BecomingWhoYouWantToBe

For 25 years, Patricia Aburdene has been tracking how change impacts business. As one of the leading social forecasters in the world, she’s helped both organizations and individuals optimize the social change happening around us.

She is the co-author of the number one New York Times bestseller, Megatrends 2000. Patricia’s newest book, Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism, is a blueprint of the social, economic and spiritual trends transforming free enterprise. As the tagline promises, the book describes seven new trends that will transform how we live, work and invest.

Patricia describes ‘conscious capitalism’ as a holistic vision of business in which consumers, investors, suppliers, managers, and visionary CEOs all play a role. More than a megatrend, it’s also a self-organizing movement, with everyone trying to restore ethics, accountability and soulfulness.

“Leading from the Middle” is a chapter from her latest book, and it reminds us to look past our narrow definition of authority to include ‘informal authority’, as well as a one that is more spiritual in nature.

According to Patricia, this can be called ‘moral authority’, and in business it has as much value as traditional types of authority. How does one lead from the middle? A very important way is to live and breathe your gifts when you’re at work. The influence you can wield this way is powerful, and that makes this a recognized style of leadership.

Far from being powerless, we as consumers have a great deal of power over the companies and organizations we disagree with. When we go shopping, we need to take our values with us and vote at the cash register for those products that reflect our values and against those products that don’t.

Those who want to earn a return on their investments while keeping their values front and center are called values-driven investors. Since the 1970s, there has been a movement toward socially responsible investing in the United States.

What is the future of the conscious capitalism? In the next five years, Patricia believes, conscious capitalism could grow from a minority culture to mainstream. Those of us who have walked the spiritual path are finally learning the power of prosperity, which is being extended out into the business world. It’s time for us to align our products and investments with our values, and to bring this into the marketplace.

Are social and spiritual forces changing the free-enterprise economy? What is the future of conscious capitalism? Let megatrend forecaster Patricia Aburdene tell you more about this growing movement. Click here to listen to the Patricia Aburdene interview.