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A fresh breeze is sweeping through the conservative halls of university management faculties. It appears that many students who are studying for MBAs are no longer satisfied with only learning about scientific management techniques and profit-making, they also want to make a difference. The old joke about MBAs standing for Mediocre But Arrogant may be losing its relevance.
Already now a few years ago, a Businessweek article (6/1/05) highlighted a then growing trend for MBA students to seek and engage in pro-bono work while studying. It seems that more new MBA graduates are looking for employers who focus on the double bottom line – making a profit and making a difference.
But are these things compatible?
Absolutely, says astronaut Rusty Schweikert who made a space walk from Apollo 9. Looking at Earth as a whole from outer space taught Schwelkert that "frames and boundaries over which we fight are not real from the perspective of space. Individual responsibility comes out of that direct experience of seeing the planet as a whole. There is no longer room on the planet for a concept that is so fundamentally `them and us'. We are all interconnected."
As we are all interconnected, our actions eventually come back to affect us. This is true for both individuals and organisations. As evidenced by the recent trouble faced by James Hardie, the relationships a corporation maintains internally as well as externally have a big impact on its eventual success. The double bottom line is also a crucial leverage for sparking and maintaining passion in your workforce. People will give their best when they know that they are working for a cause.
In my own organisation, Zaffyre, we strive to make a difference as well as a profit. In doing so we are able to attract and retain very high calibre staff who feel passionate about our vision and are willing to give their best. Interestingly, this same philosophy scares away those who don't want to learn, grow and give. We see this as a blessing; we only want learners, growers and givers to stay.
An increasingly important arm of the work that we in Zaffyre are doing is a gathering we are calling Leaders Making a Difference (LMAD). To call LMAD and organisation is too grandiose, and it is not a movement, not yet at least. We think of it as an emerging gathering of CEOs, company directors and other prominent members of our societies who from time to time get together to create new and strengthen existing relationships. These relationships allow them to challenge and encourage each other to lift their levels of thinking so that they can make a difference to their organisations and to their worlds. These people who are often judged to be not interested in making a positive contribution to the world are showing great interest in being leaders making a difference. And they are recognising that they can only do this through being in constructive relationship with each other.
The secret of success with the double bottom line is to have an integrative approach where traditional practices such as profit making, strategy, processes, procedures and skill development are considered as equally important to personal development, relationship building and making a difference. It is very much a world of ‘and’ rather than ‘either/or’.
This is in line with research on human development, which tells us that, as people mature in their thinking, emotional and spiritual maturity, they can live with paradox and incongruity, and use the energy of creative contradiction. The people who support themselves to develop in an on-going way are creating the breakthrough companies that will successfully navigate our era of increasing change. |
