Give Your Best 75%: A Humanist Approach to Sustainable Success

In a recent conversation with a friend, I said something offhand that stuck with me: “I got about 75% of my to-do list done today—and I feel really good about that.”

That simple statement captures a core lesson I’ve learned as a humanistic business leader: you don’t have to do everything to be successful. In fact, trying to do everything is a recipe for burnout—not just for you, but for your relationships, your community, and even your business. Giving your best 75% might just be the most productive and sustainable thing you can do.

The Myth of 100%

There’s a lot of pressure in the business world to give “110%” all the time. Hustle harder. Sleep less. Achieve more. But human beings aren’t machines—and when we treat ourselves like we are, we break down. Constant overdrive isn’t sustainable. And it’s not actually necessary.

Some of the most important things I do in a day—like making a healthy meal, having quality time with my family, playing a video game, or chatting with a friend—don’t show up on a productivity chart. But they make me a better business leader, a better thinker, and a more grounded human. They help me show up better for the 75% of work I do choose to tackle.

Working Sustainably Is Working Strategically

I work for myself. I have no boss threatening to fire me if I don’t check off every item on my list. That freedom has taught me something powerful: Many tasks simply don’t need to be done. Ever. Some can wait. Others vanish entirely when left alone for a few days.

The real trick is learning to discern. Every morning, I look at my task list—not to ask what I can cram into the day, but to decide what I’m not going to do. I pare it down to what’s truly meaningful and manageable, based on the time, energy, and obligations I have that day. That includes making time for myself and others, not just my business.

This is how I avoid burnout. It’s also how I do higher-quality work.

Systems That Support, Not Control

I’m still organized. I keep lists, use task trackers, and make sure nothing truly important gets forgotten. But those systems exist to support my work—not to guilt me into overworking.

I’ve also learned to say no. To projects. To requests. To distractions that don’t align with my priorities or capacity. Saying no isn’t failure. It’s focus. It’s choosing what matters most.

The 75% Rule

So here’s my philosophy: Give your best 75%. Be intentional. Be kind to yourself. Prioritize rest, relationships, and joy alongside business goals. You may leave some money on the table. But you’ll gain something far more valuable—your health, your clarity, your creativity, your sustainability.

And you’ll be better not just for your business, but for your family, your community (I volunteer at the zoo!), and the world around you.

You don’t have to do it all. Just do what matters—and do it well. You can thrive if you don't burn out. Save 25%  - for joy. 

#WorkLifeBalance #HumanisticLeadership #SustainableSuccess #AvoidBurnout #TimeManagement #DoLessBetter #HumanismInBusiness #MindfulProductivity

Humanistic Tendencies in Business

Not everyone has Humanistic Tendencies. But maybe they should.

The problem with living in a capitalistic system is that we have to struggle to work to get money to pay for things like housing and food. In a barter economy people would either build a house themselves and farm for themselves or barter to get what they didn’t have.

Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself to be a capitalist. I think the improvement in human welfare that has come with capitalism has been overall beneficial. It’s just that I recognize the social limitations of the system. For instance we have a homelessness problem that capitalism is incapable of fixing because the people who are homeless are homeless because they don’t have the funds to secure housing. It isn’t just “bums” and “winos” who are homeless anymore. It’s also families who are what we now refer to as the working poor.

Capitalism only works as a system to create and distribute the goods required by society to function when people have the capital or funds to consume the goods created or produced. When people don’t have the means (ie: enough capital) to consume goods and services, they are unable to participate in the system or benefit from it. If enough people are impoverished enough that they can’t consume anything the system produces, then the system either collapses and/or distributes good in an incredibly unequal way.  And that’s where we’ve been as a society in the past 10 years.

One of the things that Marx figured out in Das Capital was the importance of worker’s wages to the maintenance of the system. A lot of people in the west haven’t read the book – it’s a huge work. Volume 1 has over 1,000 pages and it’s filled with math and philosophy. But it’s also one of the most accurate models of how a capitalist system works that’s ever been written.  He accurately predicted the booms and busts the system would generate and he accurately predicted how labor would respond to these booms and busts.

