Is it possible to be gentle and successful in business?
Is it possible to be compassionate and profitable?
This is a big question for our time because we find ourselves in quite the mess,
Much of which has been created by how we choose to do business.
Capitalist structures dominate our global economics and this is the environment every business operates in.
It informs business norms and expectations and underwrites the performance of not just individual ventures but whole countries and international alliances.
Action on current issues around the environment,
Health,
Peace are dependent on consensus and cooperation within an economic context of competition.
This absolutely influences the nature of debate and the shape of solutions with each contributor seeking a good deal for their country rather than a good deal for all.
Our politicians are rarely trailblazers,
Let's be honest,
And the solid principles upon which they become elected erode faster than sugar and water once they're in power.
Behind closed doors there's no transparency as to the deals that are being done.
Perceptions are manipulated with half truths and outright mistruths and businesses that stand to gain often participate in this manipulation.
How do the gentle survive in this environment?
How do they thrive?
The answer is actually in the principles of mainstream business.
My starting point is always profit first.
Whenever I mentally prepare myself to tackle this concept I am aware of a little voice in the back of my head that thinks it's going to be instantly assumed I'm sidelining profit.
That's not the case but the fact that the voice is there is evidence of how strong the narrative is in our economic stories.
Profit first mentality has enriched CEOs and shareholders at the expense of workers and environment.
Every day there are stories of corporations who've cut corners to maximize profits leading to massive environmental and community damage.
Or stories of corporations who strip out essential natural resources and then sell them back to the communities they were extracted from at inflated prices.
Vast swathes of natural resources are extracted destroying irreplaceable habitat and polluting community land in the process.
Prized minerals such as gold,
Diamonds,
Lithium and wood from old growth forests are stripped out without care or pristine habitats are cleared to grow soy or palm oil just as examples.
This is the kind of profit first principle I am talking about and it filters down into behaviours of businesses of all sizes because there is the notion that every business should aspire to have as big a bottom line as possible.
The cost of getting there is a secondary matter.
This is why the profit first principle has led to considerable manipulation of market behaviour through psychology.
Business sales have been presented as a way of helping a potential buyer believe what you want them to believe or to aspire to what you present to them.
The influencer culture and laptop lifestyle type promotions have trickled down from this framework of reference.
The market is manipulated into wanting what is offered,
Indeed believing that they must have it.
For you this means working in an environment with constant pressure to generate more revenue and scale your business as a way to measure success and status.
The notion that your audience and customer base should be ever growing alongside an upward trajectory of profit is standard fare and it leads to constant discussions about efficiency and productivity.
That leeches into cuts and reorganisations at one end of the spectrum to hacks and shortcuts at the other and AI is playing a big role in this quest to do more in less time and with less investment.
Why does a business need to grow permanently?
Why do we need repeat customers?
It all links back to status and reputation.
Wealth equals status.
We only have to look at the idolisation of self-made billionaires to see the truth of this.
The more money you make,
The bigger your audience,
The more important you are.
This narrative keeps small businesses thinking that they are small and incapable of making an impact unless you hustle because success is only possible if you sacrifice everything for it and work every hour you can.
Apparently the value of what you do is not as important as how you choose to work.
This leads to a crippling lack of self-belief within the people who have the ideas and the ability to create real change.
It's then compounded by the narrative that you have to sell what the market wants by adapting your services and products to an existing demand.
That is pretty challenging in a world of viral trends and it devalues creativity not to mention sole purpose.
It also hurtles you directly into a competitive mindset which is the default setting of business thinking.
Industrialists and businessmen really took on board Darwin's concept of survival of the fittest,
Well a simplified version of it.
There is only room for one at the top is a doctrine of doing whatever it takes to be at the top.
Ethics and morals progressively get ejected at each rung of the ladder.
In a competitive business world collaboration is a weakness and a risk and then all relationships become transactional even if they are dressed up differently.
That cascades into what is accepted as leadership.
Only those who are determined enough and ruthless enough are deemed to be leaders and that often gets interpreted,
Misinterpreted I would say as fearlessness.
The problem is that most transformational service providers cannot function within this model,
At least not happily.
Almost everything you do sits outside these principles because it's about quality of life in many different ways.
None of the principles of modern business are about quality of life except for the generation of income to raise your living standards.
Business is so focused on the bottom line that it forgets the people who make it possible and what they need to live a good life.
So how do you take a gentler approach that feeds you in every way?
We need to look through the narratives and find a different truth and principles by which we can operate.
A business needs to make money,
It needs to be profitable.
What is profit though?
Profit is only true profit if systems and resources are nurtured through the creation process rather than being a transfer of balance from one to another.
Transformative businesses are fully at home in this nurturing process but they often depend upon systems and thinking that lean into the transference model.
My work is in helping entrepreneurs find more creative solutions that actually uphold their values in action and the simplest starting point with profit is to view the whole picture of your business not just your income.
