SPIRITUAL-BASED LEADERSHIP

An exploration of the possible contribution of spirituality to the development of business leadership and the workplace

Marieke Nuur-Kersten Weimarstraat 193 2562 HG DEN HAAG The Netherlands Studentnr.: 9916946 Email: mariekekersten@hotmail.com Home Telephone: +31-70-3925914 Mobile: +31-6-45474042

Final paper for the Course: Management & Organization (BA) Tutor: Professor Gilbert Lenssen Context: Specialization Praktijkstudie Management (Letteren) Leiden University, The Netherlands September 4th 2004

Contents
o Preface o Introduction o 1. Defining spirituality in the workplace
1.1 Introduction 1.2 What is spirituality? 1.3 The Spiritual Domain 1.4 How can spirituality be characterized? 1.5 Expressions of spirituality 10 10 11 14 18 3 7

o 2. Steppingstones towards the development of spiritual-based leadership

2.1 Introduction 2.2 The emerging context for business leadership 2.3 New leadership styles 2.4 New leadership roles 2.5 Profile of a spiritual based leader 20 21 26 30 34

o 3. Review of the initial observations from an international research programme on spiritual-based leadership
3.1 Introduction 3.2 Spiritual-based leaders speaking 3.3 Some concluding words 40 42 47 48 50 51

o Conclusion o Epilogue o List of References

Preface
This paper was written as part of the final course for the Management and Organization program of the Praktijkstudie at Leiden University, under the supervision and guidance of professor Gilbert Lenssen. To be honest, at the beginning of this final course I did not fully realize the extent of the undertaking I was heading towards. From the introductory course in the first year I knew that this course wasnt going to be easy, and that it probably was going to take a lot of my time and energy, but this., no I didnt expect it to be like this. I know this might sound like a lamentation, a complaint, but that is not my intent. I will try to explain the underlying feeling I have. The past seven months have been a long and intense process in which I have learned a lot about different management and business related subjects, both through my own research efforts as well as through the projects of my fellow students, but above all I have learned a great deal about myself and the way I view and approach life. This is wonderful, but at times also tiring and stressful. It has been a project which has been in my head almost 24/7 during the past six months. One of the reasons why I chose this direction of specialization is because of the approach of professor Gilbert Lenssen towards business management, and more specific, the field of management and organization. To me this field is primarily about people and the way they (can) function within an organization. It is about being part of something, being a link in a whole. This perspective grew on me largely because professor Lenssen challenged us to see beyond the theory, beyond the systems and the structure, maybe even beyond the obvious- the things you usually learn first, and often only, from your textbooks when dealing with these kind of subjects. He often challenged us to bring a philosophical, personal, and in general, broader, perspective to dealing with business issues like leadership, organizational development, change, and learning processes. Internalisation of these issues has been the aim and of key importance in order to really grasp their essence. Dealing with hard material in a soft manner wasnt something that every one of us was used to and I guess therefore only a few of us signed up for this specific specialization. The objectives of this final course on Management & Organization and of professor Lenssen was for the students to be able, through a series of assignments, to write a paper on an upto-date management subject, which suited the personality and interest of the individual student. One of the teaching methods Lenssen employs is to use literary texts (like poems, Bible texts and speeches) by various authors (like Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Machiavelli, Bohm and Socrates) on a variety of subjects. The assignment would be to select several of these texts, approach them in a self-reflective manner, in such a way that afterwards you are able to articulate your personal values in life, your strengths and weaknesses, that which resonates with you from these texts, as well as to link the key issues of these texts to todays management subjects. During my first presentation in front of the class, which was based on this first assignment, it became very clear that my personal values and view of life in general is intertwined with my strong belief in the existence of God, our Creator, which for me results in a spiritual approach to my everyday life. This is something that I bring along everywhere I go and in everything I do,
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whether always conscious of it or not. By trying to approach my personal life, as well as the outer world, in a spiritual way, I feel able to give (and add) meaning to life in general. When I use and think about the word spiritual, this first of all comes with a feeling, which is hard to describe, before thinking of clear, logic, or rational words to describe it by. I think that for many people, the idea of spirituality first and foremost has an emotional rather than a logical or rational connotation. I believe that this feeling is very personal and can probably be described in various ways, but the practical side of spirituality, when applied in our daily lives, is less tacit and has more similarities. For me spirituality starts with consciously being in touch with the Source of Creation, which I call God, to bear witness of His existence and of the fact that He created me to know Him and to worship Him.1 It is also about realizing that you have a soul that you have to nourish in order to live a balanced life in this material world, and its about recognizing the Unity of God, Religion and Humanity, and living according to these principles. In other words, its about giving meaning to your life and the world you live in through the recognition of a higher purpose of life, self-inquiry and personal growth, taking responsibility for your actions, living an active life in harmony with the world and your fellow humans and making a positive contribution by rendering service to others. In relation to this I can very much relate to the words of Albert Einstein, when he says: A human being is part of the whole, called by us Universe. . He experiences himself; his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. For some people, including myself, spirituality in daily life is closely linked to (organized) religion, which often provides them with a set of religious principles that helps and inspires them to live their life from a spiritual point of view. Others might or might not link it to the existence of some form of Higher Being or deeper meaning of life, without naming it in some way or linking it to religion. In my opinion this linking of spirituality to religion, something else, or to nothing at all, is of secondary importance, because the essence is not about words but about deeds. Its about what you choose to do with it. Over ten years ago I made the decision to become a Bah a follower of Bahullh - at the age of fifteen, after being brought up in a Bah / Christian family and environment. The Bah faith which is the youngest of the world religions, founded in 1844 in present day Iran, emphasizes among its core principles the Oneness of God, Religion and Humanity and prescribes in many of its extensive scriptures the importance of living an active and spiritual life for the betterment of the human soul and the whole of humanity. Although I was quite young when I made the decision to become a Bah, it was a conscious decision that I have never regretted because it made me who I am today and it makes me want to write this paper. The road ahead of me is long, and I still have a lot to learn, but the foundation for my life is laid, and it feels like a solid and trustworthy one. The above is meant to give a short explanation and illustration to the reader of my personal approach and vision towards spirituality and its incorporation in my life. I will now continue with my introduction of how this paper came about and my objectives in writing it. After the first assignment several others followed, aimed at helping us find some key subjects that might be fit to function as a basis for us to start our exploration of available literature and initial research from. Although it was clear that spirituality was a hot item in my personal life, I decided at first to focus on business ethics instead of spirituality because this seemed a wiser thing to do since the subject of spirituality might not be so simple and easy to look into
1

Bahullh, Short Obligatory Prayer, Bah prayers

within the given context. Some of the other key subjects that turned out to belong to me, and which I finally choose to work with, were leadership and coaching / learning. After concentrating on ethics for a while, I noticed that I couldnt get the subject of spirituality out of my system, so after consulting with Lenssen (and being warned of the pitfalls that exist when dealing with this subject and the available literature) I finally took the plunge and decided to focus my research on spirituality and spiritual-based leadership in the workplace. During my initial exploration (mainly on the internet) of the available literature on spirituality within an organizational context I was somewhat surprised to see that there is quite an amount of variously focused literature, as well as various schools and institutions from all over the world who take a growing interest in this subject. I was also blessed to get in contact with some very kind, willing and experienced people who all have a great personal interest in spirituality in business and some of whom are working, publishing or conducting research in this field. Many of them provided me with useful advice on links, literature, and people I could consult, as well as general guidelines for this paper. I am in dept and thankful to all of them. My overall objective in writing this paper is to find out as much as possible (within the context of this paper) about the characteristics and possibilities of spirituality and spiritual-based leadership within an organizational context. I furthermore want to challenge myself to overcome a new and complex undertaking like this, since I have never written anything like this before in my life. This preface contains an elucidation of my personal approach to life and the concept of spirituality; it is clear however that there probably are about as many approaches towards life as there are people, and it is therefore impossible to give one definition of spirituality or leadership that everyone can agree on. For the sake of writing a lucid paper, I find myself however forced to formulate working definitions of the central concepts in this paper: spirituality, leadership, a spiritual-based leader, and spiritual-based leadership. These definitions can be found in the chapters one and two of this paper in their context, but for a better understanding of my presuppositions in the preamble to the actual writing of this paper, which will be mentioned below, I will include them here too. I want to emphasize that these definitions are based on my own findings after a period of deepening, and are therefore a reflection of my own interpretation of the subjects. Spirituality: living a conscious, positive, holistic and meaningful life where in depth selfinquiry into our human essence is of key importance for personal growth, leading to new insights which can enable us to achieve a sense of balance in both our inner- en outer life and inspire us to live in harmony with, and render service to, our fellow human beings and the rest of creation. A business leader: a person who has a clear vision about the purpose and the direction of the organization, and is able to communicate and exemplify the governing principles of the organization to all its stakeholders in an inspiring and effective manner. A spiritual-based leader: someone who has a spiritual view of life (including our human nature, work, and the purpose of business), and makes a conscious decision to act and lead according to this vision in his or her role as a leader, to the best of his abilities. Spiritual-based leadership: a leadership style in which spiritual-based leaders, in accordance with the organization and its employees, strive to translate a spiritual view of life into instruments (processes, practices, methods, activities, programs, etc.) and behaviour, that honour this vision, and will contribute to the learning and development of the organization and its stakeholders.

In the final conclusion of this paper I hope to be able to answer the following question: In what ways can spirituality within an organizational context contribute to the development of business leadership and the workplace. Some of my presuppositions in the build-up to the actual writing of this paper were that: -Spirituality has many practical components, which can be employed in the workplace. -Spiritual-based leaders might foster the learning and development, of both the individual employee and the organization in which he or she works. -Leading from a spiritual basis can transform the overall working experience of both the leader and the people he leads. -Spiritual-based leadership attempts to create a synergy between the organization and its employees; and -Operating from spiritual-based values is a long-term management process and not simply another management technique, instrument or program designed for facilitating a short-time objective. I am curious to find out if there is any ground for these presuppositions of mine or not. Concluding I must emphasize that it is the more practical side of spirituality, which I have briefly talked about before, that will be my main focus in this paper, since it is my primary objective to explore the possibilities of business leadership based on spirituality in the context of todays organizations, and a practical (instead of for example a more philosophical or esoteric) approach will best fit this objective in my opinion. This more practical side of spirituality is mainly concerned with the search for meaning and purpose among employees and executives in relation to the way they work, and the possible ways in which they can incorporate this into the reality of the practice of their daily work activities, and environment, as well as their general approach to the concept of work. Finally I want to express my sincere gratitude to professor Gilbert Lenssen, for his ongoing guidance, advise, critical support and faith in me in the course of this learning process. Thank you for letting me do it my way (at least for most of the time). Altogether it has been a rewarding journey so far in which I have overcome many personal boundaries and tests resulting in many useful insights much needed for the road that lies ahead.

Introduction
Some people might raise their eyebrows in scepticism when hearing about the subject of this paper. They might wonder what something as vague or tacit as spirituality could possibly have to do with something as concrete and worldly as business organizations. In answer to approaches of that kind towards both spirituality and organizations, I would like to start by saying that today nothing seems to be what it is anymore. Everything seems to ask for a second opinion, a closer look at what is really going on in our personal lives and the world around us. Often we dont seem to know who we truly are, or what it is we want to do with our lives. Due to new technological developments we are now able to communicate, work, and travel faster and faster, but instead of being more relaxed, we always seem to be short on time and energy. All these new possibilities dont seem to add to our happiness in life and more and more people say they have a sense of being or becoming out of balance. In the corporate world, and the many books written about it, it has become evident that there has occurred a shift in focus concerning the corporate strategy and vision of many companies. This shift can probably be best explained by looking at the forces that have been at work in the field of organizational business, and produced a change in the (working) environment of todays businesses. Some of these forces can be described as: an increasing intensity of competition and turbulence, a shift to a knowledge-based society, general globalisation, changing expectations and values, environmental degradation, war for talent, increasing importance of intangible capital, advances in communications technology, changing role of government, and a weakening social cohesion.2 Some of the noticeable results or effects of this earlier mentioned shift in focus, in respond to these pervasive forces, are that in many companies top management is starting to realize that the way they deal with their employees is of key importance for the long-term survival of their organization. They are beginning to realize that the way they treat their employees can literally make or break them. It is commonly known that happy workers are better workers, which implies that top management should be attentive and thoughtful in designing the working conditions of their employees. Often this has a direct influence on the intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation of the employee, which in turn influences their work performance. Besides improving and expanding employees working conditions, some organizations might actually (begin to) employ some new types of leadership styles, which are, generally speaking, less autocratic and task-orientated, and more participative or transformational and relationship-orientated. People at all levels, whether top management, business leaders, or employees, seem to begin to recognize the need for a different approach to the way they interact and do business, both inside and outside their own organization, in order to be able to continue to give at least some kind of (positive) meaning to their actions. Apart from a growing change in view on employees, the role of business leaders, and the way to do business, there also exists a certain view on the essence of organizations, which is gaining momentum, and which sees and approaches the company as a living entity or organism.
2

Starcher G., Values in Business, Pain in the neck? Or Key to Success?, From his lecture at the European Business School London, Nov. 2003, p. 7-8

Authors like de Geus and Guillory believe that this approach will provide (some of) the key insights needed for enabling the survival of companies in todays complex business environment.3 One might conclude from all these recent developments, aimed at coping with the pervasive changes in todays business and organizational environment, that now, maybe more than ever, there has originated a need for a new approach to business and work, which enables organizations to create a better life for all their stakeholders. This growing need becomes even clearer when thinking about some of the recent scandals caused by several large multinationals around the world, visualizing the pervasive misconducts like fraud, favouritism, or abuse of power that still occur (usually on the executive level) in the corporate world. These scandals not only shock and outrage the world at large, but have above all an enormous effect on the workforce of these organizations, which on the long run often results in a lack of cohesion, commitment, shared values and motivation among their employees. Now one could argue that even if the changes in the outer environment of todays business are leading a growing number of organizations towards a more people-based approach in their way of doing business this doesnt necessarily imply that in order to achieve this we need spirituality and nothing else, since humanism, for example, might do too. I fully agree, but I believe that simply a more people-based approach in business is not enough and will in the end mainly deal with the extrinsic side of employees motivation and will result in an only short-time improvement of working conditions, - experiences, and overall performances. That which a people-based approach will not automatically solve or even deal with is the fact that for most people there exists a separation of life-worlds, which causes a problematic situation in the workplace and leaves many people with a sense of being out of balance. What I mean is that in many cases, peoples work life is separate from their family and social life, ethics, spirituality, religious beliefs, sense of social responsibility, dreams, etc., and often not by their own choice. People are, due to the nature and circumstances of their work life, often unable to give real meaning and purpose to their endeavours. I believe that what is needed is a more holistic approach that incorporates the broader aspects of life into the way people work, and spirituality might be well suited to function as a basis from which to evolve. When considering this, it might not be such a surprise anymore that more and more people, both employees and executives, are beginning to consciously search for more meaning and fulfilment in relation to the way they work. Taking it one step further, one might even consider the possibility of looking towards the concept of spirituality for a possible answer, as not being that far-fetched. In 1999 the Harvard Business School published an article with the telling title: Spirit at Work: The Search for Deeper Meaning in the Workplace 4, which discussed the thoughts of six HBS alumni, as well as three HBS faculty members, on their exploration of the intersection of work and spirituality. One of them, for example, said that he sees the movement towards incorporating more of a spiritual feeling in business as a reflection of peoples age-old need to find meaning in what they are doing, and that, quite simply, without a sense of purpose, we become alienated from our work and find it harder to motivate ourselves. While someone else believes that what we are seeing is an increasingly felt need for people to integrate the spiritual dimension of their lives into what they do for most of the day. Peter Vaill, who is by many considered as a leading expert on the topic, points out in this article that a hunger to nourish the spirit seems to be driving the movement to find greater meaning in our work. He further observes that we are searching for new ways of grounding to sustain us through
For more information on the concept of the Living Company or Organization, I refer to the books of: Geus de, A. (1997) The Living Company, Habits for Survival in a Turbulent Business Environment, HBS Press & Guillory, W.A. (1997) The Living Organization, Spirituality in the Workplace, Innovation International, Inc.
4 3

Rigoglioso, M. (1999) Spirit at Work: The Search for Deeper Meaning in the Workplace, HBSWK Pub., 12/10/99

very turbulent times. Others describe it as looking for a renewed sense of community, a search for a sense of belonging.

