We are sometimes asked about our business slogan, “Developing the H.E.A.R.T. of your business” and the meaning of the acronym. Literally, it refers to the values of Honesty, Empathy, Acceptance, Respect and Trust – and volumes could be written about each of those values! Symbolically, it represents that which gives life and maintains rhythm, warmth, circulation, connection and unity.
Bringing the two together, we believe that values are what determine the health of any organisation: whether it has an open flow of communication or hardening arteries and worn valves; whether there is genuine caring, encouragement, support and acceptance or an unfriendly, antagonistic stoniness; and whether all parts of the system flourish with fresh ideas and inspired action or wither and fall off along the wayside.
Traditionally, references to the heart were more commonly associated with romance and perhaps the more frivolous, less cerebral aspects of life. There was no place for “warm fuzzies” and excitement in the world of handshakes and the stiff upper lip. We are all familiar with phrases such as “weak-hearted”, “soft-hearted”, “big-hearted”, “faint-hearted”, “heart flutters”, “heartfelt”, “hearty”, “heart rending”, “heart of gold” and so on, and their warm and fuzzy implications.
Words like love and happiness also had a hard time fitting comfortably into business and the workplace. They implied softness, weakness and a lack of backbone and focus. “Hard-nosed” and “bloody-minded” on the other hand tended to indicate a no-nonsense, serious determination by someone – generally male – who means business.
More and more, however, the business world is beginning to recognise that in order to innovate, inspire and orchestrate successful business outcomes, the intellect and the heart must work together. They are no less interdependent than heart and lungs. Dualities such as […]
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