What Does Love Have to do with Business?
Everything!
Love is the most powerful energy in the universe. Love and emotions have generally not been “allowed” in business. Despite talking about the love of what we do in a plethora of business books and mission statements, we have yet to allow the opening for love to penetrate our mindset in how business can be done.
If there was more love in our work, could we be more conscious of how we treated people and our environment? Would we be able to bring cooperation and co-creation to drive our business, instead of fueling more and more competition between people and organizations in the race to be the best in the world?
Conscious Business is Where It’s At
Imagine what could happen if we were to allow love and compassion into the world of business. It is not naïve to think this way. After all, you don’t want to poison the people you love, so why do we accept the pollution of our air, water, and soil in the name of increasing profits, or beating the competition by being faster to market and using questionable practices?
For the first time in our collective history, people are starting to pay more to do business with companies that have higher ethical standards and pursue the wellbeing of society. In this emerging business world, when an organization demonstrates a clear purpose and walks its talk through actions, people feel a connection to what the company creates.
We will start seeing more people choosing the products and services of organizations that have a strong purpose, even if it is not the cheapest offering in the market. In this new world, value plays a higher role in how customers and employees assess whether they want to buy from or work for an organization. There will be greater scrutiny on whether organizations practice what they put in their mission statements, branding and marketing. Conscious leaders will need to be present to bring these behaviors to life through their actions.
In a world where there is more to life than work, what will happen when we spend as much time taking into consideration all aspects of our life beyond our career track? Family, friends, laughter, theatre, music, sports, books, conversations, creating, being in nature, and so much more, are all a part of life. But without healthy conscious organizations, all of these are compromised by the appetites of unconscious power, shareholder value, and greed.
To Love, or Not to Love; That is the Question
Is it time for us to dance with possibilities? We can’t keep fighting the system as it produces no real change; just keep us stuck on sides of the fence signing petitions and protesting within the broken systems. Isn’t it up to each of us to become conscious of the decisions we make regarding where we shop, where we eat, what we eat, who we spend time with and where we work and play?
It is part of many ancient philosophical traditions to seek greater self-understanding, greater wisdom, and better alignment with reality, and now such ancient teachings need to be brought in more explicitly into corporations and all our organizations. It is our biggest opportunity as we face this crossroads on our journey of connecting with our capacity to feel deep love.
In the words of “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
What do you love and care about deeply?