Why This Book
This book is about humanistic business management. Specifically, it is about the Humanist philosophy and how it applies to the business of business.
Humanism is a philosophic approach to living life and solving problems. It is about taking responsibility for solving the problems we have and doing so in a way that is respectful of other people and of the environment because we are dependent on our environment for life. This sounds wonderful, but it requires critical thinking and personal responsibility to implement. The upside is that it has some very tangible positive impacts on how we go about the business of business.
We need Humanism in business because we live in a diverse global society. The biggest businesses are global, our commerce is global, thanks to the Internet, our friendships are increasing global. Our food, thankfully, is global as well (I am a big fan of Peruvian, Indian, and Columbian food, for instance).
All this global diversity has benefits, but like all good things, it has a downside as well. How we chose to manage the benefits versus the drawbacks will dictate our success going into the future.
People who are afraid of all this globalization see the downside, and it scares them. People who are for globalization are looking at the upside and think it outweighs the downside. Blind fear does not lead to good decisions, but neither does blind optimism.
Humanism, because it is focused on our common human morality, can help us cut across religious and cultural differences to find a common moral language and framework to help us work together despite our differences. It encourages us to recognize the humanity of those we disagree with so that we can recognize and explore their moral reasoning to find areas of common ground.
Humanism is also reality based. We do not like to make decisions based on assumptions, we want good science-based information. Without that, we are adrift.
The goal of Humanism is well-being or human flourishing. What is the point of life if we do not live it fully.
Finally, a humanistic mindset helps us recognize that we are all dependent on the society in which we live. Our businesses rely on customers, and those customers live somewhere and need food, water, shelter, health care, and a sense of community to thrive so that they can be our customers. Everywhere in the world this is true.
Humanism in business matters because humans matter. Businesses and commerce define how we interact with each other. We can either use our businesses to help humanity progress to more peaceful flourishing communities or we can allow our societies to be consumed with greed. We can balance profit and benefit to society. And, we must. This is why, Humanism matters.
About the Author
My name is Jennifer Hancock, I am your author and guide. I was raised in a Humanist household and have spent my adult life working for Humanist groups and educating people about the philosophy. I am considered one of the most prominent writers and speakers in the world of Humanism today.
Using Science and Philosophy to Create Happier Workplaces
One of the main goals of Humanism is to create human flourishing. Happiness is of specific concern to us. Because happiness matters, happy workplaces matter.
The Humanist prescription for happiness is so universal and so simple that even a child can articulate it. When I was 11, I wrote the following motto for myself: live life fully, love other people, and leave the world a better place. Every major religion and philosopher throughout history has taught basically the same thing because this prescription works.
Happiness or well-being is a difficult metric to measure because it means different things to different people. I take a utilitarian approach. To me, happiness occurs when my stress levels are low and I feel “in control.”
In the workplace, this means I feel happy when I feel respected, when the work that I do matters, and when problem-solving is fun, not frustrating, meaning we solve problems collaboratively and in the best interest of the company and our customers.
Respect, mattering, and problem-solving are intertwined and combined. They align with our prescription for happiness, well-being, loving other people, and leaving the world a better place. And, all rely on a combination of philosophy and science to implement.
This prescription for workplace happiness is not simply a feel-good method. Humanism, as a methodology, can be tested for outcomes. Humanists choose this approach because it yields what most people consider to be good results. Taking a humanistic approach to business directly impacts the quality of the work being done and constitutes a moral and pragmatic imperative for the workplace.
The Benefits of Taking a Humanistic Approach
I realize a lot of people are in business just to make money, and well-being and happiness is an afterthought. But, last I checked, no one is going to give you money just because you asked for it. Most people will only give you money if you solve their problems well.
All businesses are in the business of solving problems. If you are not solving problems, you are not in business. The businesses that do the best help their customers solve a problem in a way that works and is cost effective.
Our business objective should be the making of good decisions so that we problem-solve well. To that end, we need a philosophic tweak to how we think about our businesses and our jobs. The goal? Making the world a better place by helping people solve their problems so that we can create societies where people, all people, flourish.
