We vs. Them: How A Skewed Vision Ensures Failure

A company's shareholders are the gods of the management. The employees and the customers are just a means to an end: more profits.

• As a customer, I feel used that the company does not take into account my needs.
• As an employee, I am resentful that the company does not consider me as important in its scheme of things-my ideas are not listened to, my working needs are not attended to.
• Disgruntled customers go looking for other companies.
• Dissatisfied employees quit and seek other opportunities.

Employee satisfaction does not always mean better salaries. Treating me as a person and appreciating my contribution works wonders for my spirit and output. I sincerely believe absence of spirituality is a huge deficit in modern management practices. Take one example: Jesus's dictum "Behave unto others as you would like to be behaved unto" is a universally applicable principle. All other cultures echo this sentiment. Who wouldn't respond to when treated with respect?

Yet, pathetically, it is confined to the books and sermons. When it comes to real life, it is always We vs. Them or I vs. You.

True happiness can only be experienced when our circles of concern expand - when we care not just for us, but for our family, society, country, the world- in an ever-widening circle. The joy that you experience then is oceanic-you give up/transcend your narrow personal likes and dislikes and embrace the common good of humanity. It is immensely rewarding-more than any drug or toy.
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