Consider this ….

• The Maritz Institute, in collaboration with Maritz Motivation and the Marketing Sciences Group of Maritz Research, has conducted a number of studies to understand the role that values play in the relationship between business and key stakeholders groups including employees and consumers.  In a recent U.S.-based employee study, we found that the most engaged employees work for companies they perceive to value “self-expression” in the form of self-direction, stimulation, and universalism.  Yet, this constituted only 21% of the organizations.
• The least engaged employees work for companies they perceive to value “self-enhancement” in the form of achievement, power, and conformity.  This constituted 60% of the organizations.  The remaining 20% of organizations were perceived to value conservation with greater focus on security and tradition.

Why is this?  Could it be there is an increasing gap between what society values and the values that underpin most businesses?  To delve into this question, let’s consider the findings from the World Values Survey.  The World Values Survey (WVS) is a worldwide network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life.  The WVS in collaboration with EVS (European Values Study) carried out representative national surveys in 97 societies containing almost 90 percent of the world’s population. These surveys show pervasive changes in what people want out of life and what they believe. 

Consider this ….

•  Key findings of WVS indicate that on average the five cultural zones surveyed as part of the World Values Survey are moving toward stronger self-expression values.  This is due to greater material means, higher intellectual skills, and wider social connectivity which leads to people being able to act independently and able to have greater choice.  Greater independence and choice then enables people to have more room to actualize their inner potentials.  Thus, the rise in self-expression values.
• A rise in self-expression values is a good thing!  People in countries with higher mean levels of self-expression values exhibit more generalized trust irrespective of how much they themselves emphasize self-expression values.  Additionally, self-expression values show a significant association with collective action tendencies where people act on behalf of the greater good. 
• In theories of social capital, trust in people is considered a facilitator of peaceful and voluntary collective action.  And, when it comes to action that bridges group boundaries, trust in people in general, as opposed to trust in particular people, is considered of key importance.  Additionally, frequent and widespread collective action is considered as a sign of thriving civic communities.

If we think of businesses as social systems with the ability to unleash human potential, then we must consider how to embed self-expression values in how we design business practices.  Companies who figure this out are likely the ones to thrive in a society increasingly oriented toward self-expression values.  Bottom-line, values determine what people view as value.

The real question, though, is not really about the role of goals in the pursuit of human potential.  It is about what kind of goals unleash human potential?  Not all goals are created equal!  According to Umair Haque in the You Tube! video displayed above, the role of an institution in the 21st century will be about helping people in their quest for significance — helping them live lives that count — helping them live lives that matter — helping them live lives rich with meaning. 

Steve Denning, a contributor for Forbes and author of Radical Management: Rethinking Leadership and Innovation recently wrote an excellent post summarizing the attributes of goals that are inherently good for unleashing human potential.  In summary:

1. Stretch goals should be about human excellence, not about financial targets.  Financial goals (alone) bring out the selfish gene that lurks in all of us.  Instead, stretch goals need to appeal to what is best in us.  He shares a quote by Paul O’Neill, former CEO of Alcoa and U.S. Treasury Secretary from 2000-2002, “The role of the leader is to articulate non-arguable goals aspirations for the institution.”  For example, O’Neill challenged Alcoa with this goal, “In any organization, the people in it should never be injured at work.”  It is the role of senior leaders to articulate powerful stretch goals because other people don’t have the power of position to do this.  Furthermore, O’Neill made a point that he did not establish a goal to make a hell of a lot of money.  Why?  He explains that in truly great organizations finance is not an objective, its the consequence of being more excellent than anyone else.
2. Stretch goals should be about making a difference, not ego-centric.  In Umair Haque new book, Betterness: Economics for Humans (Kindle Single) (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011), he advocates that goals should be articulated as ambitions for how you will contribute to a good life and human potential being realized in others.  Think in terms of how your organization will ignite human potential.  The measure of success cannot be simply better profits, equity returns, asset returns, and shareholder value.  These are industrial-age definitions of success.  The bigger picture is whether the organization is having an impact.   Is the organization providing postive, lasting consequences that are meaningful in human terms.  Organizations must articulate their core purpose and ambition which answers the fundamental question, “why are we here?” by painting a detailed picture of how the organization will blow past “profit” and redefine the very concept of “returns.”  For example, Nike has articulated an ambition – “to help Nike, Inc. and its consumers thrive in a sustainable economy where people, profit and planet are in balance.”  Google’s ambition is — “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”    Compare these ambitions to the more ego-centric goals like Polo Ralph Lauren’s vision – “We have redefined the American style by providing quality products, creating worlds, and inviting people to take part in our dreams” or McDonald’s vision “to be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience.  Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that wemake every customer in every restaurant smile.”  Beware of visions where the company is at the center rather than placing people at the center of the ambitions and goals of the organization!

