The Conscious Evolution of Business:
A Psychosynthesis CEO's Report
Presented by Hank
Minor
Chief Executive
Officer, P.W. Minor & Son
Batavia, New York
July, 2005
In addition to the pioneering work Roberto Assagioli accomplished in the development of psychosynthesis theory and practice, he further established himself as a visionary by admonishing his students to carry his work forward—to continuously develop the model of psychosynthesis and to learn by its applications in all personal and professional domains. In 1986, after several years of training in psychosynthesis and teaching in the professional training program at The Synthesis Center in Amherst, MA, I was given the unique opportunity to help manage and lead my family's shoe manufacturing business in Western New York. This report is a summary of that experience and the application of the principles and techniques of pyschosynthesis in that setting. In it I will present some of the important lessons learned and the implications of this work, showing how psychosynthesis can fit into the world of business and what this may hold for the future.
The World of Business
The structure and landscape of business is changing rapidly in this early part of the 21st century. It is therefore important to define our terms when referring to business enterprises, as corporations and organizations can be established and structured in a variety of ways. Pivate and public. Manufacturing—and service—based. For profit and non-profit. Union and non-union. Local, national, and multi-national. There are also any number of hybrid combinations of the above corporate forms, depending on the size, scope, and orientation of the organization.
By definition, P.W. Minor & Son is a private, family-owned and operated, for profit, non-union, multi-national manufacturing corporation. The company was established in 1867, and we now have fifth generation family members actively involved in the company. Our primary offerings include therapeutic footwear and foot care products, with a full spectrum of related services to support them. We presently manufacture our products in the U.S., Mexico, and China.
In order to provide a view of our company and a context for this report, here are some corporate statistics and information about P.W. Minor & Son:
Total # of employees: 195
Women: 117
Men: 78
Domestic shoemakers: 127
Office staff: 27
Shipping staff: 11
Management staff: 12
U.S. sales force: 13
Canadian sales force: 8
Functional areas: Manufacturing and Sourcing; Product Development; Sales and Marketing; Human Resources; Operations; Strategic Planning; Operations; Information Technology; Education
Organizational Structure: Board of Directors; Executive Committee; Vice Presidents; Directors and Managers; Cross-functional teams; Shoemakers
External Network: Customers; Consumers; Suppliers; Medical Professionals; Trade and Medical Associations; Competitors
Distribution Channels: Retail stores; Pedorthic facilities; Orthotic & Prosthetic facilities; Podiatrists (DPM); Durable Medical Equipment operations (DME); Pharmacies; Hospital clinics; Rehabilitation facilities; Catalogues; Internet
Medical Markets: Diabetes; Arthritis; Orthopedics; Geriatrics; Trauma
Distribution: 50 U.S. states; 17 foreign countries
Years in business: 138
Annual Sales: $25,000,000
There are currently several important and encouraging trends emerging within the national and international business community. These trends include:
In essence, business is a series of promises and commitments made in the context of relationships—generally with time-sensitive urgency and always with consequences. These relationships include not only individual interactions, but also interactions with groups and teams, with other organizations, with networks and alliances, and even with whole industries. In this we begin to see a synthetic process and the integration of ever-widening spheres of relationships. As these relationships progress and are made increasingly conscious, we start to experience business in an entirely new light—as a form of intentional community, with the potential for self-actualization, self-transcendence, personal and group fulfillment, and the development of true culture. Thus, business can move beyond an enterprise of mere transactions and can become an active context of potential and conscious evolution.
The role and function of the CEO, and the responsibility of any leader within any organization, involves leadership in two essential dimensions—horizontal and vertical.
The functions within the horizontal dimension include those practical, operational duties that further the stated goals of the company. These include such activities as deciding corporate policies, managing staff assignments and priorities, establishing strategies and tactics, participating in team meetings, communicating key information within departments and across the organization, coordinating sales and marketing plans and programs, the selection and training of employees, determining appropriate budgets, and attending to the on-going financial health and profitability of the company.
The functions of the vertical dimension are less obvious, more subtle, but equally as important as those of the horizontal aspect. In this vertical domain, the CEO functions as the conscious "I" of the organization, seeing the whole, recognizing the underlying process, finding the patterns that are trying to emerge, and holding the highest principles for the organization. Much like the psychosynthesis therapist or facilitator, the CEO becomes the guide, the regulating center, providing a supportive environment in which growth can occur. They hold the transpersonal vision, create the context, instill the core values, and constantly look for the sacred, calling it forth in others.