Consider how fulfilling your work is and how important you feel it is.
Consider the impact for clients and how you're shaping your field.
Look at how you choose to operate and how consonant that is with the energy you bring.
This is a much broader definition of success which can change your relationship to your business and your work and it might even stop the negative self-talk in its tracks.
And it lays the foundation for changing your approach to business growth.
Exponential growth is never sustained in nature.
There are booms but they're always followed by busts.
A stable healthy environment grows gradually and steadily.
There is a constant recycling of energy and adaptation of relationships to maintain stability.
Growth in nature is a rise and fall,
A breath in and out.
The exponential curve does not exist.
We can be much gentler with ourselves as entrepreneurs if we accept that growth is a cycle and that with each passing cycle we create both growth which is the inward consolidation of the past and expansion which is the outer integration of new ideas.
In each cycle there are periods of internal and external activity.
When you are in an internal phase,
Pushing and hustling are highly detrimental.
But when you're in an external phase it's okay to put a little more pressure on yourself to be active.
The bottom line is that no two weeks or months will look the same.
Some feel like high energy,
Some feel like low energy and that's part of a natural rhythm.
Your value is not equal to your perceived productivity.
Your impact is not measured in the hours spent but in the energy shared.
You can achieve more growth and expansion in one concentrated intentional action than you can in a hundred moments of going through the motions.
The gentler approach is to measure your value by delivering what you believe matters,
Not by the perceptions and norms of society that wants to perpetually propel you up the career ladder to higher levels of income and authority.
The quiet leaders can do far more good in the world as long as they believe in themselves.
Gentleness has to begin with us as individuals and how we treat ourselves.
But it sits badly if this isn't followed through into how we interact with others through our businesses.
At a strategic level we can shift this by changing from a competitive to a collaborative mindset.
Every person is unique,
So is every business.
There is space for all,
Certainly.
There is also a need for all.
Diversity underpins life through collaboration.
A plant develops a flower that is perfect for a visiting pollinator.
The plant next to it develops for a different pollinator.
In turn,
These two plants can support insects that feed different birds,
And so it continues.
From the microbes in the soil comes diversity.
Business is no different.
There is no one-size-solution.
The health of business depends on diversity.
Competition is an illusion.
Diversity of skill,
Culture,
History,
Perception nurture business health and feed social health.
Diversity of approach creates choice that feeds individual need rather than boxing those individuals into solutions that fall short of the mark.
Which leads me to the antidote to psychology in marketing.
Psychology is used to manipulate responses.
And that is taxing for both entrepreneur and client alike.
Most psychology is nervous system unfriendly.
It leans into fear of missing out and pushes for a response from an emotional space.
Generally when someone takes a decision from this place they are not in a position to do transformative work.
They put themselves under huge pressure to get a specific result and their nervous system remains activated throughout.
What's the gentle alternative?
Trust.
Trust that what you are offering them is meeting a need.
Trust in your future clients to make a decision that's right for them.
Lay out what you offer.
Encourage their critical thinking and give them space to make a decision.
The energy in which you hold your offers is a reflection of the experience of being within them.
Being a gentle entrepreneur is consciously choosing to look at the norms of business and saying that's not for me.
I choose a different path.
It is possible to find success as long as you define what success means for you.
To help you put this into motion in your business here are some principles of gentle entrepreneurship that you can work with.
The first is holistic well-being.
Your well-being as an entrepreneur is just as important as anything else related to your business.
What matters to you,
What makes you feel whole,
Leads to a business that feels good to be in and helps you to stay in a more balanced state of being.
Likewise for your business,
Holistic business health can be achieved by exploring the impacts your business has across the spectrum.
How is it supporting communities of place and association?
How is it nurturing deeper self-realisation?
How is it raising issues and awareness?
How is it contributing to change?
These are just as important as your bottom line.
Follow natural rhythms.
Allow yourself,
Your business and your clients to ride the ups and downs of inward growth and outward expression.
Take time when you need it.
Push ahead when the energy is there.
Follow your natural rhythm through the day,
The week,
The year to optimise your energy,
Your focus and your outcomes.
When it comes to growth,
Grow like a tree.
Plan to grow gently,
Sustainably for the long term and let the pull of viral growth drift away.
Each cycle of growth lays down another ring and brings more strength and resilience for the future.
Ditch the competition and embrace collaboration.
See the shared goals and synergies in your relationships,
Especially when they're left field.
The more you look for community of purpose,
The more you will find it and the more easily growth will come to you.
Practice trust.
Trust yourself to follow your path and bring what you excel at to others.
Trust your future clients to know themselves and listen to their intuition.
Allow those relationships to blossom without pressure and they will stand the test of time.
And finally,
Most importantly,
Lead with soul.
Your business is an expression of soul,
A calling to create positivity in the world.
Let this be your golden thread that leads you through the unknown to where you are meant to be.
