Get Out Of Business And Into Betterness

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: A New Framework for Doing Business

Competency: visionary leadership

Who benefits: big picture thinkers

Consultant Usage: those involved in organizational design or development

What’s it about? Today’s post isn’t for everyone.  In fact it is unlikely that more than a handful of you wonderful readers will find it of interest.  I am not even going to recommend it.  I am not sure if the author is dead-on (I wish) or pie-in-sky (or a century too early).

First, about the author.  He is Umair Haque.  He is considered to be one of the world’s most influential management thinkers, almost at a Peter Drucker level.

Second, about the format: The book is very short.  Under 70 pages.  It is only available in three formats, and perhaps appropriate for the unique treatise, it is not available in book format.  So if you are interested you can get an Amazon Kindle version ($2.69), an Amazon Audio version ($2.99), or an HBS Press PDF version ($2.99).

Third, about the book (booklet?) Betterness: Economics for Humans .  The most important thing you should know about the book is his approach.  He writes in high level concepts and big theories.  If you are looking for practical advice, you will be disappointed.  There is very little in the book that is usable in a day-to-day sense.  This is a “Big Picture” book and mostly about the future.

I think I can sum up the book quickly.  He has three parts.  There is a very long (for the size of the book) introduction in which he writes about the history of psychology and the relatively recent paradigm shift from “curing mental illness” to addressing the rather radical notion of helping people reach their full potential (positive psychology).  This first part will serve as his example in the third part of the book.

In the second part he examines Economics.  He writes eloquently “…business as we know it has reached a state of diminishing returns–though we work harder and harder, we never seem to get anywhere. This has led to a diminishing of the common wealth: wage stagnation, widening economic inequality, the depletion of the natural world, and more.”

In the third part he suggests what we can do about it.  We need a gigantic “AHA!” in Economics.  A paradigm shift.  A new framework.  Call it what you will, but an entirely new way to look at and measure economics, business and life.   He writes about what this would look like.  He sums it all up by saying “we need to get out of business and into betterness”.

Hint to readers: You will find him using words like empathy, consciousness, compassion, love – words not often used by business writers, let alone world class business thinkers.

If you would like a preview of how he writes, please look at one of his recent Blog postings: The Next Big Thing.  I will give you a sneak preview.  Below is one of the most delightful, provocative, entertaining, thought-provoking paragraphs I have read in ages.  So at a minimum enjoy and think about this paragraph:

“Here’s how an organization designed for empathy might work…. Every year, anybody with the word “chief” or “senior” in their title spends two weeks at an orphanage for children affected by war crimes (without a retinue of liveried footmen and tuxedoed butlers). Here’s how one designed for compassion might work. I’d go one step past philanthropy, and institute a new rule: that should a series of real-world social objectives fail to be met, bonuses are slashed by fifty percent, and reinvested in said social objectives (I know, so unfair). Here’s how one designed for love might work. Don’t like it? Don’t do it? Not feeling it? Stop working on it. Love it? Pitch it, seed it, build it, live it. Sounds a little crazy, right? Not if you’re Zappos or Netflix.”

Catch you later.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.