Conducting Business with Ease
Business inherently contains difficulty. The reason for this is that business, individuals and teams attach to goals. As a result of attaching to strongly from an emotional and/or mental perspective to ceratin goals we take actions that may increase the probability of achieving our short-tern goals but decrease our probability of delivering long-term vale to the entire community (or all the stakeholders) that the business serves.
The possibility of minimizing difficulty in business exists. In the tradition of Buddhist Wisdom as it realtes to individuals this generak concept is known as the Third Noble Truth. The acknowledgement of this possibility requires the acceptance of two fundamental concepts non-attachment as previously discussed and the concept of dynamic business which I will describe in this post.
For an index of previous posts which contain much more detail on all the concepts referenced above please go to linkd.in/V7Yugv. This is the seventh post in a series.
Dynamic Business
In Buddhism, the idea is that the self is constantly changing in so many ways at all times physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually so that you can never pin down and quantify what the self is. This concept is often referred to as no-self. It is less jarring to the western ear and mind if you think of this as the dynamic or ever-changing self. This same concept can be applied to business.
What is a business? The most common definition of a specific business is what the shareholder(s) own. There are very sophisticated command and control methodologies, processes and technologies dedicated to answering these questions on a regular basis. Yet, if we look at the unpredictably of the stock market, the lives and deaths of businesses, the fluctuations in value of private enterprises it is clear that the value of a business changes moment by moment. This implicitly reflects the fact that all the components that make up the business are changing by moment. This gives rise to the question “What does a business owner/shareholder/stakeholder own in any given moment?”
Ownership
As a case study let’s examine the custom cabinetry business I owned for several years from the perspective of what was owned and known at any given moment during that time.
- I did not own my prospects or customers. They chose to do business with me or my competition.
- I did not own my employees. They choose to work for me. They regularly get solicited by my competitors to come work for them.
- I did not own our offices, showroom or factory floor. They were leased.
- I did own some machines, tools and vans that were depreciating on value constantly and rapidly.
- I did not own the brand. It was a franchise operation.
- I did own raw material inventory and work in progress although this was constantly changing and was essentially contractually obligated to customers.
- I had acquired the business using debt so while I had equity in the business. I did not own the business outright.
- I would be unable tell you how much the sales team would sell in any given month. They might be above goal or they might be below goal. The one thing I knew is that they would not be exactly at goal.
- We did over eighty jobs a month in a very fluid environment. I would have been unable to tell you the exact amount of inventory, work in process, or jobs being installed at any given moment.
- I can't tell you what my precise costs would be in any given month for building and installing jobs.
That being said I knew roughly what my sales team would sell and had a pretty good idea in relation to sales what my costs will be. However, the point I am trying to drive home is that it does not always make the most sense to obsess about the EXACT numbers. That energy is better spent motivating, training and retaining current employees so that they deliver results that are better then the results I wrote in my business plan or the forecast that I am spent to much time with. (For most of us spreadsheets are easier to deal with then people – it is “an area for improvement”).
To ensure that you don't think I am completely naïve, a business owner does own a set of legal rights and obligations in the form of contracts, money and goodwill. However, the laws surrounding those contracts, the value of the money and the goodwill in the business are all constantly changing.
Another real world example of the transient nature of business is reflected in the daily machinations of the stock market. The price of a stock in a publicly traded company can only do three things go up, stay the same, or go down. For practical purposes any widely traded stock will go up or go down in any given moment. The question is why does a company’s share price change hundreds or thousands of times a day?
Investors who are seeking “above market” investment returns are constantly evaluating the potential future return of buying a stock. They evaluate this potential return against the risk of being mistaken and other investment opportunities with a similar risk/return profile. Investment decisions are based on the investors strategy and the company’s future prospects including the market, the executive team, current market position, prospects for growth, competition and other factors that affect the perceived future value of the company.
As a result, thousands of investors with the same information about a company’s past, present and future will differ as to the precise value of a company. These investors will also differ on what a specific event will mean for the future value of the company. Thus, the stock market provides an excellent example of the impermanent or transient nature of business.
The question then becomes how can business leaders and individual contributors in real-world business environments leverage the concept of dynamic business to create value?
Objective Reality
Most of us as individuals have a not quite realistic view of ourselves we either think we are better or worse looking then we actually are, we think we are dumber or smarter then we actaully are, we perceive either to little or to great future earning potential, we feel we are stronger or weaker then we actually are, we perceive we are more or less loved then we actually are. We all move through the world with these mis-perceptions and react to our experiences from them. As a result of beginning from an incorrect view or place we get unexpected and unplanned results from our actions and these events along with our reactions to them essentially create the drama (or lack thereof) that make up our lives.
The same is true for business. Busineesses, employees and teams have similar mis-perceptions as decribed in the preceeding paragraph but applied to every aspect of the business. What this means is in general a business is made of people with at least slighly differing personal agendas with widely diverse views on the “facts of the business”. And even if objective facts are agreed upon different people will inetrpret their implications differently. It is these strongly held or attcached views that often lead to stress and tension or worse…conflict and strife within a busines.
If a company can develop a consciousness which includes an understanding that since everything is changing and reality is hard to pin down then non-attachment to initiatives, positions and views within the business becomes more available. In other words, the business becomes more agile and flexible. This will also reduce and remove many of the common drivers of stress, fear, anger, frustration and resentment that are commonly found within business environments. I am not advocating an abdication of leadership.
Please see my post on Karma and Actions and the case study of Whole Foods as one example of an effective decision-making and leadership structure at linkd.in/1B0wVXE.
Team players that are more focused on the objective facts confronting a business are far more likely to come up with appropriate solutions to solve problems. By reducing negative emotions in the workplace businesses can assist their employees in having lhealthier, mor eenjoyable and more prosperous lives outside of work which leads to higher employee productivity and higher corporate profits. In addition, in recent years quality of the work environment has played a bigger and bigger role in the recruiting of great people. If a company can point to a positive, results oriented culture rather then one governed by corporate gamesmanship it becomes a powerful recruiting and retention tool.
Caveats, Disclaimers, Past and Future Posts
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This post is the seventh in a series that looks at how Buddhist Wisdom can be applied to business. To start from the first post go to linkd.in/1qEIoKb. I have also created an an index / table of contents for all the posts at http://linkd.in/V7Yugv. My next post will look at the possibility for businesses to operate in the world with greater ease while maintaining profitability.
The writings in these posts represent my personal interpretations and understandings of buddhist wisdom as it applies to business. The responsibility for any errors, misconceptions and/or alternative interpretations of traditional buddhist teachings are completely mine and mine alone.
I hope to post additional thoughts and writings each Tuesday and Thursday but this will vary as life’s circumstances require. Please follow me on LinkedIn to stay in touch. I sincerely appreciate and look forward to reading any posted comments. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. Stay tuned!