Enlightened Business Leaders

Enlightened business leaders transcend personal limitation to serve basic needs of business and shareholders and shift more towards better distribution of wealth, making their business a force for good. The basic issue is never about the creative power of business. It is about distributive justice based on integrity towards a fair share to share holders and all share holders where no one is exploited to satisfy the other 

1. This requires an individual to be more integrated business- being with human beings It demands freedom form an I-me-my and mine syndrome and going beyond realities to sensitivity towards certain interdependent, shared spaces and values.

2. Professionals and leaders circle of influence increases to cover others in larger dimension of time and number -- at what point does one become trans-personal so that really caring about self is also about others . One rise up to efficiency, capacity, problem solving and such other abilities . But there is a growing realization that a leadership and bandwidth is stretching further . The focus is on maturation of temperament rather than core abilities . While Jim Collins puts humility on top of leadership profiles, other suggest orders of learning (Peter Senge) and "Knowledge - creating" (Ikujiro Nonaka) organisation. Generally revenues and profits are taken for granted -- they are "just means" . Recognizing this power of business, people have growing concerns and new aspirations related to environment and society.

3. The architecture of business is constantly under suspicion . For a long time, whether or not that was the initial intent of business, it is designed to consider capital as an all important factor ans so share holder is King or King maker. It has taken some time for a shared understanding that suppliers, contractors , dealers , employees are also people--and equal in many respect to those who contribute to capital. An enterprise is not created, it is actually co-created by all making their respective forms of contribution. In total it is "co-creating sustainable value." So ownership and governance for business have to be such that wealth generated is not for so few that a handful of the richest in the world (corporate leaders) have personal assets more than the GDP of tens of nation while 5 billion people are struggling for livelihoods.

Source: TOI 17th December, 2011, p 14