Venus and Mars, Business relations – civil society organizations

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Do you remember that popular book from the last decade that was referenced by a large number of couples who wanted to improve their relationship and which was titled “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” by John Gray? In that work, feminine vitality was exposed in comparison with masculine vitality and some of the codes and signifiers that each of the sexes uses to create and recreate their own worldview, some far from producing generation in the sense of the force of Heraclides (the Contraries complement each other, they can go in the same direction but in the opposite direction, etc.) they constitute different languages ​​or, as communication professionals would say, “flawed or noisy,” so a translation that allows understanding will have to be obtained. Well, this Monday we were working with the Bajío Community Foundation, in Irapuato, Guanajuato, an organization directed by Adriana Cortés Jiménez, to present in the workshop “Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility to create strategic alliances between companies and civil organizations”, in order To facilitate understanding, we use the Business – Civil Society Dictionary that I have been preparing for the courses and workshops as a tool to express that the same Mars-Venus phenomenon occurs between the relationship of these two sectors.

It is fair to say that the arguments in my Phone Number List Dictionary have been the result of more than 12 years of practice, reflection in meetings with staff of organizations, exchanges of points of view with specialists, but above all the contribution of various managers, fundraisers , development directors and volunteers who participate in the difficult task of obtaining resources for their institution. In Irapuato we reviewed with members of the Board of Directors and the operating team of the Bajío Community Foundation how frequently CSOs (which could play the role of Venus in our Dictionary) want their interlocutors in general to understand them and value the contribution of their work. and facilitate the procurement of funds, in particular, from the God of War Mars, in this case the business sector. Thus, one of the most common arguments in the communication messages that civil organizations prepare for when they will be received by a businessman, a potential donor, is to point out that to continue with their work "they need everything."



The organization may not consciously master the basic aspects of communication, but they make use of this communicative resource with supposed “skill” because they “will be able to sensitize” the businessman to donate. Thus, messages in general and in particular in fundraising have two fundamental elements, first The Objective, that is, what you want to achieve. Secondly, Intentionality; which consists of giving “color”, “texture” and “flavor” to the message to provoke or achieve a certain effect or The Objective. In such a way, the phrase of a fund attorney to a businessman who has given him time for an interview when stating “we need everything” has the objective of obtaining help from that businessman, “whatever it takes”, since the organization is requiring his support. The intentionality that is reinforced in the emphasis placed on the words “everything” means for the organization that any help, financial or material, will be well received. It seems that everything is going well, but since that is a language that Venus uses, we will have to see what Mars, that is, the businessman, understands. The Company-OSC Dictionary that I have referred to (and that I have prepared in Power Point) easily resolves the issue.