Ivy Sea Online: What is conscious enterprise?

WHAT IS CONSCIOUS ENTERPRISE?

As with many things, the term "conscious enterprise" may mean different things to different people. Like the term "social responsibility," there are leaders, employees and enterprise-owners who truly and deeply endeavor to practice it, and a larger percentage who may simply espouse it at the surface level for marketing and public-relations benefit.

Conscious enterprise might be defined as that in which the people participating and making decisions are mindful and aware of the impact that their decisions, and thus the behavior of the enterprise, has on the people affected by the organization's work. They want that impact to be ethical, respectful, collaborative, and life- and community enhancing, rather than scarcity-based, disrespectful and destructive. They want to leave a positive legacy, rather than a wake of destruction. They are committed to products, services and practices that meet these goals of conscious enterprise, rather than "PR spin" that suggests positive constructive behavior but is simply a veneer covering a legacy of destruction and dishonesty.

Conscious enterprise is that in which the choice is to be conscious of the possibilities, the fullest and highest potential, of both business and humanity, while being conscious of the fact that we are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Conscious enterprise includes an assumption that we're either helping to destroy or helping to unveil what's best of humanity and the planet.

Reflection Points

• What do you think people in enterprises should be more conscious of?

• What positive things do you think might happen if both people and businesses operated more consciously?

• What would you like to be more conscious of?

• What are five things you can do today to begin to incorporate these conscious-enterprise values into your everday way of working in your enterprise?

• What are five things you can do this month to begin to incorporate these conscious-enterprise values into your everday way of working in your enterprise more deeply?

For more ideas and resources related to conscious enterprise, visit the Ivy Sea Online articles, tipsheets and resource portals included in the box below.

Conscious-enterprise concepts are discussed at length in Big Vision, Small Business, a new book by Jamie S. Walters. Walters is founder of Ivy Sea, Inc., and publisher and editor-in-chief for Ivy Sea Online, recognized by Inc.com, Harvard Business School, CEO Refresher and other business portals as one of the best sites on the internet for entrepreneurs, small-business owners and organizational leaders. The hardcover edition of Big Vision was published in October 2001 by Ivy Sea. The updated and expanded paperback edition will be published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in November 2002. For more info or to order your copy of Big Vision, Small Business, check out the great buzz on Big Vision.

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