This is the twelfth blog post I have written over the past few months focused on conveying the collective power of creating a more caring world based on the foundational Principles of Truly Human Leadership.
These 13 Principles make up a list we included in the 10th anniversary revised and expanded edition of Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family.
Taken together, they are not just a framework of a better way to work, of the skills leaders should have, or a blueprint of a way to run a business that balances human and economic vibrancy. They’re all those things and so much more.
It’s about the opportunity for business to be a powerful force for good in the world when we have the skills and courage to care for those we have the privilege to lead.
It’s about building a better world.
When people have meaningful work and an understanding of how they contribute to a shared purpose in caring environments where team members have opportunities to develop and contribute their gifts towards a shared vision,, they are happier and healthier because they feel valued and understood by their leaders and teammates.
When people feel fulfilled by the time they’re spending in their jobs, where they are not seen as functions, they are more likely to be inspired and energized instead of stressed. And when they are with their loved ones and out in their communities, they share that joy and fulfillment instead of the stress and bitterness of feeling unappreciated and insignificant.
Building a better world through business almost seems impossible in the corporate environments we have become used to where a corrosive mindset that has taken hold. A mindset that is a narrow, cynical view of human beings and of the role and purpose of business.
But Barry-Wehmiller has shown and intends to continue to show on a larger scale, as my son Kyle says, that you can “change the game” in business.
By embracing Truly Human Leadership, we can move from a me‑centric to a we‑centric world and begin to alleviate the poverty of dignity— to create a world where Everybody Matters!
The Poverty of Dignity
What makes Truly Human Leadership so transformative is its simplicity. It starts with listening—not as a business strategy, but as a human act of connection. It grows through empathy—not as a tactic, but as a genuine effort to understand and support others.
And it thrives in environments where leaders choose to see those in their span of care not as resources or roles, but as people. Each with unique talents, dreams, and the desire to be treated with dignity.
I referenced the idea of a “Poverty of Dignity” in an earlier post. I first heard the term in Sept. 2020. It was the result of a conversation with my friend, Bill Ury. Bill is one of the world’s foremost experts on conflict resolution, the co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and co-author of the international bestseller, Getting to Yes.
At that time, as it does today, the world felt like it was in turmoil. Bill had called me to get my perspective on how to heal the brokenness of the current environment.
In our exchange, I shared my perspective: When 88% of the people who have jobs feel like they work for an organization that does not care for them, they do not feel valued. They feel used for someone else’s gain.
In business, in politics, in our neighborhoods and communities, so often, people are not treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. In turn, it is difficult for those who do not feel cared for to care for others.
The morning after our conversation, Bill shared an editorial by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times that elegantly captured more of what we were thinking and talking about:
Humiliation, in my view, is the most underestimated force in politics and international relations. The poverty of dignity explains so much more behavior than the poverty of money. People will absorb hardship, hunger and pain. They will be grateful for jobs, cars and benefits. But if you make people feel humiliated, they will respond with a ferocity unlike any other emotion, or just refuse to lift a finger for you. As Nelson Mandela once observed, ‘There is nobody more dangerous than one who has been humiliated.'
By contrast, if you show people respect, if you affirm their dignity, it is amazing what they will let you say to them or ask of them. Sometimes it just takes listening to them, but deep listening — not just waiting for them to stop talking. Because listening is the ultimate sign of respect. What you say when you listen speaks more than any words.
When so many people go home each night not feeling valued, it is no surprise that we see so much conflict in families, our communities and in the world today. We have protests and unrest in cities because people do not feel listened to and feel their dignity is continually under assault.
As I realized long ago, as opposed to my rector who saw his congregation once a week, leaders in business theoretically have people within their span of care for 40 hours a week.
We have the ability to touch so many lives through our leadership. And we have a responsibility to recognize the inherent dignity in our people and honor that, not break it.
