Live retreat with Mark: The Heart Sessions in November near Ithaca!
A small group of no more than 16 business owners will come retreat, in person, with Mark for 4 nights and 3 days outside Ithaca, New York. The evening of Nov 15 through the morning of Nov 19, 2016.
Click here if you want more information.
And now on to how to integrate activism into your business…
Last week I wrote about balancing volunteerism, activism and business, but I didn’t address the real question many in our Community were wondering about.
That question: is activism in business even okay?
The heart of this question, I believe, has to do with worry about being rejected.
I’m going to guess that your values and your passion for a better world is a lot of what fuels your desire to be in business, so activism has a natural part in what you do. And yet, I’m not going to tell you that you are just worrying for nothing, that it’s just a fear to “get over.”
I want you to trust your heart and your body, and when you have a concern, there is something real there. It may not be what you think it is, but it’s worth looking at.
So, let’s dig into both the legitimate concern, and what you can probably work through.
Let’s start with the legitimate concern.
People are coming to your business because you help them with something. Maybe it’s chronic pain. Maybe it’s that their team isn’t performing. Maybe it’s their struggles with intimate and family relationships. Something.
Bringing activist passions, if not handled with care, can seem like, and be, a non-sequitur. If you care deeply about preserving the forests, what does that have to do with chronic pain? If you are an activist for the Black Lives Matter movement, what does that have to do with work you do for corporate teams?
It’s not that people don’t care, it’s not that many won’t agree with you. It’s just that it might not make sense. If you pick up a book and the cover is The Seven-Day Weekend by Ricardo Semler, but the actual book inside is Becoming a Man, Half a Life Story by Paul Monette, you’re just asking for mental whiplash. If the equivalent happens in your email newsletter, then you’ll be seeing complaints and unsubscribes.
This doesn’t mean you can’t bring up your values.
I’m hoping that your values are evident in your business, the core beliefs and cares you have about making the world a better place. What you do need to do, however, in any activism, is to keep it in context.
I’m a supporter of Black Lives Matter for many, many reasons. In the context of Heart of Business, I’m a supporter because legal racism in North America originated in the 1600s in the colony of Virginia when the aristocratic land-owners gave a very little bit more status to the European indentured servants over the African slaves. This was intended to, and was successful in, preventing the two oppressed groups from banding together in what was an extremely unjust and brutal (to put it mildly) economic system. That was business interests pressuring government to make laws which literally created systemic racism in order to make money and protect profits.
Because this history is not commonly taught and we haven’t faced this history in any real way as a country, significant dynamics (oh, the mildness of the language is killing me) continue to play a huge part in our business culture.
Add to this the truth that ecosystems are healthiest when they have real diversity present within them, and if our businesses are only informed by a single point of view, then they aren’t going to be as healthy or resilient.
Plus, as a Sufi spiritual teacher and healer, I need to make the point that Justice is a Divine quality, as much as Love or Compassion. That our yearning for Love is also a yearning for Justice. That if we are allowing our thirst for Justice to be fulfilled by engaging in the expression of Justice, we’ll be able to express ourselves in business more fully, and we’ll find ourselves more nourished.
I have felt tears of truth in my eyes when witnessing love. I’ve felt those same tears when witnessing justice.
I may still get unsubscribes, I may still get people upset with me. However, if I’ve made the connections for the readers so they know that I haven’t forgotten them and what they have come looking for, then those unsubscribes arise out of a basic mismatch in values, and they wouldn’t have been good clients for me anyway. This is different than switching the insides of a book and surprising someone.
There is a mighty thirst for justice and love and peace in our hearts. Covering over that truth and ignoring the cries for justice is just another form of materialism: seeking our nourishment in the chasing of wealth and material goods. And that’s how we got here in the first place, when people ignored the humanity of others in order to seek financial profit, a profit that gave them no satisfaction on their death beds and is no longer serving them in their graves.
I grieve for all people of color who have been so brutalized, on a daily basis, by the systems of injustice. And I grieve for the police officers who entered a profession hoping to help, but have been caught enforcing and carrying out a system that leaves them, as agents of that system, depressed, suicidal, and fearing for their lives significantly more than any other profession in the country.
Business can be a joy, and it can be a vehicle for expression of our highest ideals, as we bring our craft and gifts to those we serve. And it also exists within the world as it is now, with all the imperfections and pain and suffering we’ve created. It’s only natural for you, within your business, to see the entire world as it is, and respond to it.
p.s. Start with The Heart of Your Business
There can be so much fear to show up as you truly are. Will you risk sinking your business?
Your business can thrive, with love, but it needs both your heart, and for you to listen and care for the heart of the business itself. When we forget the love, and lose the heart, all of that work drains our life and, even if the business “succeeds” it’s not sustainable or nourishing. And often it doesn’t succeed.
I really recommend for everyone to get right with the heart of your business, and to really take in the big picture. And because I think everyone needs it, it’s why we’re offering this program at pay-what-you-want pricing, what we call “Pay from the Heart.”
Check it out here: The Heart of Your Business.
For those registered by the end of July, there’s a special call I’m holding August 3, at 3pm eastern, on the topic of sovereignty in your business – how to hold power without hurting others. All you need to get access to this call, plus the recording and the accompanying PDF, is to be registered in the program before July ends.
