MEGATRENDS 2010: THE RISE OF CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM By Patricia Aburdene

Introduction (continued from Megatrends:2010, Introduction)

Megatrends 2010: The New List

Here is my new list of megatrends, each of which serves as one of this book’s chapters.

1. The Power of Spirituality. In turbulent times, we look within; 78 percent seek more Spirit. Meditation and yoga soar. Divine Presence spills into business. “Spiritual” CEOs as well as senior executives from Redken and Hewlett-Packard (HP) transform their companies.

2. The Dawn of Conscious Capitalism. Top companies and leading CEOs are re-inventing free enterprise to honor stakeholders and shareholders. Will it make the world a better place? Yes. Will it earn more money? That’s the surprising part: Study after study shows the corporate good guys rack up great profits.

3. Leading from the Middle. The charismatic, overpaid CEO is fading fast. Experts now say “ordinary” managers, like HP’s Barbara Waugh, forge lasting change. How do they do it? Values, influence, moral authority.

4. Spirituality in Business is springing up all over. Half speak of faith at work. Eileen Fisher, Medtronic win “Spirit at Work” awards. Ford, Intel and other firms sponsor employee-based religious networks. Each month San Francisco’s Chamber of Commerce sponsors a “spiritual” brown bag lunch.

5. The Values-Driven Consumer. Conscious Consumers, who’ve fled the mass market, are a multi-billion-dollar “niche.” Whether buying hybrid cars, green building supplies or organic food, they vote with their values. So, brands that embody positive values will attract them.

6. The Wave of Conscious Solutions. Coming to a firm near you: Vision Quest. Meditation. Forgiveness Training. HeartMath. They sound touchy-feely, but conscious business pioneers are tracking results that will blow your socks off.

7. The Socially Responsible Investment Boom. Today’s stock portfolios are green in more ways than one. Where should you invest? This chapter charts the “social” investment trend and helps you weigh your options.

In this book’s conclusion, The Spiritual Transformation of Capitalism, we explore the underlying values of capitalism. I shall attempt to dispel what I believe is the absurd notion that free enterprise is rooted in greed. Conscious Capitalism isn’t altruism, either; it relies instead on the wisdom of enlightened self-interest.

Spirituality or Religion

I use the word Spirit often, so let me define It before we continue.

Spirit, for me, is the attribute of God that dwells in humanity, the Great I AM, the Life Force, the aspect of us that most mirrors the Divine.

In a theological sense, you might say Spirit is analogous to the Holy Spirit, but in an ecumenical and nondenominational way.

That brings up another distinction: the difference between spirituality and religion. I use the term religion to refer to the formal, and often public, structure through which people worship God. Spirituality is the experience of, or the desire to experience the Divine. Religion tends to be behavioral; spirituality, more experiential. Spirituality is often (but not always) a private matter. Some people, of course, are both spiritual and religious.

Money and Morals

Megatrends 2010 explores the quest for morals and meaning in business within the legal confines of modern capitalism, a world where public firms are bound by law to maximize shareholder return. What is both remarkable and largely unheralded, however, is that corporate morality often correlates with superior financial performance. In other words, plenty of corporate “good guys” are trouncing the Standard & Poors (S&P) 500! For example, the Winslow Green Growth Fund, which holds stock in innovative firms with high environmental standards, soared more than 90 percent in 2003 (versus 28.2 percent for the top firms in the S&P 500).

Study after study by prestigious outfits—you’ll read all about them in chapter two, “The Dawn of Conscious Capitalism”—shows us that corporate responsibility, far from being a drain on profit, is an important marker of success. The long-standing business myth of “lean and mean” threatens not just the morals but the prosperity of American business.

I am not saying corporate responsibility causes financial success. But there is certainly a relationship. As you’ll discover in chapter two, it is a simple one: Socially responsible corporations tend to be well managed, and great management is the best way to predict superior financial performance.

In fact, if you want to invest in or work for a company that demonstrates high moral standards, it is relatively easy to identify many that also deliver excellent financial results. There are thousands of great companies, but let’s start with 100. The “100 Best Corporate Citizens,” published annually in Marjorie Kelly’s quarterly report Business Ethics, are companies devoted to ethics, Earth and employees—yet, as one study discovered, they outperformed the S&P 500 by a stunning 10 percentile points.

