At the end of August, about 25 members of the Melbourne, Australia, Company of Friends gathered at the Pier 35 Business Club on the Yarra River for a panel discussion about death and business. The panelists considered how attitudes toward death influence their lives as businesspeople.

"Business can be a metaphoric war as companies seek the 'death' of opposing products, business units, and companies," says Peter Tunjic, a corporate lawyer and cofounder of the Melbourne-based consulting firm Thoughtpost. "Business schools teach how to kill in business, but none teach how to work when our businesses are victims and our companies die or are dying."

During the two-hour session, the panelists and CoF members developed their own strategies and tactics for dealing with death in a business setting. Here are some of their ideas.

• Plan. Companies that have plans for their own death cope better financially and personally.
• Design rituals. Employees deal better with their company's death than management and board members because employees gather to grieve while management and the board are largely alone in the process.
• Mourn dead projects. If people grieve when their products, services, and strategies die, they will transition into their new work life more quickly.
• Network to heal. People with strong networks handle life-threatening situations better.
• Place no blame. Businesses die for reasons that have nothing to do with the founders, directors, and employees. Although death in business can be seen as a failure, it is important to recognize the dead company's contributions.

For more information about the Company of Friends, visit the Web (www.fastcompany.com/cof). For CoF event and activity listings, check out the CoF calendar online (www.fastcompany.com/keyword/cofcalendar).

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