MVV (Part II)

The "body-mind-heart" concept has been widely researched and discussed by many scholars over the last few decades. One of the recent offering presented was the "Hedgehog Concept", where Jim Collins talked about the 3 elements coming together.

He spoke about the need to have passion (heart) and talent (mind) for something that you do, and on top of that, there must be a market for it (body). Once you identify these three elements in your life, according to Collins, you will hit the sweet spot. I disagree.

Because I may have the passion for making lots of money (heart), with a unique talent (mind) for procuring drugs, which incidentally has a huge market for it (body). Now, where does that leaves me??

I believe that even with the body-mind-heart aligned, we will still need the 'spirit' to help us achieve a meaningful and purposeful goal. Or, in other words, with the 'spirit' in check, we will be able to be remembered for the right reasons; to leave a legacy.

One individual who has the body-mind-heart aligned and also left a long lasting memory, although not a good one, is Adolf Hitler. He had the skill, knowledge, and passion to eliminate the Jews and create a superior Aryan race was not only disastrous but also him being remembered for the wrong reasons.

Henceforth, we then propose looking at the body-mind-heart through a different lens, that of Engaged Mastery.
Body, we see it as self-discipline, for skills, for behaviors, and physical needs (such as compensation, extrinsic rewards and recognition).

For mind, we see it as the ability to envisage, hold a vision, the ability to imagine, to first create a goal in your mind, your knowledge, intellect.

And finally for heart, we call it rectitude, values, conscience, the moral compass, the true north, passion. Now, some of you might point out that the Hitler example does not hold, as Hitler does not have values. Hitler had values, criminals have values, the Mafia has values, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) has values; it's just that their values are not aligned to the moral compass, the true north, in one word; rectitude.

So, what about in the organizational context where the body-mind-heart apply? I believe the heart represents the organization's values (as discussed above these refer to be values of rectitude). These values will then guide the staff of the organization of their 'body' or behaviors. In other words, the means to the end, which is the 'mind' or the 'vision' of the organization.

Every organizational values must be translated into behavioral activities to suggest what the staff will do, in order to meet its targets. For instance, a value of 'courage' can be translated into staff giving sincere and constructive feedback to their reports. Another example could be, to be able to take longer than usual to complete a project for a client, if it is in the best interest of the client, even when bosses are demanding faster turn around for projects.

As you can see, the same value of 'courage' can be interpreted differently for different individuals. And the reason why they are interpreted differently is beyond semantics. The reason is because each one of us have a different mindset due to social conditioning, experiences, or up-bringing. And to elaborate on 'mindset', it is essentially linked to our identity of who we are, what's our purpose (leave a legacy), what is our personal mission.

If we embodied the 'identity' of a warrior, then courage can mean defending our country (or feudal lords) with our lives. If our identity is that of a 'people developer', then courage can mean, giving honest but constructive feedback to our supervisees. And should we carry the identity of a 'sales person' paid entirely on commissions, courage can mean acquiring customers in an ethical manner, though it may be slower.

Therefore, it is important that organizations discuss and solicit the views of their staff, especially for global companies. As many of them across different cultures and generations will have differing interpretations. And these values must drive the behaviors (the body) of the staff. In other words, values, which are internal, must be translated into behaviors, which are observable. Only by doing so, the organization can then determine if the current behaviors of their staff is a manifestation of the core values of the organization.

Also, many people says, it is ability or capability that drives behaviors. Or put it simply, the reason why we do something is because we know how to. While this is the case for some cases, such as until we know how to swim do we venture to dive into the pool, it is not so in many cases.

One can say that we all have the 'ability' to murder another person. But the reason why we don't do it (or behave like Hitler) is because of our values. Hence, truly it is more of 'values' (heart) that drives behaviors (body).

Finally, in the context of the organization, the 'mind' is that of its vision. Where it want to be, the goals, targets, objectives it want to achieve. And to add to that, vision is not just some motherhood words put together to impress anyone. Instead, it should be to inspire everyone.

A vision (mind) tells us of where we want to go, the values (heart) determines the actions (body) in which we will take to achieve our vision. Only with these three in place and aligned to our mission (leave a legacy), will we be able to achieve enduring success that our customers not only trust but also respect us.