Many people I know are waiting. But in these particularly tough times, can any of us afford to wait? If families in America are struggling with unemployment and foreclosures, can the rest of us await prosperity before helping? Can entrepreneurs wait for profitability before becoming active members of their community? And can companies wait for a better balance sheet before prioritizing societal responsibility? I am afraid that all of this waiting to give back is hindering our ability to move forward.
John D. Rockefeller was once asked, "How much money is enough?" He famously replied, "Just a little bit more." I am often dismayed, when talking to some business and law school students, by the way this attitude seems to color their sense of community and social responsibility. When only they're a little more secure, a little more certain, then they'll turn their attention to the world around them. They falsely assume that helping others is some sort of charitable pursuit that requires money and personal success. How much is enough? Just a little bit more.
Is it possible that we have this all upside down? I know that it seems counter intuitive, even an oxymoron, but maybe giving back to our world has to happen even before we have earned our money or power. Perhaps our eventual personal success is predicated on how hard we're willing to work beyond the obvious of our immediate self-interest; that the luck we're looking for is no luck at all, but a function of how much we're willing to add to the system.
I was recently asked by a friend, Glenn Llopis, to write the forward for his new book, Earning Serendipity: 4 Skills for Creating and Sustaining Good Fortune in Your Work. In the book, Llopis argues that rather than looking for a lucky break, an unlikely and unpredictable winning lottery ticket of life, we can learn to cultivate a consistent yield of fortune through an approach that includes giving what we can of ourselves. He calls this tenet (one of the "four leaves" of his model) adopting a "generous purpose," or learning to "share the harvest;" and it is part and parcel of learning to approach life with an "entrepreneurial mindset."
Fundamentally, entrepreneurialism is an attempt to solve a problem and then creating an organization to implement a solution. It is in our approach to this problem solving that we define the DNA of our careers or our enterprises; and it is at that nucleus--the stem cells of our careers, or our enterprises--that we must imbue this sense of generous purpose.
On the enterprise level, these ideas have already taken root. Corporate Social Responsibility, or 'CSR,' is increasingly playing a role in every day business planning. At its most basic, CSR means including the welfare of people and environment as a part of the business model; avoiding harm to the community regardless of legality. It is a term that has grown to include everything from sustainability in manufacturing practices, to cause-based marketing, to corporate philanthropy.
The good news is, I believe, that to the generation of millenials entering the working world - these ideas are commonplace and integral to their own philosophies. As Llopis points out in the book, generous purpose forms the core of some of the world's most successful and exciting companies. From Ikea's commitment to fair wage and working conditions in the third world, to Timberland's partnership with CityYear, the companies that our best and brightest want to work for are those that work to maximize their positive impact on both the local and global communities.
Llopis, in Earning Serendipity, argues that in order for this mentality to truly blossom we must learn to incorporate these ideals into our every day lives; and that when we learn to do so we will see both our personal and professional lives progressed and rewarded. There is a corollary, however unquantifiable, between the gifts we share with the world around us and the fortune we receive. When we mentor a child, or give guidance to our co-workers, we better the community in which we live and thus make for a more profitable existence.
As we slowly (and hopefully) come out on the other side of this downturn, we will surely have a different view about our future. If high levels of economic growth and prosperity will no longer be an assumption, this may be the best time to reframe the question. Instead of asking "How much is enough?" we can ask "How can I help?"
There are those who argue that CSR is a 'misunderstanding' of the nature of the corporation - whose purpose it is to be profitable. But maybe what matters is the appropriate framing of the problem.
One of the core lessons of the financial crisis is, in my opinion, that the workings of reputational mechanisms and the essential reference to the future - and hence to sustainability even in the narrow economic or financial sense - of business has been left out more and more until it was almost invisible. And this degeneration isn't even likely to work when you look at it as a present-day Adam Smith: when he told that famous story about why he trusts his baker and butcher, he said a lot more than can be expressed in terms of short-term profitability alone. He referred to reputation and work-well-done. This somehow got lost - to our big misfortune.
Reliability and a sound basis for the judgement of quality and reputation in contracts isn't a free gift. It's probably closer to a public good. Like financial stability.
Seems indeed like a good time to renew these links - and to re-establish the better parts of a tradition not so well lost.
Funny, today, Anne Naylor posted an article about increasing your luck - I guess it's on everybody's mind these days. I think I like your (and Mr. Llopis's - I read some more about him) take on luck and good fortune better - working to earn good fortune and making your life your business and taking others' well being into consideration should be a no brainer. I hope this new awakening of generous purpose will permeate through the failing economy.
In relation to this post, the primary reason for our economic situation is that our system is not sustainable, because we have too many people that are only interested in taking and not enough giving back. (E.g. too many were happy to take a huge fee in writing a CDO, but are now nowhere to be found when it comes time to cover the losses). The result is what we have today...a bankrupt system.
The new model must be based on service and giving before taking. If you want to succeed in this new model, one must figure out how he or she can best serve whether it be a company or community. The ones that figure this out the soonest will be the winners in the new economy. And the sooner we, as a community, figure this out, the faster that we can turn this boat around.
It doesn't matter if you are a believer in god (any religion will do ) or not.
It doesn't matter of you are well off or not
It doesn't matter if you are on the left, right, or center.
The time is now, the people are us, and we need to understand that if we don't help each other out we will fall.
We have tried the otta my way, everyman for himself, greed is good way. it has brought the greatest country and culture the world has ever known to the brink. don't believe me look at the latest unemployment numbers
Everything in nature relates to everything else, humans are not excluded from that club. So if we can do something to help out our neighbor without the expectation of getting something in return then we have done the job of being human.
And, if like this Serendipity book seems to suggest, giving of yourself and trying to help others around you regardless of your circumstances might earn you some of the good graces of the universe, Then I say: all the more reason to be the person you always wanted to be
LIGHT > dark
The longer answer is we make choices every day, so in each of the choices that we make stop and think about how your choice will effect others.
From small things like do I roll down the window and give change to the guy with the "hungry vet please help" sign. (I always do)
To the bigger things like should part of my business serve the underprivileged community even if my profit margin is smaller. (I have tried to in my small business)
The way I see it it's more like you get what you give, and like Sir Paul and his mates said "the love you take is equal to the love you make"
So giving is receiving and visa versa.
If we can collectively get that mindset then always doing good becomes part of our nature and then the thought of giving money or time to help out would be a privilege instead of a "big ask"
Second, I've read Earning Serendipity. What a fun piece of work! Easy read, packed full of wisdom on how to approach the workplace culture and come out on top! Well worth the price of admission, as they say.