Monthly Archive for October, 2008

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Organized Lovelessness

Published on October 12, 2008 in being corporate defined. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

In The Perennial Philosophy Aldous Huxley describes contemporary institutions as “organized lovelessness.”  What a poignant phrase, and it’s a much better definition of being corporate than anything I could articulate even with hundreds of words.   (In fact, maybe you would be better off reading his book instead of this post.  If that’s what you’re thinking and if you have the time to read more than 200 pages of metaphysical commentary, then you can find the book here, provided online by Google Books.)

When I protest against being corporate,  I’m not talking about the ever-growing complexity of  specialization or organization that have developed to accommodate our modern society.   After all, highly specialized, organized people have made it possible for me to write this blog post at no cost, within the comfort of my home, on a computer I can take anywhere.   What’s not to like about that?  No when I’m making a case for being less corporate, I’m talking about the organized lovelessness that can show its ugly head in our business, political, and religious interactions if we’re not vigilant.

"Child in a Harsh World" (a sketch I did)

"Child in a Harsh World" (a sketch I did)

How awful it is to be treated like a thing and not like a beloved person. But, that’s what happens when a mission statement becomes more important than the people whom the mission statement is supposed to serve. It’s why company policies meant to help serve customers can become bureaucratic nightmares and why a noble political system dedicated to preserving individual freedom can devolve into pressured conformity.

Even churches or other religious institutions are not immune from this plague of organized lovelessness.  This is indeed a disheartening thing, since places of worship, at their best, are built on the belief that God loves his creatures enough to care about their development.  From this foundation,  dignity for human life and decency within a civilization can develop.   And yet, perhaps you’ve been to a loveless, dogmatic-driven church that left you feeling so cold and unconnected to others that you were driven faster into the seductive (but still loveless) arms of vice.  I know I have.   Not every place of worship is like that, but unfortunately, too many of them are.

To help me illustrate these ideas, let’s try a little thought experiment.  Suppose, for a moment, that I am not a lowly writer, but a powerful bestower of wishes.  (Tragically this is untrue, but let us suspend disbelief together for the sake of this example.)  Close your eyes and imagine that I will present you with a package that contains your heart’s desire.   Now open it.

There are many things you might have imagined, but I am willing to bet that you did not imagine a corporate poster featuring bar graphs, pie charts, or banal graphics.   ( Perhaps some day I will find the man who affectionately decorates his home with productivity graphs, and then I’ll have to eat my words, but for now I’m safe, I think.)  And yet, businesses continue to decorate their workplaces with these ugly things.  Why?  Probably because these companies are more committed to their mission statements then to caring enough about their employees to wonder what they would enjoy seeing.

Nothing wrong with reminding the people who work for you about your organizational goals.  There is something enriching in holding someone up to high standards. And besides, you don’t really love people unless you want them to become and remain the very best versions of themselves. But don’t good families have admirable goals as well?  Of course, but you don’t see these families decorating their walls with awful corporate-looking stuff, just to remind each other about those goals.    Why not?  They care about each other too much.

So take another look at even the small things you do in your business, organization, or even your personal life.   Do the posters you put up, the jokes you tell, the ways you interact with people increase someone’s sense of organized lovelessness?  Or do you fight organized lovelessness by putting more importance on caring about people than on achieving goals, looking cool, and growing profit? The second choice is hard to do, I know, but it’s still worth fighting for, don’t you think?

Selling to Everyone is Bad, Corporate Thinking

Published on October 4, 2008 in business. Closed Tags: , , .

A few months ago, when I still wanted to get business from everyone possible, I found a company who wanted me to do commercials about their house-buying business.  They’re the kind of guys who target people in difficult  financial situations and offer to buy homes with cash.   The concept they had for the commercial was awful:  explosions, falling money, and condescending commentary.   For those of you who have dealt with these kinds of businesses, it probably comes as no surprise that they wanted me to do the commercial for bottom-dollar rates.

