BUSINESS
to the use of pesticides,
even though bees are far
more essential to the cultivation of food than pesticides are. Unsustainable
fishing practices have led
to alarmingly low levels
of sea creatures. We are
running out of fresh water
and forests are dwindling
as they get clear-cut to
grow palm oil or animal
feed grains. The quest
for global companies to
hit quarterly targets and
stable stocks may look
good on the balance
sheet, but that increased
profitability comes at the
expense of exploiting millions of third world citizens
working under horrific
working conditions, and
burning fossil fuels to ship
items halfway around the
world to us
We have the most automation, the most mobility, the most immediate
communication, the most
conveniences we have
ever had. Yet, are we
happy? Have all these
conveniences helped
to save anyone from a
sense of disconnect, depression or despair?
Perhaps the anthropologist I heard is correct that
hunters and gatherers
were happier. Perhaps
we do work harder now
and sacrifice much more
than we used to for an
idea of happiness.
around 140 years in the
future, likely because the
resource they exploited
in the first place would
be exhausted, or the
demand that drove their
sales would no longer
exist.
Some businesses, knowing this to be true, choose
to produce consumer
items and food with the
compassionate “Seven
Generation Wisdom” that
was inherent in the thinking of our perhaps happier hunter and gatherer
ancestors. A decision is
discarded as unsustainable if it is not good for the
next seven generations.
While Seven Generation
Wisdom is indeed compassion in action, it is also
a wise way to develop a
mission statement.
While we have come so
far as an industrialized
world, the time is now to
start to bring compassion
into our mission statements, into our actions
and into the way we
serve. Seven Generation
Wisdom may well be the
most important mandate
any business imbibes.
Imagine a business
whose mission is to still
be serving the needs of
people 140 years into the
future! We certainly can’t
say that about many of
the world’s current largest
companies. In reality, the
largest corporate organizations of today won’t be
This month, see if you
can find at least three
compassionate changes
you could make in your
business to bring it more
into alignment with Seven
Generation Wisdom.
Wishing you abundance
and sustainability in your
ventures.
Since 1994, Rishi Deva, founder and CEO of RishiVision and entrepreneurial
coach, has empowered thousands of businesses.
Rishi has an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurial studies and a BBA
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