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Einstein's Business

Engaging Soul, Imagination, and Excellence in the Workplace

Edited by Dawson Church
Review by Cate Montana

Try not to be a person of success, but, rather, a person of value.

- Albert Einstein

By nature, compendiums are interesting literary works because of the variety of tone and viewpoint. When the collective authors are examining as expansive a topic as the moral, ethical, and ideological transformation of the 21st century workplace, the breadth of information becomes fascinating.

The brainchild of Isabelle St. Jean and edited by Dawson Church, Ph.D., Einstein's Business brings together some of the world's greatest business successes, some of the most formidable business consultants and proponents of sustainability in an anthology that combines a powerful mix of "insights, research, experience and actionable ideas about doing business and working together."

Oprah Winfrey, Daniel Goldman, Robert Kiyosaki, Bernard Lietaer, Donald Trump, Faith Popcorn, Hazel Henderson, Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen are just a few of the 49 contributors examining topics as disparate as utilizing the creative force of chaos, embracing joyful ethics, learning the power of mistakes, and understanding the neuroscience of leadership. A goldmine of both vision and practicality, Einstein's Business makes it clear that business is one of humanity's greatest tools for personal and collective creation and global transformation.

This is not a commonly held belief today. And yet, it is impossible to point one finger at business, declaring it the culprit responsible for all our social and environmental woes, without three fingers pointing back towards ourselves. Business is us. If we continue doing business as usual, it means that as individuals we are living and interacting and dreaming "as usual." It means we are continuing to allow ourselves to be driven by external measures of success rather than developing internal value systems as our personal lodestone. It means as consumers we can be "sold" a bill of goods, and that "value" is defined only in terms of money.

But business is not going along as usual, and neither is humanity. If we were, books like this one wouldn't exist, and Dixon de Leña, CEO and Founding partner of Integral Partnerships, LLC, wouldn't be writing things like: "Soul centered organizations are showing up all over the planet. They are wiser, more creative, generous, transparent, and more responsive to the various forms of feedback coming from all quarters of the living systems in which they find themselves. They are responding enthusiastically to the urgent call to do business in the new ways. They're building their business models with strategies that respect the interconnectedness of our environment, the intrinsic value of indigenous cultures, the true cost of toxic wastes, and the inefficient use of precious resources. They ingeniously engineer, and in some cases completely re-engineer, their products, services, and processes in the attempt to lessen their impact. In fact, many aspire to have their entire operations eventually help regenerate the services that our planet provides for our comfort and sustenance. These organizations are committed to boosting the quality of life of all the members of the Commons, not just increasing the net worth of a select few."

Business is us, and Einstein's Business is a wonderful reminder of that fact. It is also intriguing, inspiring, incredibly thought provoking and downright hopeful. You don't have to own a business to enjoy and profit by reading this book. But if you do, all I can say is: prepare to shift gears.

 

Festival in the workplace

by Mary Avant

If you're interested in doing business differently, a bold approach to personal and organizational transformation is the Festival in the Workplace (FITW) process which has been developed in The Bahamas by Roosevelt Finlayson. The basic aim of FITW is to develop an environment that stimulates and challenges people to become their most creative, productive and passionate selves.

The FITW concept was developed from the seed of an idea that occurred to Finlayson in 1997 during a period of inspired thinking and deep reflection. "Festival in the Workplace is a catalyst for the development of a new organizational culture that ignites the creative spirit and passion for personal and organizational excellence," says Finlayson. "In such a culture, people experience joy, meaning & fulfillment."

Joy, meaning and fulfillment are not the usual rewards people describe as being available to them through the workplace. And this is precisely what FITW is aiming to change. Based on the lessons and incredible spirit of the Junkanoo Festival of the Bahamas, the Carnivals of Trinidad and Brazil, and the Louisiana Mardi Gras, FITW fundamentally promotes a cultural shift that frees people to behave, on a daily basis, in a more positive and productive way with co-workers, customers, suppliers and all the stakeholders they interact with. Used as both a metaphor and literally as the creation of a series of festival events within the workplace itself, FITW can literally work magic, uplifting an organization through creativity, inspiration and the spirit of play.

Building community within the workplace

"Festival in the Workplace has the potential to generate workplace conditions in which people freely choose to enter into deep, caring and supportive relationships," says Finlayson. "Through these relationships people develop friendships, experience vulnerability and become open to changing their thinking and their way of being." Ideally, in this environment people become motivated to join together to find new meaning in their work and develop a community in their workplace that is characterized by high levels of trust, creativity, productivity, ongoing learning, joy, meaning and fulfillment. The culture of this community should stimulate the continuous transformation of its members and the community itself.

Most businesses, governmental organizations, and NGOs are structured in functional areas and hierarchical layers with sharp separations between them. The focus in these areas and throughout the organization is on productivity and the bottom line. Relationship and community building are deemphasized or discouraged. Both Finlayson and his associate, Michael Diggiss, point out that the development of a strong community within the organization is fundamental to the successful integration of the FITW process. And, of course, this development of community spirit and cohesion through festival pays off in greater success in the marketplace for the business itself.

Anne Stadler, Open Space facilitation specialist, has been encouraging and assisting with the development of FITW for several years. "Festival in the Workplace applies the essence of the festival spirit, the linkage between the spiritual and the practical uniting worker creativity with the creative purpose of the organization," she says. "An organization thus enlivened is an organization able to manifest the deep stream of its own creative purpose. In such a setting, work is truly love made visible."

FITW is a part of a global movement responding creatively to the needs of organizations to become significantly more productive if they are to remain competitive, while at the same time teaching them how to be capable of supporting and encouraging the holistic development of their people. The partners see their work as combining several new waves impacting organizational life globally, including the arts and business movement, spirituality in the workplace, positive psychology and collective wisdom.

So far, two international dialogues and the first international Workshop on Strategies for Applying Festival in the Workplace, "Unlocking your Creativity and Passion for Excellence," have been held in The Bahamas, drawing participants from the Caribbean Region, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, South Africa and the USA.

Barry Rassin, CEO of Doctors Hospital in Nassau spoke at the recent workshop and highlighted some of the elements of FITW that have been applied in his organization. "Finally there is a philosophy that can be used in the workplace that brings together productivity, a positive work ethic and an environment that the associates will enjoy," he says. "Festival in the Workplace has brought together the need to blend the personal needs of employees to attain self-satisfaction as well as the critical activity to achieve excellence for the employer and the customer."

Internationally, several organizations have embraced parts of the FITW process and these organizations are becoming the first models of the application of Festival in the Workplace. And, the FITW Institute will be launched in December 2007. Its main function will be to access research expertise to continue the development of the theoretical foundations of FITW and to conduct action research in the organizations where this process is applied. This research will lead to the development of the first case studies of the comprehensive application of FITW.

So far Finlayson and Diggiss have been invited to share the concept in Barbados, Trinidad, Mexico, New Mexico, New York, Washington DC, Colorado, San Francisco, Poland, Austria and Denmark. They are excited about the vision of developing a globally relevant transformation process that can contribute to a significant shift in the culture of businesses and organizations throughout the world by positively impacting the lives of workers and leaders.

As Peter Block, International Management Consultant, author of Stewardship and The Answer to How is Yes, and advocate for FITW puts it, "Festival in the Workplace offers the possibility of aligning the workplace with employee's deep cultural identity and bringing a sense of belonging and ownership to work. This is the essence of high performance and fulfillment. This is the transformation that the global marketplace now demands from our institutions." 


For further information about Festival in the Workplace please contact Laurena Finlayson at 242-322-1605.

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