Everybody Matters
Donna Hicks, author, conflict resolution specialist and Harvard professor says this in her book, Leading With Dignity:
Leading with dignity demands that we pay close attention to the effects we have on others. Without such knowledge, relationship problems that plague the workplace will continue. Understanding the powerful forces that are unleashed with a violation of dignity (anger, resentment, and the desire for revenge) as well as when dignity is honored (love, loyalty, and the desire to give of oneself freely) will make it easier for leaders to do what is right. When such consciousness is part of a leader’s repertoire, not only do people thrive, but the organization thrives right along with them.
The concept of the “poverty of dignity” was quite a realization. It helped to frame my thinking that what we are trying to do at Barry-Wehmiller is foster a dignity-honoring culture, which is what our workplaces should do, rather than perpetuating ones in which dignity is harmed. And recognizing and upholding the dignity of our people is deeper than just giving them respect.
Again, this is why we teach listening internally at Barry-Wehmiller, not just because it is good for our business, but because it’s good for our people.
True empathetic listening, where one actually hears the other person’s words and feelings, builds empathy as it allows us to see things from others' perspectives. It is the key to all meaningful relationships as it shows that you respect and care for the person you are hearing.
When I attended that wedding many years ago and had the life-changing revelation that everyone is someone’s precious child, it made me realize that leaders are bestowed with an awesome responsibility: To provide the care and inspiration and support that that precious human being needs to become everything they were meant to be.
Donna Hicks once said that no matter where we come from, dignity is the unifying and defining characteristic of what it means to be a human that we all yearn for. That we yearn to be treated with dignity and yearn to be looked at as something of value and worth.
She said: “People want their identity accepted, they want to feel safe, they want recognition. They want understanding and accountability and all of that. And when that happens, I think people do feel cared for. I think one pathway to peace is to find higher ground, go up to that highest common denominator where we all want to be treated well.”
We in business are exacerbating the poverty of dignity in the world because we don’t see people as people and treat them as something of value and worth.
As we’ve said over and over again, throughout the entirety of Everybody Matters, every one of us, no matter what our job or where we live, simply want to know that who we are and what we do matters.
As leaders in business, we have the awesome responsibility of letting people know that they do.
A Force for Good
For quite a while, I’ve quoted this statistic from a Gallup poll: The number one determinant of happiness is a good job, which is defined as meaningful work among people you enjoy.
Here’s another definition from Gallup:
“A good job is an individual’s primary identity, their very self-worth, their dignity — it establishes the relationship they have with their friends, community and country.”
Many business leaders think that people should be grateful and happy simply because they have a job. Maybe they even have a well-paying job with good benefits. But just having a job and getting perks isn’t everything.
As I said before, business can be the most powerful force for good if it only cared about the lives it touched.
Back in 2013, after we had begun to gain momentum on our cultural journey and realize the potential impact of our message in the world, we at Barry-Wehmiller decided it was time to freshen our brand in alignment with our message that we were far more than an old-style manufacturing company.
Along with a logo revision, we added a tagline: Barry-Wehmiller: Building a Better World.
The tagline declared our aspirational goal: to use our influence as a business to try to transform this me-centric world to a we-centric world.
At Barry-Wehmiller, we capture this in our vision statement: We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people.
We have tried to make Barry-Wehmiller an example for the world to follow. We were privileged to meet Raj Sisodia and write Everybody Matters, a book about our beliefs and efforts that is now in a more complete 10th anniversary revised and expanded edition.
By embracing Truly Human Leadership, we can move from a me‑centric to a we‑centric world and begin to alleviate the poverty of dignity— to create a world where Everybody Matters!
This is what I mean when I say that business can be the most powerful force for good if it only cared about the lives it touched.
And that’s why – long after my years – Barry-Wehmiller will continue to strive to build a better world.
This blog post is the twefth in a series that is a deep dive into
what I call The Principles of Truly Human Leadership, from the revised
and expanded 10th anniversary edition of my book, Everybody Matters: The
Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, available
now.