Consciousness at Work

Most of us spend a great amount of time and precious life-energy working--whether we are self-employed, work at the local grocery store, or work as an executive at a Fortune 500 company. For those interested in personal growth and transformation, it is a very reasonable question, therefore, to ask: How is my work in the world related to my inner journey, if at all? Is my work an integral aspect of my spiritual development? Or do I feel a deep sense of separation between my work life and my spiritual life? Can work actually serve as a conduit for my own inner evolution? How can I bring conscious awareness into my work life so that my work becomes another vehicle--as prayer, meditation, therapy, or healing--for the awakening process?

Being conscious at work, explains Fred Kofman, author of the landmark Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values (Sounds True, 2006), means "shining awareness on every area of your work: in recognizing the needs of others and expressing your own, in seeing the hidden emotional obstacles that may be holding your team back, in making good decisions under pressure, and even in delving into such ‘spiritual'questions as ‘Who am I?'and ‘What is my real purpose here?'"

Kofman continues:

To be conscious means to be awake, mindful. To live consciously means to be open to perceiving the world around and within us, to understand our circumstances, and to decide how to respond to them in ways that honor our needs, values, and goals. To be unconscious is to be asleep, mindless. To live unconsciously means to be driven by instincts and habitual patterns.

In Buddhist tradition, there is the concept of "right livelihood"--the fifth of eight steps on the Buddha's guide to wise and compassionate living. The term originally referred to refraining from engaging in professions that caused direct harm to others, such as dealing in weapons, poisons, or slaves. In modern times, right livelihood is viewed in a more comprehensive way, referring to how our work life can in fact serve as a transformative path to awareness, awakening, compassion, and love.

The basic idea behind right livelihood is that of interconnectedness. Each action that we take has a direct or indirect influence on ourselves, others, and the world. The way we spend our time and precious life energy matters. Because we give so much of ourselves to issues concerning work and career, it is important that we use this time and energy wisely, with awareness, and in a way that imbues our world with truth, beauty, and grace.

Conscious Business

The term "conscious business" has appeared over the last two decades referring to the transcending of business as usual (i.e., with exclusive concern given to bottom-line profits and the increase in pay and power to executives) and moving toward conducting business according to a higher and more inclusive purpose. The term, and the field today, is also concerned with how each of us, as individuals, can become more aware of ourselves in our work lives: how our actions affect ourselves and others, how we can find more meaning in our work, and how ultimately we can be more effective in our jobs.

As the field of conscious business began to emerge, two main concepts came to the forefront. First and foremost, a conscious business, or conscious work of any kind, would "do no harm." That is, the product or service produced by the company should not be intrinsically harmful to human beings or to the environment. This is not to say that a business that produces some level of pollution, for example, cannot be a "conscious" business. Rather, it refers to an awareness by the company of its effect on the planet, and the taking of active steps to reduce any harmful effects. It is more about awareness and action than it is blame or perfection-seeking.

The second major concept that began to emerge was the idea of the "triple bottom line." In a conventional business, primary focus and almost all efforts are placed upon the bottom line (i.e., company profitability). Consequently, a "successful" business was one that was profitable. Profit, of course, remains one aspect of the triple bottom line because without profits, a company cannot continue. The triple bottom line, however, adds two additional components for measuring success--"people" and "planet."

In terms of people, a conscious business seeks to benefit both the external livelihoods as well as the internal lives of its shareholders and employees. Furthermore, the business seeks to benefit all stakeholders, including manufacturers, distributors, affected communities, and humanity at large. Creating a sustainable culture that is concerned with the well-being of all is the hallmark of a conscious business.

Further, a conscious business seeks to minimize its impact on the environment and to replenish the environment where it is able. From robust recycling programs to "green" and "zero-impact" workplace facilities to using solar and wind to power offices, there are many ways a business can honor the planet aspect of the triple bottom line.

Conscious Business Today: Three Core Principles

According to the Conscious Business Alliance, conscious business is based on three core principles:

1. Higher Purpose--the acting out of a deeper purpose than mere profit maximization. What is the deepest, heartfelt reason for this company to exist beyond its profit-making objective?
2. Stakeholder Model--a stakeholder approach to value creation, in which the interests of customers, employees, suppliers, investors, the community, and the environment are harmonized and aligned to the greatest extent possible.
3. Servant Leadership--a sense of servant leadership, through which the management plays a role of steward to the company's deeper purpose and stakeholders, focusing on establishing a harmony of interests, rather than on self-aggrandizement.

"The whole corporate social responsibility idea is trying to graft something onto the old profit maximization model. What we need is a transformation. The way we think about business, what it's based on. People want businesses to do good in the world. It's that simple. . . . We need a deeper, fundamental reform in the essence of business."