Years ago, I did a book called If Aristotle Ran General Motors: The New Soul of Business. It could have been called "Happiness, Fulfillment, and Greatness." It's all about the most deeply human factor in our work and lives - what brings people together, makes for superior teams, real loyalty, and great results? My claim in the book is that from the moment we wake up in the morning, to the instant we fall asleep at night, we experience the world along four dimensions and need four things to satisfy us:
1. The Intellectual Dimension, that aims at Truth
2. The Aesthetic Dimension, that aims at Beauty
3. The Moral Dimension, that aims at Goodness
4. The Spiritual Dimension, that aims at Unity.
For great relationships, great teams, unshakable associate loyalty and real customer love, we need to live and work in accordance with these four things - Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and Unity. We need to respect everyone's need for these things, and nurture them as much as we can. Whenever we depart from one of these things, these great ideals that the Greeks knew as transcendentals (transcending and applying to everything in life), we suffer diminishment. When we cultivate them, we can experience extraordinary levels of success.
And each of them needs to be respected and lived in connection with the other three. That's where the real power is to be found.
I got to speak on this topic in Orlando this week, and it was so much fun! For more details on the ideas, go check out the book!
