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If we keep going the direction we are headed, we will likely get there…

 We recognize there is a need to change; painful economic realities, environmental imbalances, individual well being in a state of decline. But the path of change is less clear. The challenges we face have parallels in nature, a system which lives on in spite of catastrophe and thrives in complexity. At The Nature of Business, we believe that realignment with nature’s principles will improve our ability to be successful and sustainable, and that violation of these principles will be our undoing.

Our guiding principle: To do something naturally is to do it easily or instinctively
Our principle violation: To do something unnaturally is to do it with difficulty or by force
Details
Identity Complexity Emergence Adaptation Sustainability

1: Who an individual is actually and potentially - the whole of its parts
2: The part an individual plays in the surrounding whole

Identity is both whole and part; the elemental form of life as well as the essence of that life, its sine qua non (a Latin phrase meaning without which nothing). With it we are, without it we are not. Identity is our nature; who we are, what we have the potential for, what others are attracted to.

In a world that grows increasingly complex, demands are a way of life. Such demands are challenges that our potential either rises to or is crushed under. Without a strong sense of identity we lack those strange magnetic anchors of strength and attraction. Instead we are driven by the demands of others, blown about by change. We can easily become about anything and everything… standing for nothing, attracting no one.

By definition, Nature has two meanings: (1) an inherent character or quality; the essence of each thing, and (2) the external world in its entirety; essentially all things. Natural principles apply to each of us (individually) as well as to all of us (collectively). Characteristics of Identity apply as well to organizations as they do to individuals.
Guiding Principle
Identity defines our potential; Circumstances are the challenges our potential steps up to

Ease, interest, and appetite
  • What we do naturally
  • Things we are drawn to
  • Things for which we have an instinctive desire

    • Deep satisfaction
  • Feeling fulfilled; whole
  • Performing activities where time seems to fly

    • Action
  • The resistance required for strength building
  • Being fully engaged and focused
  • Deploying potential

    • Attraction
  • Inherent clarity, consistency or capability (which either attracts or repels)
  • What one stands for; how one defines oneself
  • How one defines oneself

    • Relation
  • Establishing connections with others
  • Love, at its extreme

    • Principle Violation
    Circumstances drive our identity; Challenges are the potential opportunities we step around

    Dis-Ease, difficulty and disinterest
  • What feels unnatural, abnormal or disordered
  • Things we do with difficulty
  • Things we shy away from

    • Dissatisfaction or insatiability
  • Feeling unfulfilled; incapable of being satisfied
  • Performing activities where time seems to drag

    • Disengagement or delusion
  • Avoidance or inaction
  • Being in denial
  • Hiding potential

    • Indifference or Apathy
  • Inherent uncertainty, inconsistency or incompetence (causes indifference)
  • Unwillingness to take a stand
  • Uncertainty about how to define oneself

    • Isolation or Separation
  • Distancing oneself from others
  • A punishment, at its extreme

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