Applied Humanism

How to Create More Effective and Ethical Businesses

Jennifer Hancock

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781949991420
• eBook ISBN: 9781949991437
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Ethics
• Index: Business

This book provides a short introduction to the philosophy of humanism and discusses how and why it is being applied to business and why it is so effective when you do so.

You can't understand humanistic business management unless you understand what humanism is. This book provides a short introduction to the philosophy of humanism and discusses how and why it is being applied to business and why it is so effective when you do so. Humanism helps us prioritize human value as important. It supports positive interpersonal relationships and collaborative and respectful decision-making. Since all businesses are in the business of solving problems, good problem solving is essential to good business.

Humanism has already transformed many other disciplines including psychology, medicine, nursing, and more. Additionally, humanism is foundational to the practice of human resources, without which businesses cannot operate. It is important for business managers to understand the philosophy fully so they can understand how to not only manage people more effectively, but how to operate their businesses in a way that helps the communities in which they operate. This book will provide the primer they need to create more effective and ethical businesses.

CHAPTER 1

Why Apply Humanism to Business?

Humanistic business management is a relatively new buzzword in ­business. It represents the application of the Humanist philosophy to the business of business.

The first part of this book provided an overview of the Humanist philosophy. This part will discuss how it can be applied to business and why it is so effective when you do so.

You do not need to be a Humanist to utilize these methods. As with any philosophic approach, take what works for you and ignore the stuff that does not. No one is going to test you on this unless you are reading this book for a class. It is up to you to decide what to take, if anything, from this approach. What I will tell you is that Humanists are some of the most influential people in our society, and they are usually very successful in life.

This part of the book will help answer the questions: “Why is Humanism suddenly so popular? More importantly, how can we apply it to our businesses and other endeavors?”

Humanism 101: A Recap

According to the American Humanist Association, Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. In plain English, that means—life your life to the fullest, love other people, and try to leave the world a better place.

Another way to think about Humanism is to think of it as a commitment that you make to yourself to be a good person. As the great Kurt Vonnegut once said, “I am a Humanist which means in part that I have tried to behave decently without expectation of reward or punishment after I am dead.”

Like Mr. Vonnegut, I am a Humanist because I have made a commitment to myself to be the best most ethical person I can be. Why? Because that is the sort of person I want to be. It benefits me in the here and now to be a good person. Self-identifying as a Humanist helps remind me that I need to actively live up to my ideals. I desire to live well and to help create a society in which everyone can flourish.

Humanism is a philosophy of life, but it is so much more than that. It impacts how you choose to look at the world and interact with it. It is about being ethical, compassionate, honest, and responsible. It is as concerned with how well you think through your problems as it is about what you value. This is why, it is such a powerful philosophy and why its application to all that you do yields such tremendous results.

Main Principles

There are several aspects of the philosophy that are relevant to business, and it is these aspects I will be discussing in detail.

The principles I will be discussing in this book include:

• A compassion-based ethic
• Reality-based pragmatic problem-solving
• Respect for the dignity and worth of each human
• Personal and social responsibility
• Living a fulfilling life

Humanistic Versus Humanist

A reminder about nomenclature. I am a Humanist, which means, I have adopted all aspects of the philosophy. If you do as well, you are probably a Humanist too. However, there are elements of the philosophy and approach that some people do not agree with, even though they agree with most of it.

Humanism is an ethical philosophy that is as much concerned about ethics as it is with problem-solving and compassion. Most people agree with humanistic ethics, our compassion, and humanistic problem-­solving. The one aspect of Humanism that gives people pause is usually our rejection of the supernatural.

There are two areas where rejection of supernaturalism comes up: in our ethics and in our decision-making. The good news is that even if you disagree with us on metaphysical matters, it will not affect your ability to apply these skills and approach to your own needs and purposes.

If, as you are reading through the book, you find yourself disagreeing with my Humanist rejection of supernaturalism, but agree with everything else, you are taking a humanistic approach, which, while not fully Humanist, does include some of the most important aspects of the philosophy. Taking a hybrid approach to the philosophy really is OK. In fact, it is incredibly common.