What causes the booms and busts? Labor’s wages. When labor is not paid enough to consume the goods they create, the system collapses. The engine of capitalism isn’t the capitalists (or owners). It’s the consumer. No customer, no business. Who are the customers? The laborers. Failure to understand this causes a huge number of problems for a business and for the economy.

This isn’t to say that if you are making jumbo jets you should pay your employees the amount they need to purchase one. Only that you need to pay them enough that they can participate in society and afford food, housing and the basics plus a little more to consume a few modest extras.

The problem is that capitalist forces tend to drive labor wages down because it’s a benefit to the capitalist to pay as little wage as possible. If you can get away with that, you gain an advantage over a competitor who is paying their employees more. If enough businesses pay too little, the system collapses.

This brings us back to the topic of humanistic tendencies in business.  Being concerned about the humans who work for you and the humans who consume your goods and services is good business. There is no division between the people who work for you and the people who buy your products. They are the same people.

It is very easy to see your business as an independent entity. You are competing. What you do doesn’t necessarily impact the societal whole. Except that it does. And a humanistic understanding of business acknowledges that are businesses are embedded in society. We serve society and are dependent on society. It’s a two way street.

Paying a living wage to your employees benefits your company (in terms of lower employee turnover), it benefits your customers, which for most of us not building jumbo jets, is our employees, and it benefits society because it helps make your company a positive force in society instead of a societal drain that is leaching tax payer benefits to supplement your less then living wage to ensure your laborers can continue to live.

Humanistic tendencies in business are pro-people, pro-business and pro-society. It’s not one or the other. It’s all three. In collaboration.

Critical Thinking and Humanism in Business

If you have a job, your job is to solve a problem. Solving problems effectively requires critical thinking skills.

All business are in the business of solving customers problems. People are hired to work for the company to help the company better solve these problems and to solve the problems that prevent the staff from solving the customer’s problems.

Eventually companies get big enough where they need to hire HR professionals to solve the problems that come with having people on payroll. Like how to pay people efficiently and make sure they get the benefits the company provides and to correct paychecks that have errors. HR also has to ensure that all paperwork is in compliance and that people are legally allowed to work for the company to preemptively ensure that legal problems aren’t created through ignorance of the law. Eventually companies get big enough that they also need to hire HR professionals dedicated to dealing with the problems of employee relations, which is a fancy way of saying, interpersonal problems that can cause legal liability for the company if not dealt with properly.

Since every aspect of a business is related to solving a problem, learning how to solve problems is an essential skill for any job. This is why critical thinking is so important.

A humanistic approach to business is a way of understanding the interrelated nature of the problems we are solving and the people for who and with whom we are working. We are never simply solving one problem. All the problems of the company are related. We don’t want to fix one problem and create another problem if we can avoid it.

Humanistic business management is a holistic way of viewing the business of business. Critical thinking is central to this approach because it is impossible to weigh all the various elements at play unless you know how to think clearly.

Critical thinking is useful precisely because it requires the challenging of assumptions. The question why – why are we doing things this way? What exactly are we trying to accomplish? What else and who else is impacted by this decision? By asking these questions we can see the big picture and how our piece of the puzzle relates to everything else that is going on within the company.

It is mind expanding. Like viewing the complexity of the cosmos within the inter-dependent web of employees that is your company.  I find this connected and yet holistic viewpoint inspiring and motivating.  And while it make seem like a lot to take in, by taking the time to think about how things work together, you actually are able to gain a clarity that helps focus on the problems that really matter.

Critical Thinking and Humanism in Business. It’s a powerful combination.

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.

Humanism and Economics

What is a Humanist approach to business and why is everyone talking about it?

