OPEN LETTER TO THE GENERAL DIRECTORS
If you are the CEO, please read the lines that follow, but don’t believe anything. To the extent that you find this article useful, I encourage you to verify all the information listed through your experience.
Dear CEO, I can tell you in advance that this writing will only attract your attention if, at this time in your life, both you and the company you represent feel a need for change. If not, don’t waste your precious time. Don’t keep reading. This reflection is addressed to those general directors who are rethinking the functioning of their organizations as a consequence of the crisis of values and conscience that society is suffering. As you know, the very profitable way in which your company has been growing is no longer efficient and is totally unsustainable. In fact, more and more sociologists and economists agree that this “old economic paradigm” is in decline and that its transformation is inescapable and inevitable.
I refer to the materialistic vision of the world that causes organizations to have capital as God, and as their only objective, earning money. I am referring to the mechanistic and utilitarian approach to work, in which bosses treat their collaborators like machines, preventing them from developing their potential. I am referring to the victimized perspective of life, which leads us to suffer uselessly for not accepting that our working conditions are as they are.
The main result of operating according to the belief system of this “old economic paradigm” is our obsession with having (the tangible dimension), which little by little has been disconnecting us from being (the intangible dimension). That is why we have more wealth than ever, but we are much poorer. Proof of this is that existential emptiness has become the contemporary disease, and Prozac, the leading antidepressant drug in sales. We have built a society built on two pillars: consumption and entertainment. This is how we try to appease our dissatisfaction, constantly running away from ourselves.
Faced with this psychological and economic scenario, it is worth asking: what sense does all this have? How long are we going to keep postponing the inevitable? If as CEO you have been developing this type of philosophical reflections, know that you are not the only one. He is one of a small minority of responsible executives who have realized that it is time for a change. And not for moral reasons, but for economic reasons. What is at stake is the survival of the organization that you lead.
TIME FOR BUSINESS CHANGE
“Today’s problems stem from yesterday’s solutions.”
(Peter Senge)
We are witnessing the dawn of a “new economic paradigm” based on the latest scientific insights into the nature of reality and the human beings that make it up. This new way of understanding life is called “postmaterialism”. That is, the vision that the world is made up of a material part and an immaterial part, promoting the balance between what we have and what we are. This inclusive approach motivates companies to align their legitimate desire for profit with the well-being of their workers and respect for the environment. It also encourages organizations to create real wealth for society, stopping to see money as an objective in itself to conceive it as the result of said contribution.
In parallel, this “new economic paradigm” inspires middle managers to develop their emotional skills, so that they learn to manage their collaborators in a more constructive and efficient way. Of course, for this new perspective on life to be consolidated, the most important change must be made individually. And it consists of abandoning the existential position of victimhood to train personal responsibility. To achieve this, we must understand and internalize that we are free to choose our attitude towards our circumstances, as well as to make the most appropriate decisions at all times.
If you have continued reading this far, I invite you to answer the following questions: What is the level of satisfaction of the vast majority of your employees? How are middle managers managing their collaborators? What are the beliefs and values that make up the organizational culture of the company you lead? And most importantly: what impact do all these intangibles have on the bottom line?
This may all sound like hogwash to you, but know that a new breed of manager is emerging out there: the organizational culture manager. This position is linked to the director of people – who in the “old economic paradigm” is called “director of human resources” – and reports directly to you. Its mission is to accompany the company in its process of change, adapting the function and operation of the company to the “new economic paradigm”.
Among other skills, this executive promotes “organizational self-knowledge” through an extensive x-ray of the company, contemplating both the tangible and the intangible. Through a voluntary and anonymous survey, all the human beings that make up the company can freely express their opinion on how they live their day-to-day work, influencing what aspects can be improved. In parallel, strategic interviews are also carried out at the three levels of the company: senior management, middle managers and the rest of the workers.
THE NEW DIRECTOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
“Where there is a successful company, someone once made a brave decision.”
( Peter Drucker)
As a result of this investigation, a dossier is prepared on the current state of the company that will serve as a roadmap to draw up an “organizational development” plan. In this phase, the personal growth of all employees is voluntarily promoted, especially promoting their way of relating and communicating, both horizontally and vertically. And given the inherent complexity of this challenge, the director of organizational culture must not only be a person committed to his own “inner work”, but must also have a network of experts in the field of coaching and emotional intelligence. .
In turn, this executive coordinates the development of the organizational culture, which would become the personality of the company. The objective is to detect which are the beliefs that predominate in said institution, analyzing the results that they are having on the three levels of the company. This also makes it possible to align the values of the organization with those of the workers. Once executed, the impact that this organizational development has had is evaluated, both at a quantitative level (measuring the dimension of having, everything tangible) and qualitative (measuring the dimension of being, everything intangible).
Last but not least, this manager also has the mission of promoting “organizational leadership”. After going through a phase of self-knowledge and another of development, the company begins to manage itself more consciously, aligning itself with its true reason for being. At this point along the way, some general managers connect with a transcendent need that even leads them to reformulate their business strategy. It is nothing more than a call to create value through its intrinsically human values. And they do so based on a series of questions whose answers mark the direction in which the company is headed: what do I want my organization to serve? What sense do I want the company I run to have? What is the legacy we want to leave to society?
Thanks to this process of “organizational learning”, the company stops working by inertia and begins to evolve consciously. This is how he internalizes the philosophy of permanent change, allowing him to face the new challenges of the future with greater efficiency and thus achieving the most desired goal: sustainable economic abundance. At this point, it is enough to remember that this process only bears fruit in the medium term when you, as CEO, feel the need for change and believe in the possibility of creating a new way of leading your organization. It seems a long way, but it is a matter of taking the first step. And for this you can start by asking yourself a simple question: what would you do if you were not afraid?
