S1.E11. Sustainable Commerce - Part 3: Work

Having a leader’s inspiring vision is one thing, but it is like whistling in the wind unless people in the workplace are able to express their own inherent magic – their creativity and imagination, their values and passions. As Anita Roddick says: “People become motivated when you guide them to the source of their own power.” Sustainable companies do something that is almost unimaginable. They accept humans as humans. They don’t try to turn us into machines. In fact, they encourage us to express all aspects of our humanness. This is not is about becoming completely scattered and ineffective. It is about being flexible, discovering the most appropriate times to work and play and socialise, or to do a combination of these. Being human at work is also about being able to be ourselves – our whole selves. One thing that would help with the existential crisis in business would be a switch from the present focus on ‘jobs’ to the old idea of ‘vocations’.