BELIEFS IN BUSINESS
The Power of Beliefs In Business BY : ARI WEINZWEIG , ZINGERMAN ’ S COMMUNITY OF BUSINESSES
FOR AS much as I ’ ve studied , taught , and written about both business and self-management over the years , up until recently , I ’ d hardly paid a coffee cup ’ s worth of attention to the ways in which beliefs were impacting my world . In the course of Parts 1 , 2 , and 3 of the books that make up the Zingerman ’ s Guide to Good Leading series , I ’ ve covered mission , vision , values , culture , Servant Leadership , self-management , and a whole lot more . And yet it ’ s only in the last few years that beliefs are finally getting their just due .
Although beliefs can shift in a split second , more often than not they change slowly . Some small thing happens , usually unexpected , that makes us take pause and wonder . We listen to a different perspective , see something surprising , read an insightful book , hear a new song , or meet a particularly interesting person . Any or all of these occurrences can present us with beliefs that are not aligned with our own . Seemingly small shifts in beliefs can develop over time into deep roots , from which enormous benefits — or if your beliefs pull you in a negative direction , potentially big problems — may eventually grow . One day , whether we fully realize it or not , our belief has changed . In some cases , this new belief could be the complete opposite of what we ’ d once thought to be truth .
Today , many of my beliefs about business , leadership , and life couldn ’ t be further from what they once were . If they hadn ’ t changed , Zingerman ’ s would surely never have happened . Even if my partner Paul Saginaw and I had opened the deli in 1982 ( in a 1,300-square-foot space with just two employees on our payroll ), we wouldn ’ t have transformed it into the thriving , engaging , imperfect , and interesting community of ten businesses ( all here in the Ann Arbor area ), with over 700 staffers and $ 60,000,000 in sales that it has become thirty-five years later . My life — both personally and organizationally — is about 1,800 times more rewarding and in alignment than it ever would have been had I held tightly to my original beliefs .
Beliefs may be the biggest single force at work in our organizational lives . Economics , education , environment , and employee engagement are all important , but beneath the surface , most of what is in play are the beliefs of the various folks whose views are being bandied about . While everyone has some beliefs that he or she is conscious of — politics , religion , sports , and popular social issues seem to provoke speedy expressions of support or scorn — we actually have far , far more beliefs at play in our lives than that . The difficulty is that those beliefs are frequently framed as facts , certitudes , thoughts , theories , norms , shoulds , and should nots . Most of us fail to recognize them for the beliefs they are . They ’ re down there in the dirt , below the surface , sitting solidly in our subconscious minds . Many are so far below our levels of consciousness that we never even realize we have them . Whether we know it or not , though , our beliefs are almost always calling the shots . As William James wrote , “ Belief creates the actual fact .”
After living most of my life with beliefs that I barely even realized I had , the last few years of studying this subject have been life- and business-altering for me . In the past , while I paid a lot of attention to actions , arguments , and analysis , I gave little or no thought to beliefs . That too has changed nearly 180 degrees . I work hard almost every day to be in touch with my own beliefs . I ’ ve also become far more sensitive to others ’ beliefs . I now watch the way that beliefs are being reflected — for better or worse — in relationships , projects , problems , profits , and , perhaps most importantly , the growth and success of the people who are part of our organization .
While specific beliefs may come and go ( the world , it turns out , isn ’ t flat ), the role of beliefs has surely been in place for all of human history . Belief has always been at the core of organized religion , to take one powerful example . Psychologists have been studying this subject in depth for decades . But in my experience , beliefs are rarely discussed in the context of business , a place where logic and reason and strategy are generally said — or I could say “ believed ”— to dominate the dialogue .
I suppose this isn ’ t surprising . Most of
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