The article mentioned above is only one of many articles, books, websites, papers, studies, conferences, and academic courses that have seen the light in recent years, all recognizing the importance of investigating the possibilities of incorporating spirituality in todays business organizations, and sharing this new approach with a broad audience around the world.5 In my opinion it is fair to say that by now there exists a real and growing foundation for a global discussion on the subject of spirituality in business, that might even lead to the actual, conscious incorporation of certain spiritual-based concepts in business organizations. Now that one can come to realize that there might have occurred, at least a small, spiritual awakening in some of todays businesses, I hope that I will find a listening ear, even among the sceptics, when presenting this modest paper.

Examples being: A study of spirituality in the workplace, by Mitroff & Denton, in: Sloan Management Review, Summer 1999; The four gateways to spirit at work, Transforming people, leaders, teams, and organizations for breakthrough performances, forthcoming book by Judi Neal, 2004; http://www.spiritatwork.org; The influence of spirituality on work behaviour, Lips-Wiersma, M., Ph.D.; New models of leadership, Spiritual-based leadership: A matter of faith and confidence, Spiritual-based leadership research program Miller, W.C. and P. Pruzan, Global Dharma Center, 2003; Spirit in Business Conference 2004, Ruschlikon, Zurich (Swiss), October 1-2; George Washington University (Jerry Harvey, Management, spirituality and ethics, Neal Chalofsky, The meaning of work, Director, Center for Meaning of Work)

Chapter One: Defining spirituality in the workplace

1.1 Introduction
In order to be able to define spiritual-based leadership (SBL) it first of all needs to be clear how we define spirituality and leadership. By formulating a working definition of both (of the former in chapter 1, of the latter in chapter 2) I hope to enhance the clarity of the concept of spiritual-based leadership and construct a clear framework. I fully realize that in this attempt I inevitably will leave out or even overlook many other possible approaches, but it is simply impossible to capture them all and please everyone. In section 1.2, I try to answer the question: What is spirituality? Section 1.3 discusses the ideas of Luc Hoebeke, originally an engineer, who has worked side by side with Peter Checkland on the concept of Soft Systems Methodology, and has developed a framework to improve work systems, on what he calls The Spiritual Domain. Section 1.4 discusses characteristics of spirituality which can become manifest in a person and put into practice in the workplace. Section 1.5 finally talks about some expressions of spirituality.

1.2 What is spirituality?

The concept of spirituality is in my opinion multi-layered in its essence since there are multiple dimensions, which keep reappearing in the variety of material on spirituality and when talking to people, that can be wholly or partially incorporated by the individual depending on their personal beliefs and objectives. When first of all looking at the literal meaning of the word spirituality we arrive at the word spirit, which comes from the Latin word spiritus, which literally means breath. Spirituality might thus be seen as the animating principle, the supernatural essence (beyond material nature), which breathes life into creation.6 When conducting research on the way people define spirituality, I found among the variety of approaches three pervasive approaches that kept reappearing. One is that for some people spirituality is directly linked to the existence of a Higher Being, often indicated as the Source of creation, God, or a similar name, of which it is derived. In that case spirituality is often seen as a means to approach this Higher Being that created us and whereto we are destined to return, and a way to maintain the connection between ourselves, and the Heavenly Realms, from which we originate.

Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary (1998) Tenth Edition, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., in: Miller and Miller (2002), 11

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Others see spirituality mainly as a way to stay in touch with our own higher or true Self, which is often linked to the human soul or that what transcends our physical existence. Spirituality is in this case largely aimed at self-inquiring and reflection to establish a balanced inner-life. From yet another point of view spirituality is based on living in harmony with the entire creation, recognizing that each one of us is an integral part of a greater whole and that we are all connected. This is a holistic approach to life, and spirituality is here often linked to service, service to the greater whole aimed at the betterment of all, instead of some. Like I said before, some people will only agree or focus on one or two of these three interpretations of spirituality while others might believe they are all connected and when combined together best define the concept of spirituality. Summarized one might say that the first two descriptions, whether linked together or not, are mainly concerned with the individual and his personal growth, while the third one can be the result of belief in the other two, or can be viewed independently, and focuses on the development of the whole and the responsibility of the individual in achieving this. Altogether I would conclude (as a working definition) that spirituality in the workplace (and in our daily lives) is about living a conscious, positive, holistic and meaningful life where in depth self-inquiry into our human essence is of key importance for personal growth, leading to new insights which can enable us to achieve a sense of balance in both our inner- en outer life and inspire us to live in harmony with, and render service to, our fellow human beings and the rest of creation. I realize that according to some this working definition might still be considered as quite broad and could need more focus, but by now it might also be clear that spirituality simply is, and remains, a complex concept which is hard to define in just a few words while still being able to capture its full essence. I have tried here to capture and describe those elements that seem to be widely acknowledged by many and are of special importance within the context of this paper. Having said all this it is time to look more closely at what spirituality could be and do in the workplace.

1.3 The Spiritual Domain

Someone who talks about spirituality in relation to organizations is Ir. Luc Hoebeke. He basically approaches organizations as being work systems in which human activities take place. In his book Making work systems better: A practioners reflections, he explains this concept of work systems as follows: A work system is a purposeful definition of the real world in which people spend effort in more or less coherent activities for mutually influencing each other and their environment.7 Work systems are never anonymous[since] in [our] practical work each of us is dealing with networks of living people8 Hoebeke says he wants to construct a framework that has as its aim to enable anyone to discover the work systems, the sets of relations and activities in which one is working and the different contributions one is making in this network. This framework consists of several process levels with a certain time span and four domains of activity, which are all connected, and constitute one model to describe and prescribe network organizations by. It is the fourth domain of his framework, which Hoebeke calls the spiritual domain, that I would like to discuss here in particular, but for a better understanding of Hoebekes approach, one
7 8

Hoebeke, L. (1994), Making work systems better: A practioners reflections, Internet version (2000), Chapter 2, 1 Ibid, Chapter 3, 1

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should know that the spiritual domain is preceded by three other domains, which I will first describe briefly. According to Hoebeke each of the domains has its own emergent characteristics, and the output of the work systems operating in a higher domain are in fact creating the conditions for the underlying domain, but a higher domain does not manage the activities of a lower one.9 The first domain is the added-value domain, with a time span (i.e. the time needed to materialize the results of activities deployed10) of 1 day to 2 years, which encompasses all human exchange activities between suppliers and customers. In this exchange, human care and creativity is expressed between the two parties and is appreciated as an added value by them. This domain is the economic domain par excellence.11 The second domain is the innovation domain, with a time span of 1 to 10 years. Hoebeke describes the basic process, which belongs to this domain as follows: Changes in values in the environment in which the work system in the innovation domain is embedded are sensed and transformed into new products, services and processes. The work system is involved in the discovery and the creation of the added value of the future. 12 The value-systems domain, with a time span of 5 to 50 years, constitutes the third domain and is according to Hoebeke involved in the permanent creation of the elements of a new culture by creating new languages and new descriptions and prescriptions about the world through a permanent debate between carriers of different world views, traditions and cultures.13 What is interesting to me is that Hoebeke looks at human activities in work systems without separating them from their context, and recognizes that it is important to relate human activities again with identifiable human beings, especially when trying to understand and intervene in the task-related issues of work systems. His chosen medium for dealing with and explaining the concept of work systems is the construction of a conceptual framework containing the domains described above. The spiritual domain, which is the fourth and final domain, has a long time span (beyond 20 years) but is only discussed briefly in chapter 7 of Making work systems better. Hoebeke implies here that due to the complex nature of this domain, since the processes in this domain are strongly linked to individuals, he therefore feels that he is only able to give an indication of these processes, and mainly based on personal experiences. To me, the below however voices a very interesting and down to earth approach to spirituality, which at first might come across as being quite complex, but when reviewed closer actually has very concrete and accessible core principles. Hoebeke argues that because of the very large work capacity, individuals have worked through their own death by means of the experience of the deaths of others, and this experience becomes the major source of their creativity. This is still quite cryptic, but becomes clearer when he explains his idea of the path to the spiritual, which he says, is the way we human beings deal creatively, and consciously with our deaths and how we express it. Although the processes in this domain seem to be very personal in their nature, they also have a universal component. In the part below this is explained in the words of Hoebeke. The conscious working through of two fundamental universal human paradoxes are the fount of activities in the spiritual domain: My existence and my self-consciousness, the development of my identity, is due only to my participation in a social context, to my being and becoming with others. What I can conceive as my life as an individual is only possible as I relate to others. Even my egocentricity or egoism is the result of my relations with others, of my altruism, my relatedness. The most significant experience of that relatedness comes when, in fact, relations are broken.
9

Ibid, Chapter 3, 2 Ibid, Chapter 2, 22 11 Ibid, Chapter 4, 2 12 Ibid, Chapter 5, 1 13 Ibid, Chapter 6, 1
10

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In terms of Heidegger, when self-evidences are breaking down they become part of our consciousness and of our language.14 In other words: in all our human activities, beginning with the way we position ourselves, we are influenced and shaped by others because of the ever-present connection (or relatedness) between people, which is something we cannot escape from. No matter how individualistic and independent some of us are trying to be, often complying to the idea of some that individualism is the new norm of today and has even become a value, there will always come a time when we are confronted with our prevailing connection to others, especially when dealing with the breakdown and disappearance of relationships, of which death generally is considered to be the most extreme exponent. Hoebeke finds that human perception of life and death, human creativity and destructivity, production and consumption are the contradictions at the roots of human activity systems, of work systems.15 Some people work through these paradoxes by expressing them in universally recognized forms, which Hoebeke defines as works of art of which the major characteristic is that these expressions are somehow understandable by all cultures and by people of all ages since, according to Hoebeke, the universal depth of humanity can be directly sensed by everyone who is open to his or her own humanity. But, at the same time, he says, all these works keep their mystery. The generic transformation process (i.e. to materialize a specific output (product, service, or a combination of both) with a prescribed means, technology and method, in the most efficient way, i.e. with a minimum of waste.16) that should take place in the spiritual domain is to materialize through works of art or mere behaviour, the universal understanding of ones own mortality. The biggest challenge, or basic strategic dilemma as Hoebeke calls it, is to overcome the struggle with ones own consciousness of death, in a creative way. It has become clear that the concepts of physical death, and especially working beyond this, and human creativity, are essential in Hoebekes approach to spirituality. He believes that the greatest expression of spirituality in human beings occurs when their life and behaviour heavily influence subsequent generations, although they did not leave any direct traces of their creativity.17 Great examples are the founders of the world religions, but also people like Lao Tseu and Mahatma Ghandi, who lived creatively and whose disciples explicitly refer to the life and death of their master as the foundation of their endeavours and values. In all cases, the death of the master has been transmitted as an ultimate creative act. According to Hoebeke spirituals, those working in the spiritual domain, often have a great impact on the people that meet them due to what they do and the way in which they do it, since one can feel as if confronted with their own mortality and creativity, which might enable them to work through their own life and death themselves. The positive outcome of it all is that spirituals are not only making work systems better, they are also making people better human beings. What I said at the beginning of this section on the nature of Hoebekes approach to spirituality, is being subscribed by himself when he says that: The beauty of activities in the spiritual domain is that they are not secret, abstract, or highbrow, they are very specific and concrete, so that sometimes they pass unnoticed.18 When I relate Hoebekes approach to the three general approaches, formulated at the beginning of section 1.2, I would conclude that his approach touches both the idea of spirituality aimed at self-inquiry and reflection, leading to personal growth and a balanced life (since it inspires creativity, gives meaning and purpose, and is able to take away the fear that is often
14 15

Ibid, Chapter 7, 1 Ibid, 2 16 Ibid, Chapter 4, 8 17 Ibid, Chapter 7, 3 18 Ibid, 3

13

present when consciously dealing with ones own mortality and life), as well as the idea of spirituality that emphasizes the interconnectiveness of people, resulting in service (since Hoebeke points out the relatedness of people, especially in human activities, and the idea of spirituals who are living beyond their own death by living a creative life expressed in their work and behaviour, which influences many subsequent generations). These are however my personal thoughts and interpretations, and I would certainly like to hear how Hoebeke himself sees all of this. The above functions mainly as an illustrating of how spirituality in relation to organizations and the human activities that take place therein, can be approached when starting from a systematic and concrete base. I now want to concentrate on defining some further and more general, but concrete characteristics of spirituality that can rise to the surface when placed in an organizational context.

