American couples spend over US$30 billion a year on couples therapy. But when co-founders of companies experience relational challenges, they do not take similar action. This article explores the application of couples therapy—enriched by insights from adult attachment theory—to address the relational challenges experienced by co-founders. It contends that by integrating couples therapy and attachment-informed strategies into business practices, co-founders can navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship with resilience and cohesion, which will ultimately contribute to the long-term sustainability of their ventures. Attachment styles—secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized—shape individuals’ expectations, behaviours, patterns, and responses in close relationships, which are mirrored in one’s workplace dynamics. By providing a supportive environment, couples therapy interventions can help co-founders cultivate greater self-awareness, empathy, and emotional intelligence. By aligning business objectives with relational needs, therapy sessions empower co-founders to leverage their attachment strengths and navigate challenges with resilience and confidence. Moreover, attachment-informed strategies can help guide leadership practices, decision-making processes, and conflict resolution mechanisms within a business partnership. By fostering a culture of collaboration, empathy, and mutual respect, therapy sessions contribute to the long-term sustainability of the venture. Reflective listening, managing expectations, and allocating time for the relationship—when paired with couples therapy—represent effective strategies in creating healthy co-founder relationships.
While millennials appear motivated to support the evolution of stakeholder capitalism and solve challenging social problems via entrepreneurship, the challenges they face as business founders are also greater than those experienced by previous generations. Canadian start-ups can experience significant challenges when trying to secure financing, which is why some of our best and brightest entrepreneurs relocate to the United States. In Canada, there are three categories of business incorporation: charity, non-profit, and for-profit. Charities and non-profits are heavily reliant upon government grants, but they pay no taxes because they exist to contribute to society. Social enterprises are required to incorporate as for-profit ventures and so they pay the corporate tax rate. Now imagine a Canada with a fourth category of incorporation, one designed to give social enterprises the same tax benefits that are offered to charities and non-profits. This fourth “social enterprise” category could make our nation a tax haven for social entrepreneurship. Instead of pushing entrepreneurs away, Canada would attract top social entrepreneurial talent from the global talent pool. In addition, this simple policy adjustment has the potential to mitigate long-term fallout from pandemic measures that have left too many entrepreneurs struggling to survive.
Facing constant pressure to reach ever-increasing objectives, people across all walks of life have become dislocated from what is essential and meaningful to a happy life. As a result, many turn to various forms of escapism, ranging from drugs and alcohol abuse to conspicuous consumption. When addicted to acquiring stuff, consumers become anxious between fixes, fueling debt-financed consumption. With the pandemic driving expectations of major change, we have an opportunity to deploy big-picture thinking to instill more sanity into our society. This article proposes ways to address some of our common vices and historical missteps, aiming to improve mental health and enable the pursuit of sustainable happiness through reforms to how we educate our children, manage the business cycle, support entrepreneurs, and provide healthcare. As the article states, education should fight the mental health crisis, not compound it. Using consciousness practices, like yoga and meditation, individuals can achieve a profound state of relaxation that simultaneously alleviates stresses, trauma, and anxiety. In terms of economic reforms, one approach would be to attack the short-term corporate thinking that drives the need for bailouts; another would be to lower corporate taxes for entrepreneurs. Finally, with healthcare costs soaring along with government debt, it might be time to re-visit the decades-old debate around establishing a two-tiered healthcare model in Canada.
Only about one-third of unethical corporate behaviour is driven by a desire for personal gain — greed isn’t the key issue. This article debunks myths of unethical corporate behaviour and argues that such behaviour is most often a result of situational and contextual factors, job dependence and cognitive factors. No evidence suggests that the average businessperson has a Machiavellian personality. Although some unethical workplace behaviour is self-serving, most unethical acts are the result of managers encountering moral dilemmas. They can act unethically out of desperation, especially when their job security and financial livelihood are challenged. If they behave unethically, they often rationalize their unethical behaviour by believing that what they did was morally acceptable, and emotionally “consume” to address the negative feelings associated with this behaviour. Their organizational dependence causes them to experience added pressure to perform, thus perpetuating unethical behaviour. <br><br> In order to avoid the cycle of unethical behaviour, managers should a) have human resource managers focus on providing employees with career counselling and development opportunities so as to avoid becoming too dependent on their employers; b) try to live within their means; c) keep an independent ombudsperson in the firm that can assist when they encounter moral dilemmas; d) implement ethical training programs; and e) practice ethical leadership. The outcomes associated with workers behaving badly are often relatively benign, ranging from lost office supplies and inflated expense reports to minor customer deceptions and white-lie tax filing. Collectively, however, the cost of these acts is enormous, and the business world needs a better understanding of what makes managers misbehave.