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life, that without super-naturalism affirms our ability to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.  It is impossible to separate the philosophy from our economic lives or in how we want to organize our economies.

The problem is that we Humanists don’t agree on much. In fact, famous economists Karl Marx and Friedrich Hayek were both Humanists. Both advocated for economic systems they thought would best maximize the freedom and welfare of their fellow humans. And yet, what they advocated for is pretty much the exact opposite of one another.

If Humanists can’t agree, then why even have this conversation?  Whether we like it or not, we have this conversation all the time. The question is – how are we going to judge whether one system or method is better than other if we have no philosophic basis on which to judge what is good and what isn’t.

And, it’s pretty clear that the assumptions people have been making about how to best run an economy haven’t yielded very good results. In fact even if you ignore the gross income disparities that have arisen in the last few decades, we still have to reckon with the fact that what we have now, is an entirely unstable economic system that needs to be fixed. Greedy self-interest, it turns out, is not a very good organizing principle.

Humanism really can help provide us with a way of viewing human economic activity that is at once supportive of individual development AND supportive of the community in which all this economic activity is embedded. This is WHY everyone is talking about it.

As a starting guide, I want to quote Humanist Manifesto II (written in 1973).

“Humane societies should evaluate economic systems not by rhetoric or ideology, but by whether or not they increase economic well-being for all individuals and groups, minimize poverty and hardship, increase the sum of human satisfaction, and enhance the quality of life. Hence the door is open to alternative economic systems. We need to democratize the economy and judge it by its responsiveness to human needs, testing results in terms of the common good.”

I may be biased, but I do think this statement provides us with a good starting place. What we want is a system that helps increase wellbeing for individuals, minimizes poverty and privation, and enhances the quality of life for everyone.

What a call for Humanistic business management means is that instead of judging good based on profits we judge good based on how business impacts people. Instead of promoting growth for growth’s sake, we should instead be considering how that growth will impact our communities and our customers and our employees.

This isn’t a way to reject the idea of profits as important. It’s not about either or. It’s about doing both. It’s about balancing more than just the bottom line. A Humanistic approach to business is about balancing profits WITH human welfare. One doesn’t come at the expense of the other. But when it doubt, human welfare comes first!

Yes, individual autonomy and freedom is important, but a Humanist understands that ours is a socially embedded autonomy. To understand how a socially embedded autonomy impacts economic activity – view this fabulous video from RSA.

See
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And if you want to learn more about the history of Humanism and economic ideas – visit Steve Alquists blog post Unmaking the Manifesto - http://www.steveahlquist.com/2014/10/unmaking-manifesto-humanism-and.html

Guest Post: When Silence is Not Always Golden

As a former TV anchor, the one thing you dread is dead air… a too long gap of silence.

Yet as a humanist business owner, I created some serious dead air as a guest on a business radio show.

I didn't intentionally make it happen. But sometimes your beliefs (or lack thereof) get the best of you.

Now I realized the show I was going on was hosted by a Christian business owner. I wasn't sure if she knew my beliefs, as it was never discussed, but since the topic was marketing—not religion—I wasn't worried.

The interview went well. Then an open discussion followed for business owners who call in. As a PR pro, I had listened in previously, and knew these discussions focused on the topic of the interview.

Many people asked questions about getting publicity, which I happily answered:

“How can someone get the media to pay attention to an event?”
“Should I send out my press release via email as an attachment?”
“What should I include in a press kit?”

“Did you hear about this anti-Christian kids’ movie, called The Golden Compass? We need to get some PR and protest this.”

It was like a record player needle had scraped across a great tune.

My head was reeling. My heart was pounding.

How was I going to answer this?

I took a breath. “Well, the movie is based on a trilogy of books. It’s a wonderful series about a girl who saves the world she lives in by denying the love she wants. It’s not anti-Christian at all. As a matter of fact, one of my twin daughters, Lyra, is named after the heroine.”

And you can imagine the silence, the dead air… which felt like an eternity.

