Compassion: Just Another Word in the Dictionary?

In his book Managers not MBAs, Henry Mintzberg described a survey given to Harvard MBA students and to CEOs. When asked about compassion, 25% of CEOs said it was an important attribute. Only 4% of Harvard MBA students felt it deserved notice.

Why such a difference? Perhaps compassion grows with time and Harvard MBA students haven't yet arrived at a place where they feel it is important. Or, more likely, the competitive environment at Harvard emphasizes cold, hard analytical skills and things like compassion are sissy soft stuff that doesn't lead to business success.

It is disconcerting to think that the business leaders of tomorrow produced by an elite school like Harvard are graduating without believing that compassion is important. It is more disconcerting to think that 75% of today's CEOs feel the same way. These are the people who are responsible for the culture and direction of the company's they lead. These are the people who determine if you have a job tomorrow. In a financial sense, these are the movers and shakers that make the world go round.

Business can be a difficult game. Cutthroat competition regularly leaves thriving businesses in bankrupt dung heaps and only the best survive. The forces at work in a free market economy are not to be trifled with. You have to be tough.

But you don't have to be Ebenezer Scrooge. Businesses can do wonderful things for their shareholders, their employees, and their communities. Compassion involves second chances. It involves thinking about lives that will be affected by business decisions, even if costs will decrease by one tenth of one percent. It involves thinking about someone other than yourself, someone else's bottom line. But, contrary to popular belief, compassion isn't altruistic. It's good business.

Consider SAS software, the largest private software company in the world. The SAS web site contains a Work/Life section prefaced with the following quote:

"If you treat employees as if they make a difference to the company, they will make a difference to the company."

The company reported $2.15 billion in revenue in 2007 and has been featured in Fortune Magazine's list of best companies to work for for ten straight years. The company has built recreational and health care facilities for its employees. 35-hour work weeks are encouraged (anything more, CEO Jim Goodnight argues, and people start to become fatigued and make mistakes).

Jim Goodnight is one of my personal heroes, because he understands what so few business leaders seem to grasp. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the company. I once watched him debate a New York CEO at a business seminar. Goodnight told of his people-oriented philosophy and attributed his company's success to his employees. The New York CEO, in reply, said something like, "Yeah, we take care of our people, yada yada yada. But also we got lucky. We went from $0 to $100 million in 7 years ..." His brief dismissal of Goodnight's philosophy is typical of too many short-sighted CEOs.

It is possible to be compassionate AND financially successful. The world needs more business leaders who care about people. Be one of them!