The Higher Reality of Business Leadership

Since business is an institution that is created by and composed of humans, human reality can and should inform business reality because of the Upanishadic principle of correspondence. For a Beingful leader, it is important that the higher reality of business align with and promote a larger human reality since business is embedded within humanity. From the viewpoint of a Beingful leader, how good is this alignment currently? The answer depends on the higher relationships and shared purpose imputed to business leadership.

If we think of nature as being fundamentally unconnected to business, then this separation enables us to think of it as little other than a resource for business. Similarly, if humanity is mainly a provider of human resources for a business, then one set of human resources is substitutable by others and almost all human resources are potentially substitutable by technology. As a result, humanity and nature become means to material ends rather than ends in themselves.

If the larger context is assumed only to be a source of resources, the shared purpose of business leadership is to maximize the efficiency of resources and substitute them when they decline in availability. The resources do not have value in and of themselves: their value is derived from their ability to efficiently enable the material ends of business. For business, these ends are typically to increase the throughput (or volume of flow) and profitability of material goods and services.

 This view that nature is valuable only for the material ends of business is the hidden assumption behind the beliefs of conventional business and economics. It is ultimately derived from the traditional Western view that humans have dominion over nature. The view that humanity is mainly a source of human resources for business is based on conventional models of economics and business that emphasize the labor productivity and efficiency of production. Together, these beliefs have created an economic model that separates business from its context while valuing material outputs such as throughput and profits as ends in themselves.

The consequence of such a view is that material ends get priority over less materialistic human needs, as well as the needs of nature. This separation of business from its larger context has created the global crises of nature, humanity, and institutional credibility today.