In my work with our company over the years, I have come to appreciate psychosynthesis as a philosophy as well as a psychology. The principle of synthesis itself is not only central to how we relate with one another at P.W. Minor, it is also key to how we develop strategies and approaches to enhancing our business. Unifying and transforming various elements into higher and higher levels of clarity and effectiveness has been a critical factor in our success. This has certainly been true for resolving issues of interpersonal difference and conflict when necessary, but it has also been true for producing a creative multiplier effect through the combination of complimentary business elements – what we call "1+1=3". This principle of synthesis and transcendence is now a central theme our corporate culture, and serves as an on-going point of reference and source of creativity.
Assagioli's model of a regulating center of the personality, aligned and consciously cooperating with the transpersonal Self, continues to be the cornerstone of our company and our success. Although we have been consistently profitable and organizationally innovative throughout the past two decades, it is in the area of relational development and social architecture that I believe we have achieved most significant progress. Just as in the therapeutic process, where we guide our clients in the development of a strong, clear center that artfully governs the various sub-personalities, business affords us the same opportunities to become conscious, to align with a higher purpose, and to serve others more effectively. And it does so in a multitude of situations on a variety of levels.
One of the central tenants of psychosynthesis is the awareness and alignment of the "I" with the Higher Self. This connection between the personal and the transpersonal clarifies purpose and the individual soul's intention, releases subtle and higher energies for use, makes available divine qualities, and continuously serves to inform and guide the whole life. Once this bond is understood and firmly established, the potential for creativity, service, and fulfillment is essentially without limit.
This process of awareness and alignment must first and always begin with ourselves. The more conscious we are as individuals and leaders, the more effective we are in our functions and in our service to others. From this central position of understanding, we can then better exemplify core principles and effect positive change within our working environments, drawing more and more people into right relationship with one another and with the organization. The process of conscious alignment goes even deeper when we begin to discover and define an entire organization's purpose, guiding principles, and mission. In the articulation of our own company's vision and principles—which express qualities such as compassion, service, and relationship—we found a new, expanded sense of our corporate purpose that has become a reservoir of meaning to which we return often.
The key in all of this is consciousness. It is the new and necessary dimension of business, and it has the power to move organizations beyond traditional and limiting structures of hierarchy to whole new archetypes of synthesis and true community.
At a certain point in the evolution of an organization, when the horizontal and vertical planes converge, when the personal and transpersonal dimensions merge to a sufficient degree, a level of critical mass is reached—a level of understanding, of maturity, of profound kinship. At this point the soul or collective voice of the organization begins to emerge and express itself. With the emergence of this corporate soul come new levels and expressions of transpersonal qualities within the organization. Unity. Compassion. The impulse to serve. Culture. Responsibility. Transcendence. Intrinsic and extrinsic profit. Wisdom. Reverence. I have had the pleasure and good fortune to experience this state on many occasions over my years with our company, first as glimpses, now more and more. But this experience is also elusive, and our responsibility to create the context for such experience within the workplace never ends. It is the central duty of a leader and a joyful obligation.
The success achieved in our company over the last twenty years is a clear testament to Assagioli's work. The philosophy and principles, the professional training, the maps and tools of psychosynthesis have all contributed greatly and centrally to our results. We are a small company in a small town, but I have seen miraculous things occur within our organization and within the network of our global relationships because of this work. I believe this holds important implications for the future of business—and for the future of humankind as well.
Businesses and corporations occupy strategic positions and hold tremendous power in our worldwide society. They are flexible and relatively unconstrained in their ability to change and redirect themselves quickly. Business sets the trend and drives the machine of society. Their potential for positive and negative influence on a worldwide scale is beyond measure. Mindful of this, those business leaders and their organizations who become conscious, who orient themselves to deep and mutually beneficial values, and who cooperate fully with the process of evolution will not only be profitable, they will transform and enhance the world.
It is my sincere hope that what we have learned along the way in our company will be of benefit to others.
Hank Minor is Chief Executive Officer of P.W. Minor & Son, a 138 year old family company that manufactures therapeutic footwear and foot care products worldwide. Hank trained in psychosynthesis at The Synthesis Center in Amherst, MA, later becoming a director of the center and a staff member of its psychosynthesis professional training program.