To us, humanity’s most significant challenge, in the words of Buckminster-Fuller is:
Make the world work
for 100% of humanity,
in the shortest possible time,
through spontaneous cooperation
without ecological offence
or disadvantage of anyone.
Such is our task: to create a world that works for all people. Not a world where people continue to suffer from poverty or related diseases. It cannot be a world where women, 50% of the world’s population, are disadvantaged. It is not a world where people are faced with prejudices, whether racial, religious, or cultural. Nor can it be a world where we destroy our natural habitat and don’t make it work for future generations.
To make the world work for 100% of humanity, we need people to make it happen. Not just a handful, but masses of people. Indeed, we believe all human beings on this planet have the right and the responsibility to play their role in this fantastic enterprise.
Unfortunately, many of us are not able to direct their energies fully towards this overarching and urgent task. We spend most of our lives at work in organisations that are sometimes soulless and focussed on limited goals. We have created structures in companies that make us passive spectators instead of active participants in building our common future. Millions of us remain unemployed or are excluded from engaging in productive and meaningful work.
As a result, we only use a tiny fraction of the immense potential and energy that we have at our disposal to create a better world together. This is what we see as one of the greatest injustices in the world: the tremendous waste of human potential, both individually as collectively.
To enable thousands, nay millions of people to direct their energies towards making the world work for 100% of humanity, we urgently need an intellectual breakthrough in the paradigm of business and what it means to work. The assumptions underlying the role of companies will need to be challenged and a new work ethic will need to emerge that allows people to live a coherent and meaningful life.
the purpose of soul.com
Our purpose is to inspire, train, and accompany millions of people to dedicate their lives towards making the world work for 100% of humanity. We do this by empowering people to become agents of change who can transform their companies into communities. Our approach is one of capacity building through training programs, workshops, coaching and consulting services that are based on a more accurate reading on the reality of man. We do not view a human being as homo economicus, who is driven by material gain alone. Instead, we recognise the power of the human spirit to love, learn, cooperate and serve.
volition
There is one crucial condition that determines our success and being able to serve our purpose. This is when decisions are made in absolute unity, when everyone wholeheartedly agrees and supports the next steps forward when we sincerely say and confidently do: YES! We become like a magnet attracting confirmations and abundance. Our volition is, therefore, to be wholeheartedly united in our decisions, both in words and in deeds.
values
To be wholeheartedly united in our decisions, we need to uphold a set of values that guide our collective behaviour.
We search and cling to truth
We wish to go to the core of a problem, to understand its roots, and not to be content with easy or familiar answers. Our desire to search for truth expresses itself in being open and frank in our conversations and to create a safe place where we can challenge our assumptions and discover new horizons. If something doesn’t feel right, it is our duty to share constructively and not to remain silent.
We are friends
It is our friendship that binds us together and makes our community happen. We laugh and have fun together. We are friends because our relationships are based on trust and not on competition. Friendship doesn’t mean that we have to know each other thoroughly, but that we care for each other.
We are courageous
Even if we swim against the stream, we have to be courageous in our actions and confidently stand for what we believe. Even when our choices go against the short term needs, we do that which is right.
We act with certitude
When we decide upon something, we wholeheartedly and immediately implement it to the best of our ability. We are clear and focussed on what needs to be done and act with determination.
We act with a humble posture of learning
We learn by doing. We make mistakes, but reflect on our actions and decide in unity on our next steps. Having a learning attitude means developing a sense of humility. The word humbleness finds its root in ‘earth’; low to the ground. It means we do not position ourselves above others. It means we see others as equals and respect each other’s position and perspective.
We are attracted to beauty
Attraction to beauty implies striving for excellence in our work and to make the outcome as beautiful as possible. It is seeing and understanding the deeper meaning of something that makes it beautiful and to bring this out into reality. This relates to ourselves and in others. It is about seeing what can be, instead of what is. Seeing beauty also means not judging (too)