1.4 How can spirituality be characterized?

It might not come as a surprise when I say that, like trying to define the concept of spirituality univocally, defining the characteristics of spirituality is also somewhat (although less) problematic, since different people have different views, and choose to focus on different aspects. Therefore I want to emphasize that although I try to give a general description of prevailing characteristics of spirituality based on my findings, my sight is coloured too. There are however certain aspects of spirituality that, I believe, are very clear especially when related to work life. Spirituality in the work place, in my opinion, first of all asks for action; an active attitude. People have to be willing to act and to accomplish change. Both inward, and outward change. In order to be able to act meaningfully, one should know what to do, why, when and how. This in turn asks for awareness. Awareness usually requires slowing down, taking the time to become quiet for a moment and find the wisdom needed for knowing what is needed and how to act with meaning and purpose. Awareness helps us to realize what is present in the moment. When we are able to connect ourselves with the things that are happening around us, and to learn how to live with all the things around us, we are able to really see what is happening and might find the courage to change them when we find things going wrong. Slowing down seems however a contradiction with the spirit of the times we live in, in which people are trying to run organizations that are more adaptive, flexible, and capable of adjusting to a dynamic world. As a result many people are running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, thinking that thats the best way to accomplish their goals. But instead this leads to frantic and frenetic-like behaviour, and at the long run they find themselves lacking the energy and motivation to continue their activities, resulting in disappointment and unsatisfied feelings about themselves and their work. When we come to think about who we are and how we live our lives we might come to the conclusion that we have been caught up by the stream of life that has taken over the control over our lives without us really noticing it. We find ourselves separated from our dreams and unable to really fulfil our inner needs as human beings. In the end we all want to use our lives well and to give meaning and purpose to our lives, but somehow we created the misunderstanding that we can achieve this goal by living in a hurry, trying to manage everything at the same time to the best of our abilities. Wasting time seems to be our biggest fear. Spirituality might help us to re-connect with our self and to find the balance between all the various aspects of our different life worlds. The goal being, to be one and the same in all of these life worlds (e.g. work, family, social, sport, religious, community, etc.), to feel and act like a whole person, no matter the circumstances, and not to have different faces depending on the

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situation and the people we encounter. What has to be clear is that spirituality involves making a conscious choice. You must be willing to actively work on the betterment of your own life as well as the greater whole, not just temporarily, but a whole lifetime. This might sound quite heavy and serious but thats just the way it is, and it is important to realize this thoroughly. Spirituality asks for real commitment combined with passion for the cause you set off to. Although spirituality in the workplace is strongly linked to living an active life, in order to make progress, it is also depended on the contemplative practices of the people involved. Contemplation (one can think of forms of meditation, cultivation, and the like) is a very important condition for enabling personal growth, leading to insights and wisdom, and is closely related to learning since in a learning process it is important to really understand, not only at a rational level, but also emotionally, and as an entire being, what it is you are learning and what further implications this could have on your life, in order to not only make a change in your way of thinking but also in your behaviour. Many people might not fully realize that we have a great source of power within ourselves that enables us, if we open our mind to it, to find the solutions to many of our problems for which we now often tend to turn to others for help, instead of looking for a solution within ourselves. This not always easily done and often asks for a change in our way of thinking, but never the less necessary. As Einstein said: The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. There is however a huge difference between active spirituality and contemplative spirituality since the latter generally focuses exclusively on living a contemplative life, which often involves seclusion from community life and averting from the material world, and is usually aimed at spiritual growth and worship to God, while active spirituality basically aims at personal growth and service to the greater whole (which can also be seen as a form of worship to God) particularly through the process of interacting with the rest of creation in our everyday life. The aspect of rendering service is an important and essential part of spirituality, also in an organizational context, since it is based on the belief in the interconnectiveness and inclusiveness of the world of creation, which implies that we should strive for the betterment of the greater whole, and not just of some or at the cost of others, since we are all connected and at the end we are all effected by the condition of our surroundings. When ones prosperity is achieved at the expense of others this will sooner or later bite him in the tail. When we come to realize the equality of humanity we will no longer have the wish to get ahead of others as if playing a competitive game. Instead we will care about the condition of others, have compassion for each other, and come to each others aid to the best of our abilities. Service will be a natural result of the way we interact with each other. Talking about the interconnectiveness of people and the need for a caring attitude, a poem by the famous Persian poet Saad, who lived in the 13th century, comes to my mind. (On a personal note I should mention that my major is New Persian at Leiden University, which means I am studying Persian language, literature, history, culture, etc.) Saad, all this time ago, already was aware of our interconnectiveness and the importance of caring for each other, as is expressed by him in the following lines: All human beings are in truth akin; All in creation share one origin. When fate allots a member pangs and pains, No ease for other members then remains. If, unperturbed, anothers grief canst scan, Thou are not worthy of the name of man.19 The above is just a simple illustration of the fact that wisdom and spiritual insights are an age-old phenomenon, and as Luc Hoebeke has already pointed out in his writings on the spiritual
19

Saad, Golestn. English translation from the Persian by Arash Zolfaghari, posted at Bahaal quotes, Internet site

15

domain, this kind of insights can often be found expressed in works of art, of which poetry can also be one in my opinion. One can conclude from the above section that when spirituality is consciously introduced into the workplace it enables a transformation of peoples mindset in relation to the expected purpose of business and the way they view their work life, because they begin to question how they are living their life, and think of ways (if necessary) to change their behaviour. The rationale of it all is the acceptance of the spiritual nature of our reality, resulting in our wish to live an active, meaningful, and purposeful life together with our fellow human beings. We can also conclude that spirituality, among other things, fosters our relationships with others and emphasizes the importance of co-operation among people, which can contribute to our work relations in the workplace. Communication and decision-making are in this context of special importance since only when we are truly capable of listening, both to ourselves and others, and to converse in a non-egoistic, non-competitive, non-programmed, unbiased, honest, trustworthy, and open manner, we are able to really connect to, and understand each other. One very suitable instrument (which is actually more a kind of rationale, or condition) that can help us to achieve this way of communicating and decision-making, is the concept of dialogue according to the ideas of physicist David Bohm.20 Another result of spirituality is that it tends to lead to high performances and striving for excellence in the way people partake in activities, since people feel responsibility and ownership for their actions and aim at personal growth, and or through service to others. They care, and are therefore more likely to approach problematic situations in a constructive manner and more determined to come to workable solution for all those involved. When we are able to achieve unity in spirit and in action we might find the key to a balanced life and know how to give meaning to all our endeavours. Instead of being worn-out by our work, we might actually have an experience of rejuvenating our soul in the workplace. Even as it is important to understand what spirituality in the workplace is about, it is also important to understand what it is not about. Generally speaking I think that spirituality in the workplace does not have, or does not necessarily need to have, any connection with any specific type of organized religion. It does not rely on an external organization. Like I said at the very beginning of this section, there is a difference of opinion about the nature of spirituality, which means that for some it is linked to religion (and God) and for some it is not. It is certainly possible to be inspired to live a spiritual life by ones religious beliefs at large, but it definitely isnt a fixed condition or something of the like, to do so. I personally believe that it doesnt really matter how we classify spirituality since it has above all a universal implication that goes beyond the question of categorization. Spirituality is of all ages and places, and asks for a positive commitment to both your own life and that of others. Its about deeds, not words. Pretending as if spirituality belongs exclusively to a certain type of religion, people, culture, or something else, is in my opinion only a contradiction of the essence of spirituality, which is above all inclusive in its scope and basically a way of living, suited for everyone that makes a conscious decision to do so. In spirituality, dogmas certainly dont serve any purpose, for they would only rigidify processes of growth and learning, which are of key importance in the general concept of spirituality. As far as the relation or connection between spirituality and ethics, I would say that first of all they are not completely the same, but there certainly exists an important connection. Ethics might be seen as a reflection on those standards and values that we interpreted as being acceptable,
20

Bohm, D., et al (1991) Dialogue- A proposal, [on-line] http://world.std.com/~lo/bohm/0000.html, or Bohm, D. (1998) On Dialogue, [on-line] http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/theory/ bohm98review.htm

16

normal, and rational, and which we use to organize our society by. That which we tend to call moral, is the factuality on which ethics reflects.21 We might also say that ethics provide us with rules for living, which can serve as an anchor, guiding us through life, and is directly linked to our conscience. It is our conscience and free will that decides which roads we choose to follow in life and whether ethics or values play a part in that. There are a number of spiritual principles, or what some call human values (depending on ones beliefs about its origin), which most people tend to employ for arriving at the solutions for our social problems, and which have a universal connotation. Most people agree that it are universal values like trustworthiness, honesty and truthfulness, love, integrity, compassion and forgiveness, moderation, friendliness, justice, wisdom and discretion, unity, fairness, and respect for others, that are the attributes that underlie ethics, and which can result in ethical behaviour. Some people ascribe these principles to what can be called The Golden Rule, which can essentially be found in all the major world religions, and draw inspiration there from. One might wonder how this description of ethics is any different from spirituality, except that it might be called spiritual values or principles, instead of human values, or simply values. I would say that these values are indeed (largely) the same and also play a very important role in the concept of spirituality, but there is a difference, which I will try to express. In my opinion this difference has mainly to do with the fact that, generally speaking, ethics first and foremost (and often solely) deals with human conduct, with ones behaviour. It tells us what is right and what is wrong behaviour. It sets a standard. This is of course very useful, and society is in need of this kind of behaviour, but this will only happen on a larger scale when people truly understand why we need to base our conduct on these values, and how we can achieve this. Not only in society, but also in the corporate world, ethics are often linked to rules and regulations. In a growing number of todays organizations we see that ethics are being incorporated in organizations codes of conduct and influence their vision on how best to do business, taking the world at large as its rationale. A large company like Shell B.V. for example recognizes trust as a key condition to success, and focuses on evolvement, participation, and transparency, in order to engage people.22 This approach is however still largely focused on relationships with their business partners, suppliers, host countries, etc., and only to a very limited extent incorporated into the internal part of the company; the workplace of their own people. I must say that this is being recognized by Shell itself as well and they are trying to change this, but this takes time. What I consider to be a problem in the rationale of many companies that are using ethics in their businesses, is that to a large extent this is founded on politics. What I mean is that due to the changes that have been taking place in the corporate environment, companies and their activities are being monitored by the world at large. Today not only some environmental movements, political parties, NGOs, interest groups and a small amount of other kinds of stakeholders keep an eye on the policies of todays companies, but we all are starting to care, at least to a certain extend. We care about how companies do business, and the effect it has on the environment and employees. This has resulted in a growing number of companies who are saying that now they are directing their business activities towards sustainable development and socially responsible entrepreneurship.

21

Meijer, L. (2003) Ethiek in het bedrijfsleven, paper for the management course Personeel & Organisatie as part of the Praktijkstudie Management, Leiden University, inleiding 22 From a guest lecture given by Monique de Wit, Advisor Social Performance, Social Performance Management Unit, Shell International B.V., for the course Personeel & Organisatie at Leiden University, and personal conversation, March 25th 2004

17

The question remains if they are restructuring their enterprises, and are starting to incorporate ethics in their codes of conduct because they know it is the (only) right thing to do, or that they act out of compliance, fearing condemnation by society. We need to understand the larger context, which is usually not provided by simply an ethical approach to life, or in this case, business, since people cannot be made ethical by force, it is a choice. Spirituality however, tends to go beyond promoting ethical behaviour, since it emphasizes the importance of gaining insight into this larger context of life in order to transform ourselves and the way we choose to live, which will naturally result in a wish to act ethically. We not only need to begin to improve our ways of conduct (act right), but should also contemplate on what actually is good conduct and why it is needed (right act). Expressed simply, we might say that ethics is about doing the right things, while spirituality is about doing the right things right. (I have a strong feeling that someone else has thought this saying up before me, but I cannot remember who it was. I hope I have expressed it the right way.) I want to make clear that although ethics and spirituality are in my opinion not the same, the values that constitute the core of ethics are still a very important and integral aspect of spirituality, especially when introduced in the workplace, because they are very concrete and workable, and are a condition for improving relationships at work, as well as business conduct in general.

1.5 Expressions of spirituality

Before concluding this section on defining spirituality, and moving on to the next section on kindred leadership characteristics and aspects, in relation to spiritual-based leadership, I briefly want to talk about what I call expressions of spirituality. Some have already been mentioned briefly in the course of this section, among them the attributes underlying ethics, like respect, wisdom, compassion and forgiveness, trustworthiness and justice, but also principles like co-operation and partnership, consultation, flexibility, voluntary sharing. Others however have not been mentioned at all yet, since they are of a different order, and I feel I should since I believe they are important too and shouldnt be overlooked. I consider creativity first of all as one of the most important expressions of spirituality. It is well known in organization theory that creativity is of key importance to for example teamwork, and product innovation projects. Besides that is creativity at the core of who we are as human beings. We are an inventive and exploring species, constantly searching for new ways to get a grip at the world around us, break out of habits, enhance our productivity, improve our standards of living, (inter-) act, think, etc. We know that creativity can lead to new discoveries and therefore try to use it consciously, especially in organizations. Since creativity is a part of our being, it is besides useful, also healthy because it is a natural way of ventilating our ideas and emotions. If we consciously suppress our own creativity or that of others we become frustrated and unhappy. Our creative energy cannot flow. When we can express our creativity at work this will positively enhance our overall productivity, motivation, and work experience. This is above all recognized in a spiritual approach to work since this advocates a holistic approach to life. Spirituality will foster the conditions needed to express our creativity.

Another important expression of spirituality that is closely linked to my description of creativity, and might be seen as a result of creative processes in our ways of thinking, is vision.

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We all know that vision is indispensable when trying to determine the right direction, whether in life or businesses. Vision enables us to prepare ourselves for the uncertainty of the future, to the best of our abilities. People with vision are usually able to envision the possibilities that are at hand or that can be developed; to see what is best needed, based on the current circumstances, for a time beyond where we are now. Some might think that people with vision are rare, but the beauty is (or at least in my opinion), that vision is possible for all of us as long as we are able nd willing to develop a broad perspective, use visualization (as a way of thinking), trust in our own abilities, question the standards, and be in touch with our self and our surrounding. Besides knowledge, there must be a strong wish to Know and to See. Of course there will always be people who are better tuned for developing vision then others, and are more likely to acquire vision, but in our essence we are all a mine rich in gems of inestimable value.23 I furthermore consider authenticity as an important expression of spirituality, because when we are able to be in touch with our Self, for example through meditation, and we are learning more about who we are and who we want to be, what our personal needs are, in order to make a constructive contribution to the world we live in, and we dont need to pretend to be someone were not, both fooling our self and the people in our surrounding, we can exhibit the best of our being. Greater authenticity will contribute to our life experiences because it releases positive energy, and will provide us with a sense of joy, contentment, enlightenment, etc. As a result we will be more likely to actually enjoy our work activities and less likely to be consumed by stress. A spiritual approach to life and work, as has been described earlier, will foster authenticity in people. These expressions can best become manifest in the workplace when they are employed in an honest, unbiased way without any hidden agendas, and can result in very positive and constructive energies of actions that will benefit both the employees of an organization as well as the organization as a whole.

23

Bahullh, Gleanings from the writings of Bahullh, 259

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Chapter Two: Steppingstones towards the development of spiritual-based leadership

2.1 Introduction
In the previous section the broad concept of spirituality has been discussed quite extensively. Now it is time to look at what kind of leadership might be needed to implement a spiritual approach to work, in the workplace. How can business leaders help to build visionary companies, which are principle-centered and self-sustaining [spiritual] enterprises, aimed at creating instruments for improving the quality of human life, for nurturing our spiritual natures and for attracting people to investigate the underlying principles of [such] distinctive enterprises?24 It is well known that the concept of business leadership has always been and still is, an important and broad field in organizational theory that keeps changing and evolving as we speak. Especially in the last decennias several new types of leadership came into existence. Generally speaking all of those new leadership styles incorporate a more humanistic approach towards employees, who we have come to see as human capital or assets. Well-functioning employees are the key to a successful enterprise. People need to be empowered and inspired, and be enabled to grow and develop their competencies in the workplace. Therefore business leaders have to adopt new roles in order to be able to guide employees to the best of their abilities, and to create an environment that fosters the learning and development of employees as well as that of the entire organization. Leaders usually exhibit a great influence on the people they work with, and their behaviour and activities are often gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Therefore leaders have to be very aware of how they lead and make sure that there exists a unity between their thoughts, words, and deeds. Leading by example has a huge affect on people and is often most effective for achieving (ones) objectives. Besides the evolvement of several new types of leadership, some of which could be considered as steppingstones for the development of spiritual-based leadership, there are also signs that the context of leadership at large is being reviewed and redefined. This section means to look at prevailing leadership aspects in todays business that could be seen as kindred to the concept of what could be spiritual-based leadership, and that would assist in the development of spiritual-based leadership, as well as to the changing context for business leadership. Below I will first discuss the ideas of William and Debra Miller who consider spirituality to be the emerging context for business leadership. They are an American couple who founded the nonprofit Global Dharma Center in India, and who dedicate their lives to the promotion of spiritualbased leadership. Besides writing a great number of articles on the subject, they have also

24

Brown, D. (2002) To build anew, Creating Bah-inspired enterprises: Principle-centered ~ Self-sustaining, 199

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launched an international research program on spiritual-based leadership, which will be further discussed in chapter 3. Secondly I will briefly discuss some basic characteristics of some of these new leadership styles, to finally conclude with a discussion of the ideas of Christopher Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal, and Peter Senge, who are up to this day all considered as leading and influential researchers in the field of organization and leadership, on new roles for business leaders.

