Not only was the submission to God an explicit part of the Bank's purpose, but it also had a transcendent economic and ecological mission to attain. More importantly, however, through the theory and practice of Real Management, BCC had not only originated but also supplemented an approach to business that is rooted in thousands of years of natural, social and economic history.
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Professor Dr Ronnie Lessem, Global Management Principles
Metaphysical management thrives on a balance of energy and vision, both of which are ‘transpersonally’ rather than personally or impersonally - based. In other words, we are entering the realms of nature and of spirit.
In every part, be it individual, departmental or divisional, is contained the whole - as is well known to the Bank of Credit and Commerce - and vice versa. Not only that, but, in the course of its co-evolution, every product or market is interpenetrated by the whole of the universe.
There are four fundamental laws of nature. These are the laws of totality-all is one and one is all; of integrity - the material is subordinate to the moral; of flow - all is flow and change; and of latency - possibilities are infinite. As a result the interconnectedness (totality), the levels of being (integrity), the dynamic interplay (flow) and the infinite potential (latency) of energy forces support the organisation in its transcendent purpose. In BCC's case this purpose is the attainment of world peace, through enabling the developing countries to overcome the crippling burdens of poverty.
Not only is the submission to God an explicit part of the Bank's purpose, but it also has a transcendent economic and ecological mission to attain. More importantly, however, through the theory and practice of Real Management, BCC has not only originated but also supplemented an approach to business that is rooted in thousands of years of natural, social and economic history. For not only does it heed the laws of nature, but it closely observes and responds to the shifting patterns of trade and of immigration, as they have evolved through the centuries.
BCC is ultimately concerned with the transformation of physical, economic and human resources by virtue of its banking operations. That is not to say that every one of its employees is in touch with its metaphysically based purpose. Because the bank is less than twenty years old it straddles all four of the primal, rational, developmental and extraphysical domains.
Its employees, in their turn, reflect this disparity. However, its visionary leaders are metaphysical managers.
Competitive strategies and hierarchical structures are increasingly called into question by the metaphysical foundations laid by the new physics. The development of business enterprise today is part of the co-evolution of business and society, on the one hand, and of East, West, North and South, on the other. No one sector of activity and no one quarter of the globe can be disconnected, one from the other.
Having responded to the call, then, the hero crosses the threshold of the known into the world of the unknown. Armed with a protector, he moves into a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a road of trials. These are well known, of course, to the risk taking entrepreneur, to the proverbial adventurer and to the business visionary.
In the following section we investigate the laws of nature that underpin this creative process, drawing on the formidable Bank of Credit and Commerce for both the theory and the practice. BCC has grown, in fifteen short years, virtually from scratch to seventeen billion dollars in assets, because its founders have understood the laws of nature, and have deliberately applied them to the development of an international business.
As its president and co-founder, Agha Hasan Abedi, has said:
"All creeds, all nationalities, all people are governed by the laws of nature. Nature transcends ethnic differences and national boundaries. The laws of nature are universal. They are part of the vast unconscious world which governs the more limited conscious world of our perception and reason."
The Totality Principles
By aligning an organisation with the organisation of the cosmos, Mr Abedi argues, you gain the support of the laws of nature. "We live enfolded within the laws of nature, and we hope to be worthy of that support."
Nature operates as an integrated system in its dynamic state. All parts of the system are interrelated and interdependent. They interfuse in and through the phenomenon of change, and assume their dynamic shape in the form of evolution.
The Flow Principles
The dynamics of existence are in a state of constant flux. The process of change flows on and on. We live in and through change. We live within the fold of change. Nature is process; nature is change. The Bank of Credit and Commerce exists because people, throughout the world, and through the centuries, have changed their status and place of residence. One wave of immigration and emigration has followed another. In the wake of these movements follow transfers of capital and commodities and BCC has made it its business to ease that flow, through the supply of credit.
Through humility we open ourselves to change. If we tried to protect our egos with rigid boundaries, we could never be in tune with evolution. Every change creates a vacuum and an opportunity. Through humility we have the flexibility to move into that vacuum and take full advantage of whatever situations occur.
The Latency Principle
No-existence, which is infinite, is the container of existence, which is finite. With due humility and lack of preconception, man and businessman can remain open to the infinite realm of opportunity. Nature has the capacity to be the state of existence and the state of no-existence at the same time. From this relationship emanates the process of change. In fact, change began when the state of existence emerged from the state of no-existence. In that sense, BCC was in a state of no-existence, or latency, before its time. It came into existence because its founders combined a vision of total possibility with the humility of pure receptiveness.
The vision of BCC is born out of humility: "In the not too distant future", Mr Abedi claims, "BCC will be one of the largest profit earning financial institutions in the world. We will then be able to meet the ultimate challenge contained in our Major Purpose. The intention is to give hope to people who have nothing."
The Integrity Principle
The moral, which is equivalent to the laws and principles of nature, governs all that is material. Hence, both must be acknowledged, treated and felt as inseparable. No company can assume its ultimate identity without becoming one with its moral substance.
Real Management
The philosophy of management that Mr Abedi and his colleagues have developed is unique. Not only is it born out of direct experience but it also brings fundamental laws of nature into management. For those two reasons it has been termed 'real'. Its starting point is energy.
Real Management is visualised as a process through which physical, emotional and spiritual energy flows. To and from this vast stream of energy. everyone contributes and draws. The manager concentrates on the quality, vitality, velocity, quantity and direction of this energy.
For the real manager, moreover, planning is a dynamic process and not a static perception. Planning is the reflection of the release, flow and interfusion of the streams of psychic energy, and of the feelings of the entire management when it has become synthesised with the corporate objectives and purpose.
The above are extracts from Global Management Principles by Professor Dr Ronnie Lessem’s published in BCCI inhouse magazine, July 1989 issue, and reveals his understanding of and sympathy for the philosophy and culture of BCC. Reader in International Management at the City University Business School in London, he is a well-known author on management topics, his other books include The Route of Excellence (The successful manager), Heroic Management, Managing Corporate Culture, Global Business and Managing Cultural Change. Dr Lessem turned his attention to the concept of management with special reference to worldwide business operations.
In Global Management Principles, Professor lessem examines the beliefs, attitudes and values associated with individual managers and organisations at different stages of their development. The book aimed at professional and academic markets, examines four domains of management: the primal domain, the rational domain, the developmental domain and lastly the metaphysical domain. Each of these has an important role to play in business management. Professor Lessem based a good deal of his exposition of this metaphysical domain in management on BCC. It is encouraging and refreshing to see the values and the culture originated with such care at BCC enter the mainstream of management philosophy. Concepts that were thought to be unique to BCC were now being held up as ideals for others to study and assimilate.