Spiritual Business

I have been quite unwell with an autoimmune disease, which suddenly struck me after my recent return from America. So I’ve been literally flat on my back for a few weeks. 

An interesting benefit has been the time I’ve had to quietly sit back, watch and reflect as world events are unfolding. I’d like to use this Tip to share a few thoughts. This is a little longer than usual, but I hope you’ll bear with me. 
 

Last night lying in the dark, I had a flow of thoughts I’d like to share.

A few years after I started FRI,  I attended a workshop on how to grow your business. During the morning break, I was chatting to one of the presenters and he asked me what my business was about.

I explained that our goal was to help the franchising sector build profitable partnerships, and how much I enjoyed what I was doing. 

We discussed the meaning of profitable partnerships, and I emphasised that it was not just about making money but also about people working together to share knowledge and resources to contribute positively to their local communities and their staff.
 

What is the purpose of a business?

He said, slightly aggressively, “Are you making money, because at the end of the day that’s all that matters". I was a little surprised at his simplistic attitude and explained that’s not why I started the business. I said, “Anybody can make money by just vigorously selling stuff. I’m trying to make a difference.” He scoffed and said the purpose of business was to make money. Period.

We debated the point for a while, and I politely said that there was no way I could agree with him and we left it at that. I’m sure he thought I was a naïve idealist, which I probably am. My brother, Raf, has sometimes teased me, calling my approach “Spiritual Business”, which I kind of like.

I know many of you agree with me that it is possible to run a business that is motivated by ideals to contribute to society as well as make a profit. Over the years, I have loved working with entrepreneurial franchisors who founded their businesses on an inspiring idea to improve some area of people’s lives. These entrepreneurs are typically hard driving and commercially focused, but also motivated by a creative idea to make a difference and leave a positive legacy, not just make money.

My basic understanding of the original writings of economists such as Adam Smith was that the purpose of business was indeed to contribute to a strong, fair and prosperous society - not to fill the pockets of a powerful, greedy elite.
 

Politics and the purpose of leadership

Now, I’d like to talk about politics without getting political. Let’s see how we go.

One of the most disagreeable political statements I ever heard was from a former Australian Prime Minister who said the purpose of politics was to stay in power. It reminded me of the dangerous and misguided concept that the sole purpose of business is to make money. 

In franchising, we have seen how this sometimes, unfortunately, plays out with some misconceived private equity groups purchasing formerly prosperous franchise networks and ruining them through this type of short-term thinking.

I believe the purpose of all leaders is to guide their constituents and communities to live safe, healthy, and happy lives,

This is where shared values are so important, as they guide our behavior in collective ways on what is acceptable or not. Values also help us to control our base animal instincts, which are not always constructive.

Of course, every society or community has its own culture, which is “how we do things around here”. There is no one right or wrong culture. The important question is whether the culture is serving the greater goals and needs of the community. 

With regard to politics and politicians, I have often rolled my eyes at the incompetence and naïve approach by those who work in this area. Many clearly become seduced by their power and influence, wanting people to like them so they can stay in power. 

And I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a political leader who was basically a sound business person and ran the country like a good business, balancing commercial prosperity with a healthy culture.

In Australia, we had a Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, a successful and respected businessman, who was possibly the closest to this model that I have seen in my lifetime. He was kicked out of his leadership role by an internal coup led by his nemesis, based on a long-standing ego-based dispute. I found this pretty sad.

Interestingly, Mr Turnbull was one of the only world leaders that had a robust relationship with USA president Donald Trump during Trump‘s first term in power. While they vigorously clashed over some deals, I think Mr Trump respected Malcolm Turnbull’s approach, even if he may not have liked it. 
 

Two types of relationships

Now, let’s tie this together by talking about relationships. The quality of our lives is largely built on the quality of our relationships, and there are basically two types.

Transactional relationships are focused on the question, “What am I going to give and get out of this interaction?” Think customer relationships where people can decide to withdraw if they don’t like the deal..

The other one is interdependent relationships, which is when we can’t just walk away if we don’t like what’s happening. This is because we have made some sort of deep legal, commercial or emotional commitment to the other party. Think marriage, business partnerships, and, of course, franchise relationships.

Interdependent relationships require us to work out the inevitable differences that will come up from time to time so we can achieve our individual and collective goals. Interdependent relationships are mainly governed by trust and flexibility, while transactional relationships are mainly governed by suspicion and rigidity,

Donald Trump clearly has a very transactional approach to relationships. A difficulty with this is that the world is interdependent. And this has shaken up the world order, which if we are honest, has possibly been more disorder than order in recent years. 

The evolution of the modern world order has depended on us humans overcoming our primordial desires, such as to accumulate power and material possessions, and dominate each other. After the horrors of the First and Second World Wars, there was a pact to say, “We can do better than that.” And so noble institutions such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization were built. These were generously funded by the wonderful United States, and the world was grateful.
 

Wake up call

We are now clearly at a point where we need to reevaluate our approach as a species.  Is it all about just looking after ourselves and doing deals to build our power and make as much money as possible?  Or can we balance the need for material prosperity with the benefits of having healthy cultures and independent relationships? Where we balance the need for material prosperity with the benefits of helping each other live healthier and happier lives.

I am optimistic and believe that good things will come out of this slightly unsettling period in history. I reckon it would be therapeutic for the world if we made 2025 “The year of telling the truth”.

One last thought that has been troubling me. With so much war and economic volatility, I feel we have lost sight of the most important challenge of all - and that is looking after our planet. While we definitely have an interdependent relationship with Mother Earth, modern economies have approached this fragile relationship in a transactional manner. The idea of sending people to Mars while our own planet is screaming in pain is irresponsible idiocy. Surely, we can focus more of our collective intelligence and money into healing the planet.

Until next time,