2.2 The emerging context for business leadership

In their article Spirituality: The Emerging Context for Business Leadership, William and Debra Miller distinguish four distinct contexts for business leadership which they say have emerged in the West over the last 100 years: paternal-mechanistic (now in its decline), humanistic (now in its prime), holistic (now in its development), and spiritual-based (now emerging).25 Each context represents a fundamental change in how we view the nature of business leadership.26 According to them each contexts is now in varying stages of maturity and has its own influences from science and from either psychology or spirituality. Each measures leadership success by its own view of the purpose of business and leadership, and each operates by its own understanding of how to lead and manage people.27 Within a company, different leaders might operate from any one of these four contexts, and any single leader might operate from a blend of contexts, especially if he or she is in transition in their view of leadership. Thus, they all currently co-exist in todays business world.28 They explain their approach by saying: One way of understanding the core process of business is to view it as the conversion of matter, energy, and knowledge into useful products and services for customers through the power of mind and spirit- where spirit connotes courage, enthusiasm, meaningfulness, and transcendence. Therefore, business has a special affinity to three fields of study: science (matter and energy), psychology (knowledge and mind), and spirituality (spirit). We have chosen to focus on the influence these three disciplines have had, from among all those that can create a context for business leadership.29 For the characterization of the different contexts Miller and Miller make use of metaphors since they capture the essence of a context most powerfully. In the first three contexts of business leadership, the main metaphor for business evolved from military machine to sports team to community. All of them focused on our relationship with creation.30 By 2000, business leadership was primarily a mixture of these three contexts described above. Yet another view of the nature of business leadership has begun to emerge, one that offers us an opportunity to return to the true roots of our human nature.31 A provisional metaphor to describe the emerging spiritual context by is therefore: watering the spiritual roots, since this is one metaphor that brings the spiritual-based context to life.32 In order to come to a better understanding of the development towards the emerging of a spiritual-based context for business leadership described by Miller and Miller, I will now first include an abstract of the main characteristics of the first three contexts of business leadership as described by them in their article.

25 26

Miller, W.C. and D.R. Miller (2002) Spirituality: The Emerging Context for Business Leadership, 1-2 Ibid, 2 27 Ibid, 1 28 Ibid, 2 29 Ibid 30 Ibid, 23 31 Ibid, 10 32 Ibid, 23

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The Paternal-Mechanistic Context This context for business leadership arose at the turn of the 20th century, dominated leadership thinking well into the 1960s, and still continues to dominate in some circles today.(Miller and Miller, 2002, 5) Influences from Science and Psychology on this context mainly came from the ideas of thinkers such as Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Robert Malthus, Adam Smith, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner and Frederick Taylor (Ibid, 3), who all had a great impact on the interpretation of important business concepts such as the purpose of business and leadership and the leading and managing of people in those days, which are reflected in the following characteristics of those concepts: Purpose of Business and Leadership: Purpose of Business: Wealth and power for owners, shareholders. Measures of Success: Financial-profit maximization. Leadership Metaphors: Military Machine. Leadership Style: Command and convince. (Ibid, 17) Leading and Managing People: Nature of Man: Needs to be controlled. Motivation: Extrinsic; carrot and stick. Managing People: Give structure and roles. People are interchange-able [sic] parts; jobs based on talent/ skills fitting into organizations needs. (Ibid, 18) According to Miller and Miller each context has its Wisdom and Limitations that we should acknowledge and probably use as a lesson. In this context we could acknowledge as the wisdom: 1. Honoring the experience and wisdom of those who have paved the way before us and 2. Using resources efficiently. The two limitations we can acknowledge in contrast are: 1. Discounting the inherent capability and motivation of man to do good and be good, and 2. Believing that life (including people and nature) could and should be used and controlled for achieving ones own (self-centred) goals. (Ibid, 5) The Humanistic Context: This context first gained momentum in the 1950s and 60s, and became the norm of many major corporations by the 1980s. (Ibid, 7) Influences from Science and Psychology came especially from the ideas expressed in the writings of people like Albert Einstein, Frederick Nietzsche, Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, Abraham Maslow and Edward Deming. (Ibid, 5-6) Their ideas greatly influenced the shaping of many business concepts in those days (and still), as can be seen in the characteristics mentioned below. Purpose of Business and Leadership: Purpose of Business: Wealth and power with dignity for owners, shareholders, and employees. Measures of Success: Financial, Employee Surveys (100 Best Companies to Work For). Leadership Metaphors: Sports Team Family. Leadership Style: Participative empowerment. (Ibid, 17) Leading and Managing People: Nature of Man: Willing to do good, be good. Motivation: Needs (find a need and fill it). Managing People: Give structure and roles. People are unique; build jobs around talents as much as fit talent to jobs. (Ibid, 18)

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Acknowledged Wisdom and Limitations: Wisdom: 1. Recognizing the essential goodness and work ethic of people, and 2. Providing opportunities for individuals to actualise their potential, which includes selfactualisation as well as work abilities and aspirations. Limitations: 1. Focusing on needs, where motivation occurs when something is perceived as missing, and 2. Focusing on individualism, where the win-win solutions are between individual interests, and do not necessarily include the interests of the company or the interest of society. (Ibid, 7) The Holistic Context: This context was first voiced in the late 1960s and gained momentum in the 1980s and 90s. It has yet to emerge as the norm of major corporations, but there are signs of its increasing strength, such as the momentum of corporate social responsibility. (Ibid, 10) Here the Influences from Science and Psychology on this context comes primarily from the ideas of people such as Niels Bohr, Heisenberg, Ilya Prigogine, Francisco Varela, Humberto Maturana, Carl Jung, Stephen Covey and Peter Block. (Ibid, 8) Their ideas are resonated in the description of the characteristics of the business concepts found below. Purpose of Business and Leadership: Purpose of Business: Wealth with accountability to all stakeholders. Measures of Success: Triple Bottom Line: Financial, Social, Environmental. Leadership Metaphors: Ecology Community. Leadership Style: Stewardship. (Ibid, 17) Leading and Managing People: Nature of Man: Inter-dependent and self-organizing. Motivation: Moved by holistic principles for good of self and society. Managing People: People are key asset and resource; have them self-define their roles; great flexibility in job definition. (Ibid, 18) Acknowledged Wisdom and Limitations: Wisdom: 1. Recognizing the interconnectivity of people, nature, and business enterprises, and 2. Emphasizing the holistic nature of values and principles from which to operate harmoniously and creatively. Limitations: 1. Basing motivation primarily on self-focused achievement, even as it might benefit the larger whole, and 2. Focusing personal and business goals only on having a better in-this-world life, rather than taking into consideration the spiritual life that is both in this world and transcends it. (Ibid, 10) The Spiritual-based context: This context is just beginning to emerge and therefore it is hard to make conclusive statements yet about how this context will be perceived in the corporate world. Miller and Miller define spirituality by drawing from the roots of spirit33 as: the act or state of relating to the Source of creation and the essential nature of life, both physical and transcendent. 34 They say that at this time, we would best describe spiritual-based business leaders as those who have a
33 34

See p. 14 of this paper Miller and Miller (2002), 11

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consciously held view of life and may be expressing it in their leadership in one of the following ways: 1. They are taking their first steps to bring their spiritual view of life into their leadership 2. They are integrating their spiritual view of life with their leadership more fully 3. They are consciously leading from their spiritual view of life.35 On the subject of the convergence of science and spirituality Miller and Miller explain that the previous three contexts for business leadership were influenced by the powerful mind-sets of science and psychology. During the centuries of mechanistic, deterministic science, belief in and reliance on a God-focused religion declined; the age-old basis for defining a meaningful life began to dissolve. It was only natural for the field of psychology to emerge in the 20th century as a substitute for religion in teaching people what it meant to be human in the cosmos. As science uncovered new understandings of evolution, physics, and systems-theory, a new seed of spirituality slowly began to sprout. It is this seed of spirituality that has converged with science to birth this spiritual context, particularly through the work of spiritual-based scientists such as Teilhard de Chardin36 and consciousness-based physicists such as David Bohm37. Add the insights of Fritjof Capra38 and others about systems sciences and ancient spiritual texts, and you can begin to see a rich tapestry unfold39 The works of scientists such as Chardin and Bohm present us with the picture that all of creation is sourced from, and a reflection of, a single, omnipresent field of energy/consciousness.40 On the subject of the purpose of business and leadership Miller and Miller say that in the first three contexts, if spirituality is considered at all, it is usually as one of many aspects of life If life were a pie, spirituality would be one slice of the pie. In this fourth context, spirituality is the pie itself. All other aspects of life like work, family, leisure, and health are all slices of spirituality and gain their meaning from a spiritual context- including business. The spiritual-based context transforms the nature of business itself- so that the primary purpose of business and leadership is spiritual fulfillment and service to society, where both are motivated from the Source of creation. Wealth creation is no longer the goal; it becomes a means for enabling and sustaining this purpose. Business leaders promote the spiritual fulfillment of everyone touched by the business. 41 The essential aspects of what they call the Purpose of Business and Leadership can in this context be summed up as follows: Purpose of Business: Spiritual fulfillment and service to society that is motivated from the Source of creation. Measures of Success: Purity and unity of thought, word, and deed (reflected in external measures). Leadership Metaphors: Watering the spiritual roots. Leadership Style: Radiating spiritual qualities. (Ibid, 17) On the subject of leading and managing people Miller and Miller say that from a spiritual point of view, the difference in motivation, jobs, and careers, can perhaps best be understood through the Sanskrit word dharma, which means acting in accord with our essential nature and
35 36

Ibid King, Ursula (1996) Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teihard de Chardin. New York: Orbis Books, in Miller and Miller (2002), 26 37 Bohm, David (1995) Wholeness and the Implicate Order. London: Routledge, in Miller and Miller (2002), 26 38 Capra, Fritzof [sic] (1988) The Turning Point: Science, Society, and The Rising Culture. New York: Bantam Doubleday, in Miller and Miller (2002), 26 39 Miller and Miller (2002), 12 40 Ibid, 13 41 Ibid, 14

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purpose. [As a result] jobs and career paths are based on having people follow and fufill their dharma.42

Leading and Managing People: Nature of Man: Same energy/consciousness as Creator. Motivation: Work as worship, fulfilling ones dharma, spiritual character. Managing People: People are spiritual in nature; enable them to follow their dharma and express their spiritual purpose. (Ibid, 18) Taking a glimpse into the future, Miller and Miller believe, among other things, that by consulting the spiritual traditions and what they say about the evolution of spiritual wisdom and practice, as it relates to our age-old relationship with our Creator, we can discover the stages of spiritual growth a leader may go through in this spiritual-based context: Stage 1: Being a servant of the Creator In this stage, leaders feel they are in relationship with a Creator that is out there somewhere. They emphasize doing good works, living in harmony with creation, and understanding and applying the will of this Creator in their lives. They begin to purify their thoughts, words, and deeds. This stage gives an expanded meaning to the term, servant leadership. Stage 2: Being in the family of the Creator In this stage, leaders feel a kinship with the Creator, such that they are in the family and have a right to ask for and expect the Creators blessings in their lives. They develop a reverence for all life, begin to co-create with the Creator, and continue to weaken the ego-driven desires of a separate individual reality. This stage may be termed kindred leadership as it implies that we are all from a common heritage. Stage 3: Being in union with the Creator In this stage, leaders blossom their kinship with the Creator into an awareness that we are one and the same a recognition that they came from the Creator and will return to the Creator. At this point, they begin to experience Oneness with both Creator and creation. This stage may be termed source leadership as they become one with the generative force of creation.43 They reason that as business leaders follow their own spiritual path, and proceed through stages of growth such as these, it is only natural to expect that the practices of the businesses they lead will mirror their personal evolution.44 Concerning the future purpose of business and leadership Miller and Miller say that leaders identify with and communicate the spiritual context of their business, while still fully aware of and operating from their own. They design their organizational charter as an enlightening metaphor that gives feeling and substance to the essence of their spiritual context.45 As far as their ideas on the future of leading and managing people they say in summary, spiritualbased business leaders see the workplace as a prime setting where people can realize their highest spiritual potential that of union with the Creator and creation. They transform work into worship and make it a vital, principle aspect of each persons spiritual growth.46

42 43

Ibid, 16 Ibid, 19-20 44 Ibid, 20 45 Ibid, 21 46 Ibid, 22

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The approach of William and Debra Miller towards spirituality as the emerging context of business leadership, and their interpretation of its essence is of course just one of many possible points of view on the subject. The way they state their ideas is however quite clear and provides a lucid basis for one who agrees with their interpretation, to evolve from and help shape their own thoughts on the subject. Although I agree with many of their ideas, I must remark that because of the fact that they constantly focus on the ever-present connection between subject and Creator, as well as between subject and creation, and portray this as the ultimate goal of, and the condition for (a) spiritualbased leader(ship), this tends to be over-emphasized in my opinion, as a result of which people who at first might be appealed by the idea of leading from a spiritual basis, but who are not ready (yet) to accept this strong connection, or who simply have a different view on the concept of spirituality, can be put off. I believe this cannot be anyones intention. Therefore it might be wise to keep this in mind when introducing the idea of a spiritual context for business leadership to a general audience. I furthermore believe that we should be cautious in relation to the way we portray spiritual-based business leaders. Sometimes the impression can be created that they should be placed on some sort of pedestal because they can show forth such wonderful qualities, as a result creating an unequal distance between the leader and his followers. In my opinion any leader, and especially one who leads from a spiritual basis, should give a good example to those he leads within a certain context (e.g. business); he or she should inspire and empower others to lead their lives and perform their work activities from a spiritual basis, in order to become the best they can be; to exhibit selfleadership. In my humble opinion only the Manifestations of God and those they appoint directly are the true Exemplars for humanity, all the rest of us can help one another out on our road through life. Some are better able to live an exemplary life than others, but humility is an important value and principle that especially leaders should keep in mind.