For example: Consider the secular nature of Humanist ethics. Humanist ethics are rational ethics, and they do contrast with religious ethics. Religious ethics tend to be about the consequences of your behavior in an afterlife. Rational ethics are about what the consequences to your behavior are in the here and now. For most people, their religious ethics are the same as their rational ethics, and there is no conflict. They simply have a variety of reasons why something is considered good or bad. To translate this for you: a Humanist is concerned solely with the consequences of your actions in the here and now. A humanistic person is probably concerned with both the here and now and with an afterlife.

In the area of problem-solving, Humanists adhere to reality-based decision-making, and we reject appeals for supernatural intervention as ineffective and unreliable. The way I normally describe this is that, if you have a field that needs water, you can pray for rain, irrigate your field, or both irrigate and pray. Praying is obviously a supernatural approach to solving the problem. Irrigating the field is a pragmatic approach. Most people, regardless of belief, adopt a pragmatic approach to problem-­solving because it provides a more reliable solution to our problems. For instance, if you pray for rain, you may or may not get water on your field. If you irrigate your field, you will definitely get water on your field. The Humanist approach is to irrigate the field. The humanistic approach is to both irrigate the field and pray for rain. These both contrast with a strictly religious approach, which is to just pray and hope for the best.

The reason people choose a Humanist or humanistic approach to problem-solving is because it is considered more reliable, and therefore, more effective than the alternatives.

Whether you personally choose a humanist, humanistic, or religious approach to solving your problems is up to you. My job in this book is to teach you the humanist approach so that you can at least make an informed decision.

The Benefits of a Humanistic Approach

What are the benefits of taking a humanistic approach to your life and to your business? While there are no guarantees in life, if you can change the odds in your favor, you give yourself an advantage that other people do not have. If you can solve your problems effectively and ethically, you are going to be more successful. If you can manage to actively live by your ethics, you are going to find more satisfaction in your life and in your work than if you abandon them to expediency. Additionally, because a humanistic approach is based on compassion for others, you are going to find that your interpersonal relationships are deeper and more satisfying as well.

In other words, adopting a humanistic approach should help you think better, have better relationships, and feel more fulfilled.

What this does not mean is that you are going to succeed at everything you try to do. You will not. It also does not mean that you will not encounter adversity, you will. You will not be happy all the time either. No one is.

All this approach allows you to do is help you deal with life’s adversities more effectively and to make better decisions that have a greater likelihood of success than alternative methods. At the end of the day, this is a better guarantee of success than wishful thinking, and it is, therefore, preferable to methods that promise quick fixes and hollow assurances that do not deliver on those promises and blame you for not thinking enough positive thoughts.

Warning: The Humanist or humanistic approach is hard work, which is why not everyone chooses it. The rewards for doing the hard work required are increased levels of satisfaction in life, higher levels of well-­being, and more effective solutions for your business.

Applied Humanism

How do I know that Humanism, when it gets applied to human endeavors, yields such good results? Let us look at the evidence.

While Humanism is a personal philosophy of choice, there are several fields that have already adopted and integrated a humanistic approach and their successes are well known.

Humanistic Psychology

The first example I am going to provide is that of humanistic psychology. The Association for Humanistic Psychology was founded in 1962 by Humanists Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and others. Their goal was to use psychology to enhance the quality of human experience for everyone. The principles that humanistic psychology emphasized were human dignity and worth, individual freedom and responsibility, compassion for everyone, and ethical relationships.

To understand the impact this movement has had on psychology, and as a result, on our society, you need to understand what psychiatric care was like before humanistic psychology. It was not that long ago that mentally ill individuals and people with various brain disorders and even people who were developmentally disabled were simply locked away from the rest of society. Very little effort was made to help these people. They were store-housed away from the rest of us. The idea that they could be integrated into society or that they were, in fact, valuable members of our society who had every right to live their lives to their fullest potential despite their differently abled abilities, was simply not something anyone even considered. It is no surprise to find that some of the first advocates for disabled rights were Humanists. Helen Keller, for instance, helped found the First Humanist Society of New York along with Julian Huxley.

We also need to remember that it was not that long ago that people with schizophrenia, epilepsy, or other mental disorders were treated for demonic possession. Exorcisms were performed on people, and in some cases, still are. We can recognize this now as ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Abstract
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part-I
• Part-I-Chapters
• Part-II
• Part-II-Chapters
• Part-III
• Part-III-Chapters
• Part-IV
• Part-IV-Chapters
• 05_Bios
• 06_Index
• 07_Adpage
• Backcover