In Buddhism, the eightfold path prescribes the way to self-liberation by practicing right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
For the spiritual entrepreneur, these eight principles can assist in governing the business in an ethical and moral way.
The eightfold path for a business may read something like this:
| Division | Eightfold Path factors | Acquired factors |
| Wisdom (Management) | 1. Right view | 9. Right knowledge |
| 2. Right intention | 10. Right liberation | |
| Ethical conduct (Ethics and Moral Good Standing) | 3. Right speech | |
| 4. Right action | ||
| 5. Right livelihood | ||
| Concentration (Focus on Customer Satisfaction/ Employee Work Ethic/ Quality Control) | 6. Right effort | |
| 7. Right mindfulness | ||
| 8. Right concentration |
Wisdom can be attributed to the management systems of a business. The CEO, board of directors and senior managers all must share the same vision – the right view – for the company. When the management team is in harmony they collectively share right knowledge which leads to a better understanding of the business, each other, the customer and the market as an integrated whole.
Right intention by the management team works to establish harmony with any obstacles to the success of the enterprise. This could take the form of overcoming interdepartmental rivalries, negotiating on a particular issue between shareholders and company owners, or who gets the parking space closet to the building. Cultivating right intention leads to right liberation – the ability to be free of the things which threaten to chip away at personal and group success such as ignorance, greed and unhealthy competition.
The next three steps on the path to a better business deal with are akin to the ethics policies of a business.
Right speech basically equates to telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For a business to function at maximum efficiency it is imperative for everyone, from management down to the mailroom, to communicate effectively. This means that everyone must be mindful of not only what is said but also how it is said to fellow employees. Being thoughtful of how we communicate with each other and avoiding deceitful, harmful or spiteful comments goes a long way to keep the peace in any company. Conversely, taking time to offer a compliment to a hard-working employee or a an encouraging word to a fellow employee helps to boosts moral and promotes better performance.
Right action in a company can be thought of as conducting oneself in an proper way abstaining from objectionable acts as deceit and theft. For example, if a supervisor falsifies productivity scores for their team to avoid reprimand it will ultimately affect revenue – and most likely that supervisor’s continued tenure with the company. Right action could also allude to unwanted sexual advances for fellow workers.
The principle of right livelihood is a difficult one to uphold for a business. It would call for a business not to, directly or indirectly, conduct business in a way that is harmful to another living being. Some businesses, such as the pest control or the medical industry, would probably find it difficult to sustain this theory. Imagine a pest control business trying to survive without being able to simply kill the pests they are hired to exterminate. It would be possible to invent products that don’t kill pests but once they leave one residence where would they go?
Similarly, envision needing surgery to remove cancerous cells but being told it can’t be done because it will be harmful to cancer cells. This is a more difficult situation to discuss. Who deserves to live – the person who has destroyed their lungs with cigarette smoke or the cancer that’s doing only what it was created to do? I’m sure most people would say the person should live.
Fortunately, the many businesses are starting to use the principle of right livelihood by going green. By doing so they cut back on the environmental footprint left by the company’s business practices such as toxic waste and the leveling of forests in the name of expansion and profit.
The final three principles coincide with developing a superior customer service platform, cultivating a solid employee work ethics platform and quality control overall.
Where right effort is concerned, everyone is constantly focused on furthering the good and useful qualities within themselves, in their coworkers as well as in the overall practices, policies and procedures of an organization without thought to the difficulty or weariness involved. A supervisor constantly telling his team they are performing below acceptable standards while encouraging them to strive for higher productivity, an employee comforting a disgruntled coworker who’s had an off day or a manager resolving a conflict between an employee and a customer leaving all parties satisfied are examples of employing right effort in the workplace.
Right mindfulness would call for employees and managers to be completely aware of their personal contributions to what is being done at the company. It’s a complete focus on the overall mission of the company and taking personal accountability for the company’s success or failure. Recognizing that more effort to developing a better marketing mix, improved treatment of employees leads to increased productivity and lower turnover rates or adding a daycare to decrease the amount of absenteeism by working mothers are ways right mindfulness come into play.
Lastly, right concentration would be very similar to right mindfulness. While right mindfulness deals with awareness of all aspects of business right concentration’s value lies in giving one’s total attention to a specific goal or task.There’s a saying that goes when you are at work, just work and when you are at play, just play – never mix the two. It’s similar to being so absorbed in a good book or TV program that a person doesn’t realize someone has walked up next to them and they are started. That doesn’t mean that everything gets “tuned out” but rather a relaxed yet determined focus is placed on what is being done decreasing the time for completion and improving efficiency.
All of this is merely supposition. To my knowledge there are now books, or case studies on the subject. All I can say for sure is a person can’t do any worse by adopting at least some of these principles to their business. I have no doubt that it can improve any business out there just as it has progressed my own.
To Your Limitless Success!
Michael Stagg AKA The Dharmapreneur
