Ethics and Integrity in Business, the Zoroastrian Method

Most would agree that religion has no place in business. In today's working environment, more and more companies make an active effort to have the workplace be a neutral space with no overlap between the church and state, so to speak.

Zoroastrianism, called the first religion by many and the oldest monotheistic faith in existence has been around for over 4 millennia. With less than 200,000 Zoroastrians left in the world it does not come as a surprise that most people have never heard of it. This ignorance is ironic considering that Judaism, Christianity and Islam, among many, many other faiths, existing and forgotten have not only been influenced by, but trace their roots to the Zoroastrian creed.

But that is about the extent of my history lesson and on to the point at hand.

The life of every practising Zoroastrian or Zarthoshti is governed by the "Golden Triad" of Zarathustra, (or Zoroaster as the prophet is referred to in modern English references) which dictates, HUMATA HūXTA HUVAR?TA or "Well thought, well said and well done", substantivized to mean, "Good thoughts, Good Words & Good Deeds"

The Zoroastrian philosophy of ethics are widely recognised by theologists, sociologists, historians and anthropologists of varied nationalities and faiths to be the origin of the moral code enjoyed by modern civilisation worldwide. Zoroastrianism is reflective, and not prescriptive and places importance, first and foremost on the individuals capacity for free will and his or her ability to ponder, consider, contemplate and make decisions based on the time, place, process, circumstances and consequences of her or her thoughts, words and deeds.

Actions, whether they be in business, charity, justice or life in general must be based on the decisions of a "good mind" or "Vohu Mana" and with intentions that are moral and above selfishness and any action can be termed as a "good deed" if it is driven by true moral intention and not for the creation of a pseudo-moral image for social acceptance, trust or self-aggrandisement. An example of such would be the many "influencers" handing out money or charity in some form and filming the former plight and the end benefit and reaction of the receiver after being "rescued" by the giver for the sake of social media. The ethics and intentions behind these actions may have many complicated layers, but in the end, while the receiver of the charity is undoubtedly benefitted, the process of him/her receiving that charity is ultimately selfish on the part of the giver.

One might argue that the pursuit of economic gain, or business, or entrepreneurship is drive primarily by self interest. However, in the world we live in it is impossible to positively affect our society on any level without the resources of time, money and influence - all of which can only be attained by some individual or organisation involved in the process achieving financial success.

The co-existence of opposing morals, or, simply put, the presence of good and evil, of light and dark exists in all things. If good exists, so does bad. If there is pain, then the existence of pleasure is undoubtable. This presence of opposing morality is personified as two opposing spirits - The good, Spenta Mainyu , (the holy spirit) the bad, Angra Mainyu. The recognition of these opposing forces that define, influence and ultimate dictate an individual's responses and actions makes sense in the way that we accept that reality evolves, circumstances change and there is a duality that exists in all things. The evolved mind, or the "good mind" recognises the right moral decision that exists in-spite of this duality and the individual must be discerning enough to make the righteous choice, or the good choice. Once again, this decision making process is not a prescription and every individual has the freedom to make his or her choice, however, he or she will also be individually responsible for the outcome of those choices. The dilemma between the means and the outcome of these choices is further resolved by the notion that any morally good decision will result in a "good" outcome.

This especially affects those involved in business where self-interest and economic gain often very easily overrides an individual's natural instinct and the direction that his moral compass would have taken him in if that economic gain was not a deciding factor. This complexity and clashing of values is particularly prevalent in a Zoroastrian because the process and result of his or her decision making is intertwined with his faith and his or her business and moral sentiments are not mutually exclusive. The ability to discern and decipher "good" from "bad" and weighing the outcomes of each choice determines the final balance sheet after one's death and therefore, each choice must be assessed and each decision made only after being deemed the most righteous, most benevolent, most good and most true with it's outcomes doing more good than bad to any individual, animal or the environment.

Mindfulness leads to success, not only of oneself, but of everyone that one comes in contact with.

This is not "mindfulness" in a hipster, yoga-mom neo-liberal sense, but in a deeper, more deliberate manner by which we strive to be aware of the difference between "the mind" and the "good mind". This is not achieved by doing yoga, or meditating for hours, or speaking or listening to profound sounding garbage posted by instagram influencers between videos of health food and twerking - but through true and thorough and purposeful reflection into the circumstances and outcome of each thought, word and action.

Many Zoroastrian led companies around the globe have build not only successful multi-disciplinary businesses through the mindfulness of their leaders but have achieved near legendary status through their constant building and uplifting of their employees and associates and the communities around them through the building of schools, hospitals, affordable housing, bridges, roads and much much more. They focus on local and hyper-local upliftment and empowerment - making their contributions tangible for the populations in their immediate vicinity - choosing first to clean up their own backyards and asking for nothing in return rather than diverting vast funds to charitable work in distant countries in exchange for tax write-offs and other government benefits. Very often their work is quiet, with little or no media coverage and no pomp or flair.

This makes them unique in the sense that they seek no recognition, praise or fame for these contributions and their primary motivation is merely to do good. While fundraising is a common phenomenon, charity done by Zoroastrian led or owned businesses most commonly cover the funds required for these contributions from company profits and the wealth of the private individuals leading or owning them.

The notion of mindfulness in all things that sits firm in the mind of every practising Zarthoshti leads to a conducive work culture and in conjunction with the Zoroastrian idea of Freshokereti, or, constant refreshment, renewal and modernisation - each Zoroastrian promises to constantly modernise the world around him, to make all things wonderful, to make new, to expand. This is seen especially in the workplace. Zoroastrian led companies see less attrition, less employee turnover and are hugely successful in terms of employee retention. It is not uncommon to see employees retiring after having only ever held a job in a single company throughout their working lives. These businesses focus on growth and expansion, but without compromising the welfare of employees, risking goodwill and their ideals of customer-centrism.

Asha, or Artha is the ancient Indo-Iranian law of truth, precision and righteousness. It is precision and order that point toward the creator, the maintainer and the promoter. The promotion of a perfect society with justice and welfare of its inhabitants at its core. With their rights safeguarded, employees must be confident that their renumeration, their reward will be proportionate to their contribution to an enterprise. The same ethos applies to customers, who take comfort in the fact that the product or service that is being provided to them is delivered with integrity, transparency and with their best interests as the foundational motivator. The brand loyalty that some of these companies enjoy is unparalleled and the product categories where people refuse to comprise spans everything from cars to salt.

The good mind, precision, the duality of morality and other principles create a perfect eco-system of values and motivators needed to develop a strong and substantial ethical value-based foundation upon which a business can grow and thrive while being both profit oriented and community centric.