conscious capitalism

Think in terms of creating value for all of our stakeholders simultaneously. All stakeholders are interdependent and connected together. When you do this, you are thinking with Second Tier (Integral) consciousness.

But we have not achieved our tremendous increase in shareholder value by making shareholder value the primary purpose of our business. In my marriage, my wife's happiness is an end in itself, not merely a means to my own happiness; love leads me to put my wife's happiness first, but in doing so I also make myself happier. Similarly, the most successful businesses put the customer first, ahead of the investors. In the profit-centered business, customer happiness is merely a means to an end: maximizing profits. In the customer-centered business, customer happiness is an end in itself, and will be pursued with greater interest, passion, and empathy than the profit-centered business is capable of.

Welcome to the Dawn of Conscious Capitalism--a popular, decentralized, broad-based crusade to heal the excesses of capitalism with transcendent human values. Every day Conscious Capitalism wins new converts in the paneled boardrooms of global business.... Equally important, the actions millions of us take, "from the supermarket to the stock market," are drafting a more wholistic brand of free enterprise which will forever outshine the Chicago School--and win someone somewhere a brand-new Nobel Prize.

"I think it solidified my capitalistic thinking( Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged"), in that I believe very strongly that people are generally selfish, but that selfishness can ultimately benefit many, many people."

More than a name, logo or "iconic" CEO, a brand is a place in the heart where employees, investors, suppliers--and Conscious Consumers--meet to tell a company's story, says brand guru Elsie Maio. "When brand reveals authenticity, values and humanity's drive towards consciousness, it's a powerful strategic advantage."

Do what you love, but be damned sure it's profitable. If you do work you love, but it doesn't generate income, your business will fail.  If you do work you hate, but it generates income, your health will fail… and your business along with it.  If you can't do what you love and make it profitable, you've either got a hobby or a headache, not a sustainable business.  Don't settle for anything less than passion and profit.

It’s a widely accepted axiom of business that great companies grow their revenues and profits year after year. Yet quietly, under the radar, some entrepreneurs have rejected the pressure of endless growth to focus on more satisfying business goals. Goals like being great at what they do . . . creating a great place to work . . . provid-ing great customer service . . . making great contributions to their communities . . . and finding great ways to lead their lives.

"Spirituality" in business sounds lofty. How practical is it?

The answer is “very.” There’s a fundamental way in which Spirit and consciousness contribute to worldly success—and it has long been ignored. [. . .]

As experts, authors and gurus often note, the game of business is to influence the external world. But here’s the point: How can you control your environment if you can’t even manage your own thoughts and emotions? In other words, how do you rule the world without first mastering yourself?

The cornerstone of effective leadership is self-mastery.

Spirituality is today's greatest megatrend, but where is it taking us? What's the future of our compelling interest in all things spiritual? To discover the answer, we must first clear up a common misunderstanding about the spiritual path.

Most of us harbor the belief--reenforced in the media--that a passion for the "inner life" takes us away from the world, rendering us self-obsessed, if not downright selfish.

Well, the truth is: it does. But only at first. During the journey's initial introspective chapter, many instinctively withdraw from the daily grind of modern life. Why? Because, seekers grow more sensitive and too much stress will overwhelm the fresh, emerging spiritual consciousness.

Often we detach in order to heal: as we fill with Spirit, we release a lot of old emotional baggage, find peace, discover a new inner voice--and that requires a fair amount of energy. When my own life-long spiritual journey intensified in 1994, I shut off the TV for two years and rarely read newspapers. Good-bye violence, cynicism, TV commercials. Hello silence, meditation and hearing myself think.

But later the spiral path of Spirit takes a different turn and we plunge into an exciting new phase: our return to the world. Now regenerated, we come back to society and service. That is exactly what millions of people--investors, consumers, managers--and the business leaders you'll meet in this chapter are up to--living their spirituality day-to-day.