Transformation
A few months ago, a colleague of mine from a leadership group I was in during Covid reached out to me.
He was considering rebooting the leadership group, which had about 1,200 members come and go over the years, and wanted to see if I would help with the effort.
The problem was, the group never really knew what it was all about.
We studied the principles of leadership, talked about what was needed and what was missing, and how things should be.
But the vast majority of the participants were not in positions of leadership.
They were consultants, trainers and facilitators - people who wanted to coach leaders, but were not in positions of corporate, non-profit or government leadership themselves.
They loved the concepts, and had an idealized vision of how things could be.
Many had been employees at one time, but had left corporate life behind.
I didn’t feel that the group had sufficient skin in the game to bring about real change.
It was important to me then, and still is today, that I stay in a corporate leadership role even as I continue to grow as a leader.
Even as I lead workshops and consult with clients on communications, leadership and executive branding.
I love the topic of leadership
and the importance of communications for those who lead.
But there seems to be a disconnect between what constitutes a good leader
and the perspective of those being led.
I see too many corporate employees who are miserable.
It is time to reimagine corporate life and what it means to thrive within a system that can have, at times, callous constraints.
It is time to bring humanity, and even spirituality, into corporate life.
It’s time to reimagine corporate life from the inside.
Growing up Catholic I was taught that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Throughout my life, I have believed that you could do good in this world or you could be wealthy.
You could work for the UN or have a corporate job.
You could relieve human suffering, or you could pursue monetary gain.
But you couldn’t do both.
In “The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life”, the author takes the exact opposite view:
“The greatest businesspeople have a deep inner capacity—they hunger, as we all do, but perhaps more strongly—for a true spiritual life. They have seen more of the world than most of us; they know what it can give them, and what it cannot.
Often they have dropped out from an active spiritual life—not because they are greedy or lazy, but simply because no path has measured up to their demands…Never accept the idea that, because you are in business, you don’t have the opportunity or time or personal qualities which a true spiritual life demands, or that maintaining a deep inner life is somehow contradictory with leading a business career….the very people who are attracted to business are exactly the ones who have the inner strength to grasp and carry out the deeper practices of the spirit.
In America, it will be the business community that leads a quiet but certain revolution in how we conduct the business of our work, and our lives as well, using ancient wisdom for the goals of the modern world.”
Roach, Geshe Michael ; McNally, Lama Christie. The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life (pp. 36-37).
I want to believe this perspective.
Because the desire for change is palpable.
No one should have to work in a “soul crushing” environment.
No one, with all that we have to be thankful for, should dread Monday mornings.
No one should feel that they have to leave their spirits at the door.
Let’s redefine what work is
and reimagine what corporate life can be.
ps - I have a friend who is a yoga teacher, author, and race car driver. She and I will be hosting a retreat that combines yoga, communication skills, and leadership training. If you are interested in bringing both the spiritual and the practical together with the ultimate goal of changing how we work, join us.