As far as I remember, the ancient Greeks had a very simple theory of virtues. Let me describe it as I remember it.
The social goals of the ancient Greeks were justice and equality. They differentiated between arithmetic and geometric justice. Arithmetic justice means totally linear justice. In a very stringent way, it means that everybody gets the same. As opposed to this, geometrical means that there is more justice if you use some criteria. Consequently, what you get is not “the same for everyone”, but instead “for everyone what is appropriate for him”. And this is true both for what you and what you have to
In the ancient Greek philosophy, geometrical justice was considered the better option.
For social systems, for example for the state, their philosophy was:
The powerful in the government will have to be characterized by the virtue of wisdom
The warriors are characterized by the virtue of courage.
The middle classes are characterized by the virtues of sober-mindedness and frugality.
So only the slaves remain. They are characterized by the virtue of .
? This is how I remember it from my days at school.
If you transfer this simply model of virtues to enterprises, you will probably get:
In management and in the board of directors you have the “wise ones“.
The salespersons are the warriors who courageously fight on the market in order to make the products and services something everybody wants and who also see to it that money flows in.
What remains are theemployees – who are supposed to be
and frugal. In this context, being frugal means you have to treat the resources with consideration and you want to be sustainable.
In modern enterprises, we do not want slaves (although some employees certainly feel enslaved and consequently consider their salaries as compensation for damage).
This is how I feel about it. Basically, it is a very simply concept.< Today, we have progressed. Many people, as well as most of the directors and “leaders“, believe entrepreneurial myths:
- You have to act and make decisions!
- You have to be agile!
- You need to develop an actual strategy and then you must implement said strategy!
- You cannot do without a hierarchy!
- Rationality beats emotional concepts!
- >You have to develop your business systematically!
- Success is the result of hard work!
- You need strategical departments!
- You need people who have charisma in order to make the employees follow you!
- If you have enough money and the right kinds of employees, you can successfully master all challenges!
- You have to know EVEYTHING that happens in the enterprise and you need to be able to control everything!
- In order to be fair and just, you need clear rules for drawing up collective contracts (employee agreements)!
- The power can and must be guaranteed through a stringent organization (line, matrix)!
- Improvement is possible with processes, methods and certificates!
- Entrepreneurial culture and values can be changed and generated through “culture engineering’!
- All problems can be solved with rationality!
- Equality and justice are possible!
- And many more.
- Why don’t you try and apply these rules to the social system “family”? – You will immediately notice what is wrong with them.
- As I see it, these are all just myths that can and need to be questioned. They might well sound nice, but they are wrong and counter-productive. One of the reasons is because they are based on the belief in a general determinedness of life. Consequently, I can counter every single one of the aforementioned arguments with a good reasoning – and thus state why all these myths are incorrect.
- But let us remain positive: my concept of a good and multi-dimensional enterprise is totally different! For me, an enterprise, and in particular the leaders of an enterprise, are, above all, hosts. They invite people to promote something special together and create the necessary environment for starting an enterprise.
- An entrepreneur does not really need special characteristics. As I see it, the only requirement is that he is good at communicating. To be sure, this is hard enough and not to be underestimated – many persons do not find it easy, especially when it comes to the listening part. If an entrepreneur can also inspire and give impulses, then this is really a great thing.
? Perhaps a bit of the ancient Greek wisdom would also be helpful when it comes to leadership. That would be absolutely top! - And here is how leadership in “new enterprises“ can be practiced:
- Values and culture beat framework agreements and rules.
- The effect is more important than the plan and the goal.
- Thinking and understanding will prepare the way towards doing.
- Nobody has all the power (citation by: Dr. Andreas Zeuch).
- Self-organization and responsibility are possible and, where necessary, promoted and supported.
- Joy and enthusiasm are essentially important and will be encouraged.
- Teams are supported in such a way that they can experience the “flow“.
- There are people in the enterprise who can actually support or even coach a team when this is necessary.
- Since I am not a dreamer, I know pretty well that this all sounds a little utopian. There actually is a restriction. Since we live in a capitalist world, it is absolutely necessary – in the interest of survival – that you have a clear mercantile and always current report system for all the individual teams and for the entire enterprise. After all, many people have to work in order to make sure they can live. Which means they – justly – want a good salary. And that is only possible if the enterprise where they work, too, earns good money and remains a healthy business.RMD(Translated by EG)
P.S.
For all the articles of my entrepreneurial diary, click here: Drehscheibe!
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