If you had to put a percentage weighting on the following questions what would your answers look like?
- How much of your individual success so far is solely down to your own efforts?
- How much of your individual success so far is as a result of the success of your community – where you were born, what family you were raised in, what school you went to, networks, friends, government support, infrastructure and the era in which you live?
It’s probably impossible to give definitive answers to these questions; however, I suspect, like me, you are aware that much of our individual success rests on the shoulders of others and the common good in which we find ourselves relying on each day.
But this perspective – the common good perspective – has been drowned out in favour of hyper individualism in mainstream society and media for the last 30-40 years and it is now making a major comeback. This comeback is due to the overwhelming societal and systemic challenges we are now facing in our economies, environment, and societies. Coming together and working for the common good is the only way we can navigate our way forward to a better future. But to do this, we need to address some of the prevailing myths of the last 30-40 years that may impede our progress.
In this article, we want to debunk some of these myths and rooted beliefs that keep us from moving forward and finding common ground for the common good.
Core principle: A key element in the search for common ground for the common good is recognising that no one is an island. We all depend on each other for our survival one way or another.
The prevailing myths versus the reality
1) The self-made person
The ‘Overnight sensation’, the ‘self-made (b)millionaire’, the ‘sales superstar’, and the ‘start-up wonder kid’ could never have achieved their fame and fortune without relying on the web of human connectedness that enabled them to take advantage of – for better or worse – the opportunities that eventuated.
Not taking anything away from any innovations or insights they themselves created to take advantage of the market conditions, these people, like the rest of us, can only ‘make it’ because they rely on the support and often goodwill of others and all the infrastructure that has been put in place for the common good to flourish, such as infrastructure like roads, hospitals/healthcare, schools, utility services (water, power, sewage, etc.); justice system; and so on, to go on with their lives and run a business. And without customers, members, patrons, fans, followers -call them what you will- their very existence as ‘self-made people’ would not have materialised. There’s nothing wrong with taking a proactive approach to promoting and selling our ideas and services to relevant target markets but claiming that we alone achieved our success is a falsehood.
2) Individual resilience and the self-help industry
The self-help industry constantly promotes the power of the individual as the centre for all truth, resilience and self-determination, often forgetting that it’s the power of the environment we find ourselves in, and -more often than not- the kindness of strangers, that creates the conditions for our own true self, our resilience and self determination to flourish or not. Research has revealed that it is more important to have a resilient environment with access to useful resources and help from family, friends, work colleagues, community, and government, coupled with the ability to be able to ask for and accept help that helps us be more resilient. This collective approach is made extra special if our acknowledgement of our resilient environment and our request and acceptance of help comes from a place of gratitude.
Gratitude
In my book ‘142 Days of Gratitude that changed my life forever’, I write in The Moral Case for Gratitude Chapter how gratitude binds people together in relationships of reciprocity and is one of the building blocks of a civil and humane society. As Professor Robert Emmons, the world’s leading gratitude researcher, says: “Gratitude is a social emotion. I see it as a relationship-strengthening emotion because it requires us to see how we’ve been supported and affirmed by other people.” Emmons explains gratitude as a two-step process, where we affirm goodness and then recognise the source of the goodness. “We acknowledge that other people — or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset — gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”
He is not the first to ascribe such lofty qualities to gratitude. Ideas about its importance as a moral force for good can be discerned at least as far back as the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero: “In truth, O judges, while I wish to be adorned with every virtue, yet there is nothing which I can esteem more highly than being and appearing grateful. For this one virtue is not only the greatest, but is also the parent of all the other virtues.”
3) A profitable business can’t be ethical
As Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of business is NOT to make profit but to satisfy the needs and expectations of customers. The consequence of satisfied customers is incremental profit.”
However, many businesses have strayed from this ethos into the ‘greed is good’, ‘whatever it takes’, ‘winner takes all’ and ‘anything goes’ culture inevitably leads to short-termism and a race-to-the-bottom mentality and results which only serves those who are quick to reap the profits and run when it all turns to tears. This approach actually abuses the common good as it’s usually the rest of us who are left to pick up the pieces at our expense.
But there are changes afoot. There are proven business models that show how businesses can be extremely successful and ethical. Running an ethical business, including ethical procurement and sales practices is one of the best things to do for the common good. Prosperous ethical businesses create jobs, can transform and recreate communities, and contribute to social wellbeing in ways that are beyond the mere bottom line.
The growth of ‘alternative’ business models (and certifications) like BCorps, Fair Trade, Shared Value Initiative, circular economy, and the success of companies like Patagonia, Atlassian, Australian Ethical and many more, are good examples.
4) Economic growth can only be measured by GDP
Traditional economic theory promotes the ‘circular’ flow of goods and money and is measured as GDP. This is a linear approach to growth. This traditional economic thinking does not take into account the complex system of humanity – the collaborative commons or the common good – and the essentials of life.
With 60+ years of traditional economic growth now floundering, economists and others are rethinking how we can progress. Kate Raworth of Doughnut Economics fame asks us to consider, what if economics didn’t start with money but with human well-being – the common good?
She challenges us to rethink our ideas of progress. She asks us to consider what progress looks like – where the balance between using our resources and protecting life as an interconnected support system.
- What if we rethink how we shop, eat, travel, earn a living, vote, volunteer and bank, what we would do if we focused on the common good in our daily decision making processes?
- What if every business decision we made was made by balancing out resources and protecting life?
- What if every government focused on the common good around their policy and negotiating tables?
Based on the current degradation of the world’s resources, we need an economic model that serves the common good such as Doughnut Economics.
I liken the Common Good as the core operating system keeping us alive and flourishing – as if we were all living on a spaceship and had to keep ourselves alive for years without access to any outside means. Because that is what our world is – one giant spaceship with limited resources powered by the sun.
Ditching the Myths and rethinking our approach to living and working, together
Moving away from these myths will help us understand how we, as people in sales, business, families and communities, can contribute to a better future by finding common ground for the common good.
Human beings have demonstrated time and time again their ingenuity. We have amazing talent to deal with challenges and create new ideas, new services, new systems to deal with adversity and work towards the common good.
There’s a world of opportunity to re-think and re-design the way we see ourselves, the way we live and the way we produce and consume.
So instead of constant competition, let’s emphasise harmony and collaboration. Instead of playing up profit at the expense of everything else, our individuality or the differences between ourselves and others let’s find common ground. We can utilise those qualities and interests that draw us together and unite in a shared goal for the common good because working together is so much more powerful than going it alone.
Remember everybody lives by selling something.
Related topics
Rethinking our economy. How do we sell in a Circular Economy with Doughnut Economics?
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