The MetaVarsity Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it possible to create financial wealth and do business in this world in a way that honours the spirit in all of us? And if so, how?

 

Over the last 10 years I have become a social entrepreneur with a definite philosophy about how we can go about doing business, in a way that serves and creates wealth for all. I made the transformation, and so can others.

Social entrepreneurship is generally seen as doing business for the common good of a community, and its often miss-associated with NGO’s and community based organisations as if the primary aim of such organisations should not be to create financial wealth. Not having coming from that background, my take on social enterprise was a little different and evolved from me asking, “So how can I do business fairly, equitably, in line with my values and still create the financial abundance and value that will see me able to fulfil my vision and ambitions for my family?"

 

I have several ideas to share with you.

 

In business, shareholders are defined as the owners of a company. Stakeholders are those parties or persons that are affected by, or have an effect on an organisation, group or individual. First realise that every stakeholder is seeking value. This doesn’t necessarily mean they seek money. Rather they seek the greatest benefits compared to the cost it took to get those benefits. This gain of value allows the stakeholders to prosper in the world, facilitating a path of higher expression.

 

However, the way we have gone about doing business has evolved with a focus on creating value for shareholders, not stakeholders. This is entrenched all the way from Hollywood movies right through to business education. By default this approach has often meant creation of value for shareholders at the expense of other stakeholders. It’s not a win-win, but a win-lose approach to business. The recent recession exemplifies the failure of this approach. Look at the fall of Bear Sterns, Worldcom, Enron and you will see a heightened focus on a certain group of shareholders at the expense of others. Some have just called it ‘corporate greed’. 

In our business we dropped suppliers, or customers that wanted everything from us, but didn't want to be fair in return. And to stakeholders like the Camps Bay community, we got in community service patrolling and became active in various community forums and boards. For our staff stakeholders, we developed a free in-house education program teaching personal and development business skills. For our tourist customers we developed a whole bunch of value-added extras such as free water, maps and access to free, money saving local information (and none of these at any extra cost to us!) In our business courses and consulting we teach this 3-step model for changing your organisation and business model to follow this path, still creating abundance for yourself, and abundance for others too. 

 

The second concept I’d like to share with you actually precedes the one I have just shared with you. Values are literally those things we value and hold most dear. We behave according to our values. And in so doing the things we value most become habitual and dominant in our lives. These habits then create your future, one day at a time. If you want to know what your future will be like, look to your habits and the values that drive them. There are those who say you cannot change your values. Throughout history, people have shown that this does not have to be true. Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Victor Frankl are just some examples of people who shifted there values at a deep fundamental level. How did they do it? The answer lies in the habit of Reflection. 

 

Reflection is the ability to look at your behaviour and the results you get and question whether this is how you would like things to be. Without reflection, we just do the same day in and day out, and hope we will get a different result.

I only realised much later what had gotten me to follow this new model of doing business. I had a fundamental shift in values through the process of reflecting on what kind of result I would like for my actions in this world.

 

Finally I’d like to share a practical tool I use in our business, one that can help when you are engaging with stakeholders and trying to create a win-win. This tool, called the 4-Way test developed by Rotary, one of the largest service organisations in the world, has guided my business actions my whole life.

 

Simply, the 4 way test asks you:

 

1. Is it the Truth?

2. Is it Fair to all?

3. Will it build Good will and Better Friendships?

4. Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

Applying this to your engagements with stakeholders, not only from you to them, but from them to you, can be a guide to developing win-win relationship with them.

 

Let me end by saying financial wealth comes with, I believe, a responsibility. With abundance, financial wealth we have resourced to leverage can change in the world. Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffet are just two examples of people who have reflected and changed, and in their lifetime made personal contributions to the world for the better.

 

Imagine the global shift if you and businesses and everyone else took these concepts on?

Isn’t this how you would like to do business and create wealth?

Isn’t this the world you would like to live in? 

Isn’t this the contribution you’d like to make?