Is your organization really pursuing human potential?  Take a look at the ambitions and goals you have established and ask yourself who these goals really serve.  A key step in the pursuit of human potential is to challenge ourselves to establish goals that clearly articulate how people’s lives will be made better because the company exists.

So, one of the biggest responsibilities of company leaders is to proactively and actively shape culture in such a way that people can thrive and the organization can succeed.  Culture feels like an amorphous topic that is very difficult to get one’s arms around.  It is helpful to have a framework, anchored in theories of human potential, to guide us.  I am a fan of the work of Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey at Harvard along with Dave Logan author of Tribal Leadership, and other academics who study and publish in the space of how language, psychology and culture come together to shape people’s beliefs and behavior.

Dave Logan, along with co-authors, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright, capture five stages of cultural tribes that can be distinguished by their own way of speaking that is underpinned by their beliefs and norms.  They make a key statement — As people see the world, so they behave.  In other words, the core belief of a tribe drives how they make meaning in their brains and ultimately how they behave.  So, what are the different ways in which cultures see the world?

Stage One:  Core Belief – Life Sucks!

This is the stage of tribe is typically not found in business environments.  People at this stage are despairingly hostile and they band together to get ahead in a violent and unfair world.  You may find this stage of tribe in gangs and prisons.

Stage Two: Core Belief – My Life Sucks!

About 25 percent of workplace tribes are stage two.  People in this stage are passively antagonistic; they cross their arms in judgement yet never really get interested enough to spark any passion.  Their laughter is quietly sarcastic and resigned.  Stage two talk sounds like, “we’ve tried this before and watched it fail.”  The mood that results from stage two tribes is apathetic victims.  You’ve experienced this if you walked in a meeting and presented a new idea with passion, only to get looks of passivity.  You can observe this stage of tribe at some government offices where there seems to be no urgency or accountability to actually serve a customer.

Stage Three: Core Belief – I’m Great …. and You’re Not!

About 49 percent of workplace tribes are stage three.  In stage three tribes, knowledge is power, so people hoard it — from client contacts to gossip about the company.  People at stage three have to WIN … WIN …WIN and for them winning is personal.  They’ll work many long hours to beat the competition.  There is a tendency to be individualistic and see oneself as the hero of the win.  Often it feels like a band of “lone warriors,” wanting help and support and being continually disappointed that others don’t have their ambition or skill.  This leads to complaints like, “there just isn’t accountability around here!”  People stay locked in stage three due to their addiction to the “hit” they get from winning, besting others, being the smartest and most successful.

Stage Four: Core Belief – We’re Great … and They’re Not!

About 22 percent of workplace tribes are fortunate enough to be here!  If you work in one of these tribes, you are very fortunate and much more able to realize your potential!  This is the level of tribe that will provide competitive advantage to organizations that desire and need to be nimble, accountable, dynamic, and innovative.  The vibe in a stage four tribe is “tribal pride.”  Stage four tribes always have an adversary that is another group of people or another company.  The bigger the foe, the more powerful the tribe.   At stage four, a common purpose and commitment to shared core values are the glue of accountability.  In fact, the two most important aspects of stage four is:  identifying and leveraging core values, and aligning to a noble cause.  Everything the tribe does should be connected to values and a noble cause!  Projects, activities, initiatives, and processes should be carefully designed to be enable values to be lived everyday and a noble cause to be passionately pursued.  Values are not something hanging on plaques on walls, rather it is at the moment that leaders begin talking about everyone’s values, as opposed to individuals discussing “my values,” that tribal magic happens.  Tribal leaders look for ways to express the group’s values and to make tangible the positive aspects of living the values everyday.  Especially when the going gets tough, decisions are made to demonstrate that values trump everything else.  Yet, values are not enough.  While values are the fuel of the tribe, a noble cause is the direction the tribe is heading.  A noble cause captures the tribe’s ultimate aspiration and causes people to reach to achieve what might seem impossible.  A noble cause leads to people “aligning” and being “accountable” to something really great.

