The world is desperate for healing.   We can find this almost anywhere with a quick glance:  CNN, a traffic jam, a high school; even in introspection. I’m not 100% on board with singer Moby’s take that Everything Is Wrong but we’re much closer to pandemonium than harmony.  

The marketplace is a mirror of this condition.  Yet, there’s a great hope that lies within small business:  it’s that small groups of people can make a huge impact on positive change in the world.

SMALL BUSINESSES CAN CHANGE

Just like your kid brother wants to be like his big brother, small businesses want to be like big businesses.  They want the processes, the infrastructure, and the revenues, of course.  

But the advantage of a small business is that it is agile.  It can withstand sweeping changes in the economy by course correcting quickly.  It can re-invent on small budgets and high team spirit.  It can restructure without huge layoffs, management headache, or administrative bottlenecks.  

Even though in business we see a lot of greed, stress, and chaos . . . it is also the very medium by which cultural and societal change are possible.   This is simply because small business owners can affect so many people (clients, vendors, employees, communities) in so many ways (servant leadership, generosity, stewardship). 

In many ways a business is the vehicle by which the world can improve.  It’s an opportunity to demonstrate excellence as the loudspeaker of your values.

How are values promoted?  One person can do little, but a community of common believers can do much more.  Therein lies the tonic.  Your business – from leadership to management to employees – are the daily, walking tonic for what ails the world.  

“You must be talking about someone else’s business!” you chortle.

Granted, no one starts there.  But by assigning the higher cause – or by promoting the central idea for why everyone is working there – you can mitigate frustration.  People want their work to be meaningful, and it’s your job to promote the meaning of their work from day one.

Only with this worldview can you produce truly autonomous employees . . . who then become tonic for not only the world, but for you as well.