The Soulful Company

The Soulful Company

What would it take to make our companies and the other institutions in our lives more soulful places? I ask this question, not from the perspective of somebody trying to inject religion, or even necessarily spirituality into our places of work. Instead, I ask it from the perspective our shared humanity, that part deep within each of us that is greater than what we are on the surface.

The soulful company is the organization that knows how to not just tap that part of us, but feed it as well.

This website is where I ask you to join me in exploring the notion of the soulful company, which I first asked publicly in a big way at my TEDxRainier talk in 2011.

When I speak of the soulful company, it is not in reference to some idealized, old-fashioned company of yesteryear. I speak of it in future tense, as something we haven’t yet quite attained, even though there are signs of it now slowly emerging in a variety of organizations.

The soulful company that I envision is deeply intertwined with technological innovation, which is the other thrust of my writing. It harnesses the power of innovation and technological change, not just as a way to make profits, but also as a way to engage humanity more fully in the intrinsic meaning and dignity of work. In this sense, the soulful company is a catalyst for a “bright blue” revolution in the way companies connect with people, and like bright green environmentalism, it aims to provide a deeper sense of prosperity through the use of new technologies and improved design. 

The  categories below represent some of my latest explorations on the edges of this notion of the soulful company. They will no doubt grow and change in the years ahead. For now, I encourage you to dive in, explore, and feel free to engage me in getting to know this coming shift in the way we organize our work.

 

TEDx Talk on The Soulful Company

This is my November 2011 TEDxRainier talk on “The Soulful Company.” It’s designed to get us to start bringing together these two very different concepts: the company and the soul.

 

 

 

Different Takes on The Soulful Company:

Beautiful Organization

The Company as a Living System

To build a new generation of soulful companies, we need to move beyond seeing companies as machines and begin seeing them as on open, living systems that are inherently social and alive.

 

 

Network-CentricCompanies as Networks

Companies are moving away from centralized, monolithic organizational models to more distributed, more modular network-centric organizational structures. Networks help companies become more flexible and help them scale their connections with customers, partners and other external stakeholders.

 

 

I'm engaged!Engaging People in the Work

Engagement is building relationships and putting those relationships to work to accomplish shared goals. Companies that know how to deeply engage employees, partners, customers and other key stakeholders in their work have an insurmountable advantage because they are powered by the greatest force on the planet: the human soul.

 

 

Creating Value, Meaning and Accountability

Value grows from doing things that matter. The human soul is driven largely by this quest for meaning. Soulful companies engage this powerful drive with their employees, customers, partners, investors and other important stakeholders to create a community of shared meaning and build tremendous economic and social value.

 

 

Latest Articles on The Soulful Company:

  • The Sole of a Business Shoe repair man, Mr. Lee, teaches me the beauty of business and its ability to be of service to society.
  • Quiznos and the Old Business Model The Quiznos near-bankruptcy highlights the dangers of the old model for running business networks: one that uses outsourcing of value creation in an exploitive fashion.
  • When Personal Brands and Corporate Brands Collide Individual people are the connective tissue that connects organizations to their surroundings. So what happens when those people leave an organization, along with the social network connections they built while at the company?
  • Why is Twitter So Mad at Google? Twitter is mad at Google for connecting Google+ with search - and for commoditizing their service in the process. How this might not be such a bad thing.
  • My TEDxRainier Talk on The Soulful Company Watch the TEDxRainier talk on "The Soulful Company" -- a new generation of firms that won't just tap the soul, but feed it too.
  • Google+ Hints at a Social Media Marketing Revolution Google+ is pushing organizations to adopt "permission marketing" principles that are better for customers. Here's how it can go even further.
  • Radical Connectedness and the Evolution of Business Companies need to move beyond the old, mechanistic strategies for connecting and collaborating. To thrive today, they must now look to the biology-inspired strategies of networks. This is the evolution of the firm - a move away from the self-reliance of yesterday, to the radical connectedness of today.

 

 

Foreground image of office meeting by Nearsoft. Thanks. Background by Gideon Rosenblatt, thanks to the Notre Dame.