Stage Five: Core Belief – Life is Great!

Less than 2 percent of workplaces operate at stage five.  The language of stage five revolves around infinite potential and how the group is going to make history — not beat a competitor, but because doing so will make a global impact.  The group’s mood is “innocent wonderment,” with people in competition with what’s possible, not with another tribe.  Teams at stage five can produce miraculous innovations.  After short bursts of activity, stage five teams recede to stage four to regroup and attend to infrastructure issues before possibly returning to stage five.  Creating challenge teams that operate at stage five is an excellent way to not only drive powerful innovations, but also begin the shift of culture to stage five.

If we are serious-minded about organizations being vehicles for human potential, culture must be addressed.  Culture matters!  Having a noble cause and shared values are the foundation for stage four cultures.  And, increasingly, most businesses will be looking to create stage four cultures in order to create the innovation and nimbleness needed to be successful in today’s rapidly changing business environment.  So, where is your culture?  Where does it need to be?

In essence, we believe that people are the heart of business and that business practices, designed right, are vehicles for human potential to be realized.  The design of these business practices must be informed by both science and art.

Business practices as a “vehicle for human potential” — this is a very big idea.  We certainly cannot claim this idea as our own.  It came from Abraham Maslow who made the decision to work with organizations rather than just individuals.  Why?  He believed that organizations offered a much bigger platform for human potential to be realized.

The next several posts will be in the territory of “the pursuit of human potential.”  In each post, I’d like to offer something for all of us to think about and consider relative to the design of business practices that are vehicles for human potential.

The first point of rumination is …. you cannot go it alone!  Human potential cannot be realized without other people.  Let me back this up with some ”science and art:”

• Matthew Lieberman, in a speech given at the NeuroLeadership Summit in November, 2011, put it this way, “Humans are born to be wed into a network of other people.”  While primates have the ability to cooperate with one another, humans have something more.  We have the ability to construct a “self.”  And, we have both the motivation and ability to mentalize and understand the “selves” that others have constructed. We are driven to make sense of more than the ”what” and “how” of behavior.  We tap our mentalizing system in the brain to understand “why.”  Here is what is really interesting.  The mentalizing system not only allows us to “peer into the minds of others” so-to-speak.  It is also the system where we form the identities and values of our own “self.”
• Pamela Rutledge, writes in a recent blog post in Psychology Today, that none of Maslow’s needs can be met without social connection.  Humans are social animals for good reason.   Without collaboration, there is no survival.   She displays Maslow’s pyramid as a circle where the center of the circle is human connection. 
• Eric Whitacre provides a beautiful artistic example of the power of human connection saying that, “human beings will go to any length necessary to find and connect with each other!”   Enjoy his entire TED talk!  It is inspiring, to say the least.

So, what do you think?  Is human potential inextricably bound with who we are with one another?  How can organizations create better business practices that unleash both individual and collective potential?

Most business conversations sound a lot like this.  The goal of every single thing a business does is to create an ROI that makes a deposit into the single bucket that matters — profits and financial capital.  In business, there is only one bucket and that is the nonliving bucket called financial capital. 

Now, here is the problem with this single-bucket mindset.  It doesn’t work.  At least, it doesn’t work for living, breathing social systems that have living assets called people, brands, relationships, cultures, reputations, knowledge, and an emotional climate.

In the industrial age, value was defined in tangible (nonliving) assets.  We are no longer in the industrial age.  In the creative age, value is defined by intangible (living) assets. 

