What are the two where’s of business?
In the first iteration of my Conscious Business Model (above) I only had one.
The Conscious Business Model outlined the two What’s, two Whys, two How’s and one ‘Where’ of business. This ‘Where’ is your marketplace which is part of your Global marketplace. You decide where you position yourself from local to global.
But after a B Corp Assembly in Cape Shank in Victoria earlier this year, I came to realise there are also two ‘Where’s’.
I was moved by a powerful contingent of Maori Women; Michele Wilson – AWWA, Eileen Bowden – Miraka, Ella Rose Hammond – Tiraki Wines and Aboriginal woman Laura Thompson from Clothing the Gaps (Victoria), who talked about the power and universality of incorporating indigenous values into our world view, lives and businesses. This included having a 100 – 500 year vision for your enterprise. I couldn’t agree more.
The question from there was where do they fit? How can we respectfully incorporate Indigenous values into how we do business?
Well, my view is, we can’t. They don’t fit.
They don’t fit, because our western way of doing business, is a functional construct, which provides a framework for ‘ways of doing’.
In looking at the Conscious Business Model, western business operates from the inside out. This construct starts with a vision for your business and a physical functional organization with which to develop, market and deliver your product offering.
Indigenous values and wisdoms don’t fit into a construct of any kind. They are deeper than that. They have no boundaries. Just like nature and the laws of nature, they are all pervading and omnipresent. They have emerged from and are in sync and harmony with our natural world. They are universal and provide subtle energetic guidelines for naturally sustaining ‘ways of being’.
This means they are qualities, we as westerner’s, can proactively aspire to be open to, become conscious of, and to resonate with. They are felt and energetically aligned to, by the part of us, that is beyond our five senses.
They cannot be put into any functional system. They are an intrinsic part of the environment in which our functional systems are built within. It is up to us to be present, sensitive, respectful and reverent to their omnipresence. And when we are, when we are in harmony, our livelihoods, our communities, and our planet are naturally supported. We achieve balanced physical and energetic connectivity and circularity.
We need to get past our one-dimensional, linear, surface view that if we can’t see it or touch it, it doesn’t exist. We need to recognise and appreciate that Indigenous values can offer us the way and access to, a more powerful, multi-dimensional, nourishing and sustainable way to work and live.
It is also important for us to respect and honour the local Indigenous nuances of the places in which we construct and operate our businesses.
So, this is what I am proposing with my revised Conscious Business Model. To not to try to fit Indigenous values into the business model, but to create a second outer circle* to represent the all-encompassing values of the traditional custodians of the land on which we operate. Which IS our environment. Our BIG and most important Where.
This ensures the Conscious Business Model and methodology automatically shows respect for the traditional custodians of the lands on which we work and operate. And also signals, encourages and stimulates cross cultural Indigenous recognition, education, respect and understanding across the globe.
The way for business is 2-way.
- The way for Indigenous businesses is to learn western functional ways from the OUTSIDE IN. Universal Wisdoms/Energetic ‘ways of being’ (outer circle) to Functional ‘ways of doing’ (inner circle)**. And
- For western businesses, it is to appreciate and assimilate natural Indigenous ways from the INSIDE OUT. From the Functional ‘ways of doing’ (inner circle) to recognising and aligning with the Energetic/Universal Wisdoms ‘ways of being’ (outer circle).
It’s a two-way flow of learning from opposite directions. A journey from one paradigm to the other, with all of us walking along side each other to help each other along the journey to connect, align and unite.
I hope that it’s recognition of, and respect for, this two-way, human-endeavour highway, that reconciliation can progress.
What are your thoughts?
X Cath
Conscious Business
Integrate your truth
Cath Sutherland is the Director of Conscious Business – helping businesses to understand who they are, so they can do business better. Cath facilitates teams and leaders through her unique Creating Brand Energy process to develop, through collective consensus, their unique Conscious Business Blueprint – a clear, multi-level guide to manage, direct and develop relationships, operations, and product delivery. Cath can be reached at cath@consciousbusiness.net.au
*The dotted line is to represent the omnipresence of these values
**The above description is for directional purposes only for the Conscious Business Model. To truly connect with and assimilate indigenous wisdoms is, a personal, inside out spiritual process. These wisdoms are all pervading and inherently spark and resonate from within us.
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