Developing The Social Fabric Of Companies

For the financial services industry, achieving the four outcomes of the King IV Code is the start of a journey towards a conscious culture, which helps form the foundation of a business’ success.

- Michael Judin

naphtali Hoff, president of Impactful Coaching & Consulting, wrote that in addition to substance and essence, the concept of focusing inward to identify our deepest beliefs and passions is often referred to as “knowing your WHY”. Leadership expert Simon Sinek says that it is not enough to know what you do and how you do it; at our essence, we are most motivated by knowing why we do things. And it’s through that awareness that we can best connect with, and communicate to others, that one of the most important consequences of conscious leadership is that it creates a conscious culture.

The definition I like best is that a conscious culture is a culture that embodies values, principles and practices underlying the social fabric of an entity. Conscious culture permeates an entity’s actions and connects the stakeholders (all of them and not just the shareholders) to each other and to the company’s purpose, people and processes.

And applying the principles of King IV utilising the recommended (or other) practices is the start of the journey, a never-ending one, to achieve the four outcomes in King IV; namely, an ethical culture, good performance, effective control and legitimacy.

King IV is the fourth iteration of the King Code and Report, the brainchild of Madiba, and given effect to by Prof Mervyn King. Although the King IV Code is a voluntary code of compliance, aspirational in its nature, three very important issues of and concerning King IV should be borne in mind.