Intangible “living assets” include things like:

• Social Capital – the quality of relationships
• Intellectual Capital — the knowledge that flows through webs of relationships
• Emotional Capital — the emotional states that spread like contagions
• Creative Capital — the human potential that is unleashed

In living, breathing organizations, all of these buckets are important and they operate interdependently with the one-bucket we understand the best — financial capital.  In the book, Profit for Life, author Joseph H. Bragdon challenges business leaders to see the difference between owning and employing.  “Owning is possessing, a one-way street that entitles the owner to take and give little or nothing in return.  Employing is relational, a two-way street involving continual give and take, mutual learning, and adaptation.  Companies can own nonliving (capital) assets because they are passive, controllable, and amenable to possession.  But they must employ living assets because people are self-driven and resist mechanistic control.  This makes all the difference in how these assets are managed.  Nonliving assets are easy to manipulate and control because their behavior is highly predictable; they are guided by rational, mechanistic laws such as those of Newtonian physics.  We can understand living s reasonably well using linear cause-and-effect thinking.  Rational laws guide the logic of computers, the properties of steel, and the compounding of interest — but they neither direct or explain people and nature.  If we think of and respond to living assets mechanistically, we overlook their essential qualities and diminish their real value.  Because they are continually in flux — networking, learning, adapting, and changing in response to the ebb and flow of life around them and within them — we can understand living assets only by taking a holistic, or nonlinear, systems approach.”

How do we build business practice designs and measurements that fully take into consideration the “multi-bucket” world we live in?  This “multi-bucket” world is not linear and mechanistic.  Rather, it is dynamic and inter-related.  It is not as simple as a formula, rather it requires a shared purpose and values that guide how people work and relate to one another.  There is no owner’s manual.  What is needed is a set of ideals that inspire people and social interactions that generate a positive impact.

Is it just me, are are others struggling with the prevalent “single-bucket” thinking that seems to have taken root like an inextricable truth in business.  I’d love to hear what you think.

Andy describes an interesting paradox that is taking place.  What is happening in the midst of the Great Recession is somewhat unprecedented.  While difficult times normally slow down the adoption of new values and drive a fall-back to older, more comfortable values — the paradox is that the Great Recession may be having the opposite effect and actually be providing a boost to the adoption of new values.

So what are the new values that are emerging?  Five key themes form the core of these changes:

1.) Authenticity.  In the midst of almost everything being manufactured and spun as part of a marketing opportunity, the truly authentic experience has become a rare commodity.  People are tired of being managed and manipulated and hunger for the straight story, warts and all.

2.) Connection. The busyness of daily life and the need to “keep up with the Joneses” has reached a point where people feel they’ve lost touch with their priorities.  Thus they seek to scale back and get more involved in their communities and with the people they do business with.

3.) Anti-consumerism.  There is a sense that the consumption relationship needs to be reoriented such that consumption is not the end goal but a means to various ends.  People want to enjoy experiences and invest in relationships more than they want more stuff.

4.) Self-expression. A sense of emptiness with adding yet another material possession is prompting a search for deeper meaning and purpose in one’s life.  People are shifting from a passive orientation to an active orientation; they want to express their views, their values, their purpose, and their creativity.

5.) Enoughness. There is a sense that “having enough” may be more important than perpetual material pursuit.  People seem to be accepting the recession-imposed limits which is prompting them to opt for voluntary simplicity. 

Many businesses will find themselves in a “race for relevance” as they strive to create brands, products and workplaces that meet the shifting landscape of “The Re-Think.”    For those familiar with Maslow, it appears as though “The Re-Think” is a societal shift up the pyramid toward values of self-actualization.  The implications for business is significant.

