Yesterday morning I was walking on a beach with an old friend who shared a personal anecdote about a Bible reading that morning. He shared the phrase ‘Kiss the Son’, referring to paying homage to his Bible every morning. I listened to him intently, but due to the unformed nature of my own belief system, I misinterpreted him as saying ‘Kiss the Sun’. What I thought he meant, and which prompted this article, was to remember to see the very best of life every day and to suck the life out of it. To relish each day we are gifted.
My thoughts immediately went to the businesses we are all a part of, which are there week in and week out, serving our interests, working hard for us, quietly and conscientiously. These sovereign entities are our faithful servants.
They are not seen this way, however, by the vast majority of businesspeople. For most, the businesses we inhabit are either invisible or neglected because we’ve not been taught how to see businesses for what they are. This is one of the great failings of the business world: not being able to see businesses as the stand-alone entities that they are.
You see, you are not your business and your business is not you. You’re a part of it, but you are not it. Taken as a whole – all the people, all the processes, all the ideas, all the hopes, all the assets, all the systems – a business is a singular entity with its own identity and personality. It has good days and bad days, it has up and down moods and it has changing seasons.
This is a very big idea and I encourage you to take heed of these words because this is not spoken or written about much in the general dialogue about business. If you can make this leap, you transport yourself into a new and highly profitable realm – literally and figuratively.
Here’s where ‘Kiss the Sun’ comes in.
The business you’re a part of has all kinds of magic within it that is waiting to be unearthed if you help it. It is capable, under your guidance and leadership, of being magical simply because it is wired to be that way. Your business is striving to become ‘whole’ and will respond to you kindly and enthusiastically if you help it.
I encourage you to look at your business through the rosiest of lenses and to dream a bit. See it becoming more beautiful by the day under your watchful eye and helpful hand. See yourself in a relationship with it: a kind, benevolent relationship of co-creation and co-striving. Devote yourself to it in a way that you devote yourself to your children, parents or partner. If you do, your business will respond to you in ways that you can’t yet imagine.
You have a vested interest in doing so: your achievement, your success, your wealth, and your sense of purpose, are shaped by it
If this view feels foreign to you, hang in there. This area of study is growing rapidly and this construct – of a business being a sovereign entity – will one day become widely known and accepted.