My instincts as a journalist kicked in and decided the fill the void: “One of the basic rules to get publicity is to make sure you have all the facts, and understand the background before you jump in with a campaign. That way you are well aware of what you are trying to accomplish PR-wise.”

And then… more dead air.

At this point, I realized it didn't matter how I tried to explain. My beliefs (and naming a child after Philip Pullman’s nonreligious heroine) were all they needed to hear.

It was a tough lesson for me.  I had never before thought belief played a role in business.  It shouldn't, but it does.

So it left me with a decision about sharing my own beliefs as part of my business.  Upon reflection, I realized Humanism is basic business sense. I don’t need to broadcast my beliefs, or even bash others because my beliefs are exactly what business should be based on: doing good, no matter what.

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Shannon Cherry, a business and marketing pro with more than two decades of experience, helps you to make more money in your business without adding more time.

She founded her business, ShannonCherry.com, in 2002 to help experienced and ambitious entrepreneurs grow the business they desire– without compromising on their principles. Her focus is to provide laser-targeted solutions to get fast results.

Shannon’s business has been debt-free since its inception and she consistently works only 15 hours per week to spend more time with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Get her free training Ready, Set, Publicity which helps you create a year-long publicity plan at http://ReadySetPublicity.com

Your Customer Matters

 A lesson in humanistic customer service.

A door to door salesman came to my door smoking a cigarette - when I complained - he said - oh, you don't smoke. I said no. He apologized for being so rude and stepped back from me but didn't put out his cigarette and continued to smoke while attempting to talk to me about his product - which had something to do with construction. I wasn’t paying attention because the smoke was still bothering me. I made an excuse and went back inside my house.

I don't want to critique his sales technique but .... Obviously, his sense of how his behavior was impacting other people was lacking. He was aware of it, but didn’t care enough about what impact he was truly having and how it was negatively impacting his ability to make a sale to change his behavior.

And this matters. It is not enough to be aware of other people and how your behavior is impacting them if you don’t use that knowledge to improve how you interact with them.

Sales are a very social and interactive activity.  You have to talk to and deal with other people. F you want them to buy from you, you have to listen to them, understand their needs, and help them feel comfortable enough and secure around you to want to do business with you.

Customers matter. Without them you have no business. If you aren’t willing to pay attention to them as individuals and you aren’t willing to accommodate their basic needs, like the need to breathe air, you aren’t going to get their business.  And yes, I realize I have no right to ask this man to not smoke. But this wasn’t just about him. It was also about me, his potential customer. We both matter.  And since he showed me through his actions that I didn’t matter, I didn’t bother to listen to his sales pitch, whatever it was.

Basic courtesies like understanding you shouldn’t be imposing your worst habits on others without their permission is basic. Your customers matter. Treat them like they do and adjust your behavior accordingly.

Visonitiative

Turning your visions into reality through personal initiative

My niece Kari coined this term as a new business buzz word with the goal of making a ton of money in the self help/business/leadership market.  I loved it and immediately told her I was stealing it.  And, if you ever hear this in the coaching marketplace or as a meaningless business buzzword, you will know where it originated (credit: Visionitative - Feb 2014 coined by Kari Hancock).

So – here goes.  What is Visionitiative?  It is the act of taking the initiative to make your vision a reality.  As a Humanist, I love this term.  Why?  Because I hate the positive thinking movement.

It’s not that I don’t like positive thinking. I do. I think positively all the time.  It’s just that I also think realistically. I have a grand and glorious vision of the future that involves running centers for Humanist learning all over the world and my family being fabulously wealthy real estate moguls and more.  But this is actually a realistic vision that I can and should be able to achieve through hard work and persistence.

To get there – I need ... visionitiative!  I need a vision and initiative. Both. Otherwise all I have is a really cool dream. And this is where Humanism differs from positive thinking. We don’t just think great thoughts and assume that the universe will magically provide for us.  We do something to make it happen.  Crazy, I know, but it does seem to work better than the just think good thoughts and hope for the best approach, otherwise known as magical thinking.