2.3 New leadership styles

When we talk about the subject of leadership it must be clear how we define a leader. To give a general description of a business leader needed for todays corporate world, I would say (as a working definition) that this leader should be a person who has a clear vision about the purpose and the direction of the organization, and is able to communicate and exemplify the governing principles of the organization to all its stakeholders in an inspiring and effective manner. In todays corporate world we can distinct various leadership styles, which are often bound to the character and personal style of a specific leader. Leadership styles can diverge from being essentially authoritative, autocratic, transactional, or task-oriented on one end, to participative, transformational, charismatic, situational, or relationship-oriented on the other end, and several related styles in between. The former styles are generally seen as the old (consolidating) leadership styles, meaning that in todays world, these styles are no longer seen as the most desirable and effective leadership styles for the development of organizations and their employees. It is however not said that therefore these styles have become needless, but people must realize that these styles generally put more emphasis on control and mastery of the corporate processes and tasks. These styles are therefore often associated with managers. The latter styles are however by many seen as the new (rejuvenating) leadership styles of today and tomorrow, able to lead organizations and their employees into a new era of business. Below I will give a dense description of some of those new leadership styles, since they might be considered as useful steppingstones towards the development of spiritual-based leadership.
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Principle-centered leadership47 is aimed at achieving meaningful change in our personal lives and in our organisations. If four interdependent sources of strength -security, guidance, power, and wisdom-that shape our lives, are embedded in principle-centered living they create the great force of a noble personality, a balanced character, a beautifully integrated individual. If these sources are According to Covey, principle-centred leadership is practised at four levels personal, inter-personal, managerial, and organisational-, all of which are interdependent. Covey has isolated eight discernible characteristics of people who are principle centred leaders. They are continually learning; they are service oriented; they radiate positive energy; they believe in other people; they lead balanced lives; they see life as an adventure; they are synergistic; and they exercise for self-renewal.48 Servant leadership49 is a type of leadership where the single most important quality of the leader is the desire to serve- even before the desire to be a leader. Servant first leaders are other oriented, thinking first about what they can do to contribute to the welfare, growth, and opportunities of others. Serving others, including employees, customers, and community is considered to be the number one priority. They live their lives consciously and deliberately- in part because they build habits and practices which enable them to be authentic- with themselves and in their interactions with all of those around them: personally, socially and in business. Servant leaders develop a practice of self-awareness and they have a sustaining spirit. They are always searching, listening, expecting that there is a better way, and inspiring their followers to discover it and create it. Servant leaders inspire trust and confidence in others and faith in their vision, goal or direction. They have the ability to do this because of their confidence in their values and their own competence.50 Stewardship51 is a kind of leadership where the leader chooses service over self-interest in order to build the capacity of the next generation to govern themselves. The word stewardship seems to replace the word leadership to communicate its focus on the next generation as well as to unhook us from tacit assumptions about control and compliance that are embedded in our personal definitions of leadership. Key principles of this leadership style are redistribution of power and rewards within our institutions. Stewardship challenges us to practice our democratic values in the context of our large institutions.52 Moral leadership53 is a type of leadership where leadership should mean a set of values dedicated to promoting human development for the common good of people in a democratic environment, both at the national and international levels.54 Values-based leadership55 is a type of leadership that aims at rebuilding an organisation round a core of ethical and social responsible values, and often constitutes as a basis for other new leadership styles. Participative (or democratic) leadership56 stands opposite to autocratic leadership and supports a situation in which the executive limits himself to formulating the preconditions to
See for further reading, e.g., Covey, S.R. (1992) Principle centered leadership, Fireside Publ. Hollingworth, J. (1997) review on Covey (1992), [on-line] http://www.leadershipvictoria.org/resources/reviews/review_principlecentered.htm 49 See for further reading, e.g., Greenleaf, R.K., edited by Frick D.M. and L.C. Spears (1996) On becoming a servant leader, Jossey-Bass Publ. 50 Jourdain, K. (2002) Servant leadership, A different way to lead, in: Business Voice (January/February) 51 See for further reading, e.g., Block, P. (1993) Stewardship, Putting service ahead of self-interest, Berrett-Koehler Publ., paperback 52 McCollum, J. (1994), review on Block (1993), [on-line] http://www.ittheory.com/block2.htm 53 See for further reading, e.g., Safty, A. (2003) Leadership, Beyond management and governance, Harvard International Review 25, no. 3 (Fall), 84-89 54 Harvard International Review, Safty (2003) [on-line] http://hir.harvard.edu/articles/index.html?id=1165&page=2 55 See for further reading, e.g., Barrett, R. (1998) Liberating the corporate soul, Building a visionary organization, Butterworth Heinemann Publ. 56 See for further reading, e.g.: Zoglio, S. (1995) The participative leader, McGraw-Hill Publ., paperback
48 47

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which decisions have to comply. The role of the leader is primarily supportive and facilitative, so that employees are able to fully develop themselves. In most cases of participation there will evolve a certain form of say for employees, meaning that they will be given a certain amount of power/ influence, for example in situations of decision making. At the foundation of participative leadership there can be many motives. For executives this type of leadership will primarily be a way of striving for the betterment of efficiency and the increase of motivation of employees. This approach furthermore enables the executive to provide himself with all possible sources of information, within the organization, to help him make the right decisions. The importance of participation for the employees can be the greater possibility to develop their talents as well as in the deployment of knowledge and skills. This can also lead to a greater visibility of the results of their own work. Relationship-oriented leadership (also called employee-centered)57 as opposed to taskoriented leadership- is a style that is concerned with maintaining the interpersonal relations by taking into account the moral and well being of others. Here the performing of a task comes second to the well being of the employee who has to perform this task. The basic assumption is that if the employee feels good, he is automatically better capable of performing his tasks. Transformational leadership58 stands in contrast with transactional leadership. We can speak of transformational leadership when a leader is capable of broadening and strengthening the needs of the employees, and is also able to direct these towards the objectives of the group and the organization. The stirring vision of the leader takes a central place. A transformational leader displays confidence, both in himself as well as his employees, has high demands concerning his own and others performances, behaves in a creative and innovative manner, formulates goals and tasks in idealistic terms, and displays a strong sense of involvement and belief. These leaders often exhibit a great deal of optimism and trust in achieving the objectives, and are very sympathetic towards the employees. Charismatic leadership59 is closely related to transformational leadership and both terms are often used interchangeably. Charismatic leadership involves the ability to enthuse others for a certain vision, which results in their commitment towards delivering extraordinary performances, such that rise above the level of that which normally can be expected, as well as voluntary placing the self-interest secondary to that of the mission of the organization. These types of leaders are expressive, have a strong feeling for drama, and can function very well in a crisis situation. However, if these leaders dont ensure that people actually achieve, certain (promised) advantages, their charisma is likely to diminish or even disappear completely. Situational leadership60 is a type of leadership that originated as a reaction to the many different leadership styles that exist in todays business. Situational leadership is based on the idea that there is no one best way of leadership. The critique on the style approach towards leadership aims primarily at the lack of attention paid to the situation in which the directing occurs. The effectiveness of leadership, so is being argued, mainly depends on a combination of both style and qualities of a leader and certain (undetermined) situational circumstances. The optimal leader will constantly adjust the applied leadership style to the present situation.61 When I was reading about these different styles of leadership, I came across some interesting remarks by Block on power and by Burns on values, in relation to leadership, which I
57 58

Ibid, Schuster, F.E. (1998) Employee-centered management, Quorum Books Ibid, Burns, J.M. (1978) Leadership, Harper and Row 59 Ibid, Avolio, B.J. and F.J. Yammarino (2002) Transformational and charismatic leadership, JAI Press 60 Ibid, Blanchard, K. and P. Zigarmi (1999) Leadership and the one minute manager, Increasing effectiveness through situational leadership, William Morrow Publ. 61 Van Maarschalkerweerd, J. (2003) Leiderschap in de 21e eeuw, 5-6

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believe can apply to the concept of spiritual-based leadership as well, therefore I will mention them here briefly. Block (1993), talks about what people seek in leaders. He writes: Our search for strong leadership in others expresses a desire for others to assume the ownership and responsibility for our group, our organization, our society. The effect is to localize power, purpose and privilege in the one we call leader. There are those who are willing to take control. What results is a contract in which we give loyalty and compliance in exchange for the illusion of safety and security. What is required is a new contract characterized by balance of power, commitment to the larger community, each person taking responsibility for defining purpose and equitable distribution of rewards. When stewards create this kind of organization, authentic service is experienced. Partnership replaces patriarchy. He further says that stewardship has both an emotional and a technical component. The trail to stewardship, Block asserts, is inside out. Creating partnership in a work setting is a shift in beliefs and a personal shift in the way we make contact with those in power. And with those we have power over. These are issues for the artist in us to revisit. We have to confront the wish for dependency and dominance in ourselves and in others. The technical component deals with the architecture of our organizations.62 Burns (1978) talks in relation to transformational leadership, about the importance of principles and values. He says: Principles are timeless, while, the models that examine those principles may change. The transformational model offers one of many good ways to examine leadership and the type of leader, and follower, who are ideally suited for todays and tomorrows strategic environment. He further insists that for leaders to have the greatest impact on the led, they must motivate followers to action by appealing to shared values and by satisfying the higher order needs of the led, such as their aspirations and expectations. He said: transforming leadership ultimately becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both leader and the led, and thus it has a transforming effect on both.63 In general we might conclude from the description of all these different leadership styles mentioned in this section, that certain aspects reoccur in different styles and that some of them obviously blend with one another in their overall focus. It seems to be clear that values and principles play an important role, as well as servitude to the vision of the organization, but most of all to the employees and other stakeholders. Some might say that many of these new leadership characteristics can be classified as female-based, because generally speaking women are more inclined to fall back on values and principles that serve the greater whole than men, they are often less egocentric, and tend to rely more on their intuition. Thinking back of the section on defining spirituality, it is quite clear that these aspects mentioned above will also play an important role in what could be spiritual-based leadership. But before finally discussing the subject of spiritualbased leadership, where I will try to define some sort of basic profile of a spiritual-based leader, I will take a look at new leadership roles.

62 63

Block, P. (1993) Stewardship, [on-line] http://www.ittheory.com/block2.htm Burns, J.M. (1978) Leadership, [on-line] http://leadership.au.af.mil/document/homrig.htm

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2.4 New leadership roles

In the benevolent, high-growth environment post WW II, strategy, structure, and systems offered much-needed discipline, focus and control. In todays economic environment overcapacity and intense competition are the norm in most global businesses. The lines separating businesses blur as technologies and market coverage create new growth opportunities where traditional businesses intersect. The scarcest corporate resources are less often financial funds that top management control, than the knowledge and expertise of the people on the front lines.64 This description clarifies the context for the basis of the five years research conducted by Bartlett and Ghoshal in which they studied 20 large, vigorous European, US, and Japanese companies. They looked at how these companies dealt with these and other challenges that face companies in todays business environment. There already have been many prescriptions made by analysts for these challenges, such as a focus on strategic intent, inverting the organizational pyramid, corporate re-engineering, employee empowerment, etc. but in their article The Changing Role of Top Management 65 Bartlett and Ghoshal contend however that such prescriptions address only the artefacts of the problems and not their causes. What is required, they say, is a fundamental change in management doctrine. Their research findings show that although the strategies, structures, and systems of the companies studied had little in common, their leaders shared a surprisingly consistent philosophy: -They place less emphasis on following a clear strategic plan than building a rich, engaging corporate purpose. -They focus less on formal structural design and more on effective management processes. -They are less concerned with controlling employees behaviour than with developing their capabilities and broadening their perspectives. In The Changing Role of Top Management Bartlett and Ghoshal introduce as a result of their research findings their theory of the 3P-paradigm, which stands for purpose, process and people. This model will help facilitate the necessary changes that a companies top management will have to submit themselves to in order to be able to cope with the challenges that face them. With this new paradigm Bartlett and Ghoshal have moved beyond the old doctrine of strategy, structure and systems to a softer, more organic model built on the development of purpose, process and people (strategy purpose, structure process, and systems people). Below I will include only an abstract of the theory of the 3P-paradigm because it is not my intent to further elaborate on this topic but I do want to give an impression of the vision and approach of Bartlett and Ghoshal to the (necessary) leadership roles needed for todays business environment, because their ideas might also function as useful steppingstones for the development of spiritual-based leadership. Moving beyond strategy to purpose: Top management should focus on the development of an emerging corporate purpose as a broader context within which to embed strategy. The general aim is to change the organization from an
64

This description, and the section below on the ideas of Bartlett and Ghoshal on leadership roles, is largely taken from the executive summary handout on this subject that was provided by professor Gilbert Lenssen during class in 2003, Leiden University. 65 Bartlett, C.A., and Ghoshal, S. (1994) The Changing Role of Top Management, in: Harvard Business Review (Dec.)

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economic entity into a social institution. To achieve this shift from strategy to purpose there first of all must be an emphasis on embedding corporate ambition. Only by formulating common goals can employees be truly involved in the purpose of the organization. Important issues are capturing employees attention and interest, getting the (entire) organization involved, and creating momentum by tangible commitments and actions. Furthermore there must be an alignment created between employee and company beliefs, and loyalty to shared values. In short: instilling organizational values by building core values, sowing the message throughout the organization, and by measuring the progress made. Concluding, there should also be an emphasis on creating a sense of fulfilment, where employees go from feeling they work for a company to recognising they belong to an organization. In other words: giving meaning to employees work. Important issues here are recognising individual accomplishments, commitment to developing employees, and fostering individual initiative. Moving beyond structure to processes: It is important to realize that structure is only of some importance and certainly provides no guaranteed solution for the problems facing an organization that is in the process of renewing itself. Structure basically is the framework in which companies can develop their organizational processes. The essential idea behind the movement from structure to process is the movement away from structuring tasks towards shaping behaviours. From a doctrine of allocating resources, assigning responsibilities and controlling their effective management to shaping behaviours and creating an environment for initiative, co-operation and learning. An individualized corporation 66 as Bartlett and Ghoshal call it, consists of three core organizational processes that overlay the structure. The first process is the Entrepreneurial process, which is based on the initiative and creativity of the individual employee. These are frontline bottom up processes based on a belief in the ability of the individual. The workforce is externally orientated and opportunity seeking. The role of the frontline management is transformed from implementer to initiator, where senior management is providing the context. Work is performed in small units with a sense of autonomy, and with services deployed to frontline units. Support and discipline is linked to clear expectations and practices. The second process is the Competency-building process, which is based on sharing competencies and linking them together. In this type of process top management entrusts operating units with the challenge of creating the competencies needed to pursue (entrepreneurial) local opportunities. Its role is limited to seeing that those competencies are shared through crossunit sharing of resources, knowledge, and people. The third process is the Renewal process, which is based on learning and designed to challenge the organizations strategies and the assumptions behind them, resulting in strategies being better regulated, developed and renewed, over and over again. The company stretches itself to become a superior learning organization. Moving beyond systems to people: Managing a company will no longer be primarily based on the idea of controlling systems and information, and production processes. Leadership (and the focus for the top) within the individualized corporation will rather be aimed at the development of resources, knowledge and capabilities of the employees. Several key issues that facilitate the movement from systems to people are: -Setting the direction by deploying key people by reducing reliance on strategic planning systems to influence the organizations direction.

