WHAT IS ORGANISMICS?

Imagine how it would be if your heart and your lungs were at war with each other for blood. You would quickly die and so, therefore, would your heart and your lungs. The failure to grasp the profound fact which underlies this absurd scenario has been at the root of most of our sub-optimal performances in the past. An injection of the ‘benign virus’ of Organismic thinking helps to advance organisational performance towards full-system improvement – environmentally, socially and economically.

The uniquely wise polymath Gregory Bateson defined wisdom as: ‘A sense of recognition of the fact of circuitry.’ Circuitry is not a hypothesis or theory; it is simply the way all living systems (including people, markets, economies, demographic groups and organisations) are designed. The interdependent dynamics of circuitry or systems theory does not suggest that competition is inadvisable; far from it. Appropriate competition is fundamental to our survival, health and development. If, however, we are to flourish, socially, environmentally and economically, we need, like the lungs and the heart, to learn the principles of elegantly enlightened self-interest.

In a healthy organism, all the organs feed and are fed by each other. If, in the case of an organisation’s CSR programme, human resources, logistics, finance, marketing, suppliers, investors and customers begin to collaborate, using a new way of thinking and acting, on a shared set of objectives, astounding transformations begin to happen. Not only do these transformations deliver powerful social and environmental achievements, they invariably become vital sources of increased profit and shareholder value as well.

By learning and applying the principles of Organismics – by shaping our businesses on the design of organisms – we reduce the harm to ourselves, our environment and our society – and, in the commercial context, we also increase our profitability.