The unique perspective on business at UMLAC is perhaps best illustrated by comparing some “conventional principles” of business, which kept life rooted in ignorance in ages past, with “consciousness-based” principles that are emerging in an age where the current knowledge-based paradigm of business would find its fulfillment in Consciousness-Based Management
The following chart is inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s 1978 presentation of “Old and New Principles” in many fields of life.
| Conventional Principles | Consciousness-Based Principles |
| The more you do, the more you accomplish. | Do less and accomplish more. Work smarter, not harder. |
| It takes money to make money. | It takes intelligence, good ideas, to make money. |
| Money is the root of all evil. | The greatest enemy in life is fatigue, which diminishes clarity of mind and reduces creativity. |
| The means for business expansion (money) collect around businesses | The means for expansion (support of Natural Law) collect around individuals who have sattva, less stress in the nervous system, more purity of heart and mind. |
| The purpose of business is to make a profit for owners. | The role of business in society is to create value and share that value among owners, employees, society, and the natural environment. |
| Natural resources are finite. There are limits to growth that will bring suffering to mankind. |
Human resources have infinite potential. The experience of unbounded awareness, stabilized in activity and refined to unity consciousness, brings liberation to mankind. |
| For a start-up firm, too much money is better than too little. | For a start-up firm, too little money is better than too much money, because it forces the owner to solve problems rather than buy a way out of them. |
| Acquiring industrial secrets, by any means, is the way to get a competitive advantage. | Developing the creative intelligence of employees is the only source of truly sustainable competitive advantage. |
| Money, fame and power are the goal in life. | Higher states of consciousness are the goal in life. They give 200% of life, 100% inner fulfillment and 100% outer success. |
| When problems become difficult, engage a highpriced consultant. | When problems become difficult, engage the managing intelligence of Nature by experiencing the seat of Natural Law in one’s own settled awareness. Then call the consultant and learn as necessary. |
| Work earns a living, however boring as it might be. | All work, even routine work, stabilizes the unbounded awareness experienced during the Transcendental Meditation technique to progressively unfold and utilize maximum creativity. |
| Every businessman wants to turn a “quick buck.” | Business people want to create a sustainable company that lasts a long time. |
| Labor is a factor of production. | People are the essential resource of a company, the repository of its knowledge and seat of its creativity. |
| Buildings, equipment and inventories are the core asset of a company. | Knowledge, in the form of people, data, manuals, and patents, is the core asset of a company. |
| Management is a nasty job. | Administration is a spiritual practice. |
| Financial markets are driven by fear and greed. | Financial resources flow to activities that create sustainable value, because investors have a long time horizon and experience fulfillment independent of their possessions. |