It’s a Philosopher’s Business

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This is the third of my series of articles relating concepts from two of my top passions: Business and Philosophy. In this post, we’ll explore and question the usual misconceptions surrounding Philosophy and learn if the skills required of philosophers can be of use to the successful business professional.

Philosophy for the sake of Philosophy?

There’s a widespread misconception about philosophy that views it as a waste of time, as an excuse for so-called thinkers to sit back, watch the world go by and write their opinions in ways so dense and obscure that only they, the “intellectual elite”, can keep up and discuss amongst themselves. But long before “elite” was used as a slur, philosophers already had a term far worse for other philosophers they didn’t see eye to eye with; they accused them of doing “armchair philosophy”.

Whilst arguably a positive thing, armchair philosophy captures the idea of the useless thinker, a self-proclaimed intellectual 50-something-year-old in a dimly-lit room surrounded by books and gazing into a horizon supposedly far beyond the cigar smoke-stained wallpaper four feet before the leather armchair upon which he sits (pronoun selected purposefully). The apparent falseness of the armchair philosopher’s intellectual output lies in two aspects of his work: it is purely created through his own reasoning and it is not generated for any practical application in the real world. Whilst philosophers use this term to scathe their competitors’ reputations, the general public take the armchair philosopher as the true definition of philosopher, disregarding anything they may propose as useful for day-to-day life. However, philosophy is not about sitting back, daydreaming and spewing out nonsense. Philosophy is a series of tools and methods that allow us to ask the questions we are naturally inclined to ask as curious beings of reason, and to respond to them or redefine the questions more concisely so as to gain a greater conceptual grip on some minuscule of the infinitude of physical and metaphysical universe around us.

Philosophy for Business?

Philosophy as a method for understanding reality has been around for millennia; since humankind gained self-awareness beyond its place in the food-chain. If we go back to Ancient Greece, where Western philosophy finds most of its foundations, we discover thought processes whereby thinkers defined the scientific facts held as true (e.g.: all matter is made of air, water, fire and earth, claimed Aristotle). It is from that initial thinking that science has evolved (thankfully), as well as the scientific method, along with new more specific sciences that have continually morphed throughout the ages. We no longer define matter by what things we can imagine matter is made of, but by experimenting. But the need for philosophy to evolve back then – indeed, the need for the sciences to continue developing now – is still a subject studied by philosophy. It is, thus, a case of defining the terms, logic, symbols and limitations of experience, knowledge and the mind in a way that is open to new and more accurate conceptions of reality as philosophy advances. The philosopher, therefore, holds traits that are crucial not only to comprehend the most abstract concepts, but that can be transferred to the most successful of scientists and – yup, you guessed it – business professionals.

Definitions, Culture and Examples

Business is a rich tapestry of difficult conversations, strange team-building nights out and unpredictable financial outcomes. Work colleagues need to communicate to each other in a way they all understand. This means both with a shared series of concepts (e.g.: specialist jargon or uniquely named processes within the department) and following certain unwritten formalities (e.g.: don’t start an email to a head of department with “yo” – to anyone, really). These concepts and formalities come to be with time, as organisations mature and customs grow within and across teams and departments. But more formal guidelines can be put in place to drive that language in one direction or another, and this is where the senior management team can play old business or flexible philosophy.

Something that can be expected of HR, and causing of a certain ambivalence, is policy-writing. For every gap in employment law, update in case law and internal dispute, an amendment to old policies or the creation of a new policy can be expected. It’s a clear measure of how backwards HR can be in their fire-fighting approach to, well, people. Policies are necessary to cover one’s legal behind, but they are not the only tool for supporting staff and promoting a creative and growth-driven collective mindset. Writing an learning and development (L&D) policy that says everyone is empowered to take control of their own continuous professional development (CPD), for example, is just a cheap way of washing one’s hands and saving a few bucks in the very short term; it does not actually empower anybody to do anything about their CPD other than seek a new job. What a philosophical approach to business means, in contrast, is defining the terms, behaviours and vision all staff should share and question. In questioning the policies in place, employees can take ownership of their implementation and feed-back their views (often more in tune with the realities of day-to-day work). This is the challenge of “employee voice”.

Another example of where businesses play Philosophy is in creating mission and vision statements. They are essentially one-liners or small blurbs (aphorisms, if you will) that are supposed to capture the reason for being of the organisation and its ultimate aspirational goal, respectively (if distinguished at all). And what is great about these statements, and the more novel “core values” – that are somehow meant to improve a firm’s employer branding –, is their reason for being: to set staff’s expectations on behaviours that will allow the organisation to grow and meet some transcendental state of existence described by the vision statement. Businesses are already doing philosophy. They have been since the start.

Person Specification – Philosopher or Business Professional?

Taking a philosophical framework with its own definitions and its applications on the one hand, and a business with its formal policies, informal customs and social impact on the other; are the two really that different? And if we listed what is expected of a philosopher, wouldn’t that list look a little like this?

• Analytical

• Creative

• Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal)

• Story-telling skills

• Attention to detail but also having a holistic overview of different realities

• Open mind to new perspectives

• Confidence

• Presentation skills

What are these if not the traits expected of the business leader? Are they not supposed to juggle innumerable tasks and cross-departmental woes, prioritise and manage expectations, engage with different stakeholders and create a space where debate leads to action? Business requires Philosophy’s input – or, at the least, approach.

Concluding remarks

There is a chicken-and-egg thing going on here. As I defend that Philosophers make good business people, you can argue that, actually, successful business people do good Philosophy. Leaving semantics for the comments section below, I want to clarify that this post (indeed, this blog) is not made to convince you of a reality of my own device, but to learn with you of the untapped potential in Philosophy for Business; and that potential – to listen to and apply millennia of thinking, the entire history of Philosophy – is certainly untapped. But it comes down to you to choose whether it is a resource worth using.

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For an excellent piece on what it means to be a philosopher, see Dr. Siobhan Lyons’ article in the Philosophy Now magazine