1809 – Understanding Compassionate Business with Dr. Bruno Roque Cignacco

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0:58with us right now dr bruno signaco uh dr bruno you are the author of the book the art of compassionate business you're a consultant tedx speaker lecturer and university professor well dr bruno it's great to have you on the show thank you very much it's an honor to be here thank you very much yeah yeah well tell me a bit about the work that you do today and kind of the impact that you have in the world? Thank you for the question. Yes, I'm a consultant, have been delivering consultancy services for approximately 30 years. And over the last few years, we have been training companies and also advising companies on what we call compassionate business.

1:37My latest research, my latest book is on compassionate business, which implies not only focusing on the traditional aspect of business, for example, strategy, tactics, positioning, but also on what we call the relational aspect of business, how to build a strong, long-lasting relationship with different stakeholders, internal stakeholders, such as employees and management, and external stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, community members. And what research states is that when you have a strong, long-lasting relationship with these stakeholders, the key performance indicator, profitability, productivity, market share, and others tend to go up.

2:20Instead, when this relationship tend to be weak or tend to be based on what we call win-lose agreements, this means that the company wins and the customer loses. Well, in those cases, the productivity goes down. The work environment generally is full of fear, fear of losing the jobs or, for example, fear of making mistakes. And also it's a work environment that lacks what we call psychological safety. People feel unsafe, feel not at ease, feel that they cannot connect with one another. And these companies that do not prioritize this relationship tend to higher absenteeism, higher turnover, higher stress levels, but also they have a lower customer service.

3:04Why? Because employees that are these certified tend to bring about a work service for customers. Yeah. All right. Well, I think that most folks who listen to this podcast, when asked, would you like to run your business in a compassionate way, I hope would say yes. So how might we know that we're running our company with compassion? Very good question. And the answer to this question is quite simple. In business, there are only two main aspects. Aspects that we call quantitative aspects of business means aspects that can be measured, that can be quantified. For example, profits can be quantified.

3:45Market share can be quantified. Productivity can be quantified. But there are also other aspects that we call qualitative aspects of business that cannot be quantified. For example, empathy, support, camaraderie, loyalty, and others. And this qualitative aspect of business that cannot be measured precisely are as important as the quantitative aspect of business. So many companies only focus on what can be counted. And there is a famous saying that observes not only what can be counted counts, but also what cannot be counted also counts. So this means that there should be an equilibrium between what we call quantitative aspect of business that are related to this key performance indicator and qualitative aspect of business, what are these empathy, support, care, camaraderie, and others.

4:37But also, I want to observe something that is probably a very obvious conclusion that comes from my research, that is that companies cannot thrive without stakeholders. This means that companies need stakeholders to thrive, need employees, they need customers to generate more sales, more profit, they need community members to support this company, they need suppliers, they need business partners. So the most intelligent approach is to build strong relationships with all these stakeholders so that they're on our side, not against us. We want them on our side because when we support these stakeholders, when we treat them with care, with empathy, with compassion, these stakeholders tend to act in a reciprocal way.

5:20They tend to support. For example, when you treat customers in the best way possible, they're not trying to deceive this customer, but on the contrary, you try to exceed customer needs. You try to delight this customer. This customer feel not only that their needs have been met, but they felt supported by the company. And this customer is more likely to leave positive reviews online to recommend your product to other customers. The opposite happens when the company adopts a win-lose approach. This means that they try to get all the profit at the expense of customers deceiving this customer. This customer is likely to act in the opposite way.

5:55They try to leave negative reviews. They try to push other customers away. So this means that the most important factor in business is not technology, is not funds, but is the human being. We have to preserve relationships in business because they are the most important pillar for any business success. Without relationship, no company can succeed. with relationships that are strong, but mutually beneficial means that all parties get their needs met. These relationships, not only that strong, but also push the company towards success. So the most important conclusion from this research is that we have to nurture this relationship on a regular basis.

6:38And how we can nurture this? Very few tips. Being generous with these stakeholders, being grateful with these stakeholders, being supportive. These stakeholders need our support. And compassion is not only to understand how they feel and how they think, but also support them, bring them with a specific assistance when they need. This applies to suppliers, applies to employees, and applies also to any other stakeholder. You know, Bruno, I would imagine that someone's listening to this and they might say, you know, I think we do a good job, but I'm not sure. I would imagine that, you know, certainly asking questions and surveying would be pretty valuable and I hope enlightening.

7:23Can you recommend maybe some best practices for how to get a feel for how we're doing on this? Yes, yes. A very important question for self-reflection will be, how can I be more generous with each stakeholders? When we talk about generosity, many people feel a bit worried because they think that only generosity is about giving tangible things. For example, if you are the manager, you have an employee, being generous will imply giving this employee a bonus. But in my book, I also talk about the giving intangible things. For example, if you have an employee that contributed to the company's success, you can, for example, give thanks to this employee.

