It is said that “an entrepreneur creates a business, while a zentrepreneur creates a business AND a life”. Running a business for positive social change on the planet is to actualize a life in which WHAT you do is at one with who you ARE.
This is the first in a series of articles called, Zenning Your Business, presented by the Author of Zentrepreneurism: A Twenty-First Century Guide to the New World of Business. It will be featured as part of our Workplace Wednesday series. Please welcome author and radio host Allan Holender to the Good News Network.
“Zentrepreneursim” is surfacing across a wide spectrum of successful and purposeful businesses in North America. The fusion of one’s personal vision with one’s professional mission, grounded in activism and a holistic philosophy, will hallmark the next 1,000 years.
According to the authors of Icconoculture, a book about upcoming trends; “If you think zentreprenuring is only for the disenfranchised and old hippies gone to seed, think again. An aging Generation X will carry proudly the do-unto-others-as-you-would-have-them-do-unto-you torch into the future. During their college years, they short-circuit their slacker image by volunteering enmasse to help those less fortunate. From coast to ivy-covered coast, college students log as many as ten to twelve hours per week tutoring, manning rape and suicide hotlines, teaching English, serving up dinner at homeless shelters, or being buddies to the physically or mentally challenged.
The do-gooding experience coupled with the zentrepreneuristic mood of the millennium will have far-reaching political, social, and economic implications.”
In a January 2004 article in Expert Magazine, entitled Buddha Talks Business, Jim Schaffer talked about what’s gone wrong with business today. Most of us, he says, “have tried hard to be good corporate citizens. We’ve dutifully absorbed the lessons we’ve been taught along the way, both in the course of doing our jobs as wells as from the pages of each year’s hot business books. The trouble is, not only is much of this wisdom just plain wrong, it may also be preventing you from being successful and could be ruining your health.” We have however seen a new awakening to the ways in which business can be done.
The Practice of Zentrepreneurism
- These cutting edge principles and ideas of awakening for the 21st century actually stem from 2500 years ago, during the time of the Buddha: If we simply slow down rather than speed up as we have all been programmed to do, your mind can operate from a place of peacefulness rather than hectic turmoil. With a quiet mind and a curious, open heart, you’ll able to act more swiftly than your adrenaline-addicted competitors.
- Striving to be in control all the time isn’t just an astrological trait or a personality dysfunction inherited from one of your parents. In the 20th century world of business, it is considered one of the rules of the game: if you’re in control, you are in the driver’s seat and you can control your destiny. But needing to always control is time consuming and a waste of energy.
Allan Holender shares his insights in a series of articles called, “Zenning Your Business” - Being in the flow has now been proven to be far more effective in making business decisions. Pay attention. Observe and act, rather than react, in concert with what is already happening. Stay in the present. The past is gone in a heartbeat, the future is entirely unknown, so all there is NOW. We gain tremendous personal power in knowing how to use the present moment to the fullest.
Be aware that your business will always run in cycles, up and down, but you don’t have to be like an empty raft in a ten foot swell. Stop striving and try to stay on an even keel and you’ll plateau rather than rise and fall with every issue or challenge. You are far more effective as a calm, rational leader who is in the flow, rather than an over reactive, compulsive and controlling CEO (Chief Emotional Officer).
Next week: Making Decisions Zenfully: Intuition and the Human Touch
Allan Holender is author of the revolutionary book, Zentrepreneurism- A 21st century Guide to the New World of Business.
As a trainer, Allan developed leadership programs for colleges, universities, and the corporate world, mentoring entrepreneurs and CEOs in some of North America’s top-ranked companies. As a media personality and commentator in Canada and the US, he hosted a nationally syndicated business radio show.
(All rights reserved. This article may not be re-produced without the express permission of the writer, Allan Holender at [email protected])