In the meantime, look for a visionitiative training from Humanist Learning Systems coming soon.

Why Humanistic Business Management Matters

Humanistic Business Management matters because humanity matters.

We have a problem. Well, actually, we have lots of problems. These include how to feed, clothe and house ourselves and to do so in a way that doesn’t destroy the environment that we depend on.

One of the biggest lessons I remember learning in school had to do with biology and with carrying capacities. Each ecosystem and niche has a carrying capacity. It’s the number of animals that can live there successfully. Above that limit there aren’t enough resources to go around.  But that’s only part of the problem. The other part is that every animal and plant, by living, creates waste products. These waste products are toxic to the animal itself. So, if any given animal is too successful, their waste will create a toxic environment that will cause them to die.

Anaerobic bacteria fart oxygen, thus creating an environment they can’t survive in. Humans breathe out carbon dioxide, which is toxic to us. Fortunately, trees breathe in CO2 and breathe out oxygen. So, in most cases, if we are well balanced with our environment, we are fine. Each animal or plant is consuming the waste of another and we have balance.

The importance of balance can’t be overstated. Get out of balance and animals and plants die.  We humans are not immune. It can happen to us.

The good news is that we humans can plan and think ahead to consequences and altar our behavior to avert problems. But only if we really want to.  And we really should want to because sustainable balance is important to our survival as a species.

Which brings me back to Humanistic Business Management. Humanistic Business Management is a strategic approach to business that takes into account the very real humans that make up the business, managing them well in a collaborative compassionate way, but it also takes into account the long term needs of the humans in the company and the human customers of the company. In other words, it takes into account the impact the business has on the environment and on our society in order to maximize the good the company does and minimize the harm.

Old school methods, like raping the earth, aren’t humanistic because they ignore the fact we humans are animals and so are dependent upon a healthy environment for our survival.  Pillaging the earth’s resources and harming people and ecosystems in the name of business are no longer acceptable business practices. For a reason!

Humanistic Business Management matters because the fate of humanity matters.

The Value of Being Humanistic in Business

Turning work into joy by making real human connections.

Malcom Levene wrote an article for the Huffington Post about the value of being Humanistic in Business – see link here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/malcolm-levene/being-human_b_752786.html  It’s a great essay. In it, he quotes Abraham Maslow:

"The fact is that people are good, give people affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior."

The point of the essay is that by being real and genuine when you deal with other people, you encourage them to do the same. When you are willing to do this you find that a weight has been lifted that you didn’t even know you were carrying. That you were acting in ways that weren’t natural because of expectation to fit in.

When we give ourselves the freedom to be, we find better connections with others who are so relieved to not have to pretend to be anyone other than who they are, they respond with joy. Transactions go from being about what I can get out of this to we are all in this together because we are both real humans just trying to do right by each other.

Granted, it’s not as easy as this because, in real life, there are some very bad people in the world that you have to protect yourself from. However, Levene is not advocating that we trust others without reserve; he does say you need to learn to say no sometimes so that your yeses have more impact. What he is saying is that don’t assume everyone you meet is out to get you. Most are just like you, insecure and scared. If you can break past the fear to find those good people, you can get to a place of trust that is worth the risk.

To me, as I think about my understanding of Humanism, I come back to the concept that each of us are individuals. It is wrong to make assumptions about people because often those assumptions are negative. When we actively remind ourselves to consider the positives, we can make those connections that we so desperately want and need to make as humans. And like everything else, that requires us to overcome our fears. Yes, sometimes we will get burned. But sometimes, the result is an amazing friendship.

Is this something you struggle with?  I think we all do to a certain extent. I know that even though I am natural quite shy, I have been able to conquer that to a certain extent by reminding myself to take a chance on someone. How do you overcome your insecurities about other people?