Tom SpencerApplying Philosophy to Business (and vice-versa) This guest post is by a PhD student in philosophy from the Australian National University. DEATH AND TAXES, the adage goes, are life’s two certainties. One might add commerce and philosophy to this list, for the trade of goods and services and the trade of ideas also seem to […]
MAINSTREAM economics would have you believe that the purpose of business is to maximise profits. If a business loses money it will soon go bust, this much is clear. Profit is necessary for any ongoing business operation, however the fact that a business makes a profit does not explain the purpose or raison d’être of […]
PEOPLE are motivated to succeed in business for different reasons. Some people want to change the world and some just want to make money. If you go to business school or listen to CEOs speak at annual meetings you’ll hear a lot of talk about money: how much money, made by whom, from which activities, […]
THERE are currently more than 105,000 homeless people in Australia. Census figures from 2006 indicate that each night 54% of homeless people seeking supported accommodation are turned away, which means around 56,000 people are sleeping on the street each night in Australia. The problem is that in the wake of the financial crisis the number of homeless […]
SEEMS fairly straight forward doesn’t it. The purpose of life is the pursuit of pleasure, and the quest for those objects and experiences that will make our life more enjoyable. As I recently discovered while reading “The Consolations of Philosophy” by Alain de Botton, this was exactly the philosophy held by Epicurus, an ancient Greek […]
THIS post, part 4, considers the principles developed by Sun Tzu on strategies for effective leadership. It is the 4th and final part in a series looking at how Sun Tzu’s military precepts provide a timeless guide to modern business leadership. Part one looked at the qualities of successful leaders. Part two considered principles for organising […]
Background to The Art of War SUN TZU wrote The Art of War in approximately 490BC in the Kingdom of Wu, China, and became a general for the King of Wu in 512 BC. For the next 39 years his precepts were followed and the Kingdom of Wu was victorious. And then, they forgot … […]