66

For further reading on the concept of the individualized corporation see: Bartlett and Ghoshal (1997) The Individualized Corporation, New York

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-Exerting control through internalised behaviours by developing personal values and interpersonal relationships that encourage self-monitoring. Recognizing the dwindling ability to make good judgements based on abstract and outdated information. Of further importance is organizational transparency- where people understand organizational objectives and measure their own progress, as well as the use of peer review- where those with the most relevant information and expertise engage in the debate on key decisions. Managements role is to create an environment in which managers and employees monitor and correct themselves. -Managing information flows through personal relationships by replacing the dependence on information systems. Personal relationships are more effective in communicating complex information, sensing subtle signals, and transferring embedded knowledge. All of this requires the nurturing of horizontal information flows. -Changing employment contracts; the new world requires an employment contract that provides: Constant interactive processes aimed at consensus, and Opportunities for personal and professional growth. Its the diversity of human skills and the unpredictability of the human spirit that makes possible initiative, creativity, and entrepreneurship. In short: there is a need to make a high quality offer in the people dependent organization. Another approach towards new leadership roles is expressed by Peter Senge in his article The Leaders New Work 67, where he introduces three significant types of leadership roles which operate within the context of the so called learning organization68. Senge starts his introduction of the concept of this new roles by saying that the traditional authoritarian image of the leader as the boss calling the shots has been recognized as oversimplified and inadequate for some time and that in a learning organization, the critical roles of leadership- designer, teacher, and steward- have antecedents in the ways leaders have contributed to building organizations in the past, but that now each role takes on new meaning in the learning organization and demands new skills and tools69. Below I will briefly discuss the three new leadership roles with their main characteristics, and the new skills and tools they demand, as explained by Senge in his article. Leader as Designer: To clarify the role of the leader as designer Senge uses the metaphor of an ocean liner as the image for an organization. The leader of this ship doesnt or shouldnt have the role of the captain, navigator, helmsman, engineer, or social director. While all of these roles are important and legitimate leadership roles, they are not as important as the role of designer of the ship because what good does it do for the captain to say, Turn starboard 30 degrees, when the designer has built a rudder that will only turn to port? It is fruitless to be the leader in an organization that is poorly designed. The functions of design, or what some have called social architecture, are rarely visible; they take place behind the scenes. The first task of organization design concerns designing the governing ideas of purpose, vision, and core values by which people will live. The second design task involves the policies, strategies, and structures that translate guiding ideas into business decisions. The third task consists of creating effective learning processes, which is a key design responsibility in learning organizations. Now (senior) managers are not only responsible for ensuring that an organization has well developed strategies and policies, but also for ensuring that processes exist whereby these are continually improved. Leader as Teacher:
67 68

Senge, P.M. (1990) The Leaders New Work, Building Learning Organizations, in: Sloan Management Review, 32(1) Senge, P.M. (1990) The fifth discipline, The art and practices of the learning organization, London: Random House 69 Senge, (1990) The leaders new work, 10

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Senge explains that the role of leader as teacher is about helping everyone in the organization, one-self included, in order to gain a more insightful view of current reality. This is in line with a popular emerging view of leaders as coaches, guides, or facilitators. It clearly does not mean a leader as an authoritarian expert whose job it is to teach people the correct view of reality. The role of leader as teacher starts with bringing to the surface peoples mental models of important issues. What we carry in our heads are assumptions. These mental pictures of how the world works have a significant influence on how we perceive problems and opportunities, identify courses of action, and make choices. Leaders as teachers help people restructure their views of reality to see beyond the superficial conditions and events into the underlying causes of problems- and therefore to see new possibilities for shaping the future. This approach enhances the learning ability of the employees and in doing so that of the entire organization. Leader as Steward: According to Senge the role of leader as steward is the subtlest role of leadership, and is, unlike the roles of designer and teacher, almost solely a matter of attitude. While stewardship has long been recognized as an aspect of leadership, its source is still not widely understood. Senge quotes Robert Greenleafs explanation of servant leadership in his book Servant Leadership because he believes that Greenleafs argumentation came closest to explaining real stewardship. Greenleaf says: The servant leader is servant first It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. This conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.70 Senge further explains that leaders sense of stewardship operates on two levels: stewardship for the people they lead and stewardship for the larger purpose or mission that underlies the enterprise. The first type arises from a keen appreciation of the impact ones leadership can have on others. People can suffer economically, emotionally, and spiritually under inept leadership. If anything, people in a learning organization are more vulnerable because of their commitment and sense of shared ownership. Appreciating this naturally instills a sense of responsibility in leaders. The second type of stewardship arises from a leaders sense of personal purpose and commitment to the organizations larger mission. The steward realizes that he too is only just a link in the greater context of the entire organization as a whole. In my opinion both Bartlett and Ghoshal, and Senge provide us with very useful insights and tools that can function as a basic concept for reshaping organizations and their leaders worldwide. Their ideas are concrete and provide a lucid rationale. Bartlett and Ghoshal emphasize primarily that instead of focussing on corporate strategy, we should evolve from purpose in which strategy is embedded, and instead of approaching organizations as economic entities, we should treat them as social (or living) institutions. Creating common goals, shared values, and alignment between employee and company beliefs are of key importance for establishing a united vision and purpose, and optimal involvement of all parties. Leaders are responsible for creating an environment for initiative, co-operation, and learning. Senge basically comes to the same conclusion when he explores the new skills and tools that are needed for the new roles of these leaders, and advocates among other things a focus on the social architecture of organizations. Like Bartlett and Ghoshal, he says we should start with developing and formulating a clear purpose, vision, and core values, before translating these guiding ideas into business decisions like policies, strategies, and structures. Leaders basically function as coaches, guides, or facilitators, creating effective learning processes, starting by bringing to the
70

Greenleaf, R.K. (1977) Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, New York, in Senge (1990) The leaders new work, 12

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surface peoples mental models. Their overall attitude can enable them to be stewards or servants of the organization and its employees.

2.5 Profile of a spiritual-based leader

Now that the subjects of spirituality and leadership have been discussed to a certain extent, it is time to finally look at the concept of spiritual-based leadership, and the possible role of a spiritual-based leader. To create some clarity about how I define these concepts, I will start by formulating a working definition of both. Based on my earlier description of spirituality (section 1.2) and of a leader (section 2.3), I would say that a spiritual-based leader is someone who has a spiritual view of life (including our human nature, work, and the purpose of business), and makes a conscious decision to act and lead according to this vision in his or her role as a leader, to the best of his abilities. As a result we could say that spiritual-based leadership is a leadership style in which spiritual-based leaders, in accordance with the organization and its employees, strive to translate a spiritual view of life into instruments (processes, practices, methods, activities, programs, etc.) and behaviour, that honour this vision, and will contribute to the learning and development of the organization and its stakeholders. In order to give a rough sketch of a general profile of a spiritual-based leader and his or her leadership style, I would like to look at what it takes for a leader to be able to manifest the characteristics and expressions of spirituality in the workplace as mentioned earlier in chapter one of this paper. Both for the leader as an individual, in his or her leadership abilities and convictions, as well as in the role of a spiritual-based leader, inspiring and guiding others, these are important issues in my opinion. For me it starts with recognizing that a leader is a person first. Each individual is rationally, intellectually, and emotionally shaped differently and has different beliefs about life and its nature and purpose. For people with a spiritual view of life this is not any different. Each leader has a different character, has different qualities, will have a (slightly) different vision, will use different means to achieve his objectives, etc. Therefore not one single spiritual-based leader will express his spirituality in the same way. Some will use their spirituality mainly as an inner source, inspiring them to be the best person (and leader) they can be, both in their relationships with others, but also in the way they perform their activities. Others might feel able, and have the wish, to consciously express their spirituality in their role as leaders, and will try to inspire others to nurture their own spiritual nature in the way they work, and strive to employ instruments that contribute to this process. In my opinion there exists a difference between these two kinds of spiritual-based leaders, and I wonder if we can (or should) call the former type spiritual-based leadership because this is a person who happens to be a leader, and who allows spirituality to be a(n) (important) part of his (work)life, but doesnt really apply it (yet) in his role as a leader. There are also regular employees who might feel the same way, but simply have a different position within the hierarchy of the organization. Maybe we should say that in this case spirituality is mainly a part of our selfleadership, because it helps to master our lives to the best of our abilities, no matter what position we hold. The latter type of leadership however involves making a conscious choice about our spirituality and the role we allow it to play in our executive leadership. In order to arrive at a point where there exists some consensus in the way we come to view spiritual-based leadership, we should maybe try to give some general examples of what it is that spiritual-based leaders try to do

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and how they can do this, and this is only possible, I think, when considering the latter type, as discussed above. Like I have said earlier, I believe that the way leaders position themselves has a lot to do with the choices they make. But leaders should feel a certain level of confidence when it comes to their own abilities, in order to be able to express their spirituality in their leadership. A lot has in my opinion also to do with attitude, with charisma, with being a living example of what you teach or advocate. So in this type of leadership competencies like knowledge, wisdom, experience, and know-how, are half as important as putting your deeds where your mouth is, which takes guts, faith, trust, but also humility. Of course it often takes wisdom, experience and knowledge to know how to best align your deeds with your words, but there is a difference between the two. The advantage is that if a leader is successful in exhibiting characteristics of spirituality, this will have a huge positive impact on the people he works with, but if there is any discrepancy between his words and his deeds this will not go by unnoticed, and people are likely to count it against him (especially when they dont have a spiritual view of life themselves, or are indifferent to it). The leader is often considered as a role model and this comes with accountability. If a leader however feels as if there is no room left for him to learn, to make mistakes, to grow, to breathe, he sooner or later is likely to stagnate. This is probably one of the worst things that can happen, since spiritual growth is in my opinion all about movement, learning, action, guts, overcoming your anxiety, etc., and nothing is more human than to make mistakes as you go along. A leader that chooses to practice spiritual-based leadership in the workplace, depends to a large extent on his ability to stay in touch with his own spirituality. He therefore has to continue to deepen himself in his own being and keep developing and improving his own spiritual qualities, in order to be able to keep in touch with the feeling it all originates from. It has to come from within. You are only a link in something that is bigger than you; you can connect to it and pass it on, making a small contribution. Besides finding inspiration within themselves, and / or in a Higher Source, spiritual-based leaders can also re-kindle their spiritual fire by working side by side with the next generation; young people who, when in flame themselves about a certain project, can generate a lot of energy and enthusiasm. By being a mentor, or tutor to those kind of young adults, he or she can also re-connect (if necessary) to their own internal flame, and become inspired (again). One of the most important tasks of a spiritual-based leader is in my opinion to create an environment, a culture, in the workplace, where people feel encouraged to learn, to grow, to discover the edges of their abilities, to communicate, to trust, to give each other space, to be creative, to allow yourself and others (including leaders) to make mistakes, etc., in order to arrive at a higher level of insight and wisdom, which will benefit not only yourself, but also those you work (and live) with. Reciprocity. That which you resonate, will find its way back to you. What do you want it to be? No one has ever been able to learn without making mistakes somewhere along the way, so why should this be any different at work? Making mistakes is the way to learn. If we do not make mistakes, we cannot really measure or adjust our behaviour. Why should we associate making mistakes with weakness or inability? Now often mistakes are made because people are ashamed to admit that they dont know what to do or how, they are afraid to ask for help because this will prove their ignorance. This kind of behaviour will only make things worse and might lead to complex or even unsolvable situations. When a leader is able to motivate, stimulate, and empower the people he leads by honouring their spiritual nature, and basing his own actions on spiritual values and principles, he might be able to transform the overall workplace, resulting in a possible transformation of employees work behaviour, and work experience. Besides being an example of their own conviction, leading a positive and active life, rendering service to others in words and deeds, contributing to the spiritual development of others, and creating a positive environment for employees to learn and work in, spiritual-based leaders

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can make sure that the instruments they employ in their role as leaders are also honouring the companies (and their own) values and principles. In order for people to be able to work together, especially when working in teams or units, good communication is of key importance. Most people believe they know how to communicate, but in reality only a few people really know what it takes to converse with each other in a constructive manner. Most people only know how to discuss. There is however a huge difference between a discussion and a consultation. In my opinion an important task of spiritual-based leaders is to make sure that employees learn how to communicate. This not only involves talking, but also listening and sharing. In section 1.4, I have already mentioned briefly the concept of a dialogue according to David Bohm, which in my opinion provides wonderful insights in the way people tend to communicate and how we can adopt new ways of communicating. In short, dialogue involves a stream of meaning between participants, that is creative and which can lead to a new understanding of things; it enables a win-win situation for all participants, we learn to see beyond, and suspend our basic assumptions, where a discussion usually has as its aim to win the game, it often leads to analysing and breaking up (instead of building up from shared opinions), and there is a lack of openness, since all sorts of things are often held to be non-negotiable. A dialogue, which is also very useful in the, often difficult, process of decision-making, in itself provides a huge positive power that enables a real transformation in the way people position, and express themselves, and approach others. As far as the way we learn to learn, there all also quite some (new) things to learn, that will contribute to the overall development of both the organization as a whole, as well as individual employees. Peter Senge, for example, has in my opinion some useful ideas about how to learn and how to develop learning organizations, which are expressed in his book The fifth discipline, The art and practices of the learning organization (1990, Random House). To give a small impression of his ideas I will include a discussion of some basic aspects expressed in his book. According to Senge (1990,3) learning organizations are: organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together. For him, real learning gets to the heart of what it is to be human. We become able to recreate ourselves. This applies to both individuals and organizations. Just to survive is not enough. Survival learning, or what is more often termed adaptive learning is important indeed it is necessary. But for a learning organization, adaptive learning must be joined by generative learning, learning that enhances our capacity to create (Senge 1990, 14). The dimension that distinguishes learning from more traditional organizations is the mastery of certain basic disciplines or component technologies. The five that Peter Senge identifies are said to be converging to innovate learning organizations. They are: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, and team learning. He adds to this recognition that people are agents, able to act upon the structures and systems of which they are part. All the disciplines are, in this way, concerned with a shift of mind from seeing parts to seeing wholes, from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality, from reacting to the present to creating the future (Senge 1990, 71 69). Another aspect of how we can approach learning processes on a deeper level is not to limed ourselves to single loop, or linear learning, which basically is trying to find a better way to do a process, and is comparable to continuous quality improvement. Double loop learning, however, goes a step further and asks why we are doing the process in the first place, and should we be doing something else? But triple loop learning, goes to the core of learning and can be
71

Smith, M.K. (2001) Peter Senge and the learning organization, [on-line] http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm, 3-4

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considered as learning about learning; understanding why we make the choices we do. And asks what predisposes us to act in certain ways.72 The examples mentioned above are only a few of many possible approaches towards the concept of learning, both on an organizational as individual level, but they show an apparent potential, which can be employed by spiritual-based leaders that wish to improve the way their organization and employees learn, and develop themselves. Another instrument spiritual-based leaders can employ in the workplace to improve the work environment of the employees, is to create a space where people can go to re-charge themselves, to come to their senses, to get inspired, to reconnect with themselves and their inner being, to be quiet, to contemplate, to meditate, etc.; to be. This can be a room where people can go in and out, where there is a pleasant and uplifting, serene atmosphere, where there is some nice and calm music at the background, where there is a comfortable place to sit, where there is a nice scent, some candles, some inspirational (religious) scriptures to read from, etc. This is a space where all the senses are moved, and the soul touched. This idea is an existing concept which is called the tranquillity zone, and which has already been explored by some companies on a temporal basis, and received great responses from the executives and employees of these companies.73 The ideas mentioned above are some examples of concepts that I believe are of general importance when trying to improve the overall work environment at the workplace, and in creating a positive culture of learning and personal growth throughout the organization. It is clear however that one can think of many other possibilities in relation to this as well. It is however not my aim here to create an assessment program, or new paradigm, for the introduction of spiritual-based leadership in the workplace, so I will leave it at this. I believe it is clear that a spiritual-based leader has the possibility in his role as a leader to create an environment in the workplace where people can develop themselves through learning at different levels, improve ways of communication, enhance a positive corporate culture based on values and clear principles, improving relationships at work, and with overall stakeholders, resulting in a good reputation, attracting kindred employees and businesses, etc. Apart from being able or not to employ spiritual-based instruments in the workplace, is the leader always able to radiate his spirituality in his day-to-day work activities; leading by example. All of this is likely to have a positive effect on both the leader as a person, and those he leads, but also on the organization as a whole. This relation has already become evident to a certain extent from the above, but I will elaborate on this a little further. A leader usually functions as a medium between (or is a part of) top management and employees at the workplace. In this role he is also able to communicate the specific purpose, values, vision, strategy, etc. of the company to those he works with. He can use his power and influence as a leader to enhance shared purpose, values, vision, strategy, etc., in order to create unity and consensus throughout the company. Not a suffocating, forced, or fake unity, but a unity in diversity, where every individual part is an equally important part of the whole, and has the freedom to be itself and be creative, all working towards the same goal. This will result in employees who are more likely to participate actively and who will support the vision and strategy of the company. In a [consciously] spiritual organization people are much clearer that they are there of their own choosing and that they are masters of their own destiny. People are much less likely to think that they are victims. People tend to treat each experience as an opportunity for personal growth. Thus when they get angry or their ego gets bruised, they are more able to work with those situations in

72 73

Larsen, K. et al (1996) Learning organizations, [on-line] http://home.nycap.rr.com/klarsen/learnorg/, 23-24 As heard from individual Bahis who arranged a tranquillity zone on several occasions for companies in The Netherlands, but also in England and several other countries this concept has been a great success so far.

