Doing business with soul
Is it possible to do business with a soul? And what the actual what does that mean?
Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of working with multiple people that cultivated and embedded that belief in me. Yet it’s still telling when I express this ambition it’s mainly greeted with a reaction on a scale ranging from bewilderment to disdain.
Is this a response to some sort of privileged frippery on my part? That I’m not hard headed enough to look predominantly through the lens of the bottom line, that there is too much naivety guiding the ethos, that it’s all a bit pollyanna and… nice? And does that even sit comfortably with the nature of business? Shouldn’t this be left for not for profit or voluntary or funded services - to add the soft planting to the hard landscaping of business?
I guess in unpicking the above, it comes down to priorities and the aims of a business when it comes to setting up. When viewing this space, there was something deep down inside me that felt the potential for this to become somewhere in Horsforth where you could host events and have people meet up, where you could discover things and establish a dialogue within the local community to ensure connections are made between those that make, do and support these endeavours. An ecosystem for creativity through STUFF.
In order to thrive an ecosystem must have certain factors in place, and in establishing one, there needs to be a heck of a lot of time, patience, nerve, encouragement and dare I say it, luck. My belief is that ecosystems that work understand there is randomness involved but do not see that as something that negates it’s importance or need to carry on. That resilience and hope, to me, is the soul of a place. You can walk into places and know if it is full or devoid of soul. It’s easy enough for you to see if someone is running the place with soul because it’s an invisible yet unmissable feeling, even if it’s not your sort of place. You feel it.
Business with a soul for me is one where as much (probably if not more) effort is placed on communicating that initial gut feeling and helping the person who walks into the premises to experience it. To experience and connect to your idea or concept in action. I believe as consumers we have been through the ringer on false promises and businesses that act without authenticity or without soul and we can smell them a mile off. And what I think is most important about a business with soul, the thing that really makes the difference, is not something that can be bought. It’s something that’s grown and nurtured and treats the people using it as front and centre without invalidating your own ideas and passion.
At the same time, like any ecosystem, the web and connections of a business are not rigid. They ebb and flow and join and diverge in line with outside factors and with other people’s input. But always, in the centre, is that resilience and hope the owner brings. If that’s not there, it’s my belief things do not hold and they do fall apart.
So when I try say I want to do business with soul, I guess I mean with an aim to bring some part of me and my passion and include other people in that and participate in an ongoing exchange. Because irrespective of the bottom line, life is most definitely richer for those who do business with soul.