Are You In This Conversation?

Modern organization theory has tended to objectify "the world." It teaches you to see your context as a threat, resources as scarce, your neighbors as competitors, the planet as a thing to be used until it's used up, and people as "human resources." This consumable approach to life and work is killing us, it's not too good for the organizations we care about, and it's wrecking the planet.

There are a lot of voices out there helping us make the shift from this consumable to a more renewable way of doing life and work. For example, there's a new conversation emerging around the concept of ethonomics (i.e., ethical economics). There is no single definition of ethonomics yet and, as a term, it may not even have much longevity. But in this cultural moment it is giving us a way of thinking about what it might look like to really embrace a triple bottom line: 

• People
• Planet
• Profit

There are pros and cons to this model. And much of the conversation seems to be centering on those businesses that are exploring innovative solutions to environmental problems. In fact, the folks at Fast Company, who have been credited with popularizing the term earlier this year, have described it as a "hybrid of technology, design, and social responsibility" and their exclusive focus is on an "upstart generation of entrepreneurs--and innovators within the world's biggest companies--[who] are founding businesses that are good for the world as well as the bottom line. They are practicing social change through urban revitalization, sustainable agriculture, green IT, alternative energy and online community-powered investing." 

But others see the potential for this concept to influence the way we do life and work together far beyond this kind of planet-friendly innovation. One management consultant, for example, is hoping the recent financial crisis will lead to "a journey to a new place with new values, forged from the bitter reality of financial hardship. If we're lucky, our destination might be a place where businesses are run to benefit all persons who have a 'stake' in its success." This author wonders aloud about how things might have turned out differently if, instead of taking an ax to their employees when the financial markets started to tumble, corporate leaders had asked their employees for help, instead. He asks:

What if the leaders of these companies had hunkered down when the recession started and looked to their employees for innovative ways to stem the bleeding? I'm suggesting that a little less desperation for the bottom line might have saved jobs, lessened the spooking of the American people, prevented some of the subsequent decline in consumer spending, and helped the credit markets rebound quicker. Sadly, the reality is in good times, employees are valuable; in bad times, they're expendable. Few companies leverage the innovation potential of their employees.

What fascinates us is that this whole conversation is happening within the for profit world. Many business leaders seem to be waking up to the fact that profit alone isn't a good enough bottom line. That it's good business to treat people and the planet–not as "resources" to be used until they're used up–but as valuable and precious in their own right. That your bottom line needs to include making the world a better place. 

This shift won't come easily in the for profit world. We know this because we work almost exclusively within the nonprofit and faith-based world–and it's hard enough for leaders in these arenas to make it. Too many of them are still having the life sucked out of them by a consumable way of working together:

• They see their context as a threat; 
• They view each other as competitors;
• They're paralyzed by scarcity thinking;
• They're killing themselves producing goods & services they hope will attract more clients/members;
• They view their neighbors as potential converts/customers instead of as potential co-creators of a better world.

We're producing a whole line of resources to help faith-based leaders make this shift, but we're under no illusion. It's hard. We've been living and working using a consumable model for a long time. It will not be easy to break the habit. It'll be harder still for leaders in the for profit world. But how cool is it that the conversation has begun?!

What positive change is this financial crisis producing in the way your organization functions? What good changes are you experiencing in your own life as a result of what's happening in this cultural moment? In what ways are you and/or the organization you care about making the shift from a consumable to a renewable way of doing life and work?