As one of the world’s leading social forecasters, Patricia Aburdene tracks how social change impacts business. She’s been working with organizations and individuals for 25 years to make the most of social transformation.
Patricia is the co-author of the publishing phenomenon, Megatrends 2000, and she has a new book out called Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism. The book is a guide to the economic, spiritual and social trends that will shaping free enterprise, as well as how we live, work and invest.
When asked to define ‘conscious capitalism’, Patricia says it’s a decentralized, broad-based crusade on the part of consumers, investors, suppliers, managers and CEOs to heal the excess and greed of capitalism by focusing on human values. It’s more than just a megatrend, though. It has become a popular movement with individuals organizing to reestablish social responsibility and ethics into business.
In Patricia’s newest book there is a chapter titled “Leading from the Middle.” When we think of authority in business, we often think of the power of CEOs and company presidents. However, she reminds us of a kind of authority that is more spiritually based.
According to Patricia, this can be called ‘moral authority’, and in business it has as much value as traditional types of authority. How does one lead from the middle? A very important way is to live and breathe your gifts when you’re at work. The influence you can wield this way is powerful, and that makes this a recognized style of leadership.
We as consumers have extraordinary power over corporations that we disagree with or complain about. We take our values shopping with us. How are we using our vote as consumers? We vote at the cash register every day for the products we like and the products that we think demonstrate our values. We vote against those we don’t think mirror our values.
Values-driven investors are those who want to earn a return, but they want to do it by bringing their values to the table, as well. This movement toward socially responsible investing has been going on in the US since the 1970s.
Patricia believes that in the next five years or so, conscious capitalism will hit the mainstream. As we align our investments and products with our deepest values, we’ll bring the power of prosperity to the marketplace.
Are social and spiritual forces transforming the free-enterprise economy? What is the future of conscious capitalism? Let megatrend forecaster Patricia Aburdene tell you more about this growing movement. Click here to listen to the Patricia Aburdene seminar.