Let me share just a few descriptions of Paul from the Harvard Business School Press Release:

• Paul R. Lawrence, a renowned sociologist and a pivotal figure in the intellectual history of Harvard Business School who was one of the world’s most influential and prolific scholars in the field of organizational behavior.
• “Paul Lawrence was an extraordinary person in all facets of his life,” said Dean Nitin Nohria. “He was a world-renowned scholar who throughout his long career reshaped our understanding of the human side of organizations. He was a beloved professor and mentor to generations of students and young scholars. Most important, he was always approachable—even humble—exemplifying in everything he did the true sense of what it means to be a teacher. I worked with him for many years as a colleague. Paul will long be remembered as a giant in the history of Harvard Business School, and he will be greatly missed by all of us who had the privilege of knowing and learning from him.”
• According to Lawrence’s son, William (“Tad”), of Roslindale, Mass., “My father was a sociologist who was interested in organizations, not so much as businesses but as the central manifestation of the human cooperative venture. This was nowhere more evident than in Driven.”
• Commented his daughter, Anne T. Lawrence of Oakland, Calif., “Dad was intensely curious. He loved tackling a new topic and learning as much as he could about it. He read widely in many fields, including neuroscience, evolutionary theory, anthropology, and history. He saw himself as a synthesizer, someone who could draw on many fields to craft a fresh way of looking at the world.” She added, “Among his very last words to me were these: ‘There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.’”

There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. 

Paul’s rigorously researched theory about what drives human nature is a set of ideas whose time has come relative to creating businesses that create social value as much as they create economic value.  Paul generously spoke to these ideas last August at a Client Event sponsored by Maritz Motivation where we entered into a dialogue on how to “Create True Stakeholder Engagement, by Design.”  Paul shared his wisdom that “True Engagement” requires a Four-Drive Trust Code where business leaders strive to serve their stakeholder by:

• Enhancing the other’s capacity to acquire resources and ensuring that rewards are fairly distributed based on merit (Drive to Acquire).
• Helping to protect others and their property while detecting and punishing cheaters (Drive to Defend).
• Keeping promises rather than breaking them and seeking exchanges that are fair (Drive to Bond).
• Telling the truth rather than lies and sharing information and insights rather than withholding them (Drive to Create).

He challenged us to focus on the drive to bond with emotional awarness expanding the circle of trust.  He challenged us to focus on the drive to create with conscious cognition expanding the frontiers of knowledge.  He challenged us to lead our organizations with four-drive solutions and trusting relationships in order to create a better world for all.

Are you in on this challenge?

While the quote offers evidence that perspective-taking is an imperative to being a good human being.  You might be saying, “Perspective-taking, so what?  What does this have to do with better business practices?”

As I think about it, I am concluding that perspective-taking is the most important individual and organizational competency to effectively compete and create value in today’s turmuluous business environment.

As a business leader, when you fully take the perspective of another person or group of people, your thoughts toward that group become more like how you see yourself.  You move beyond seeing that person or group as an “out-group” that you need to extract from or defend against.  Essentially, you bring that person or group into your “in-group” and establish bonds with them that allow you to see them as fully human and much like yourself, in many ways.

Here is the red-flag statement.  If you catch yourself saying, “How can I get them to buy more, sell more, etc.”  You are in trouble.  You need to reframe and ask, “How can I create an offer or solution that is compelling to them?”  “How can I create an environment where people can do their best work?” 

Taking the perspective of every stakeholder touched by a business practice or program is the first step in creating value for them.  Whether you are designing a customer satisfaction measurement system, creating a recognition system, or developing a channel engagement strategy, start by putting yourself into the shoes of every stakeholder touched by those systems and ask:

• What is important to this stakeholder group?  What is going on in their day-to-day life that could be made better? What do they value?  What are their values or motivators?
• How might value be created for them?  How might we create an experience that is meaningful and motivating for them?  How might we make their lives better?

Too often, business practices and programs are skewed to create value for the business without considering what is really good for the stakeholders.  We have become very good at understanding what a company wants and needs to create a ROI.  It is much rarer that we strive to understand what the various stakeholders want and need.

Adopting a better business – better lives approach starts with perspective-taking.  Business can do well while also doing good things for everyone touched by the business.

So what should we know if we want to create positive memories for people?  According to Daniel Kahneman, there are three critical aspects of experience that the remembering self pays particular attention to:

1.) Changes

2.) Significant Moments

3.) Endings

While most what people experience is lost, what they will remember are the changes, the significant moments, and the endings. 

Kahneman shares that, for example, a two-week vacation is barely better than a one-week vacation.  Why?  Time has very little impact on the story that is remembered.  If the second week of the vacation is similar to the first week, what’s the point?  The remembering self just doesn’t care about how much time we were on vacation.

