The conceptualization of all things broken down into smaller and smaller components is only useful to an extent. When individual parts are considered more important than the whole, we have created a distortion in perception that results in an enterprise that fails to consider the people that comprise the enterprise. The same distortion in perception occurs whether we are describing religious, political, or educational institutions. We cannot turn to today's leaders of these institutions to improve the state of human affairs as they profit from the prevailing school of thought that relies only on numbers and discounts the human. Isn't this backward thinking? When should any "thing" be considered more important than a living, breathing being? What results might another approach yield? What if we switched our focus of attention from a philosophy and practice of Strictly Business, Nothing Personal to a philosophy and practice of People Centered Management?
I borrowed today's topic of People Centered Management from another blogger, Gregory Gull, who writes a blog entitled For Progress Not Growth. The objective of FPNG is written as "facilitating critical thinking about the business of business". These are not the words I would have chosen in conjunction with the subject of People Centered Management and yet that was the title of a recent post. Much to my surprise, I found many of the thoughts I have surrounding Business and Business Leadership woven throughout the contents on every page. Rather than say what that is in this One Coin blog, please visit For Progress, Not Growth and read the words for yourself.
Also worth exploring on the topic of People Centered Management are the words of William Edwards Deming, author of "The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education" . A video from 1984 shows Dr.Deming as a "Prophet Unheard" who foresaw our current economic crises as well as the cure. Borrowing again from an Amazon reviewer, "Describing prevailing management style as a prison, Deming shows how a style based on cooperation rather than competition can help people develop joy in work and learning at the same time that it brings about long-term success in the market."
People Centered Management. Not a new idea. But one that works. I tried it myself over 20 years ago, long before I knew there was a name for it. My philosophy arose from the simple daily practice of The Golden Rule, also known as The Rule of Reciprocity. What is wise is always wise or it isn't wise at all. People Centered Management - A key to success in the 21st century.