Humanism in Business

All businesses are in the business of solving problems. And if they aren’t, they aren’t in business.

Lots of people start businesses to make money. And that’s a fine motive. But people won’t give you money unless you help them solve a problem. It’s all about your customer and their needs as humans.

Humanism in business is a reminder to keep the humanity of your customer in mind and orient you towards service to others as your mission. this helps you not only interact with your customers more effectively, it will also help you feel more fulfilled in what you do

However, it’s also important to keep in mind that your customers aren’t the only humans impacted by your business. Your employees are humans too. Your suppliers are. The people who provide the raw materials your suppliers use are humans too as are the people who live where the raw materials are sourced.

A humanistic perspective helps you see the entire chain of humans who are impacted by the decisions your business makes. It’s a bit mind blowing to take it all in.  It is also a huge responsibility.

Humanism in business isn’t just about how you treat your human resources. It’s about using your business to help people solve their problems in a way that is responsible to the entirety of the humanity impacted by your business. It’s about ensuring your staff as a living wage so that they don’t become a drain on all the other tax payers in the country. It’s about ensuring they have health care. It’s about ensuring that you source your materials in a sustainable way that respects the autonomy of the individuals in the places the materials are being sourced from.

What it is not is a buzz word. It’s not about cloaking your business in touchy feely imagery to hide the fact that your business takes ethical short cuts. That isn’t Humanism.

The question that is asked by humanists in business is how can I run my business in a way that benefits every human in the chain, including myself? Business leaders who are able to figure out ways to make this business work for people at both the micro and macro scales are the businesses that are the most successful.

 Humanism in business is a perspective worth cultivating.

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