Yes Boss, this IS your problem

Overheard four days ago:

Leading my organization with all this coronavirus madness is hard enough as we're working our butts off just to keep our doors open. I don't get why I have to also deal with social issues. I mean, I’m a businessman, we're running a business here. Social issues belong in the courts, yeah, maybe on the streets or in universities. But seriously, I shouldn't have to deal with this, I’m an executive not a social activist.

Now, I know for a fact that this exec is neither mean nor insensitive. Don’t immediately assume that he is hard-hearted or racist. It’s true, though, that he wasn’t trained or prepared to deal with social issues. Like many leaders, he’s frustrated and bewildered – he doesn’t believe it’s his job to deal with social issues.

Well, boss, it is!

There was a time, not long ago, when he was certain that donating to a social cause and organizing a recycling program was enough for the tidal wave of transformation. There was a time when he believed that life at work and life outside work were separate and distinct.

Not anymore!

And here is why: Business Leaders have become the Stewards of human society.

Nope, this isn’t hyperbole; it’s a sober observation.

A steward is a caretaker, someone who oversees the well-being of people and of property. To make sense of this, let's take a super quick history tour.

• During most of the past seven-thousand-or-so years, societies have been shaped by spiritual and earthly leaders.
• Spiritual leaders were medicine men, shamans, priestesses and priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams.
• Earthly leaders were kings and queens, tsars, warlords, and Chiefs.
• Over the past two-hundred-or-so years, most societies shifted to ruling parties, collective governance models of one kind or another – whether democratic, socialist, or autocratic.
• In the recent fifty-years-or-so we have experienced a grand change; a shift to un-elected leadership – governance by commercialism.
• Global multinational corporations, international trade, trade treaties, the internet, and exponential growth of consumerism has moved power, influence, and authority into the hands of business executives; nobody voted for them, and they yield great power.

So, back to current day. Our commercial mindset in business is a constant focus on growing profits, and commercial mindset for individuals is focused on getting more and more stuff. This mindset yields a version of capitalism that drives a hedonic treadmill and perpetuates economic and social inequality – the gap between haves and have nots is immense.

This mindset has also erased most of our work/life boundaries. And, we've allowed commercial intent into every nook and cranny of our lives – from food and entertainment to health and spirituality. For most of us, the division between personal and professional, between work life and private life, is largely erased. 

So, my friend, in our commercially minded society, commercial leaders are the de facto Stewards of Society. The mantle of responsibility has fallen off the shoulders of priests, blown off the backs of presidents and governors, and landed squarely on the shoulders of executives and business leaders.

And that exec I overheard, he's right. B school didn’t prep him for this. And nope, he didn’t sign up for this. And again nope, he didn’t plan for this. But hell yes, he is now a social steward involved in social issues AT WORK AND BEYOND. And if you’re a leader in business, then you are a Social Steward, too.

So what do you do with this fact? You expand your consciousness and adapt your mental model.

You accept without reservation that you are, in fact, a Steward of Society.

Your response to this news may be surprise, objection, frustration, resignation, excitement, and/or buy-in.

Either way, and I get that I’m kinda preachy here, you’ve got to take this in.

Why? Because nobody is coming to save us, nobody has a magic formula, and nobody is certifying saviors.

You. Are. A. Steward. Of. Society.

I also realize that you may be thinking, “Well Eric, what do you propose I do?”

I’m not proposing anything right here.

I’m not, because the first step for change is awareness.

I’m putting this forth to raise awareness.

With awareness comes choice.

Right now, I’m laser focused on how important it is that you embrace the reality of your responsibility.

Before we talk about the future, it’s critical to accept the present.

Let this sink in.

So, please, I’d love to know your thoughts and feelings about Stewardship responsibility.

And, if you’re in fact ready to take action, let’s talk.

In the spirit of leading and learning.

Eric