Evolutionary Provocateur

What do bees have to do with business?

It is easy when you are in the day to day of business to forget that things are inter-related. To get started with making the link between bees and business lets start with the king of comedy, Eddie Izzard.

Now for a more sobering thought. Next time you are munching your lunch consider that one out of every three mouthfuls you can thank the bees for producing. Some food products would disappear without bees to pollinate the food the cows eat which in turn... you get the picture? However, bee populations are declining for a series of reasons most notably their vulnerability to disease. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "If the honeybee becomes extinct, mankind will follow in four years."

Back to business. Outside of the need to eat, consider food production and distribution as a strategic issue that impacts society as a whole. Consider also that if people, consumers, are preoccupied with meeting basic needs, they won't be entertaining notions of purchasing grander goods and services. The inter-relatedness of all things is not a vague biological ecosystem concept with little to no relevance to business. It is integral to shaping the context and driving forces that business operates within, customers and consumer decision-making and quality of life and as a consequence, the very viability of the economy and economic sustainability. The little things that can be so easily dismissed are the very things we rely on for our basic survival. Food for thought don't you think?

From Economic Crisis to Engaged Performance

The interview with Jay Bragdon, author of Profit for Life and investment advsior for high net worth families, sheds insight into the prime opportunity economic crisis offers. This video gives an overview of the benefit to investors of companies who value life and provides insight into what the indicators and first steps are.

From Economic Crisis to Growth - Podcast is up!!!

Head over to www.management-issues.com to hear the first of a series of interviews with Jay Bragdon, author of Profit for Life, speak about the attributes and performance of companies that outperform the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index even in tricky economic times.

Just did a video on how to use these times to move out of fear and batten down the hatches reactions to growing and accessing more talent. Stay tuned.

Regulation and Fear

Kevan Hall who writes for www.management-issues.com has an article this week on how more regulation won't help the financial services sector. As we launch into a new year I hope that this one will hold more awareness for businesses and their regulators who spend a lot of time unconsciousnessly nestled in fear. Control based reactions like centralizing decisions and pulling back on trust totally work against the CEO priorities of creating cultures aligned with strategy, retaining and engaging talent and... the list goes on.

Last night I was sitting by the fireplace enjoying a read of John Bragdon's book Profit for Life which profiles companies who value life and living assets including nature in their way of existing in the world. So far these companies have out performed the traditionally managed companies by a long ways. More on that later. What is most disturbing about the increase in regulation is that it is a way of institutionalizing fear. Structure is not to be confused with control yet it frequently is particularly when control is used to rationalize dealing with uncertainty. Over regulation of any industry will attract, magnetically, exactly what is feared. What if regulators tried something different like taking the sign posts down much like they did in Holland. There they discovered that predictability decreases safety. Since so much of life follows natural principles it is quite likely that increasing unpredictability will actually improve financial performance.

Rather than throttle employees with more constraints on their performance, what do you suppose could be possible if the structure was there to support rather than control performance? Hmmmmm.

Surviving the Downtown - The Emerging Paradigm of Business

In preparation for an interview we will do in January I just connected with Jay/John Bragdon who wrote the book Profit for Life. In it, Jay outlines the LAMP index which lays out the principles for companies capable of shifting to the higher level of performance through global change and uncertainty. I say 'through' because a number of companies are seeing this as surviving and if so, are not sustainable either in their thinking or in their business practices.

Here is Jay's report from today. Stay tuned for an interview with him in January.

For a quick update ... I think we're in a bear market rally now. Global LAMP Index stocks and those mentioned in my book are down by a third or more for the year to date, but are doing better than the MSCI World Index (most comparable benchmark). Balance sheet strength of LAMP companies and their fiscal discipline give staying power that most of their peers lack. While LAMP companies are likely to be the long term survivors of this bear market, there's no telling what will happen in the next year. Core problem: industrial capitalism is fiscally and ecologically bankrupting our market system. Out of this chaos a new paradigm of bio-centric capitalism (led by LAMP companies) is emerging. This will be a messy process, but should evolve towards a more sustainable market system.

I can hardly wait!