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constructive ways. Thus a spiritual organization differs from the more ordinary kind in that it has much better self-righting mechanisms.74 When organizations and its leaders are able to foster the learning and spiritual development of both the individual employees, as well as that of the entire organization, the result is likely to be a healthy, self-sustaining, flexible, vital organization, which activities will benefit all of its stakeholders. The general outcome being: simultaneous success in both financial & humanistic realms. Companies and leaders who have the confidence, courage, and vision to exhibit this kind of corporate activities, will set a huge example to the rest of the corporate world that is in need of transformation, based on strong, revitalizing principles, but which often finds itself stuck in its old habits, unable to make real progress. Having said all of this some people might wonder what happened to the up-to-this-day all confining purpose of most companies: making profit, increasing its material resources. The simplest answer would probably be that one could conclude that the priorities of spiritualbased companies have shifted. This however does not imply that these companies dont want to make money anymore, or turn away from making profit, but this has become the means to sustain their businesses, instead of the goal itself. Wealth is a sound, healthy, and prosperous state of well being from which character, health, education, and money are created. When the intentions for creating wealth are aligned with the Source of creation, the resources (time, money, talent, and energy) required to fulfill those intentions will be naturally available.75 Being financially successful as a company should not be achieved at the cost of the wellbeing of others, whether this are other human beings that are exploited for the welfare of some individuals, or the natural resources of our planet. Rather we should devote ourselves to enabling the well-being of the whole, and leave no one behind. Large companies often have an enormous influence on how the world is run, especially today, and they too have the choice how to use their influence, and for what purpose. To conclude this section I finally want to say some things about the misinterpretations and obstacles there can exist in relation to the subject of spirituality in business, and that people could take into account when thinking about the subject. One of the first obstacles spiritual-based leaders can encounter when introducing spirituality in the workplace is the connotation of the word spirituality. People generally dont have any difficulty with using the word spirit in business because something like team spirit is known to and has been experienced by most at some point in their lives or career. They can relate to it. Spirituality however seems to be of a different order. For some, this word somehow creates ambiguity and concerns, and makes them think of religion, or dogma or cult, and wonder why we need to bring something like that into the workplace. Others however might breathe a sigh of relief because they feel they can finally bring the whole of themselves to work. When bringing spirituality into the workplace there are some things we need to keep in mind and be aware and cautious of and that is that we do not mistake, interpreted, or even worse: consciously use, spirituality as a new tool, model, instrument, technique or fad to keep doing what most organizations have always solely aimed at doing and that is to make profit and maximize the return on investments first. This is something that is grinded deep into our beings.

74 75

Ritscher, J.A. (1985) Spirituality in business, 2 Miller and Miller, 2002, 21

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In the words of Peter Senge76: there is a belief in our culture that the purpose of a business is to make money. This perspective is almost universal. He continues by saying that: there is also a story about us individuals- that what we really care about in life is ourselves. What we care about is how much money we make, and how much power we have. This way of thinking and the kind of behaviour that results from it can be explained by realizing that we live in a cultural stream. Senge explains: We are all products of history. We stand in it; it surrounds us. It is in us; it moves through us. And that cultural history speaks loudly and clearly, at least over the last hundred years or more. According to our cultural story, the ultimate goal is to get ahead of others.77 Although it is true that history has a great influence on our current way of living, it is also true that it is possible for us as human beings to create new ways when we come to realize that there is a necessity for change. Senge worries, and I believe rightfully, that spirituality can become the new fad of todays (or tomorrows) business world since according to him we have a nouning culture; we like to make nouns out of dynamic processes. In our culture, particularly our media-oriented culture, this nouning tendency takes phenomena which are living, growing, transient- which is to say, lifeand makes them into things. This is a problem.78 The danger is that a few years down the road we might say, we have done spirituality; now whats next? Since this is what usually happens with fads. Therefore it is very important that when an organization consciously brings spirituality into the workplace, people first of all understand what spirituality is about, what it is aimed at, and what it can do for people and organizations. One can conclude that what is needed is a change of mindset of people, a change in the way people think and act in order to change peoples view of organizations and of the way work is performed. We need the larger context to change. Only than can there occur a real shift in focus and can a transformation in our mindsets take place. Other obstacles one can think of, but which I wont further discuss in this paper, could be for example: political and legal issues, the adversity of certain parts of society towards religion and spirituality, the prevailing culture of many corporate businesses, fear of opening up, fear of material loss and loss of power, etc. Altogether this chapter has reviewed several aspects of leadership that already occur in todays corporate world to a certain extent, and which might help us to develop a picture in our heads about what elements we in addition believe to be of importance for spiritual-based leadership in particular. It seems to be apparent that there are a growing number of people from within the corporate world, who believe that there is a need for a new context for business leadership, including new styles and roles for leaders, in order to retrieve our sense of balance in life, and to develop real, self-sustaining, and responsible companies. Spirituality, they say, can provide the rationale needed for this new approach to the purpose of business, leadership, and the way we work in the workplace. In the final section I have tried to describe several elements that seem to be important for the development of spiritual-based leadership, as well as the possible contribution of spiritual-based leaders to the welfare and progress of both employees, and the organization as a whole.

76

Senge, P.M. (2004) Spirituality in business and life, Asking the right questions, Excerpt, in: Going Public, Spirituality in higher education and the workplace, Peter Lang Publ. 2004, 1, [on-line] http://www.shambhalainstitute .org/Fieldnotes/Issue1/Article_Senge.pdf, html version 77 Ibid, 2 78 Ibid, 1

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Chapter Three: Review of the initial observations from an international research programme on spiritual-based leadership
3.1 Introduction
This final chapter means to look at the initial observations of William Miller and Peter Pruzan from their international research programme on spiritual-based leadership, which are expressed by them in their conference proceeding paper, entitled: New models of leadership, Spiritual-based leadership: A matter of faith and confidence79, in order to get an idea about the way a number of leaders are already expressing their spiritual view of life (and work) in their leadership practices. Before letting the leaders speak themselves in section 3.2, I will provide some background information about this research programme as expressed by the authors themselves in their paper. William, and his wife Debra, Miller are co-founders of the Global Dharma Center in India, and Peter Pruzan is professor emeritus at the Copenhagen Business School. Together with their wives, Debra Miller, and Kirsten Pruzan (a journalist and former newspaper editor), who have participated in conducting and documenting this research, the authors have conducted 28 interviews with executives from all over the world80 on the subject of spiritual-based leadership. These participants are executives whose character is grounded in a consciously held spiritual view of life and who lead from that spiritual basis. Depending on their personality traits and leadership style, their spirituality and how they lead from that basis may be a private matter or it may be expressed openly. They may also have varying degrees of being able to articulate their spiritual view of life. All the executives interviewed so far come from levels such as Board of Director. Chairman, ViceChairman, CEO, President, Executive Director, Managing Director, Senior Partner, Senior Vice President, and Vice President. Their personal success in a business sense is shown by the positions that they hold. Many of them are recognised as spiritual-based leaders by their peers, ... and most feel quite comfortable with having their leadership referred to as spiritual-based. The industries they represent are almost all in the service sector. The industries include: finance, retail trade, international marketing, accounting, IT consultancy, technology development, media, healthcare, higher education, and manufacturing.81 As far as the personal perspective and spiritual view of the authors is concerned, they say that: We were inspired to undertake this research by our own spirituality [which is inspired by their
79 80

Miller and Pruzan (2003), [on-line] www.globaldharma.org/sbl-home.htm So far 10 interviewees from India, 5 from Europe, 11 from North America, 1 from South America, and 1 from Africa 81 Ibid, 10-11

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spiritual teacher, Sathya Sai Baba] and by the desire to serve students, teachers and leaders worldwide. We ourselves hold a spiritual view of life that forms the foundation from which we are committed to this research. The spiritual basis we draw from includes the beliefs that: * We are all spiritual beings, first and foremost; we exist beyond our bodies, * Divinity is the very core of our humanity, so to be fully human is to be spiritual, * Work and business are means for spiritual growth, * Leadership is a spiritual activity to be conducted for the benefit of society.82 In relation to the purpose and vision for this research programme, they say that: The purpose of the research programme is to contribute to the emerging field of spiritual-based leadership worldwide by making high quality and reliable knowledge about spiritual-based leadership easily accessible. Our vision includes: 1. To provide the leaders who participate, the researchers, and those who access the findings with an opportunity for spiritual development 2. To research spiritual-based leaders with respect to: Their perspectives, attributes and experiences Their success in business organisations The learnable practices and processes they employ 3. To develop a knowledge base, a website and a book incorporating interviews, profiles and data. [original italics] 83 The authors explain that this spiritual-based leadership research programme is designed to investigate questions like: What are spiritual-based like? How do they handle the challenges they face in running their businesses? How successful are they in creating wealth and contributing to the well-being of all those effected by their actions? They try to find the answers to these kind of questions in the interviews they conducted among leaders who are willing to talk about their experiences and practices as spiritual-based leaders. About their research methodology84 Miller and Pruzan say that they conducted their research with these leaders in two ways: 1. Prior to the interview they sent them a quantitative survey 2. Then they interviewed them for about 1 to 2 hours on the average. There were four parts to the interview (their qualitative research). The first part asked the leaders to give them a brief history of their careers (this part is not covered for the moment in their research paper). The remaining three subjects were: You and your spirituality. Stories of your spiritual-based leadership. Spiritual-based leadership in general. The authors emphasize in their research paper, that in this early stage of their research, they are not going to give any conclusions or discuss any trends yet. They will only share some initial observations. Before letting the spiritual-based leaders speak, I will include the definitions of some key terms, as defined by Miller and Pruzan for the purpose of their research programme. Spirituality is defined by people throughout the world in varied ways, and may or may not be based on participation in an organised religion. As such, we have chosen to honour all definitions of spirituality, rather than to create our own specific definition. Some of those definitions include: a) Tapping into a deeper meaning in life that transcends our physical existence
82 83

Ibid, 5-6 Ibid, 4 84 Ibid, 12-13

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b) Having a relationship with the Source of creation (i.e. God, Higher Power, Allah, Jehovah, Brahman, etc.) c) Experiencing Divine Love d) Living in harmony with the essential nature and inter-connectedness of all creation e) Inquiring into the nature of ones true Self f) Living all aspects of life according to a set of religious principles A Leader is one who serves and guides others, inspires visions, defines goals and objectives, creates ideas, and makes decisions as shaped by his/her individual competencies and character. A Spiritual-based Leader is a leader whose character is grounded in a consciously held spiritual view of life and who leads from that spiritual basis. Leadership incorporates: (1) the leaders competencies and character; and (2) the learnable processes, methods, and practices that the leader uses to serve, guide and inspire people to achieve shared goals that serve the needs of all stakeholders. Spiritual-based Leadership incorporates: (1) the character and competencies of a spiritualbased leader; and (2) the learnable processes, methods, and practices that honour the essential nature of life and contribute to the spiritual development of the organisations stakeholders.85

In the following section, which constitutes the final part of this paper, I will give some examples of statements about spirituality, and spiritual-based leadership, of the interviewed leaders, as expressed in the research paper of Miller and Pruzan, to see if their stories correspond in any way with my own description of the subject in the previous chapters of this paper.

3.2 Spiritual-based leaders speaking

Miller and Pruzan say they have promised the leaders they interviewed anonymity until they have approved the transcripts of their interviews. Many of these leaders have not yet given their final approval and therefore throughout their paper they have chosen to not specify who the particular person is and the name of the company where he or she is an executive. They are however able to give a sample of the leaders they have interviewed and who have already given their approval.86 These are: Ashoke Maitra, Vice President87 of Human Resources, the Times of India Group S.K. Welling, President88, HMT International Ltd. (India) Lars Kolind, Chairman, Grundfos; former CEO, Octicon (Denmark)

85 86

Ibid, 12 Ibid, 11 87 According to the original transcript, he is a Director (Corporate) Human Resources, and Director Times Foundation 88 Ibid, he is Executive Director of Corporate Planning and Policies

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In the course of preparing for the writing of this paper, I found some information about the projects and research programme of the authors on the Internet, and I decided to seek contact with, at first, Peter Pruzan, and later also Debra and William Miller. When I told them about my plans for this paper, they were so kind to provide me with the transcripts of the interviews that were approved up to that moment (Spring 2004). In the meantime (since issuing their research paper in July 2003) there were four more transcripts approved by the interviewed leaders.

These leaders are: Amber Chand, Co-founder, Vice President of Vision, Eziba (US) Ricardo Levy, Acting CEO, Catalytica Energy Systems, Inc. (USA) Ananth Raman, Chairman & CEO, Graphtex, Inc. (US) Parantha Narendran, Strategy Director, Eurotel (Czech Republic) These transcripts have however not been made available yet by Miller and Pruzan to the public at large, because their research programme has not been completed yet, and therefore I will not quote from them, or use them separately here. They were however a wonderful source of inspiration for me as a person, and reading them was a nice way to see if the things expressed by these leaders were in any way aligned with my own ideas and findings on the subject of spirituality at work, and the development and possibilities of spiritual-based business leaders as expressed in this paper. Below I will first give an impression of the outcome of the answers given to some of the questions posed in the quantitative survey, to conclude with an impression of some of the remarks made in respond to questions in the qualitative part (the interview). In the survey the authors asked questions like: Do you agree that life is first and foremost spiritual in nature? 21% agreed and 58% strongly agreed. More than half of the respondents also listed the following two definitions among their top 3 choices out of 10 possible definitions presented in the questionnaire: Spirituality means realising ones inner essence (58%) Spirituality means having a relationship with the Source of creation (53%)
(Miller and Pruzan 2003, 14)

A majority of the interviewed leaders made a distinction between religion and spirituality. Almost 80% put the following definition of spirituality among the bottom 3 out of 10 choices provided in the questionnaire: Spirituality means living according to a set of religious principles (Ibid, 15) The authors also asked: For me to fulfil my lifes purpose, which of the following are most and least important? The leaders were asked to choose their top 3 and their bottom 3 choices from among 13 possible statements of life purpose. The answers showed a striking difference in what people ranked among their most important and least important definitions of my lifes purpose: Most important (among top 3 of 13 choices) Developing my moral character and personal integrity (57%) Realising oneness with divinity (53%) Enjoying physical, emotional, and mental health (53%) Least important (among bottom 2 of 13 choices) Building a life of material comfort and convenience (63%) Having a productive career (42%) (Ibid, 16)

