Today’s
“Perspective” section of the NDN published my “Doing Well By Doing Good”
article. The text is copied below. Please share with your friends and
send positive comments to Jeff Lytle - jflytle@naplesnews.com
I would also like feedback from all of you folks.
Doing Well by Doing
Good
Marketing and
Management Science in the 21st Century
By Samuel Sewell
(239) 591-4565
Benjamin
Franklin understood that enlightened and ethical business practices produce
more profit when he advised, “Do well by doing good.” Over the
history of American capitalism other entrepreneurs have prospered through
application of this principle. A short
video featuring Harvard Business School historian Nancy
Koehn makes the point that earlier entrepreneurs were
driven by their own personal philosophy; that doing “good” for their people means
that their business will do very well.
But
it wasn’t until the 1960s that modern management science began to teach
students that they can create stable wealth by doing “good” for their
employees, their customers, and their communities.
Today
there is excellent data, both qualitative and quantitative, that a company’s
successful relationship with people is positively related to its financial
performance.
Maslow,
Drucker, McGregor, and Nash is not a law firm. MDMN is an acronym I created to
serve as a reference point for this discussion on modern marketing and
management science.
Abraham
Maslow,
through his books and teachings brought us Management
Psychology. Maslow,
the
father of modern
management states: "The good society is one in which virtue pays."
Peter Drucker's 39 books have been translated into
more than thirty languages; "I became an immediate
convert--Maslow's evidence is overwhelming. But to date very few people have
paid much attention." -- Peter Drucker, 1999
"He
(Maslow) wrote Eupsychian
Management to bring McGregor and me down to
earth." -- Peter Drucker, 1995
Douglas McGregor, Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard
University was a Management professor at the MIT Sloan School of
Management. His 1960 book The Human Side of Enterprise, had a
profound influence on education practices; “The ingenuity of the average
worker is sufficient to outwit any system of controls devised by management.”
“Any attempt by management
to enforce behavior that is contrary to human nature is preordained to fail.
Conversely, management methods that compliment human nature are sure to provide
wealth and well being for all concerned.”
John Nash, In “A Beautiful Mind,”
Nash is at a bar with a group of friends when he begins to develop the theory
of what is now called Nash equalibria, the idea that won him the Nobel Prize
and the respect of his colleagues and loved ones, despite his schizophrenia.
At the bar, he and his friends begin to compete for a beautiful
blonde in a group of five women. “If we all go for the blonde,” Nash
says, “we block each other; not a single one of us is going to get her…and
we insult the other girls. But, what if no one goes for the blonde? We don’t
get in each others’ way, and we don’t insult the other girls. It’s the only way
to win….the best result comes from everyone in the room doing what’s best for
himself and for the group.”
The two most important conclusions are gleaned from John Nash’s
equations;
1. More profit is created through cooperation than
through competition.
2. Nice guys finish first.
For
more background we suggest becoming familiar with the works of Peter Drucker,
"The Essential Drucker." Abraham Maslow “Maslow On Management”
(originally titled Eupsychian Management) as well as Douglas McGregor’s
“Managing the Human Side of Enterprise.” And find out why John Nash won the
Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994.
While
these ideas were slow to catch on, today’s upper echelon management
professionals strive to find creative applications for these principles.
At Best Self USA we do Executive
Coaching. We have noticed that many business professionals are unfamiliar
with modern management science.
One
can hardly complete a business course on the college level without being
introduced to the difference between the “X” and “Y” theories of management, as
well as Maslow’s needs hierarchy, these
classes do not provide adequate familiarization with modern management science,
nor do they really explain Maslow in relationship to management.
Most
courses fail to adequately convey the idea that profits are maximized when
respect for the “human side of enterprise” is obvious. Maybe an
additional problem is that students of business do the same thing with their
subjects as I did with Algebra. I did what I needed to graduate and have
never worked another algebra problems for the rest of my life.
We have created a research paper tracking the history and
guiding principles of modern management science and published it free of charge
at: http://excellentexecutive.blogspot.com/ I hope this helps
remind business people of their college days, and encourages them to use proven
profit enhancement principles based on “good guys finish first.”
(Exactly 750 words sans
title and attribution)
Sam Sewell, is Director of Best Self USA, a
Psychotherapist, an Executive Coach, an ordained Christian clergyman, a member
of Mensa, a U.S. Navy Veteran, and a Member of the Association For Intelligence
Officers. He is a frequent commentator on mental health issues and
management science. His award
winning research on Family issues is published in several languages. Member
of Sigma Delta Chi Honor Society
