The Universal Constant of Business and why leaders REALLY need to think about it

Have you ever noticed that there seems to be something in the air in business, a feeling, a never-spoken-about practice, a pattern that whirls around as people ‘work’ whilst leaders ‘lead’ and somehow a job gets done.

I have, and the scientist in me has always wondered what that something is that fills the space between all the people, roles, responsibilities, opinions and objectives that exist in a workplace.

And every time I go looking for what that ‘thing’ is, I come back to one place, that I’ve called The Universal Constant of Business.

Defined simply, this Universal Constant of Business is that everyone looks up.

Often up to someone more senior than them in the business (even C-suite execs look up to their boards and investors, and they look up to whoever mentors, motivates or masters over them).

Sit and think about it for a minute. We are programmed from birth to respect what is above us, and that pattern continues through school and working life.

And when we’re in that working space, leaders are responsible for motivating, conducting and driving performance to achieve the objectives sent down to them. Underperform versus expectations, and that leader has some choices to make. More choices come up for them if someone overperforms.

Whether spoken to or not, this perception of what someone senior to us thinks about our performance has real-world consequences, and therefore can easily drive the choices we make when at work.

I was reminded of this Universal Constant of Business when we recently had Sarah Matthew on the Show Up! Podcast , where Sarah raised a question she often here’s leaders ask – “Will people come with you even if they don’t have to?

For me, this is where this Universal Constant of Business needs to be considered by leaders, and they act with this in mind because I can almost guarantee it will be on the minds of those being led.

Here’s two contexts to consider this under, and what you as a leader might be drawn to do in answering Sarah’s question.

Context one – there is a positive, healthy, encouraging dynamic between leader and team member. The Leader leans into that dynamic, makes an ambitious request that stretches the team member out of their comfort zone and does so flippantly, without the awareness to the support the team member might need. Looking up, the team member could feel compromised, unsupported and begin to question the working dynamic they once had confidence in. With the Universal Constant of Business in play, the team member then might start to feel conflicted between loving the role as they have and disliking the role because of the situation they’ve now been placed in, but needing the role to satisfy the lifestyle needs they’ve become accustomed too.

Context two – there is a toxic discourse between the leader and team member. The relationship is sour, with the leader giving very little direction beyond objectives and outcomes conversations. However, something greater than the leader’s behaviour keeps the team member around…could be the fulfilment they enjoy through delivering the company purpose, could be another relationship they enjoy inside the business, or could the total package they get for being at work. The team member leverages the Universal Constant of Business to find certainty from a different place than their line manager.

For me the answer to Sarah’s question is that people will come even if they don’t have to when they can positively engage with the Universal Constant of Business. Meaning, they look up and respond by leaning into whatever they can engage with that’s above them.

If a team member cannot engage with something happening above them in the business, be it a person, a purpose or a passion, then their time in that business is most probably needed to come to an end swiftly for the benefit of all parties involved.

Paying attention to how the Universal Constant of Business is showing up in a leaders’ team may be the catalyst for positive change, including moving team members on sooner rather than later.

Graham