This is part of a series of articles on the great minds in our history, and their impact or potential impact on business operations today. Philosophy is the study of knowledge, and (literally) how it is acquired, and what can really be known? If you have never examined philosophy in depth, you are missing out on some fundamental ideas of knowledge. Understanding the fundamental but heavy thinking of great minds can yield sound practices when it comes to knowledge management and operations. In this blog, we cover the life and thinking of Simone de Beauvior (1908-1986).
Life and Early Development
Simone de Beauvoir possessed an independent and gifted mind and an intense interest in knowledge and the human condition. Though raised with strong Christian faith, and deeply religious as a child, she rejected religion and became an atheist at the age of 14. The most influential impact on her earlier life was in her relationship and subsequent death of an intimate female friend and was haunted by societal attitudes towards women in such situations. For decades, and until his death in 1980, Beauvoir had a long-term romantic, open relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre. She thus existed in the intellectual circles of the greatest philosophical minds of that time; her right to be there on her own merits was unquestionable.
Works and Thought
For most of her life, Beauvoir was concerned with the ethical responsibility of humans to themselves and mankind, and particularly in relation to vulnerable individuals and groups. In her early work, Pyrrhus et Cinéas (1944) she asserted we find isolation when focusing on ourselves; and freedom when considering "the other" (those around us). We transcend the isolation of our existence, and attain freedom, through service and projects for others. This impact is more profound when our actions are done with the spontaneous actions of others. This creates impact carried beyond the acts themselves into the future, transcending the limits of the present and of our finite selves. In The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) she argues the ambiguity and nothingness of existence (with focus on ourselves) must be accepted, rather than evaded or pretending to have some other potential.
The Second Sex (1949) was so controversial the Vatican put it (along with her novel, The Mandarins) on the Index of prohibited books. The main thesis of The Second Sex revolves around the idea that woman has been held in a relationship of long-standing oppression to man through her relegation to being man’s “Other.” Woman “is the incidental, the inessential, as opposed to the essential, in both the minds of men and women”. Men have been privileged with expressing transcendence through projects, whereas women have been forced into the repetitive and uncreative life of subordination. She made one of her most famous assertions, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” It is culture that dictates the identity of a woman, and a feminist, (i.e., not genetics but nurture)
In 1967, Beauvoir began a monumental study La Vieillesse (The Coming of Age, 1970) where she turned her focus to the elderly. The elderly and society must recognize a person’s value lies not in their monetary profitability , but in his or her humanity, which is unaffected by age. Old age must not be a time of boredom, but a time of continuous political and social action.
How can the ideas of Simone de Beauvoir impact operations today?
Simone de Beauvoir's thinking was cultural. Specifically her thinking yielded how society progresses through combined efforts to move it forward, and what is required for the advancement of those with less power. According to her, this is something we should desire, since our contentment is enhanced by reaching out to those with inadequacies compared to us.
She asserted individual projects fall in upon themselves if there are not others with whom our projects intersect and who consequently carry our actions beyond us in space and time. This supports the formation of businesses to address larger needs. This thinking also adds credence to program management, a holistic approach to projects and initiatives decades before the first PMO (Project Management Office) was formed.
Further, her thinking would have brought into business practice much sooner, environmental, social and governance (ESG ) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. That being said, businesses are progressing well on the environmental side of ESG since so much of it clearly makes good business sense (e.g., less waste, consuming less, improved quality, etc.) and progress is mostly dictated by technology.
But as it relates to social responsibility and specifically, DEI, they are struggling, and many businesses are even scrapping their DEI initiatives. This would be a big mistake. First, it is the right thing to do to bring opportunities to others. Second, it also makes good business sense (Read more here ). The reasons for broad business failure were discussed in "Why a Solid Team Design is Key to Achieving Business Success" found here. But another issue is that there are two approaches to take; (1) Do DEI for altruistic reasons; or (2) Take the time to understand the long-term positive impact on the organization. But what businesses tend to do, is take the same "good earth" arguments as they did with sustainability and conservation. Since the through line from investment to reward is not as well defined, they fall back on stated altruism, and come across preachy, fake, elitist, or uncommitted (because on the surface, the reasons conflict due to the visible impact of less productivity and more resources to implement-while long term impact is not readily understood).
Another big theme from Simone de Beauvoir was for social changes (e.g., diminishing the nuclear family, universal childcare, equal education, contraception, and legal abortion, etc.), and most importantly, economic freedom through working outside of the home. Regardless if you believe in all of these social changes, out of necessity, employers are making changes to policy, training, benefits, and total rewards, to facilitate employment of women, underrepresented populations, and elderly-again decades after she published these tenets!
The philosophies of Simone de Beauvoir combined society and business in practical terms-an overlapping and comingling of influence. Modern strategic thinking for operational implementation involves knowledge management and analyzes and monitors the business and its environment; perhaps it was and is still influenced by Simone de Beauvoir.
For more on Simone de Beauvoir, check out this article here.
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