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In relation to the role of spirituality in leadership Miller and Pruzan posed a series of statements about spirituality and leadership, and asked the leaders to answer on a 5-point scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Some of the statements that the executives strongly agree to are: A leader who leads from a spiritual perspective is better able to handle tough challenges successfully (63% strongly agree) Spirituality is needed in the modern world of business (57% strongly agree) Spirituality provides greater intuition for tough decisions (57% strongly agree) The trends of stiff competition and globalisation in corporate business make it necessary to have a spiritual orientation (47% strongly agree) (Ibid, 21) In relation to the subject of spiritual-based leaders developing an organisational culture, the executives were also asked to respond on the same scale as mentioned above, to the following statement: It is important to incorporate spiritually oriented activities in training and development at work. 21% agreed and 47% strongly agreed. The authors point out that what is interesting is that 32% of these executives, although they are considered as spiritual-based leaders, did not agree to the statement (they either disagreed or were neutral). (Ibid, 23) To explain this interesting outcome, the authors pose the hypothesis that these leaders (which appears to be supported by comments from the interviews) consider spiritual-based leadership to be something you embody and live up to and demonstrate in your daily activities, rather than something you talk about or systematise. (Ibid, 24) Concerning the stories of spiritual-based leaders dealing with the inner process of decision making: Right Conduct, they asked the executives to respond to the following statement: I have a clear set of personal values. They found that 21% agreed and 74% strongly agreed. And 79% of the leaders ranked Right conduct and responsibility among their top 5 values out of 16 choices given in the survey. (Ibid, 25) When directly talking to the interviewees Miller and Pruzan asked them questions about the way they define spirituality; their thoughts on the relationship between spirituality and religion; their own spiritual purpose as spiritual-based leaders (including stories about career moves); their view on the purpose of business (including stories about quality improvement); their notion of business success (including stories about customer relationships); their stories dealing with success, spirituality and leadership: Downsizing; their thoughts on developing an organisational culture as a spiritual-based leader (including stories about team building); their inner process of decision making (including stories about right conduct); their ideas on disciplining employees; their continuous growth as a spiritual-based leader, and their advice to aspiring spiritual-based leaders. The way these executives define spirituality is quite divergent, as can be expected, but can be sampled based on their description in a few words of the key theme of their spirituality. Some examples of these themes are: Love God and love your neighbour, Opening up to love, Align oneself with a Super-power; have faith and caring for others, Oneness, and Wonder. (Ibid, 13) About the relationship between spirituality and religion they also received a broad spectrum of answers, diverging from religion being a reflection of spirituality; spirituality as living universal religious principles as a natural way of life; spirituality and religion being in contrast, the former being universal and limitless, without restrains, while the latter is limit, dogma, boxes; to religion being additional to spirituality, instead of the other way around; and religion being something external to you, while spirituality is something within you. (Ibid, 14)

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Concerning their spiritual purpose, some executives emphasized their dedication to serving others, and treating others as they would like to be treated themselves; participating in the upliftment of the greater whole; exhibit love, responsibility, humility, and selflessness; to personal enlightenment and liberation. (Ibid, 15) One of the stories that is described in the research paper of Miller and Pruzan is concerned with career moves in relation to the spiritual purpose of this spiritual-based leader. This female leader describes what was behind her climb to the level of Senior Vice President of a multinational company that has over 100,000 employees (Technology Commercialisation). 30 years ago she started on the production line, working the third shift during the night in order to eat and go to school during the day. She ascribes her successful career to the fact that she always had the courage to tackle problems, and the vision to solve difficult problems no one else would take up. She has consciously turned down offers from companies who offered her a CEO position, because taking a new job like that would completely take her (and her husband) off of the spiritual path they are walking in their lives. The authors say that other leaders echoed similar sentiments about not making career moves in ways that would hurt their spiritual growth or hurt other people. (Ibid, 16) On the purpose of business Miller and Pruzan received very different replies than the answers you usually find in ordinary business school textbooks that are typically based on the rational economic perspectives of business. Examples of the replies of these executives in relation to the purpose of business are: Corporations can become agents of benefit in the world by transforming themselves and being reflections of love; aimed at creating human excellence, and enabling the growth of each stakeholder; believing the corporation has a soul, we should base our performances on principles like respect, and give back; aimed at creating value by ethical means, equally divided among all stakeholders; striving to ensure corporate sustainability in a spirit of family, a multi-cultural environment, and humanity as a whole. (Ibid, 17) Concerning the concept of quality, which is according to the authors closely related to the purpose of business, they describe the account of one of the executives on quality improvement. After there arose a problem in a company when they were trying to introduce a new system of quality control measures, this executive had to come up with a plan to solve the situation. This specific company was a job shop where they do specialty items for their customers. Since these products are not easily standardised employees were worried that this new system of quality control measures would not work. After thinking about this during a spiritual meeting with his peers, he realized that it all came down to simply talking about unity of thought, word, and action. This made sense, and after introducing this concept throughout his company it became a great success.
(Ibid, 18-19)

Another story of one of the executives on the relative importance of financial results, compared with building and keeping solid customer relationships basically comes down to the importance of the kind of business culture you choose to develop. What comes first, financial gains, or maintaining a good reputation for example? This determines how you deal with your customers, and to what length you go to serve them. (Ibid, 20) There is also a story about downsizing, something that is never easy to do, and which comes down to making choices. The question is: how do you choose? What are your criteria? One of the executives, the CEO of a company in the healthcare industry, says that the way he handled the tough challenge of letting people go was in the end a success for everyone involved, because his actions and the choices he made were an expression of his spiritual principles and came about by

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following his conscience. This was felt by the employees, both the ones that stayed, and the ones that were let go, which resulted in total acceptance. (Ibid, 21-22) Another topic of their interviews was what it takes to develop an organisational culture from a spiritual basis. Many of the answers they received, they say, were thought-provoking. Examples of the views that were expressed by some executives about how to develop an organisational culture are: creating an environment in which employees want to work, because then they feel that they want to change; before implementing your core values, be sure that you have sound faith in them, the organisation needs to expand its awareness and to think along the lines of these values; spiritual methods will increase productivity and efficiency, and will make everyone a better human being; and work passionately toward excellence, both inner and outer excellence, this requires a continuous effort to improve yourself and the organisation in a holistic way. (Ibid, 23) The executives were also asked to express what goes on in their minds and hearts when they are making decisions. The inner process of some of these leaders turns for example out to be based on: Acting according to their conscience; intuition and values; feeling connected to the situation through prayer; aligning ones thoughts and practices; and an ethics system driven by consciousness. (Ibid, 25) In the course of their interviews, the authors also heard from a number of executives about what they do when confronted with employees who need some form of disciplining. Their stories reflect the spiritual basis from which they viewed their leadership in such situations. One executive emphasizes the importance of integrating recognition and correction appropriately and optimally, when you want to give a reprimand. Another leader says he always thinks about the consequences dismissal will have on the entire life of this employee, and if there are some alternative ways the employee could improve. He further more feels a certain level of responsibility for the fact that an employee does not function according to his abilities. Yet another executive emphasizes the importance of expressing the difference to an employee between correcting a person or his actions.
(Ibid, 27)

Miller and Pruzan say that all of the executives they interviewed related areas where they were still continuing to grow as spiritual-based leaders. Some say for example: The most important growth for me is to sharpen my ability to rest in the unknown; learning how to balance out a very warm heart with wisdom and discretion; thinking back on what I have learned today, and what is the new experience; learning how to empower people to help them be capable of what they are really capable of; and attaining internal peace. (Ibid, 27-28) I will conclude this section with a short description of the account of some of these spiritual-based leaders advice to aspiring spiritual-based leaders. One leaders advice, for example, was to lead by example and to follow your conscience. Another leader said that sometimes it is better to focus on the value-based leadership instead of the spiritual-based leadership, because then most people can more easily recognize what is of value and can make sense of what they need to do. Yet another leader has said that first, leaders need to deepen their own spirituality, then, they must find a community of support that has compassion for others. Another advice that was heard from one of the leaders was to know your audience when openly speaking about spirituality at work. Of further importance some say, is to lead according to your spirituality, not to have to preach it. A final advice that is expressed in this context by one of the leaders comes from the Bhagavad Gita, and is to understand yourself first, and never seek material gains from your acts. (Ibid 28-29)

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In their closing comments, Miller and Pruzan acknowledge that there certainly still exists scepticism about the relationship between spirituality and business, and whether a leader can be spiritual and successful in business at the same time, but they also say that they believe that their preliminary observations, which are based on the personal sharing and actual experiences of a number of leaders from all over the world, appear to indicate that being successful in the business world is eminently possible for people who wish to be devoted to, and lead from, their spiritual view of life.89 They further indicate that these leaders are able to achieve this success within the traditional rational-economic understandings of the purpose of business or within an expanded framework for the purpose of business based on a spiritual foundation.90 Miller and Pruzan conclude their research paper by saying that: It would seem that embarking on a successful journey of spiritual-based leadership in business might simple be a matter of faith and confidence. Our continuing research and analysis will delve into this and other aspects of spiritual-based leadership with the hope that the findings of this programme will help bring about a new era in business where wealth creation, values-based leadership, business ethics, and corporate social and environmental responsibility will all be deeply rooted in a spiritual view of life.91

3.3 Some concluding words

I have now come to the end of this final chapter of this paper. It was my intention to give an impression of the account of these spiritual-based leaders on their experiences in their role as spiritual-based leaders, and their view on the subject of spirituality in business, as has been recorded by William Miller and Peter Pruzan, with the help of their wives. It is clear that what has been recorded in the research paper of these authors are only their initial observations, and that the future will determine what will happen to this emerging awareness of spiritual-based leadership in todays business world. I am sure that this will not be the last paper that has been written on this subject, and that (much) more will follow, each revealing new aspects that might be worthwhile to look in to. It has become evident that there already are spiritual-based leaders successfully operating in the corporate world, but we cannot speak of a leitmotiv yet in relation to the style or role of these spiritual-based leaders. The subject of spiritual-based leadership is still quite tacit in its essence and sceptics could interpret this as a weakness, therefore it might be wise to see if there is to find a thread, one, which can also provide some footing for those interested in studying this subject.

89 90

Miller and Pruzan (2003), 29 Ibid 91 Ibid, 30

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Conclusion
Much has already been said, in many words, in the course of this paper about spirituality and spiritual-based business leadership. When I started out on this journey I had the belief that it should be possible for a leader to lead from a spiritual basis, if only in his self-leadership and nothing else. Even if a leader is the only person in an organization who chooses to live his life based on spiritual principles, then still this could have a positive effect on his colleagues, and those he leads. But I wanted to know if there was any basis for my beliefs, and moreover if there was any ground for the acknowledgement of the existence of spiritual-based leadership as a real leadership style in todays business world. Is there a chance for spiritual-based leaders to practice spiritual-based leadership, and if so, how would we define this? How can spirituality be expressed in the workplace, and with what results? Looking back on this paper, and the knowledge I gained, I believe I can say that yes, there exists a real ground for the development of spiritual-based leadership, because there is a need for change in todays business. This need is not a need that can simply be met by temporary fads, or some restructuring program. No, this need goes deeper and concerns not so much the systems or structure of organizations, but touches the core of how people work, why they work, and for what purpose. There is a need for a change in the way we view the world of business at large. More and more people start to feel, and some already know too, that the current way in which most companies perform their business activities does not provide them with a sense of meaning and purpose that matters. Matters to their inner being, resonates with their (sometimes long forgotten) principles. I believe that it has been shown that spirituality contains many dimensions and practical components that can help people find their balance, and can help them re-connect with their own essence as a human being, in order to find their own purpose and to learn how to give real meaning to their work and life. The reason that spirituality is likely to work for many people, is that it resonates with our human essence, our spiritual nature. Even if people might not understand at first how spirituality can be linked to business and work, they are likely to respond to spiritual-based practices in a positive way, because everybody gains when relationships, communication, creativity, teamwork, etc. starts to flourish and improve. In the end it is of secondary importance how spiritualbased leadership is classified, using the term spiritual or not, as long as people are enabled to grow (spiritually) and learn in the workplace, and corporate activities contribute to the well-being of all of its stakeholders, instead of some. All of this can result in a positive work environment where people feel they can work constructively and meaningfully, in accordance with their principles. It is evident that when employees are in agreement with the way they work and for what purpose, they are likely to perform and function much better. To look back at my presuppositions, expressed in the preface of this paper, I am pleased to see that in my opinion there indeed turned out to be a ground for them, as has been shown in the
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subsequent sections of this paper. Especially the sections 1.4 and 2.5 clearly demonstrate the possible contributions of spirituality and spiritual-based leadership to the development of both the organization and its employees, and provide an extensive respond to my initial question concerning the possible ways in which spirituality within an organizational context can contribute to the development of business leadership and the workplace. It has become evident that spirituality, due to its nature, can foster organizational and individual learning and overall development, when aware of this and when translated into practical instruments or techniques. When a spiritual-based leader relies on his spiritual-based principles when he leads, and continues to deepen himself to further develop his own spiritual qualities, he is likely to bring about a transformation in the workplace, because his actions will inspire others to change their attitude and behaviour too. Transformation is contagious and inspirational. Spiritual-based leaders will try to align the values, purpose, and vision of the organization with those of the employees in order to establish and foster an internal unity of thought and action, needed for a positive work environment in which people strive for excellence in all they do. I cannot emphasize enough that operating from spiritual-based values is definitely a long-term process, especially when trying to incorporated this throughout the (entire) company. The obvious reason for this is the fact that spiritual-based behaviour comes from within. It is a choice to live your life from a spiritual basis, this simply cannot and should not be forced upon people. Therefore it is important that leaders who consider themselves spiritual-based, exemplify their spirituality in their leadership, because being a living example of your beliefs is still the most effective way to show that this is a fruitful path for others to follow as well. For me it has become clear that there exists a solid ground to believe that the world of business is beginning to investigate new inner frontiers, and that spirituality, and spiritual-based leadership in particular, can provide a very reasonable rationale to be globally employed in todays business organizations to foster the well-being and growth of all stakeholders, and enable a real change in our view of the purpose of business as we know it.

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Epilogue
Before I really make an end of this paper I want to share with you, the reader, that the final contents of this paper as you have just read it is in fact only a part of my initial plan for this paper. It has become an introductory exploration of the subject of spirituality in relation to business leadership, but my scope in exploring literature on the subject and conducting research has however been wider than only the subjects presented here. I have been meaning to also write more in depth about the possible contribution of spiritual-based leadership to the learning and development of an organization and its employees. The concepts of learning, development, and knowledge, both in relation to the spiritual-based leader as a person, as well as to the organization as a whole and its employees, and the possible contribution of the spiritual-based leader to these concepts and processes, where to be at the core of this paper. I began to collect the data and information, read most of it, thought about it, formed an opinion about it, created an outline and structure to present it in, etc. You might wonder what kept me from actually writing a paper that covers this specific subject. The answer is that it simply grew over my head. These past seven months in which I worked towards writing this paper, and the final process of actually writing have been very consuming. It has been quite hard to balance this project that grew bigger and bigger as I went along, with my other activities, my personal life, my social life, my study, work, etc. I didnt really mind at first because I am very motivated to deepen myself in this broad subject of spirituality in business and take it very seriously, but I had to be careful that it didnt become a burden, separating me from de rest of my life. I had to keep in mind that in the end this is only a final paper for a basic study on management, essentially comparable to a BA level. The fact that the level of performance in our group grew higher because we were all very motivated on had strong intentions to put a lot of ourselves in this project, is probably more an exception than a rule. Especially the last couple of weeks have been quite intensive for me, but as a result I have learned a lot, also about my further plans for the future and the role management and spirituality might play in this. To give an example, so far I have already registered for two conferences in Europe on the subject of business, leadership, and spirituality. I furthermore plan to partake in a promising, one year Master program on management, which will be launched in Leiden September 2005. But, if I want to have the time to attain this program I have to complete my major on Persian first, which will take me at least another year. This is one of the major reasons that I have come to my own rescue, and decided to present here in this paper only an introduction on the subject of the possible contribution of spirituality to the development of spiritual-based leadership and the workplace. I want to emphasize however that I do consider all the time I spent preparing for much more than is presented here, worthwhile, because it is still my intention to use this data and knowledge in the future, maybe even in a paper for the Master program if this all turns out right.

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So far I have been able to sample the atmosphere and possibilities of this emerging field in todays business world to a certain extent, and I am pleased and exited. I feel like I have encountered and touched something Big; something with a lot of potential, and something that suits me as a person.

Lunteren, September 4th 2004.

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