THE PRINCIPLES

of Human Business

"The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human."

John Naisbitt, Megatrends*

The 4 Value Propositions of Human Business

  1. We delight our customers.
  2. We trust, respect and care for our employees. Together we are building a "Happy Workplace".
  3. We generate and secure sustainable business value.
  4. We are constantly improving ourselves..

Each of these value propositions by itself is precious and can make a difference. But only when we realize them together, can they unfold their full magic.

Values and principles form the basis of Human Business. They allow an infinite variety of practices.

The 10 Design Principles For Human Business

1. Human Business is holistic and human-centered, i.e., it focuses on serving and delighting its customers, workforce, business, and society.

2. The purpose of Human Business is to generate sustainable value for its customers, workforce, business, and society.

3. Human Business promotes diversity, gender equality and inclusion in the workforce, reflecting an open society.

4. Human Business advocates cross-functional and self-organizing teams.

5. Human Business trusts, respects and treats employees as human beings whose creativity and potential can be unfolded. It promotes employee and leadership development and practices employee empowerment.

6. Human Business understands joy as a driver of business and daily work.

7. Human Business cultivates open and learning organizations that embrace change and thrive for continuous self-improvement of products and services, processes, and people.

8. Human Business provides and shares guidance for responding to rapid change in business and society.

9. Human Business understands profits as a means to fulfill its business purpose; i.e., human business is purpose-driven and not profit-driven.

10. Human Business advocates a circular (vs. a linear) economy, in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.

* Quoted in Sheridan, R. (2015). Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love. New York: Portfolio / Penguin.