Conscious Capitalism 2015: Day 1 Review [Part 3]

Building a Better World through Business
Bob Chapman

Having had several keynotes one could have argued were rather academic in nature, it was great to have the final keynote of the day focus around the practical work Bob Chapman has done with so many different manufacturing companies around the world, transforming thousands of lives in the process.

Like almost all of us in the movement, Bob Chapman could be referred to as a reformed conscious capitalist, or, in other words, one who first tried it the “traditional” way we have all been taught in business school. It hadn’t worked out for him, and he then found himself rebuilding what he had lost with a new set of ideals to guide him.

He called it Truly Human Leadership with its three defining principles: People, Purpose and Performance. He condemned it down to three basic thoughts to start with:

1. Leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you.
2. Focus on creating sustainable ‘value’ for ALL stakeholders.
3. If we could do it… you certainly can!

In the workplace, we are taking people, breaking them, and then sending them home. In fact, the number one detriment to happiness is not having a good job with meaningful work with people they respect, and it is the leaders who have the power to address this crisis.

In business school, especially since the 1980’s, we have been taught several “key” principles:

• Pursue profit and personal success
• Create shareholder value
• View people as objects

Additionally, we’re taught to bifurcate our lives, believing “business is business,” “family is family,” and never the twain shall meet.

How terribly wrong we are finding these ideas to be.

Leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to shape lives. People are putting 40+ hours a week into their jobs, so why can business strive to be an influence for good in these life investments.

Everyone is someone’s special child, and until we realize this, employees are really just job functions—engineers, accountants, sales reps, etc. It’s an objectification through function. The person is merely the value of the output they produce, and nothing more.

There is another way.

We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people.
~ Bob Chapman

In many businesses, we are damaging families by the state in which we are sending home employees. Where people aren’t valued in their job, it’s no surprise they would go home unhappy, mad, depressed, despondent and any number of other unsociable attitudes. These then get transferred to the innocent family. We can’t be contributing to family issues in this way. It’s unconscionable.

The following are Bob’s key leadership concepts he shared with us:

1. Begin every day with a focus on the lives you touch.
2. Leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you.
3. Embrace leadership practices that send people home each day safe, healthy and fulfilled.
4. Align all actions to an inspirational vision of a better future.
5. Trust is the foundation of all relationships…act accordingly.
6. Look for the goodness in people and recognize and celebrate daily.
7. Ask no more or less of anyone than you would of your own child.
8. Lead with a clear sense of grounded optimism.
9. Recognize and flex to the uniqueness of everyone.
10. Always measure success by the way you touch the lives of people!

By implementing these principles in every part of his leadership, in good times and in bad, Bob has learned many things. He shared three with us:

• People want to know that who they are and what they do matters!
• Listening is a rare gift and the most powerful act of caring.
• How we lead has a profound impact on how those entrusted to us live!

We can learn a lot from this type of leadership. How you lead is not just about your business. It profoundly affects our country, our communities and our families.

Let us fight against societal and market forces that would have us be inhuman. Let us be humans in our leadership and our relationships. Through this, we can change the world, but more importantly we can change the lives and families entrusted to us.

Tuesday Concluding Thoughts

It was an overwhelming, amazing day. To find myself in a ballroom with more than 400 other business leaders who believe in the same basic tenants of business was astounding and encouraging.

Themes running through many of the talks focused on family-focused values in leadership, balance, and truly caring. True, there were many other major themes, as well. Changing the world is a daunting task, an audacious goal, but one worth pursuing. By changing the way we do business, we can change our companies, our employees, their families, our communities, our countries and the world.

And, it also makes business sense.

We’re capitalists after all.

Photos courtesy of:

• „Depression USA“ – Михал Орела – CC-BY-2.0
• I wanna hold your hand – Josep Ma. Rosell – CC-BY-2.0