From the End of Management Consensus to Non Violence Principle (NVP) Management
Looking at the history of world, from ancient ages to now, from a global to a local scale, from groups to individuals, violence principle emerge as a key driver.
Civilizations have been battling against each other, groups of people have been opposing each other, individuals have been competing with each other and so on. It's all the same in the economic world : companies run to win market shares, organizations battle to keep sustainable competitive advantages, employees jockey to gain position inside organizational pyramids, executive comities struggle to convince Wall Street that their strategic orientations are the best and so on.
This violence principle is taken for granted by us from deep within our culture. We have foreverbeen struggling to transform initial English colonies of Virginia in the inspiring United States of America. Furthermore, Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1976: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness[1]." As a consequence, we obviously admit we have to struggle for life and in life, that success is the result of hard efforts, that being competitive minded is both essential and valuable. By the way, it is probably why the English philosopher Herbert Spencer has been so much the voice of American feelings.
Therefore, the economic world we are from now on leading is built around this violence principle and draws to a Management Consensus built on three pillars: doers, from CEO super heroes to employees bordering burn out; shareholders, 20% return on obsessed; and thinkers, playing the game of the winners. All the three living, admitting or involved in keeping violence principle as if went without saying.
But a closer look at the history of world reveals three exceptional men who have been involved in immense battles and have been winning amazing victories using non-violence principle (NVP).
Buddha succeed in the spiritual era at a planetary level. He invented an alternative religion (Buddhism), softer than the existing religion of his time, because he considered it too hard for people. Twenty five centuries later, half the people on earth are declaring themselves Buddhists. Non Violence Principle is inherent to Buddhism from the religion itself to the way people came to it.
Gandhi succeed in the political sphere on a continental scale. He gave battle to English colonialism in the 20th century. He obtained independence of India following Non Violence Principle in the way he politically struggled against his opponents.
Rickson Gracie succeed in sports at martial arts level. He demonstrated the superiority of his martial art: Gracie jiu jitsu, versus any other martial arts, with an historic undefeated record of 450 fights between two men. Non Violence Principle is part of his martial art and is the way he followed to defeat all his opponents.
The purpose of the book is to draw from the lesson learnt from those three exceptional men and to establish Non Violence Principle as key success factor for tomorrow’s management. The thesis of the book is that current management approach must be revisited, enriched and completed for success in next decades.
The book is a real breakthrough to what we call Management Consensus, built on three pillars: - Doers, from “CEO super heroes” to employees bordering burn out; - Shareholders, obsessed with the 20% return on; - Thinkers, playing the game of the winners; all of these three living, admitting or involved in the process of keeping the violence principle inside business - as though it went without saying. The thesis of the book is that organizations, business, value, trade-off, teams and people management approach must be revisited, enriched, completed by the non-violence principle for success in next decade. The book is divided into five parts: 1. The first part is fact-oriented and introduces the three men who gave battle and gained huge victories using the non-violence principle (NVP): Buddha, Gandhi, Gracie. 2. The second part is analytical and reveals the twenty-one characteristics that all three have in common and that helped their success. 3. The third part is theory and sets up the seven principles of Non-Violence Principle Management (NVP Management). 4. The fourth part is practice-oriented and studies what to learn from Buddha, Gandhi, and Gracie for tomorrow’s business and management. 5. The fifth part is action oriented and provides twenty-one ideas of simple things to start injecting NVP Management in your company as early as tomorrow morning. The book is both prospective and prescriptive. It has been written to be clear, concise and to support a synergy between theory and practice. The book is something of a manifesto for alter[ELT1] -management. It is a call to action. The connections among disparate fields have been particularly favored to make appear ideas that wouldn't have otherwise. The book has intentionally focused itself initially on organization such as companies. But the proposed model discussed in this book could go way beyond simple companies, until worldwide corporate governance. For the business world where management became a commodity, there is far more findings and new input in this book than in a pile of others. Those most familiar with the management field will consider this book as a real breakthrough. Others will see it as something like a meteorite. Both will think of it as a change. This book is a Declaration of Independence toward Management Consensus. The US invented and used management but they are now held prisoner by their past successes. As Americans declared their independence from the English state in the 18th century, tomorrow managers must declare independence from what might, sooner or later, be called the ancient Management Consensus. They must manage management - or management will manage them. [ELT1]Eew, word I don’t know. Buzzword ? Alternative management?
[1] Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson: The Man In His Own Words (Starwood Pub, 1993).