“Rethinking Africa”: how does this resonate with you? To me, it sounds like a theme for a summit of business leaders and policy makers. Interestingly, it was the focus of a poetry workshop. Even more interestingly, a commentary* referred to “rethinking Africa” as “an endeavor perhaps better suited to poetry than policy papers.” At the end of the day, business and humanistic studies may have a lot in common: they do if one approaches business from a humanistic perspective.
I have found this humanistic perspective to be in tune with the approach that many African business leaders take (see my earlier post on Africans’ communal mentality). The famous Ubuntu concept captures it somehow. Ubuntu is a worldview originated in the Southern Africa region. It refers to the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. Actions based on ubuntu principles nurture cohesion and reciprocity among people.
I also have a humanistic approach to business. I’m a business professor, and I’m a humanist, so I can’t but have such an approach to business. What does this mean? It means that I see the human being as the source, the center, and the purpose of all business activities:
- The source: if you track down any business activity, sooner or later you come across an entre- or intra-preneur that made that activity come alive.
- The center: when making decisions, one has to evaluate their consequences on people – including the decision-maker. Those consequences will be there no matter whether taken into account or not when making decisions.
- The purpose: a business exists to serve some authentic need of people. On the way, one should be able to make money – of course, not at any cost.
You may think my view is in sharp contrast with reality. I agree that not everybody takes this approach to business life. But maybe the overall situation will improve the more people take it, don’t you think?
* “Seeing Africa through the eyes of poets” by Amanda Fortier, Open Society Foundations
Congratulations for your blog and for this post.
Thank you, Mireia. I’m glad you liked it.
Hi Africa,
I am coming back to comment your posts. I liked so much your text about humanistic approach to business. It reminded me about transformational leadership and how employees are considered inside the organization. One manager presented me yesterday a very exciting, futurist and advanced approach to the digital transformation and how things are changing much more deeply and rapid than ever before. I can only disagree with that splendid presentation in one thing: “Technology is changing the world”. I was discussing about it. None technology is changing the world, simply people are changing the world through technologies, devices, ways of communication and so forth.
People are the centre of our current world.
And as I see, you like poetry in Africa, I will tell you a short story that I will publish soon on my Africans posts. In ancients times, there was a man living in Cameroon called Papá Ananzi. He had a uncountable wisdom………
Hi Jose-Pedro,
thanks you for your always thoughtful comments. I agree that it’s people who change the world. Hopefully, we’ll be thoughtful enough not to let technology out of our hands.
Your comment about transformtional leadership brought to mind a post I wrote time ago, “Pygmalion in (African) management”: https://blog.iese.edu/africa/2014/07/16/pygmalion-in-african-management/
Looking forward to your next post!
UBUNTU should help companies redifine their role in an hyperconnected world as ours. Also, UBUNTU should be teached in all the business schools….Thank you so much, Mrs. Ariño, for sharing your thoughts with us.
Marc-Henry
Thank you, Marc-Henry.
btw, our focus at IESE is on transmittinb an integrative view business — even if we don’t call it ubuntu.
accidentally I read your post and it’s very interesting,
Thanks for the information…
Thank you, Deepika. I’m glad you liked it.
Thank you for your great post and insights. I like your profound humanistic approach to business, and I think that increasing numbers of entrepreneurs will take this humanistic approach to business life. Ubuntu is a living proof for this approach.
Thank you for sharing your profound insights and positive energy to your readers.
Hello Khaled, thanks a lot for your appreciation of my humanistic approach to business. Actually, this approach is spoused by IESE, and broadly shared by our many stakeholders.