So, I was being asked to do work for a business I didn’t like, doing a concept that I couldn’t respect, at a price that would give me much reward for my efforts.  And yet, because I bought into the stupid idea that any business is good business, I still tried to make it work. To show them where I was coming from, I pitched a new idea, and I argued that they could benefit by treating their potential customers with dignity.  That was the last time I heard from them.  Thank God.

photo by @dlprager from flickr.com/maubrowncow

photo by @dlprager from flickr.com/maubrowncow

Since then, I’ve spent a bit of time thinking about how to avoid getting certain types of clients.  First thing to go: the sell-to-everyone notion.  Money is nice, but I don’t want to be involved in projects that I’m ashamed of doing.   Those kinds of projects will probably only help me get more sub-prime clients while spreading the influence of bad businesses or ideas.  No thanks.

In his book The Art of the Start Guy Kawasaki writes, “Doing things that benefit you and your organization to the detriment of the rest of society doesn’t scale.”  Great quote, but it’s so easy to get distracted from that ideal and chase only the bottom-line, especially when things are tough.  With those house-buying clowns, I was initially just thinking about getting more experience and making some cash in the process.  I wasn’t thinking about whether their business would benefit others or whether it would just prey on people’s fears and insecurities, while making things worse in the long-term.

Don’t get me wrong.  Just because a business buys houses for cash, doesn’t make it a bad business.  If the guys I dealt with cared more about treating others with dignity, I may have thought differently of them.  A good business serves its customers and makes them stronger, more productive, or happier over time.  A bad business exploits people and doesn’t care if their customers become weaker, unhappier, and more debased over time in part because of the products or services they sold.

The stronger and healthier you become, the more the gym you frequent benefits.  Having experienced the positive results of the gym will probably encourage you to keep coming back, and your vitality will become a walking advertisement for the gym, as friends and family take note of your improved health.  But what about your drug dealer?  It is in his best interest for your sense of worth and purpose to grow, and for you to get more involved in your community?  No, he benefits most when you believe that you can only make the moment bearable with the drugs he offers.   Why would the drug dealer care if you beat your kids or wreck havoc on your community?  As far he’s concerned, that means you’ll probably become a better customer.

So is your business more like  the local gym or the local drug dealer? Are you selling solid materials and services that will add value to someone’s home,  improving over time someone’s affection for the place where he lives?   Or, does the cheap stuff you sell go bad right after the warranty expires, which frustrates your customers and leaves them less likely to trust their fellow man?   Is that new book you’re writing going to inspire others to do good and excellent things, or is your new music album going to persuade more people to slap around women and treat them like mere commodities of pleasure?  If more people would think about that stuff as they cash their lucrative checks, this world would be a better place.

I’m going to make a commitment right here not to ever again pursue a business opportunity without thinking about how it may affect society as a whole. I want to make music videos, commercials, and designs that are fun, exciting, and meaningful, but I don’t want to do degrading stuff or create work that fuels people’s worst instincts.   I know that means I’ll get less work, at least initially, but I’d rather face that and still be proud and unapologetic about all the work I’ve done.

If you think that’s a foolish way of doing business, that’s fine.  It means you’ll never contact me to work together, and we’ll both be better off.   Actually, filtering out the wrong kind of clients is just as important to me as finding more clients.  In fact, if you follow me on twitter (twitter.com/nsavides) or if you spend enough time with me, you’ll hear me talk about my faith and about some of my political views.  I don’t mind if you disagree with me about those things, but if you consider me an idiot for holding those views, then you’re someone else with whom I don’t want to work.  If you can’t respect differences of thought or if you treat with contempt something that I value, like faith, then there’s a good chance we won’t get along or that you’ll ask me to create something that I’ll abhor. I’m not doing that; I don’t sell to everyone any more.

That kind of thinking is a little nerve-wracking sometime because business is tough and competitive, but I have faith that it’ll work out eventually.  It may take longer but it’s better than dealing with the wrong kinds of clients.  I’m trying to make money and make the world better, after all.  Are you?