The economic context shift is to both-and not neither-nor and the quadruple bottom line!

In my last blog my right brain asserted that what will replace “individualistic capitalism would be “social or community capitalism,” and that paradigm will prevail by 2015 – 2020. My right brain also claimed that over the next 10 years we will see the emergence of local and community-based micro-economies, of companies and corporations that we will assess by 3 if not 4 bottom lines and so on.
My right brain has had second, third, fourth, and many more thoughts since then – in its inimitable right-brainy way.
Now my right brain attributes that what is replacing our hitherto form of capitalism and others’ hitherto forms of socialism is neither capitalism nor socialism, but both capitalism and socialism together dialectically, synergistically.
The form that companies will take my right brains foresees is one of 4 bottom lines equally measured on the re-invented stock markets that will play at all levels: locally (owned by local investors in a county say), nationally (owned much like today’s investors in the NYSE etc) and globally (owned by investors anywhere but traded in a neutral venue like a United Nations Sustainability or Green Zone.
“The 4 bottom lines, or integrated bottom line,” says my right brain, “will consist of the following 4 Ps.”
Profit (WHAT) – sustainable financial returns that provide for re-investment and some reasonable reward for all contributors to the organization’s success.
People (WHO) – social capital that is derived from the connections (true connections) made by the 3 Cs i.e., the Company (employees), the Customers and the Community. This is measured by the social benefit metric, to be discussed in another blog and which is emerging as we speak.
Planet (WHERE) – environmental awareness and stewardship derived from the understanding that Nature is our meta-parent and the only one we all share. It, so my right brain insists, has heaps of ideas, suggestions, actions and behaviors that, if we mimic them much like we mimic our own parents, elders or older siblings or role models now, can quickly help us back onto a sustainability course versus the extinction track we have chosen thus far. This is measured by environmental neutrality or enhancement, also to be delved into at a later date.
Notice that when my right brain uses the word sustainability, it means at least what the definition of sustainability is per the “Sustainability Dictionary” (www.sustainabilitydictionary.com) i.e., development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Peace (HOW) - the strategy or way for living, working, playing, transacting, interacting and relating with one another and Nature going forward. This way, my right brain thinks, is the conscious alternative to what humanity has, by and large, employed as its predominant strategy since time immemorial, namely War. Ironically, my right brain urges us to notice, whether in politics, business, sports, or whatever, we have all too often made the claim that the current war – be it against another nation, against disease, against illegal substances will achieve peace. The new paradigm, my right brain asserts, has integrated as reality the fact, so succinctly stated by Mahatma Gandhi: there is no way to peace, peace is the way.
Wow! Imagine a world in which businesses, their customers, their shareholders, their suppliers and partners hold themselves to those 4 bottom lines?
Exciting isn’t it?