Making Business Decisions
Modern management techniques, even with powerful tools such as computers, are not able to take into account all the facts that might influence important industrial decisions. Not long ago in a survey of the attitude of senior business executives toward making decisions affecting their companies for several years ahead, many admitted that the final decision was not alone dependent on the facts presented to them, no matter how carefully prepared. In the final analysis, they said, their decision was an inner feeling, or, as some put it, a hunch about what was the thing to do or not to do.
Business men and women faced with important decisions affecting the livelihood of many employees may desire earnestly to do what is right but be besieged with human arguments and conflicting advice. Indeed, through the ages many men and women who have sought to make a right decision in difficult circumstances have in their perplexity turned to God for guidance. The Psalmist declared: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday." Ps. 37:5, 6 ;
The Christian Scientist engaged in business perhaps makes his greatest contribution to harmony in all his activities by acknowledging divine Mind's allness and turning to the spiritual facts of being instead of whatever erroneous conditions present themselves. To know the truth from the standpoint of Christ, Truth, blesses all with whom he may be concerned and enriches the organization in which he works.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, in a passage with the marginal heading "Practical Science," Mary Baker Eddy refers to businessmen and others who have proved that Christian Science has heightened their capacities. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science adds: "A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity." Science and Health, p. 128 ;
There is a divine fact behind what appears as a human need. However difficult a situation may seem to be, the Christian Scientist turns away from the suggestion that any right idea is hidden from the one and only Mind, the divine Principle of man. To the one and only I or Us, there are no elusive truths, no conflicting ideas, no confusing alternatives, no guesswork. The infinite is unopposed, since all activity is the expression of the one I am.
When this divine fact is understood that in Mind's self-expression all right ideas are clearly apparent, necessary business decisions come naturally to human thought. The appearing of these solutions is normal and unlabored, and illustrates the revelation of the right idea as beautifully stated by Mrs. Eddy: "Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear." p. 506;
A good deal of decision-making in business is done in conjunction with others on committees or boards. Committees in human affairs are sometimes derided, and group decisions indeed often seem to display less intelligence than do the least intelligent of the committee members. Strong emotions may be displayed, and the organization may be poor. It is therefore all the more important for the Christian Scientist involved in such work to consider from the standpoint of Mind what is really going on.
The writer has found that before a meeting it is very rewarding to spend some time in quietly acknowledging the spiritual fact that in their true selfhood all men have one Mind, which is infinitely expressing itself in divine intelligence, caring lovingly for every detail of whatever requires to be done. Under the control of the one Mind there is no contradictory advice, no opposition to the right idea. Such prayer brings great reward in more harmonious meetings and in finding the right way.
When there seems to be confusion or insufficient data on which to reach a decision, one may well recall the wise advice in Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Prov. 3:5, 6 ;
The solution to any problem is not found from within the confines of the problem but is revealed by lifting thought out of its limitations and recognizing the allness of Mind as the only power operating in our experience. In the midst of a human situation for which no clear answer has appeared, mortal mind may suggest that although there is a spiritual universe in which perfection reigns, the student is on a different plane of existence seeking a way out and not finding it. In reality there is only one existence here and now, the spiritual. Mrs. Eddy states: "Immortal Mind, governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual." Science and Health, p. 427 ;
When the right course of action becomes evident, the means of its successful execution or accomplishment also appears. The divine Mind shows the way and brings it to pass. Isaiah expresses it thus: "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: ... yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it." Isa. 46:10, 11 .