Then again, suppose you’re a Conscious Consumer; you vote with your pocketbook—whether for fair trade coffee, solar panels or that new Honda Accord hybrid. Well, you’re not alone.

Most Americans weigh the moral impact of their purchases. An impressive 79 percent consider corporate citizenship in deciding whether to buy a product, says a Hill & Knowlton/Harris Poll, while 36 percent call it an important factor in a purchase decision.

That 36 percent are your fellow Conscious Consumers. You’ll read all about them in chapter five.

In Megatrends 2010, you’ll see why Conscious Consumers are a $250-­billion dollar market that’s changing free enterprise for the better.

Success and Consciousness: The Missing Link

“Spirituality” in business sounds lofty. How practical is it?

The answer is “very.” There’s a fundamental way in which Spirit and consciousness contribute to worldly success—and it has long been ignored. (In chapter six, you’ll meet the fascinating individual who clued me in on it.)

As experts, authors and gurus often note, the game of business is to influence the external world. But here’s the point: How can you control your environment if you can’t even manage your own thoughts and emotions? In other words, how do you rule the world without first mastering yourself?

The cornerstone of effective leadership is self-mastery.

But that’s exactly what’s missing in business today. Lack of self-mastery is why so many business heroes wind up in court—if not the jailhouse.

The fallen heroes of free enterprise who parade across our TV screens illustrate the irrational, self-destructive choices we make without the grounding, illuminating power of self-mastery.

And the surest route to self-mastery is spiritual practice. Time spent in peaceful reflection or mindful meditation clarifies thought, sharpens intuition and curbs unhealthy instincts. Spirituality, it turns out, is a lot more practical than most of us ever thought.

Am I saying a dedicated meditation practice would have helped people like former Tyco CEO Dennis Koslowski, former AIG chairman Hank Greenburg and many others?

Yes. I certainly am.

Worldly power without self-mastery is the downfall of leadership.

Why Now?

Meaning, morals and self-mastery are what’s missing in business, all right. But the legal limits of capitalism warn us that high-minded ideals are no substitute for success. Business is obliged to turn a profit. Besides, without cash flow and profit, how does a company hire people, attract shareholders, pay suppliers or invest in R&D?

In the midst of recession, corporations executed harsh measures to restore profit. But today, the layoffs are behind us. Hiring is finally picking up.

Profits are back, mostly because of cost-cutting. Now business must again start to focus on growth. How do you grow a business? With people. You need a strategic plan, of course, but what good is that without the right people to execute it?

People alone drive peak performance.

Studies like McKinsey’s much-quoted “War for Talent” show the best people are attracted to companies that fulfill the deep, personal need for meaning while making contributions to society—beyond the profit motive.

That’s exactly what the companies cited in Megatrends 2010 do. Moreover, this is the ideal point in the business cycle to invoke the power of consciousness, values and Spirit. The seeds of corporate transformation grow best when a high performance culture is already in place, says Michael Rennie, the top McKinsey honcho (and powerful corporate shaman) you’ll meet in chapter six. In high performance cultures, meaning and morality deliver the elixir of superior productivity, but, says Rennie,

“You actually have to create a performance ethic first.”

At this point in the business cycle, corporations have achieved that goal. The next step is to recognize the power of their human assets—people who are full of wisdom, consciousness and Spirit. The time is now and the task at hand is the moral transformation of capitalism—while growing prosperity.

This book’s message is simple and clear: 1) we the people have the power to heal capitalism; 2) capitalism has the power to change the world.

Isn’t it time we got started?

Now go to the excerpt from Chapter 1, The Power of Spirituality -- From Personal to Organizational.
Other excerpts:
Megatrends 2010 Intro 1
Megatrends 2010 Intro 1
The Biggest Market You Never Heard Of
Dawn of Conscious Capitalism
Do It Yourself
The Spiritual Power of Corporate Brands
Starbucks - It's All About the Beans
Money and Morals

In Megatrends, Megatrends 2000, and Megatrends for Women, authors John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene captured the minds and imaginations of the public by predicting how our lives would be transformed as we moved from an industrial to an information economy. Now Megatrends 2010 inspires us as individuals and organizations to claim our best selves with Patricia Aburdene’s reports of positive changes in the business world occurring in the wake of corporate scandals, recession, and record deficits. Visit her at http://www.patriciaaburdene.com/

For more about this author, click Authors.