Integrity, Reciprocity, and Beauty

Integrity, Reciprocity, and Beauty

The radio show host asked me, “Tell us what?The Beautiful Business?is about.” It’s typically the first question I get from people who haven’t read my book or worked with me.

Since I released the book a year ago, I’ve gotten a bit better at explaining it. On the surface, it seems obvious because we know beauty when we experience it. But it isn’t easy to break it down to its essential elements and apply it to the business world.

Here’s how I answer this question now.

We must first define beauty to understand the book, its principles, and how it can be built and practiced in any business.

The definition of?beauty?that I use is the one that comes from the Japanese Aesthetics tradition. Here,?beauty?is experienced and has a felt sense with attributes congruent with the laws of nature and how the natural world thrives. Key characteristics of this include?reciprocity, integrity,?synergy, and harmony. (These are great?design principles, too)

Nature sustains itself, even flourishes, through integrity and reciprocity.?

What nature knows is that what’s good for the individual parts is good for the whole. Nature knows what the smallest things need, the larger things provide; in turn, the more minor elements reciprocate for the more significant components. Nature integrates itself. What happens below ground or inside the system is mirrored on the outside.

Integrity has two core meanings.

First, there’s the honesty-based or say/do version of integrity. We say people or businesses have integrity when they do what they say they’ll do well and consistently. Over time this builds trust.

The second definition of integrity is about wholeness: The focus on a single vision, including the refusal to split ourselves into separate compartments or incompatible actions and ideas. An undivided entity is formidable because it comes from a united core.

When what happens inside a system or below ground (think: when your customers don’t see your?culture) is reflected in the outer world, you have?wholeness integrity.

So, when the largest things look out for the smallest things – each being equally important in a symbiotic system, it creates a healthy, sustainable system. Here, the entity works with?reciprocal integrity.

From this vantage point, it’s relatively easy to see how a business can operate with integrity and reciprocity.

Here are two examples.

People-to-people reciprocity.?

When an organization hires, trains, and nurtures individuals on the team, the people, in turn, care for the company, its brand, and its customers. While there’s much to unpack within this, it’s a people-centric reciprocity system.

Product-to-people reciprocity.

When a company creates products or services that solve a customer’s wants, wishes, or needs in a way that improves their lives, the customer returns with loyalty and ambassadorship. They tell other people about their great experiences, and they return for purchases repeatedly, so long as they’re cared for and get great value. This is a customer-centric reciprocity system.

Both of these reciprocity systems are?inextricably connected.

The company cares for the team members; the team members care for the customers, and the customers reward the company with repeat purchases and spread the good word about the company. Here, the company gets out of the chasing customers game and transitions into the caring for people game. This?virtuous cycle?is a sustainability system, so long as care (AKA love) stays in place.

Back to the book.

A?Beautiful Business?lives and works with integrity and reciprocity. It’s a people-first organization that integrates all its elements and functions. It cares for (AKA loves) the most significant and minor parts. It puts people first. It fuses its brand, culture, and strategy. When we experience a business operating this way, it’s unignorably beautiful.?