Epilogue

Now that you have made it all the way through this book, we invite you to begin your journey without delay. To use Martin Luther King Jr.’s phrase, there is a “fierce urgency of now.” We do not have the luxury of time; we must initiate and sustain major transformations in all our companies as soon as possible.

This is a heroic undertaking that will present you with numerous challenges along the way. But the process is also deeply joyful, because it is calling you to be part of something far greater than yourself or your organization. Conscious Capitalism is also an evolutionary imperative. Our rising consciousness and greater mutuality may encounter occasional potholes and detours, even seeming reversals of direction, but it will and must proceed. We can choose to be an instrument of that which seeks to emerge, or we can try to stand in its way. The latter choice is really not a choice at all. We must grow, we must love one another, and we must cooperate, or we will undoubtedly perish.

We are in the midst of a historic discontinuity, a chasm between the way things have been for too long and the way they can and need to be. We need to systematically examine every assumption, every mental model, every belief, every theory about how to organize and lead businesses, how to motivate and reward people, how to align interests, and how to elevate our sights. As playwright Sir Tom Stoppard wrote in Arcadia, “the future is disorder. A door like this has cracked open five or six times since we got up on our hind legs. It’s the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.”

The journey is joyful because humanity has been waiting and is thirsting for this kind of change. Work is a critical aspect of what it means to be human. Each of us only has about a hundred thousand hours to devote to work in our lifetimes. Our work can be a deep source of meaning and purpose, joy and fulfillment, healing and growth. But for the vast majority of us, it has become a daily drudgery, something to be endured to make a living and keep body and soul together. As a business leader, you hold within yourself the tremendous power and awesome responsibility to give people the opportunity to realize and experience so many extraordinary gifts that life has to offer. Why would you choose to forgo that extraordinary opportunity?

Moving toward conscious business is a human imperative. Most people never get to share even a fraction of the gifts that they have to offer with the world; they are born, live, and die with their music still trapped inside them. And what extraordinary symphonies we are capable of! The human “seed” has never been more powerful or potent. Our intelligence has been rising rapidly, we have access to all the world’s information at our fingertips, we are extraordinarily well connected, we have far better access to higher education, we are living longer, and we are continually awakening to higher consciousness. But even as the human seed has evolved, the organizational soil has remained inhospitable, even toxic. That is where we must place our attention. As leaders, we have the responsibility of improving that soil to create the conditions in which ordinary human beings can achieve extraordinary things. By doing so, we can enable people to live richer, deeper, more fulfilling and joyful lives than they could have imagined.

Conscious Capitalism is also a societal imperative. Businesses need to understand and be stewards of the systems in which they and their people are embedded. We need to play our part, alongside governments and civil society, in bringing about the ideal society—a society in which everybody matters and everybody wins.

And of course, Conscious Capitalism is a planetary imperative. Most of our great advances in the last century were predicated on the use of nonrenewable resources that we are now rapidly running out of. We need to invent new ways of doing everything—ways that are not just sustainable but also generative, ways that restore and replenish ecosystems that have been damaged through neglect or callousness.

David Cooperrider, professor of social entrepreneurship at the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit, Case Western Reserve University, describes an optimistic outlook of conscious business:

Finally, there is a compelling financial imperative for conscious business. Evidence is mounting that this way of doing business not only creates far less harm, but also actually produces far more value of every kind than does the old approach, which was all about profit. The conscious approach to business recognizes that there is no trade-off between purpose, people, planet, and profits; we can simultaneously serve all these.

Knowing what you now know, how can you justify clinging to the old approach, replete as it is with heartbreaking and unnecessary trade-offs between the well-being of people and the corporate bottom line? That would be egregious managerial malpractice. We owe it to all those whose lives we touch to lead our organizations according to our best understanding of what is needed and how we can make everyone flourish.

Every journey starts with the first step, so take that step today! The road ahead is a long one, but do not despair. There will be many moments to cheer and derive encouragement from as you go along this journey. Cultivate what the leaders at Barry-Wehmiller refer to as courageous patience. The old maxim urges us to “go slow to go fast.” Just as you cannot cause a plant to grow faster by tugging on it, you cannot short-circuit a transformation by demanding immediate results. In a few short years, your company could be transformed for all time. Allow that process to unfold in a natural and organic manner. Be patient also with the people who do not seem to get it immediately. Focus on those who do get it; the vast majority of others will eventually follow, especially as your actions increasingly start to line up with your words.

Leadership in traditionally hierarchical organizations can be a lonely undertaking. But it doesn’t have to be so. Embrace a team-based approach to the transformation. Your entire team needs to be working together with shared purpose and shared responsibility to see this transformation through. Approach the change with a beginner’s mind but a leader’s disposition. Focus relentlessly on what is possible while recognizing present-day reality.

You and your leadership team are not alone on this journey. A large and growing community of companies and leaders are taking the same path. Find them through your local Conscious Capitalism chapter, at the Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, or at the organization’s annual spring conference. It is very helpful to form a small group with other CEOs who are on the same journey and continually check in with each other to help address challenges and seek solutions.

If you are in a public company, you have to ensure that your board of directors is an integral part of this effort. Make sure that every board member understands the context (why a conscious business is essential today), the concept (the tenets of Conscious Capitalism), and the case (the human, social, planetary, and financial case for Conscious Capitalism).

We end with these inspiring words from The Purposeful Company: