I so agree with the points that Dov is making. I love the concept of the 'soft stuff' becoming the only real competitive advantage in our inter-connected world. It chimes with work we are doing within organisations.

We are just about to launch a campaign across the non-profit sector here in the UK - Charities Fit For People - to communicate the message that HOW people work together is just as important as WHAT they do. Rather than following business practices, we will be supporting the sector in leading the way in this area. People join non-profits to change the world. They should be great places to work.

As with sexism and racism in the past, we believe that working relationships driven by a lack of trust, personal power and not truly valuing people are no longer acceptable in the workplace.

Thank you for sharing and for vocalizing what I have held to be true as well as what I struggled with during the MBA program many years ago, having entered and completed the program with a design background.
It's no longer the bottom line or market share; it's about aesthetically pleasing and delighting the marketplace.

So if I understand this correctly an organisation will "win" if it has a greater proportion of its workforce that has depth to their being. They are not shallow personalities.

In the age of reality TV shows that tend to, if not promote, then at least make famous shallow personalities, the pool of personality depth to choose your workforce from may indeed get smaller.

If we can't rely on society to produce individuals who relate to each other at deeper level for business to pick and choose from, then perhaps it is incumbent on business to produce systems that develop that trait in their workforce.

Not just bringing in personal development gurus for the sales conference, but embedded systems that encourage the workforce to introspect when communicating with others.