Notes on Noble Business

This recession is teaching us once again about the trade-off between people and profits. While companies scramble to get through financially – by postponing investments, cutting costs and managing cash, it’s important to keep the other resources healthy too. Thus a recession is a great environment for learning how to manage finances AND manage the human resource and customer relationship dimension optimally.

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With a New Year starting, it’s a great time to step back from your business and take a fresh look at something most business leaders take for granted or seldom work on – your “business model.”

What is your company’s business model – and how’s it working for you? I don’t mean its strategy – that’s different. The “business model” is the very core definition of your business – WHY it exists, to Serve WHOM – and what those NEEDS really are.

The traditional business model focuses on things like: 

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While many companies still remain almost “locked down” with a clamp on spending, waiting for the economy to recover, now may actually be just the time for you and your company to shift into action. Those who act early will seize an opportunity caused in part by the economy’s having stopped its free fall – and also by the fact that many competitors may still be essentially dormant, just waiting until it becomes (truly) “safe” to resume “business as usual.”

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Last week, I participated in a two-day conference on Conscious Capitalism, a term describing both a business philosophy and a way of operating that goes beyond the narrow financial focus of historical Capitalism.
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How are you managing through these difficult times? Over the past month, I’ve spoken to several groups of managers and executives in the Northeast and Midwest (of the US) on the subject of: “Energizing Performance and Motivation in Difficult Economic Times”. I asked them two basic questions: 1) Is your business revenue stagnant or declining? 2) What are you doing about it? I then shared strategies they can use to up their likelihood of success.
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Tired of waiting for the Federal Government to stimulate the economy? One Alabama business owner took matters into his own hands, creating his own private stimulus program that provides an interesting model for other business owners to consider.

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The “Noble Enterprise” business model uplifts people and profit.

As we witness the decline and implosion of major companies, with the ensuing government attempts to shore up some of these companies and the very economic system within which they operate, we wonder not only “What went wrong?” but also “There must be a better way – a better business model! The syndicated article below (which you are welcome to use and distribute, with the complete credit at the bottom) addresses this issue, urging business owners and corporate executives to take the time – especially during this seasonal time of Goodwill to consider a different business model, one that puts people at the core of the business – recognizing not only the contributions of their Minds, but also of their Hearts and Wills – and a business model that serves a larger purpose and acts with ethical values. (more…)

Can you imagine a worse scenario than business and government essentially colluding to achieve a societal goal (in this case “affordable housing”) but doing it in a way (providing high risk credit) that actually bankrupted major corporations in the process? (more…)

Here I go, starting a blog – something I’ve never done before, but here goes….

I recently came back from the World Premiere of the Noble Enterprise seminar at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, and it was a very affirming experience. But more about that in a later post. (more…)