Becoming part of sustainable success in challenging times
The 4 x WIN community of level 4 core human values driven engagement is growing, becoming a modern success factor for all institutions, not just business. One can become part of it by committing to its mindset and action driven clustering.
4 x WIN
The tradition of business education made the positive financial bottom line the only measure of success. The possible negative consequences of such an approach were left to society, the planet or humankind (3 x LOSS). In the 21st century we realize that such a mindset is destructive beyond repair. Government regulation and largely ineffective, expensive remedial measures are often financed and suffered by the entire community, not the entrepreneurial perpetrators of the losses. Paradoxically the development of shortages, speculation, destruction, debt increase, dependencies, etc are wrongly presented as an economy of growth instead of one of deterioration. This is blindly immoral, unethical and unjustifiable for our present and future generations.
4 x WIN business develops an authentic multiple contribution to society in which the financial result is a logical consequence, not at the expense of humankind, society or the environment yet serving all three in a meaningful and measurable way.
- WIN for humankind measured in terms of the essential values for our existence as described in Sustainocracy.
- WIN for society in terms of developing social cohesion, reduced costs, shared wellness, equality, trust, circular economies, participatory societies
- WIN for our environment, through circular, regenerative processes, collaboration with nature, non destructive use of resources
- WIN for financial continuity, which may include growth if the value creation is desired elsewhere but content prevails, developed in a 4 x WIN environment..
4 x WIN entrepreneurship is not only reserved for business. It also applies to the government, citizens´ cultural and behavioral evolution, education, science, etc. In fact, the 4 x WIN mindset develops a sustainable wellness driven (local) interactive ecosystem and eco-nomy (rules of nature).
Eco (Nature) – Nomos (rules) = Eco-Nomy (rules of nature)
Shared commitment
The 4 x WIN environment does not fit in the traditional arena of exchange of products, services or policies. It represents the engagement with our essentials, using our innovative powers together with public funding, scientific knowledge and a results driven attitude. We coincide within the spectrum of developing, recovering or sustaining the essential human and natural values for our sustainable existence within the local demographical, cultural and historical complexity. The sum of all 4 x WIN Sustainocracies will form a 4 x WIN global wellness driven society. This level of society is also called the awareness driven co-creation level (Harvard) or layer of shared responsibilities for sustainable wellness (Sustainocracy). It is the incubator of values driven innovations, breakthroughs and new knowledge development. Apart from being a measurable, integrally positive contribution to society, a cost saver and proactive problem solver, it also feeds new success stories to the underlying layers of expansive economies of growth. Every new use of the innovations in this environment will again contribute until the value creation saturates and a new cycle needs to start.
It also helps the local governments to eliminate unnecessary and obsolete rules and regulations, with all the costly layers of law enforcement, remedial actions and controls. These old rules have been transformed into shared responsibilities and innovative change, reducing societal costs, deblocking societal progress and opening up to new positive financial impulses and the creation of jobs. 4 x WIN is most successful when all stakeholders in a region become part of this mindset and share all the benefits among each other.
4 x WIN self diagnosis
Any institution can make a self diagnosis of its level of 4 x WIN compliance. One has to look with honesty at the four levels of value creation. This diagnosis starts at the executive level of commitment to 4 x WIN since it requires the commitment to innovation, awareness driven partnerships, genuine leadership, authenticity as an organization and its positioning in the ecosystem. It does not only look at the contribution of the organization to the common good, it also offers a mirror to the organization to optimize its own behavior and positioning effectively in the ecosystem. This is a totally different attitude than the finance driven competitive environment of the growth paradigm. The latter can well be part of the organization but never at the expense of the values created. Organizations tend to maintain the incubator part separate from the growth structures. This is to avoid unnecessary unrest or confusion in the organization and also to allow innovations to develop strength before they get passed to the arena of growth.
Some organizations, the so called “Me 2” organizations, emulate the leadership qualities of the 4 x WIN organizations through copying behavior and innovations while focussing on price reduction and volume. These structures will never have the same level of authenticity as the 4 x WIN ones.
Then the self assessment continues by analyzing the added value contributed to all human beings through the essential values for our sustainable existence, society and our environment. One does not only analyze the market approach but also the internal processes. Not every organization can achieve a full 4 x WIN positioning but indeed can always find multiple WIN for itself and never a negative area that produces loss in any of the domains. The best 4 x WIN assessment is done both by the surrounding 4 x WIN partners that coincide in the shared responsibility circle and the results obtained together within higher purpose all choose to serve together from an essential human values perspective.
STIR 4 x WIN community and indexation
STIR adopted 4 x WIN as it was created by the predecessor of the foundation, the 5K consultancy group for new age entrepreneurship and business transformations. In fact it became the basis of Sustainocracy, involving all other stakeholders of society. The 5K consultancy group introduced the 5K index (2008) as a prelude to developing the 4 x WIN community of institutions that develop themselves according to this roadmap. A few booklets of particular sectors (Supermarkets, Banks, the Netherlands in general) were published (in Dutch) to show the market leadership positions of organizations in these sectors. That was before the open space for multidisciplinary cooperation was initiated and structures arose such as:
- AiREAS – regional air quality and health
- FRE2SH – regenerative local food self sufficiency
- COS3i – social inclusion and innovation
- STIR learning community – youth engagement and participatory 4 x WIN learning
In each of these purpose driven circles numerous people and institutions engage into the value creation processes, local or even globally. The idea arose to develop a European (and global) community that is 4 x WIN like minded and together address subsidy channels and financial contributors. The community develops through sharing best practices, their authenticity and commitment to the essential values of Sustainocracy. Like this we don’t have to go through the selection procedure of partners every time opportunities arise. We simply cluster among those who we already know with their commitment and participation.
Together we make the difference in developing and implementing impactful things.
For joining the 4 x WIN community please contact
Jean-Paul Close
Spirituality and Business
Prof. Dr. Sharda Nandram reflects about this during the Nyenrode University “radical thinkers” event. You can watch and listen to her arguments here.
It is of course admirable that a Business University takes a stand away from the traditional bottom line business philosophy that we tend to call “1 x WIN, 3 x LOSS” referring to the negative impact on society, the human being and our environment, purely out of financial win motivation. When I myself occupied general management positions in big multinational I had been drawn into that same tunnel vision and related competitive complexity. Only after leaving such a position I started to develop my own awareness resulting in the 4 x WIN entrepreneurial ideology of the 21st century. That is how I got to intellectually and spiritually interact intensely with the predecessor and mentor of Nandram, Prof. Dr. Paul de Blot. It was in that occasion that I briefly met Ms Sharda as highly valued disciple of Paul in Nyenrode.
In my quest to develop a societal evolutionary path it became key to simplify the process, despite the complexity of the engagement and transformational consequences. It is not so much radical thinking but more the acceptance of a shared collective social, humanitarian and ecological responsibility. The five essential values for our sustainable human existence, as defined in Sustainocracy, also reflect the “To Be” spirituality, the meaningfulness, of a new era for institutions and institutional positioning. This “To Be” is not only relevant for the business environment but also for government institutions, scientific and educational organizations and even us as citizens in a new world of shared responsibilities. This “To Be” then determines the “To Do” impact and action driven reality of these institutions. It would fill in the K2 and K3 referred to in the speech as “unknown” and “belief” into belief in one’s authenticity as institution and its positive contributions to our harmonic and symbiotic relationship with our selves and our natural environment.
Our spiritual (non religious) evolution from “conscious competition and survival” to “conscious living in harmony”
Our societal path from hierarchical self interests to shared responsibility and sustainable progress
Sustainocracy, the new democracy 