Lately, I have been contemplating the question of; how does a mindful company “compete” in a marketplace that is not particularly mindful?. I have come to believe that if we are mindful then we don’t “compete”. The very word has imbedded in it the root problem. We need to get away from the very core mindset that survival on this planet is somehow a competition or zero sum game and move to a solid belief that mutual symbiosis and simultaneous thriving is the natural order of this planet.
For those of us who are mindful AND running a business of any size this question becomes a very real daily issue. Balancing the ideals you hold to be true with the idea that you want all parties to thrive when the larger system within which your company operates is not on board – in fact in some cases may be going full speed ahead in the opposite direction – can be challenging at best.
At HEMPY’S, I struggle with this dilemma daily. I have clear ideals of who I am in the world, and yet find myself functioning in a larger context that does not share those ideals. While I keenly feel the responsibility of providing a context in which all of us could mutually thrive – other companies, do not care about their impact on the planet, the exploitation of their workers, on and on – so how do we as mindful business owners “compete” in a marketplace that is not interested in the same results?
It takes a tremendous amount of courage for me, as an owner of a company, to step out of line and risk the very livelihoods of my friends and co-workers and to say, we are going to do this “as if” the world were a different place. Because the world I want to create and live in, the world I see as already here, is a world where decisions are made for the good of all, not just what is best for a part, and I am going to make real economic decisions on the basis.
How does one find the courage to do so? Remember, I am not talking here about a meditation group at a monastery or a philanthropic organization. I am talking about a living company that is working to bring mundane goods forth to others whilst still having to pay the rent and buy groceries. For me it has become a daily meditation a work in process. Moment by moment I am met with decision points some small, some large, that seem to constantly place before me choice points of what kind of world in which I personally want to live. Sometimes I make bold radical choices, and sometimes I flinch at even the smallest of choice points.
After all, we can’t all open yoga studios, neither can we stop producing and distributing goods to one another and all go sit in a cave and meditate all day. So how are we going to bring forth this new world in real and grounded terms, if we do not begin applying our beliefs to our vocations even if we are not in the healing fields? The “business world” is one of the last frontiers where true consciousness is in its infancy of practice. Now is a unique time on the planet in which we can move rapidly forward in a quantum leap. But it is not the time to be timid or shy about it. I know in my case, I have too long separated my own personal spiritual path from my day-to-day business life. Now is the time to reconcile them and bring them into sharp synchronicity.