The Call of Compassion
By Mark Monchek − December 14, 2009
Only when we allow ourselves to feel compassion for unnecessary suffering will be able to end it. Businesses and business leaders can play a very special role in supporting conscious, compassionate Capitalism.
THE CALL OF COMPASSION
This is the time of year when we focus, as Abraham Lincoln said, on “the better angels of our nature”. The holidays speak to us about compassion, gratitude, and what is really important to us. Even the most mercenary of businesses try to do something to express their human face. Why can’t we be compassionate and giving all year round? I think it is because our culture doesn’t have a model for dealing with those who don’t succeed in it. Maybe it’s time to make compassion and giving part of our business model.
Our current American model of capitalism is heavily influenced by the work of someone who had nothing to do with business- Charles Darwin. The survival of the fittest, a core element in Darwin’s theory of evolution became part of our national consciousness in the early part of the 20th century as American Capitalism reached its adolescence. The notion that anyone, regardless of their background could, through hard work, persistence and confidence, achieve the American dream lives on to this day. Although, there are signs that the Dream may be dying a slow death.
A Different Way to Think About Business
Today the official unemployment rate stands at 10% and the percentage of employable adults who want full employment but don’t have it is somewhere around 18%. We might want to question the core values of the capitalist model. When ¬¬over 2 million homes nationwide have been foreclosed and another several hundred thousand are on the brink, what should we say to those who are not surviving the competition? Do we say that they are not the fittest so they will need to accept being unemployed, homeless, without health care or higher education? I sure hope not. For my holiday gift to you, here is a different way to think about our collective business model.
Last week I found myself sitting on a flight bound for San Salvador. The movie Seven Pounds was fading from the screen, the credits scrolling down the black background, a gentle piano escorting them off. The tears had dried on my cheeks. I don’t know if you have seen this film, but I hope you will; it was in and out of theatres in seven minutes because it was off the Hollywood grid and people could not make any sense of funnyman/action hero Will Smith in the lead role.
Seven Pounds is the story of a vibrant young man who seems to have everything, but through a mysterious set of circumstances winds up having lost everything that he thought was important to him. In a powerful story of redemption, Ben Thomas (played by Smith) poses as an IRS agent who comes to the aid of people in desperate need of help. He touches many lives, including a young Latino woman with three small children whose husband is violently abusing them, a blind man with a gift for teaching piano and a young artist with a rare heart disease who has lost the will to live. As he goes about his work, his life changes as much as those he helps. As I am drawn deeper into this extraordinary story, my heart becomes more and more tender and open. I feel Ben’s compassion and his inner cry, “HOW CAN SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN? WHY SHOULD THESE GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER LIKE THIS? WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP?”
Maybe We Can Do More Than We Think
As I absorb his pain, a primitive force rises up in me: sadness that some people must suffer so much and anger that we can’t do anything about it. I was also inspired; maybe we can do more than we think we can.
I struggle with what I call the “dog on the side of the road” problem. When most of us see an injured dog on the side of the road, we pause, think and tell ourselves that we wish we had time to stop and help… but… we are all busy and have other things to do. Maybe… someone else will stop. Maybe… another time. But with this mentality, the dog does not stand a chance.
My trip to Central America was to help a new client in dire straits who was struggling to save their manufacturing facilities abroad. With a full schedule already, taking on another client seemed impossible at first. But when I thought about the plant’s owners and the 250 families who depend on those jobs, I realized I was looking at the dog on the side of the road. I had to “pull over” and help. Getting off the plane from El Salvador, I feel like I’ve received just as much as I gave.
Remember Our Humanity
When we remember our humanity like Will Smith does in Seven Pounds and pull over to help those in need, we find ourselves enriched by the grace of giving and our own answer to the dog on the side of the road problem. Only when we allow ourselves to feel compassion for unnecessary suffering will we be able to end it. I have come to believe that solving this problem and developing a more conscious, caring, business model for capitalism must be in our hearts. It must begin by defining our personal values and in particular the value of compassion from the heart rather than from the head.
I believe that most people, including business leaders, would say that they are compassionate people. When asked how they express their compassion, they would likely say, by helping their family and friends, and by giving to charity. When I have asked business leaders how they express compassion in business, they often seem defensive, arguing that the need to make maximum profit severely restricts how they can express their compassion in their business. Even in a privately held company, the owners often argue that they just can’t afford to do more than they are currently doing.
So How Do We Challenge These Beliefs?
The first step is to redefine how you measure success in your business. Or in your career. Will you measure it predominantly by the profit you make or will you define success more broadly? For instance, how do the following questions reflect on the view of success you currently hold?
• What is the quality of life your organization offers its people?
• How well do you use your resources?
• Do you have environmentally sustainable business practices?
• Do you support the communities in which you do business by buying and hiring locally?
There are many ways that a business can make a positive difference in the world and act with compassion, putting human interests at the top of the value chain. Conscious Capitalism, as John Mackey CEO of Whole Foods calls businesses that put purpose over pure profit, is in the early stage of its development. To learn more about what your company can do to change the paradigm of business, check out the following resources.
http://www.bcorporation.net/… Learn about B Corporations. B Corporations are a new type of corporation which use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.
John Mackey’s Vision to Reshape Capitalism… in FastCompany
http://consciouscapitalism.com/ … Michael Gelb, Tom Gardner, Deepak Chopra and many more thought leaders and trail blazing entrepreneurs and CEO’s assembled in October of 2009 at a symposium called Catalyzing Conscious Capitalism. Their goal: to build a community of like minded individuals.
Mark Monchek
