Johannes Brenner and Markus Brenner share their thoughts on profit maximisation and the philosophy of a lighthouse company.
“The enthusiasm of the heart is the source of every great enterprise.” This quote from Joseph Mazzini — a nineteenth-century Italian politician and journalist — contains a lot of truth; however, most companies hardly take it into account. On the contrary, the entire economy is dominated by one dangerous thought which is capable of slowly seeping into and destroying the foundation of our prosperity. It is the thought of profit maximisation. Profit maximisation and how to achieve it is preached in all textbooks and powerfully embedded into the minds of students at all colleges and universities, thus making profit maximization the main corporate purpose.
Beyond Morality and Dignity
Few consider the associated disaster for the economy and for society. Means and ways far from any morality and dignity are taken to maximise profits. The principles of a truly honourable businessman no longer carry any weight. Unscrupulousness, ruthlessness, blackmail, lying, camouflaging and deception are integral elements that feed this corporate purpose. The diesel scandal in the car industry is a good example of this, and it is certainly not an isolated case. This cannot happen without people and a large number of those who do think and act in this inconsiderate way will experience this behaviour imprinting in their brain (limbic system) which leads to disastrous effects in all areas of life. This leads to extreme loss of moral principles across all social classes.
In companies, profit maximisation thinking combined with value chain thinking is the seed of self-destruction. Extortion, exploitation, corruption, job destruction, competition on the basis of quantity and price, quality reduction, corporate concentrations with abuse of power, environmental destruction; the list goes on and on.
In contrast, there is thinking in appreciation chains, which is characterised by fairness, honesty and the insight that all participants in the chain are entitled to an appropriate share of the profits and increase in value.
The Path to Fair Profits
Profit is important, but not as a driver for (more) dividend and (more) financial (shareholders) value. Profit must be the logical result of meaningful corporate activity (corporate purpose). Thinking in terms of internal and external appreciation chains and appreciation networks, focusing on not price, but quality-based competition. A well thought-out ‘lighthouse positioning’ of the company avoids arbitrary interchangeability.
Nature has already survived for millions of years with competition based on quality. Qualitative growth is unlimited and yet most companies seek their salvation in permanent quantitative growth. This is doomed to fail!
Symbiosis Between Leaders and Followers
Companies are people. So social and financial proift are made by people, not by an anonymous organisations under a brand label. Success and failures are, simply said‚ ‘man-made’. The prerequisites for success and for healthy, qualitative growth are employees who do their work with pleasure and enthusiasm every day. Their managers must encourage them to develop their potential. This can only succeed if employees have the feeling that they are seen as human beings and taken seriously by their managers, their leaders. Give them the feeling that their detailed expert knowledge related to the respective job is highly valued. Employees no longer want to be seen as an arbitrarily shapeable and exchangeable factor in the service of profit maximisation. The key term here is ‘dignity’.
Only those people who are aware of their own dignity due to pronounced self-awareness will treat their fellow human beings in the company, the suppliers and the customers with dignity. Inseparably linked to this are sincerity, honourable action and yes, also goodness in general. This places very high demands on managers. Many of them certainly have the professional qualifications, but very often the character requirements for higher management tasks are lacking. Self-interest, power games and intrigues are constant companions, and the staff are downgraded to pawns. A seed such as this can never produce a good harvest.
Social Impact Projects: A Fig Leaf?
In addition to its purely economic significance for shareholders, employees, suppliers and customers, a company also plays an important social role. The development and importance of CSR strategies (Corporate Social Responsibility) is on everyone's lips and is strongly supported by the media. It is very tempting to exploit this high attention value while other goals are being pursued at the core. In these cases, CSR strategies end up contributing to the manipulation and subtle conditioning of everyone involved, from the company to the end consumer. This approach is associated with a great deal of risk, because once exposed and unmasked the damage to a company’s image is extensive.
The project with the greatest social impact is within every company, but it hardly receives any attention.
The state of a company, its competitiveness, innovative strength and resilience is directly related to the totality of the states of the individual employees. There is no separation between professional and private life because the limbic system and the emotional systems, which control more than 85% of the situations in all employees’ lives, are constantly working in the background and have great influence. Thus, employees’ private lives, life histories and, therefore, any traumatic childhood experiences also shape the companies in their internal and external impact via employees’ emotional systems.
The decisive factor for the success of a company is therefore the human being with all its facets. These must be included in the strategic management considerations. Establishing programmes that discreetly offer help to employees who have become "conspicuous" can also have a beneficial knock-on effect on their private lives.
Another aspect is the pronounced profit maximisation thinking at all levels, especially in value chains. Behaviour that goes beyond honesty, morality and dignity has sadly become the norm. These internalised procedures shape the emotional systems of those acting in this way in their limbic system. This can lead to devastating consequences in employees’ private lives. The loss of moral values of society is the logical consequence.
It is time for companies to face up to this responsibility, to rethink their ways of acting and to lay down guidelines that are communicated internally to employees in workshops in connection with the ‘why’.
Mindfulness, along with sincere and honourable action are never destructive. The messages contained therein are internalised bit by bit and thus also find their way into an employee’s private life. These are projects with an enormous social impact. It is peace work carried out at the foundation of society, with each individual and within families.
When one opens oneself to these thoughts, one will realise what a great social responsibility companies bear for society. Those who have set themselves the goal of positioning their own company as an inspiring leader, a lighthouse, will have to interact with these thoughts intensively. The radiance of the lighthouse is thereby strengthened enormously.
Appreciation Chains and Appreciation Networks
In companies where employees pull together, where appreciation chains and appreciation networks have developed and shape daily work, sooner or later the outcome of this lived culture of relationships and enthusiasm is success. This leads almost automatically to a self-optimisation of the 'living people system' called ‘company’.
A living culture of relationships and enthusiasm drastically reduces the stress caused by work and the resulting absenteeism due to illness. Conversely, physical, emotional and mental resilience increases significantly. It can be concluded from this that the resilience of a company is directly related to the resilience of its employees.
Creating an Emotional Bond
Anyone who wants to lead their company successfully in the future and survive in socially and economically difficult times must pay close attention to the people in their company and in the markets. Creating a loyal relationship to the company and placing employees in the focus of the corporate strategy will be among the most important adjustments in the future.
Everything that does not trigger emotions is worthless for the brain. Sales markets are collections of people with the same demographic characteristics. Therefore, communication with the markets based on the findings of brain research (neuro-marketing) is indispensable. Only if attention to the emotion systems plays a central role in the marketing strategy can you win a pole position in the minds of your customers. A pole position is then comparable to a lighthouse positioning and makes the company more stable in crises.
Self-awareness, dignity, goodness, sincerity and acting with honour provide a very fertile ground.
The resilience of the company and that of the employees (mental/emotional and physical) thrive on this.
Internal and external appreciation chains and networks develop as a result.
These are the best prerequisites for a culture of development of potentials, a culture of new thinking, a culture of relationships and a culture of enthusiasm.
The Philosophy of a Lighthouse Company
Lighthouse companies are companies that create meaning. They are characterised by a unique force field of action and values into which those who feel attracted to it flow. The spirit that reigns within this field creates loyalty among employees and customers alike.
Johannes Brenner (father) and Markus Brenner will participate in the 2021 World Ethical Electronics Forum on November 18, 2021. They contributed this article to further the Elektor community's discussion about ethical electronics. For more infomormation about the World Ethical Electronics Forum, please visit the WEEF website.
Would you like contribute to the discussion about profit maximisation and ethical electronics? Contact the WEEF team.