As we strive to create positive memories for people and for ourselves, we need to artfully create opportunities for “significant moments” where positive emotions are released.  Additionally, we need to pay a lot of attention to endings.

So much of what businesses are striving to do today is create a positive experience for their key stakeholders including their customers, channel partners and employees.  How might we utilize these insights in small and big ways to create better business practices that enrich the lives of the people touched by them?

• climate change
• unemployment
• aging of society
• and the current economic crisis.

Furthermore, Liataer says we cannot solve climate change, unemployment and the aging of society issues with the current money system.  According to Liataer …. Our current money system is flawed and unsustainable.   Liataer challenges both profit and non-for-profit enterprises to create complimentary currencies that match unmet needs with supply.  Joel M Hodroff describes eight types of non-cash currencies:

• Barter:  Barter is a legal, taxable form of commerce, used every day by individuals, families, businesses and nations.  Modern barter is facilitated with a barter dollar or trade credit.

• Volunteerism:  There are paid fire departments and volunteer fire departments; both put out fires.  There is paid delivery of restaurant meals and Meals on Wheels with delivery by volunteers.  Each day volunteers keep hospitals, schools and community organizations running smoothly.

• Open Source Software Development:  Both UNIX and Linux are operating systems using billions of lines of software code.  UNIX is not better than Linux because it costs billions of dollars to create and maintain, while Linux was developed cooperatively and distributed freely as Shareware.  Companies such as IBM and Sun Microsystems are already building bridges between their own proprietary, cash-based, software systems and the collaborative, free, OpenSource systems.

• Self-help and Mutual-aid Groups:  There exists a parallel non-cash healthcare system founded in the United States and operating globally.  It is known as the 12 Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and is reflective of many such initiatives.  While some people pay cash for treatment of alcoholism or drug addiction at private, public or nonprofit hospitals and clinics, millions of others go weekly to church basements and coffee shops for help at no-charge.

• Family Economics:  There is a proliferation of paid domestic services including childcare, senior care, cooking, housecleaning, laundry, lawn and garden care, snow removal, home repairs and so forth.  While it is most likely impossible to assess the superiority of paid domestic labor over unpaid, it is clear that many people earn a paycheck for the very same activities for which others receive little or no compensation (i.e. stay at home parents.).  Paying credits to stay at home caregivers and other domestic workers, while using a currency exchange to help them spend those credits within the cash economy, could raise the quality of life for millions, while rewarding activities that promote the well-being of families and society.

• Loyalty Rewards:  The last 10 years has seen an explosion in customer loyalty programs, such as frequent-flyer miles, American Express Membership Rewards, Starbucks Points, etc.  As a competitive marketing tool, loyalty rewards are a creative form of discount, e.g.; buy six flights and get one free.  Yet the market has responded enthusiastically to this non-cash form of currency, despite the challenges of redeeming trillions of outstanding miles and points.

• Complementary Currencies:  There is a growing worldwide movement promoting a variety of non-cash, financial instruments, such as Time Dollars, barter credits, local currencies and social incentives.  There is also a growing body of literature and websites explaining how new currencies can be used to enhance economic cooperation.  There is also a modest and growing emphasis on sustainability issues.  The focus tends to be on local commerce and individual-t0-individual transactions, but there is a growing exploration of business-to-consumer commerce.  The term Complementary comes from the example of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), where practitioners are useful roles for both mainstream and alternative healthcare modalities.

• Nature:  Nature is the largest economy on the planet, providing many lessons in how to operate with neither money nor bureaucracy.  Nature is a gift economy providing humans with such free resources as energy, raw materials, medicines, food and entertainment.  The awesome power and mystery of nature has been the source of fearful metaphors, such as survival of the fittest.  Yet nature’s creatures neither work ceaselessly nor worry incessantly as humans often do.  Native and Aboriginal cultures the world over call upon the rest of us to recognize the gifts and the teachings of our generous Mother Earth.  Explorations of the next economic era would be well served to grapple with this wisdom.

Is it time to think much more expansively and creatively about non-cash currencies?