A work group can’t solve problems well unless they respect each other and have a shared set of values that helps them collaboratively judge what a good solution is. It helps if they all understand why getting the solution right matters so they are motivated to find good solutions to your customer’s problems.
The purpose of creating happier more humanistic workplace cultures is so problem-solving is truly collaborative and everyone’s input is respected. To find good solutions to our problems, we must create workplaces where everyone is treated with dignity and worth, and the group is cohesive and not divisive.
The reason it is hard to create cohesive work groups is because we humans are instinctually tribal and divisive. To overcome this, we need to take practical pro-active steps to overcome our tribal brain. The best way to do that is to encourage people to think more humanistically and less tribally.
As a Humanist, I approach all problem-solving as both an ethical exercise and a pragmatic one. Ethics help me determine what a good solution looks like. Science helps ensure that whatever solution I find will actually work. We need both science and ethical philosophy to create better, more cohesive work groups that problem-solve well.
Here is why. Ethical philosophy encourages us to treat each other with dignity. Science validates the need for dignity and respect in group problem-solving. Behavioral science in particular can help us create workplace cultures where dignity and respect are the norm. It turns out one of the necessary conditions to do that, according to science, is through philosophic training that reinforces dignity as a primary value.
There is a reason why many business schools around the world are starting to teach humanistic management. Humanism, as a philosophy, helps us prioritize human dignity and worth as important. This approach is validated by science, which almost always reinforces taking a humanistic approach to problem-solving. In fact, we often cannot implement a solution that works unless we take a humanistic approach.
For example: let us consider the problem of bullying and harassment in the workplace. We need to tackle the problem of bullying, because if we do not, we will not have respectful workplaces, and that has negative cascading effects on not only the general levels of happiness and well-being in the workplace, but the work itself and problem-solving specifically.
Our ideal is respectful collaborative problem-solving. Realistically, businesses usually solve problems based on who is the loudest, who is the biggest bully, people’s insecurities, and more. It is time we recognize that bullying management is bad management and stop rewarding it.
Stopping harassment and bullying is both a moral and a practical good. To solve this problem, we need science because we need practical solutions. The good news is we have seven plus decades of scientific research on how to stop unwanted behavior, like bullying.
If we pay attention to the science, we know what we need to do to get bullying to stop. Stop rewarding it and start rewarding the behavior we do want. To do that effectively, we need to be more compassionate.
People do not do this because it seems counterintuitive, but it is true. Treating a bully with dignity and compassion allows us to behaviorally train them to stop. In fact, it is probably impossible to stop bullying if you do not approach it humanistically. Seven decades of behavioral science validates this.
This brings us full circle. Humanistic philosophy makes us want to stop bullying, science tells us how to get it to stop. Applying a humanistic mindset helps us to actually do it.
Humanistic philosophy and science allow us to do what is right and what will work in a way that is professional, compassionate, ethical, and effective.
We need to be more strategic in our problem-solving and really take the time to view the research on what works and what does not. This applies to everything! All aspects of life.
Creating workplaces where people are treated with dignity, the work matters and the problem-solving is done well requires us to combine both ethical humanistic philosophy with applied science to get solutions that actually work.
This approach helps us to live life fully, love other people, and leave the world a better place in our business and personal life. Imagine the positive impact we can have if we succeed in creating truly happy workplaces that make a positive difference for our customers and our communities.
What Is in This Book?
This book is broken into four sections.
Section 1: What Is Humanism?
It is difficult to understand the hows and whys of humanistic business management without understanding the philosophy at the core of the practice.
Section 2: Applying Humanism to the World of Business
There are several aspects of the Humanist philosophy that are relevant to business management, and in this section, we will be discussing how to apply the different aspects of the philosophy to our business practices.
Section 3: Problem-Solving Like a Humanist
This section is an overview of critical thinking techniques and how Humanists combine critical thinking with moral reasoning to generate ethical and effective results.
Section 4: Case Studies
This section provides examples of how a Humanist approaches problem-solving in a business context using chronic business and human resources problems as examples.