Unsure what you need?
Get a free Readiness Assessment which includes a personal reply from us.
And always feel free to take a look at the full menu, everything from DIY home study programs, affordable group programs, to highly personalized coaching.
Click: Heart of Business Training Programs.
Let me know if you have any questions.
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Heart of Business Community Update
As a community member, here’s quick access to resources and conversation!
How do you receive guidance in business? Is guidance the same as knowing what to do? Mark answers these questions and more in this month’s Spiritual Q&A Recordings.
In our Facebook group yet?
In our Facebook group, here are some discussions happening right now:
- Blog Post Friday produced a rich assortment of blog posts ready for your reading pleasure! Jump on over and check out what has been shared.
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These are just 2 of the many discussions happening every day in our active, compassionate group! Don’t yet have access? Click here.
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15 Responses
Mark, this is strong and really nourishing. Thank you. I’m so glad you wrote this.
Thank you, Juliet- I’m grateful it felt nourishing to you.
I first saw this with a colleague who, in addition to publicizing her small business IT work, she was always up front with her advocacy for LGBT issues. I watched her, to see what happened, and what came through for me was – I could see HER more clearly. I knew who she was, what she cared about. She became more of a person, and so her business became more real to me, too. And yes, I imagine she lost clients, but I bet she got more than she lost. As a former pastor, I had a high value of finding a way to keep people who disagreed together in community (I still have a high value for that), and so historically I was uncomfortable with taking some stands. And to be honest, if I lived in a more politically diverse area than the one I do my business in, I might be more careful, but I’ve gotten really comfortable with being clear about what I believe. And also, bringing ethical issues (like BLM) into blogs, etc. And, it doesn’t need to be forced; do what feels right, at your pace…
Leslie- thank you for detailing your own response to watching someone take those steps. Really inspiring. And I agree entirely: at each person’s own pace.
Beautiful! That is my experience with authentic openness as well. Thanks for sharing.
Really nourishing and supportive to read this Mark. Thank you. And thanks for Paul Monette. Tender place in my heart.
You’re welcome, Karin. Have you read Paul? That book was moving for me when it came out.
Hi Mark. Yes, I read all of Paul’s early books. Borrowed Time was the first AIDS memoir I read. I was immersed in volunteer work and heading into social work school and working professionally in the HIV community around that time. He lived in my neighborhood too, so I would hear him speak from time to time. Tender time and tender place in my heart … interestingly, I realize, in context of this article that was a time when I was just beginning to find my activism, my passion, and anger/grief through the HIV/AIDS community. Welcomed in as a young straight woman not living with HIV, yet loved up for showing up, very beautiful process for me. Has me tearing up right now remembering. Thanks for that sweet journey.
I really appreciate this post about values. I’m a teacher and coach for communication and conflict resolution. When I started including thoughts about world peace and about love in my writing and teaching, I felt very vulnerable, but it is truly part of my values and how I see the work I do. In that spirit, I offer you a link to my heartfelt post about love, and listening to each other instead of hating and blaming.”We’re All in This Together: Listening to Each Other in Troubled Times.” http://conflictremedy.com/were-all-in-this-together-listening-to-each-other-in-troubled-times/ Thanks for being here. I’m looking forward to the class I’m starting with you next month.
Hi Lorraine- thank you for being vulnerable! And Yes to the work you’re doing. I’m grateful and humbled you’re joining me next month. Looking forward to it!
I so, so value your voice in the current unfolding of things in this world, Mark. Deep bow in gratitude for offering that voice and speaking important truths.
In my own business, I’ve never really thought of myself as an “activist” or someone engaging in “activism.” Interesting thing though, this post of yours–together with the post I published this week on my blog–showed me I’m doing just that!
What you write here, in particular, resonate in this regard: “Business can be a joy, and it can be a vehicle for expression of our highest ideals, as we bring our craft and gifts to those we serve. And it also exists within the world as it is now, with all the imperfections and pain and suffering we’ve created. It’s only natural for you, within your business, to see the entire world as it is, and respond to it.”
Thank you!
I so, so value your voice in the current unfolding of things in this world, Mark. Deep bow in gratitude for offering that voice and speaking important truths.
In my own business, I’ve never really thought of myself as an “activist” or someone engaging in “activism.” Interesting thing though, this post of yours–together with the post I published this week on my blog–showed me I’m doing just that!
What you write here, in particular, resonates in this regard: “Business can be a joy, and it can be a vehicle for expression of our highest ideals, as we bring our craft and gifts to those we serve. And it also exists within the world as it is now, with all the imperfections and pain and suffering we’ve created. It’s only natural for you, within your business, to see the entire world as it is, and respond to it.”
Thank you!
I am not an activist, I am a person who does some activism here and there. 🙂 I started reading this blog to get a better idea about what it would take to bump up my activism. Now I definitely realized that I do not have what it takes to be a “real” activist, and I am even more appreciative of the activists I know!!
But because activists—and the institutional investors who often follow their lead—are generating positive returns, there is likely to be more rather than less of it in the future. In the interest of their corporations, CEOs and boards should be preparing for activist interventions rather than complaining about them.
I sure hope so, Rosario!