best. Perhaps then more people could bring their creative energy into their work.
And customers may well love this change in focus because an ‘engaged’ business is likely to feel very different to one under ‘command and control’. Involving the energy and minds of the people (and customers) of the business seems much more likely to create a business with an ethical perspective and a lighter environmental impact.
The relationship between any business and its environment is at the heart of everything. Without ecosystem services, there can be no life. It is frequently the case that businesses express an unquestioned desire for growth, measuring success by constantly doing more and being bigger, yet this is the assumption has terrible consequences. Businesses and economies clearly cannot grow infinitely in a finite biosphere. Redefining progress is vital.
PLACING THE RELATIONSHIP between organisations, people and the Earth at the heart of businesses has the potential to fundamentally change the way businesses work. Exactly what this means in practice will require the creative work of all the human energy we can muster.
This article is reproduced here with kind permission of Resurgence magazine, where it will appear in a forthcoming issue. Click here for more information about Resurgence.
Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.