Studies on Vitamin D by Dr Garland of University College Seattle suggest that the earliest driving force behind cancer is not genetic mutation, but loss of communication among cells due to low vitamin D and Calcium. Communication between cells is essential for healthy cell turnover.
Similarly in an organisation clear communications are necessary to maintain health. When communications falter, the rumour mill is always primed to take over. In many companies the grapevine is more powerful than the official communication channels. Far from wishing to suppress the grapevine, it is important that leaders can get honest, and if necessary, anonymous feedback from the rank and file so they can stay tuned in to their staff.
In both the commercial and political world we often hear the call for strong leadership to sort things out as though conflict resolution can be achieved by one heroic figure or a narrow group of zealots. When a ‘might is right’ approach is taken, a Win-Lose situation develops. Problems may get swept out of sight for a while but there remains a festering feeling of injustice. As soon as an opportunity arises, harboured resentments re-emerge to reignite the conflict. The stage is set for ongoing chronic confrontation. When groups with vested interests have the upper hand their ideas proliferate. They will pursue their interests over any opposition and at the expense of the general good. Corporate cancer is very destructive, very costly and very difficult to contain.
Current oncology practice targets tumours with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. Very seldom does a patient make a full recovery. Rather, periods of remission shorten, metastasis sets in and before long the patient is lost. Too often the illness is punctuated by periods of intense suffering through aggressive treatment programmes and ultimately palliative care. The burn, poison or cut treatment options fail four times out of five and five year survival rates are poor.
Newer thinking recognises cancer as a long term condition where ‘nutraceutical’ preventive therapy can prevent the illness from taking hold. There is appreciation that cancer generating processes are constantly at work in the body and that optimum health requires a proactive engagement to keep the body’s defences functioning well. Successful anti-cancer strategies are based on prevention, starvation and blocking by avoiding gene triggering contaminants, inhibiting blood vessel development and protecting the body from destructive ‘matrix metallo-proteinases’.
Organisational cancers are a constant threat. At best they slow an organisation, deflecting effort from addressing market needs. At worst the aggressive accounting cancers can bring about spectacular corporate failures such as with Enron and Worldcom. Once the disease is established, the corporate oncologists will struggle to contain it. Better to play the long game and establish the healthful organisation driven by a collective belief and commitment to offering superlative performance and customer satisfaction.
What corrupting processes are affecting your organisation today that, if left untreated, will emerge as virulent disease in a few years time?
What action will you take to protect your organisation’s health?
Contact Action Centred Health today to promote your health and that of your organisation.
©Paul Curran June 2011
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