8:04You can write a thank you note, handwritten and signed by you. But also you can give this employee mentoring, coaching, support, advice, valuable information. You can give this employee a ear. You can listen to this employee attentively. So this means that being generous doesn't imply only providing a stakeholder with tangible thing, but also with intangible thing. Another question that I will ask myself if I am the manager or an employee working for a company is how can I be more grateful? This is so important because people have emotional needs. Most of the companies focus only on the economic needs of stakeholders.

8:43And stakeholders have economic needs, emotional needs, mental needs, and also needs for meaning. So how can you satisfy these emotional needs? You want to make these people valuable, feel that they are valuable. If the employees have been working hard for many months, they have been working over time. They have given very little time to their family and they try to give their best to this company. Well, you have to be grateful. Probably you can organize an event to acknowledge this employee contribution in a public way. So this means that you have to be very over with gratefulness, with gratitude.

9:20And also by being gratitude, you are reinforcing positive behavior. So this is also asserted by psychology that when you reinforce positive behavior, people are more likely to behave in the same way. Instead, when you are ungrateful, what do you expect? This employee contributed to your company. You expect this employee, if you are ungrateful, to keep on contributing to your company. No. The employee will say, I am in a good salary here, but I will look for another company that I can earn the same salary, but I can feel supported. I can feel cared for. So this means that the relational aspects of business are generally dismissed.

9:54Some companies take this to a stream. Why? Because they focus so much on profit that in some cases, they look for profits by all means. This means deceiving customers or polluting the environment or looking for win-lose agreement with suppliers or exploiting employees. Well, this type of companies still exist. Maybe in 10 years time, we don't have to talk about this topic, but now there are some companies, but I still see a new, a growing amount of companies that have a different approach. They do not focus only on profits, which are important, but they focus on a model that we call the 3P model, a triple bottom line approach that implies focusing on profits, economic indicators, focusing on people.

10:41People implies employees, managers, customers, and others, but also focusing also on the planet, on the environment, caring for the world, living a better world for future generations. Yeah, yeah. Oh, very, very critical. You know, my, I guess, let's say that there is work that needs to be done, right? So we've, let's say that we've, we've kind of asked around, so we did some survey, we did some asking around, and maybe it's not, Bruno, maybe it's not common sense where we should be focusing our efforts to improve our culture within our organizations, right? Or with our customers. And someone's like, look, I know we got work to do, but I just don't know where to start.

11:28Very interesting question. The first question, for example, a manager or a business leader should ask when analyzing the working vitamin is, is there any fear in this workplace? Is there any fear in this workplace? Why is it so important? Because according to research, fear brings about all negative outcomes. Fear brings about stress. When people feel fearful, fearful of anything, for example, fearful of making mistakes or losing their jobs or fearful of being creative or being non-traditional, this work environment tends to be less productive. Fear brings about less productivity, brings about also less cooperation.

12:06Why? Because people don't want to share resources. So the most important question for a manager or a business leader will be to analyze if there is any type of fear, fear of making mistakes. When there is no fear, we call this work environment that is a work environment with psychological safety. People feel at ease. They don't feel tense. When you are not tense, you tend to be more creative. You tend to be more productive. You tend to be more connected to other. Instead, when you are fearful, you are focusing on the threat. So this is the most important point. And most companies try to make employees feel fearful.

12:42Why? Because they are commanding them in a very aggressive way. In some cases, they are micromanaging. Micromanaging implies that you don't trust them. And employees, when they are not being trusted, how they can behave? They behave in a very flimsy way. Why? Because they say, why are they not trusting? And also, when there is no fear in the workplace, delegation comes up. This means that things can be delegated, people are trusted, cooperation tend to be brought about very naturally. People are engaging in collective projects because they want to cooperate with one another, and people are trusting each other.

13:18The opposite happens when there is fear. Thank you for the question. It's a very important question. The question would be, is there any fear in this workplace? And I'm sure that you will find at least a little of fear. Most wordplaces have a little fear. Yeah, yeah, quite naturally. Okay, so someone's been listening to our conversation, Bruno, and, you know, they're interested in learning more on the topic. What resources would you recommend? Where should they go from here if they're kind of really interested in kind of improving culture of compassion, both internally and with audiences and clients.

13:54Thank you very much. I can recommend my second edition of the book, The Art of Compassionate Business, published by Ruth Leach, that can be found anywhere, online, offline, any bookshop. But also they can contact me on my website, www.brunosignaco.com, or they can join me on LinkedIn that I post interesting articles daily. Yeah, you have a pretty good blog as well. Again, your website, we have linked up. To my American friends, you're probably just going to, I could spell it for you. You got some Italian naming going on, Dr. Bruno. But to our friend that's listening to our conversation right now, go ahead and click on the show notes or information icon.

14:35Click around in your podcast. Just keep clicking on stuff until you get to the point where you've got the show notes. We have a direct link, Dr. Bruno, to your website, including your books. And again, book that you had mentioned, it's The Art of Compassionate Business, Main Principles for the Human-Oriented Enterprise. It's, again, available on paperback, hardback, and e-book. So, Dr. Bruno, great conversation. Thank you so much for the work that you are doing to increase compassion in the workplace and in our cultures and on the planet. Thank you very much. Again, I feel very honored to be here.

15:09Thank you very much.

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