Real purpose of business

The real purpose of business is to make people's live's better, to do something together we couldn't do alone and to express who we really are.

I think we sometimes forget that. That we are here to be something first, then do something. That our work is a statement of who we are and that "who we want to be" can be the guiding factor for our decision making.

Some people may say business is about making money, the bottom line. Yes, operating sustainably is important, however making money at the expense of enjoying this experience as a human being doesn't really work. It works in the short term for balance sheets, but in terms of how we feel at the end of each day, satisfying our potential as human beings, it falls short.

This correlates really well, because the word business-comes from the middle english word-bisig (when means our state of being). Literally, what are we being at work. How do we show up?
How do we respond?

What are we creating internally? In our body, mind, and with our emotions.

Externally we may get a lot of things done and that's important, but it isn't important if we can't enjoy the process.

I'm talking about working from a state of being, not to get to one.

eg. I'm stressed and I won't feel better until I get 3 more clients.

So the whole time you are working, you feel stressed and put more of that into the world and worry about 'being okay' until you hit your goals. Then when you get your goal, do you stop and celebrate? Rest and recharge?

I know I didn't, and I forgot to stop this week and celebrate.

It is almost as if there is this story that we believe that "I can't be okay unless I'm doing something." And if I'm not doing something, then........(insert reason to be afraid here).

What I've found is that when I work/play/live from the state of being I desire, then the whole process is enjoyable. I may not externally go where my logical thinking told me I would, but I actually feel good being alive and that's way more important to me.

Wondering if that resonates for you......

Core of our Humanity

I believe that our businesses and organizations can be places where we can express the core of our humanity-sharing our thoughts, feelings and emotions. Where we don’t downplay what is going on inside of us; we harness that creative energy and use it to create collectively with others.

That would include saying what works for us, what feels right and when we aren’t excited about doing something. This would include conversation, real conversation about how to do things (not doing things because this is the way we’ve always done it) and providing ways for people to determine how they can best contribute in a workplace. In essence, this is the invitation for us to be creative, responsive and present to what is happening in the moment. Right now, so much is changing that if we don’t embrace our humanity at work it seems like we are headed towards being uber-efficient functioning bodies similar to machines. I don’t think that is why we are alive.  We are alive for the richness of being human-feeling, thinking, acting and they key to that is feeling, understanding and expressing our emotions.

And I sit here with deep compassion for where we are, I can see why we’ve downplayed our emotions and what we are feeling at work.  In the first businesses, they were built on relationships and trust.  Imagine the first county store, a tailor, a neighborhood doctor; they existed solely to make people’s lives better through their services. When businesses got bigger-commerce moved to more of a transactional model. So if a business wasn‘t efficient, another business did things in a way that was cheaper or faster which gradually encouraged the more relationship-oriented business to leave the marketplace. So the expression of our humanity pushed out of our work life. However, people adapted and just decided to express their emotional and authentic selves other places-at church, with their family and friends, and made work a place to earn a living. There is nothing wrong with that, just a decision that was accepted by many. So we evolved to expect that at work. However, some companies have a culture where relationships and trust differentiate them; Zappos comes to mind. They truly care about their customers (beyond making money).  Any others you know of?

I long to discover the ways we can express, share and use every part of our being to create at work and in life. The wonderful thing is, is that when we express our authentic self; we are using both hemispheres of our brain. Literally, our whole brain is functioning in harmony. That means, that when we aren’t expressing our emotions or what is going on inside of us (we could be unaware of this), we are only using one side of our brain. When this happens, we tend to over-rely on our left hemisphere. This is the part of the brain that is analytical, logical and tries to solve problems. However, if we tune in to what we are thinking, feeling (what is going on in our body) and needing, then we have access to much more information. Using our whole mind allows more information and energy to flow through our mind. This last paragraph is based on interpersonal neurobiology (Sarah Peyton and Daniel Siegel are great resources to learn more about this).

 Would love to hear your thoughts, comments and ideas…