Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values

Don't disregard this as just another leadership book. While you may have seen some of the conversational techniques before, the integration and tie-in to the underlying values of the leader is unique and makes a huge qualitative difference in leadership effectiveness. This is what Jim Collins' "Level 5 Leader" (Good to Great) does naturally. Conscious Business offers the opportunity to develop yourself into this kind of leader.

Fred Kofman is an exceptional teacher, not because he knows everything under the sun, not because he has answers to all the questions, but because of his humility and his ability to establish deep connection with the audience. His book is no different from the way he teaches. He does not claim to have a big store of ideas that he throws at the reader. He engages the reader into a conversation by putting forth few simple ideas but the ideas that are time tested, the ideas thast are deeply grounded in our spiritual traditions. Dozens of books are published every year on leadership and management. Most of them are full of new jargon and ideas that at best represent the flavor of the month. "Conscious Business" is in a different class. It makes you think and reflect. It challenges your core values and beliefs. I would not only recommend managers and leaders of businesses to read this book but to live the values that are part of the book.

"To be conscious means to be awake, mindful. To live consciously means to be open to perceiving the world around and within us, to understand our circumstances, and to decide how to respond to them in ways that honor our needs, values, and goals." ~Fred Kofman, Ph.D.

Fred Kofman is the co-founder and president of Axialent, a consulting company dedicated to cultural excellence and leadership development. He is also a visionary teacher and consultant to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. His breakthrough techniques have been shared with over 20,000 executives all over the world. This book makes his teaching available to a wider audience.

Fred Kofman presents a more mindful business model where managers become more conscious of the inner and outer lives of employees. He begins his book with an intriguing and insightful look at the problems of the world and then shows how his own view of his identity was very related to his job.

What brings authentic happiness?

What is my real life purpose?

What are the seven main differences between conscious and unconscious employees?

Why should our education system include teaching about Emotional Intelligence?

How can emotional energy be channeled into creativity?

What are the three most relevant cognitive distortions?

What is true success?

The quotes throughout this book are especially enlightening and the stories are very entertaining. Fred Kofman is an excellent teacher who brings his knowledge and insightful style into his writing in a very accessible way. You truly start to feel like you are being taken on a journey into the depths of understanding that awakens into optimism. I also enjoyed finding this quote: "Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them." ~David Hume

Conscious Business explores conscious attitudes that include responsibility, integrity, humility, authentic communication, constructive negotiation and emotional mastery. Truly this book can transform the workplace and every manager and employee could benefit from applying the principles presented in this book.

You may also want to read this book to enjoy the unveiling of reality (analysis, real-life situations and psychology) and the promise of a better world through understanding and a more conscious way of living. Conscious business is as much about self-mastery as it is about mastering the business world.

"A conscious business fosters peace and happiness in the individual, respect and solidarity in the community, and mission accomplishment in the organization." ~Fred Kofman, Ph.D.

~The Rebecca Review

In this extraordinary book Fred solves the false dilemma of "selling out" to pursue financial success or "dropping out" to have a meaningful life. Conscious Business provides the principles, the practices and the tools to become a true leader. At work and in life.

This is a masterpiece that will hopefully help individuals, teams and organizations live more aware, in the same way it is helping me. Striving for my goals, while at the same time paying attention to my connection with others and feeling the flow of doing my best regardless of the outcome.

Consciousness, the art and practice of paying attention, is the only thing that will make the world a friendlier and more peaceful place.

Kofman has gone deep sea fishing and has located some of life's hidden treasures that reside beneath the surface. For anyone who has read "Good to Great" and has wondered, "Well how do you can you become a Level 5 leader?", Kofman presents some very practical tools that can make this a reality. He has deciphered some sophisticated theory and has made it quite accessible. What Tim Gallwey did in the 70's with the Inner Game, Kofman is doing that and more in 2006: connecting real business practices with underlying principles of integity,true responsibility and deep self awareness. This is a wonderful read and a great book!

As a manager at Microsoft, I found Fred's book to be refreshing and helpful. It is well-grounded cognitively, emotionally, and spiritually and his practices and techniques really work! I'm delighted to have a such an impressive "handbook" to continue to polish my people-development skills.

Business is an essential part of our lives. Doing business consciously, Fred Kofman, a co-founder of the consulting firm Axialent, is an essential part of living consciously. The author presents a business model where managers are more conscious of the inner and outer lives of employees.

Anyone who works intuitively understands there are two types of managers. As a professor of accounting, Kofman begin his classes by having students listen to one of Beethoven's pieces over and over. Gradually the students would realize that the music was not in the CD; but in the listening. In music as in business, Information's only value is in how it is interpreted.

Most recognize the need for smart employees with the latest in technical competency. Kofman argues it is more important, and less recognized, that organizations recruit and retain employees with high-level consciousness.

He draws a contrast between unconscious attitudes and their conscious counterparts. They are:

Unconscious Attitudes.....................Conscious Attitudes

Unconditional Blame.......................Unconditional Responsibility

Essential Selfishness........................Essential Integrity

Ontological Arrogance.....................Ontological Humility

Unconscious Behaviors....................Conscious Behaviors

Manipulative Communication..........Authentic Communication

Narcissistic Negotiation....................Constructive Negotiation

Negligent Coordination.....................Impeccable Coordination

Unconscious Reactions.....................Conscious Reactions

Emotional Incompetence...................Emotional Mastery.

These qualities are simple to understand; yet, they are difficult to implement. They represent common sense; yet, they are not found widely in common practice. They seem natural, yet they challenge deep-seated assumptions individuals hold about themselves, others and their world.

Kofman opens the reader's conscious to a unique resource for maximizing profit and potential in the workplace and beyond. Written concisely and coherently he communicates an uncommon wisdom about the truth of our emotions and healthy interpersonal practices in business and life.

Too few businesses concern themselves with the levels of consciousness present within their companies. Fred Kofman's Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values is an illuminating view of the effects a methodology grounded in values-based business practices and leadership can have on an organization, and their personnel. This well detailed book expertly weaves a principled approach to business etiquette with a developmentalist's insight into personal growth. Key to Kofman's teaching is the concept that conscious actions and communications are a central component of a successful business, and a happy work force.

Born and raised in Argentina during a period of military dictatorship, Kofman saw at an early age the impact unconsciousness can have on the truth. He lived for many years in a place where the truth was distorted to control social order. Years later, while working as a researcher on organizational learning at MIT, he realized these same behaviors were at work in meeting rooms throughout the business world. In an effort to create some positive change in the workplace he formed his consulting business devoted to "helping leaders realize their true greatness and express it at work." Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values is just one of his many contributions to that cause.

By weaving an elaborate tapestry of sound academic knowledge, and personally relevant stories he has created a text that should be required reading for all those wishing to achieve success in business. He illustrates beautifully the trappings that exist for a business that overlooks consciousness, while providing a fully equipped toolkit for organizations seeking to develop an approach to business that aligns with values as important to a businesses success as they are to the individuals they employ. From a social and cultural standpoint, his teachings extend far behind the framework of business relations, as he offers insights into communication, right leadership, integrity, and consciousness that are as relevant to relationships, families and communities as they are to the leading companies he represents.

For businesses, however, he brings forth, with vivid detail, the intelligent and skillful means in which organizations can create an organizational culture that fosters responsibility and integrity, and values communication and accountability, while developing leaders whose strong ways of being will invite organizational success at all levels. This is where Kofman is at his finest as Conscious Business serves it's readers with answers to questions for many of the scenarios that diminish the level of consciousness of businesses who are seeking to raise it.

Unique to this book is an approach rooted in what he calls the three dimensions of business: the task, or It; the relationship, or We; and the self, or I. Though most businesses focus almost exclusively on the task, or It, the teachings in this book implore organizations to create equanimity amongst these three dimensions. With this approach the I, We and It all contribute to who the organization is Being, what they are Doing, and what results they are Having, ultimately making an enormous impact on what the organization and its employees are Becoming.

Later, Kofman outlines the ways we interact with one another at work, including:

* Communicating to understand each other.

* Negotiating differences to make decisions.

* Coordinating actions through mutual commitments.

Then he brings together the conscious and unconscious ways in which we can address those challenges. What he offers is a conscious approach to business, where responsibility and integrity can overwhelm, and overcome, unconscious means such as manipulative communication and narcissistic negotiation. By directing attention to who an organization is Being, and what they are Doing, positive gains are certain to be made in the results they are Having.

Among the many compelling stories utilized throughout the book, is the one of a manager, William, and his boss, Zack. In this all too common scenario Zack responds to difficult news from William by using the principles of unconditional responsibility, taught to him by Kofman, to manipulate and shame William. While Zack attempted to utilize a tool he had learned, he did not do so skillfully, and the result was an increased friction between the two. What is reminded in this book, however, is that business success is not the ultimate goal, in fact it is merely one of the many means that we utilize to pursue our happiness. With that in mind we must focus on what Kofman calls the "success beyond success", or the alignment with our values and our happiness that is beyond the organizational success. This commitment to success beyond success encourages focus on essential integrity and happiness, which provides further support for a "leap in consciousness."

In regards to consciousness, Kofman describes seven important qualities that are apparent in conscious business and individuals: unconditional responsibility, ontological humility, essential integrity, constructive negotiation, authentic communication, emotional mastery and impeccable coordination. The concepts are simple to identify, but difficult to maintain in practice, and Conscious Business provides a roadmap for organizations and individuals to not just learn what these concepts are, but how to incorporate them into one's personal and professional practices. In so doing, readers will be able to meet the invitation offered at the end of the book to "take these skills and enter the market with helping hands."

Boring read, forced myself to read. Has some good pages but not an easy one.

Reading the book was a spiritual journey. I spent two days finishing the book and couldn't stop reading in the two days. When I reached the Epilogue, I read "A spiritual journey has no return because the 'home' that you left behind no longer exists - and neither does the 'you' who left that home...You may think you can neglect this material, but if you haven't put the book down yet, you are doomed." Thanks Fred! Thanks for the self-awareness and transcendence the book brings to me although I still need time to practice it in my daily life. The book does provide tons of practical advice and tools. I certainly returned the market with helping hands. Highly recommend the book!