the manager's pocket guide to spiritual leadership

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The ManagersPocket Guide to

Spiritual

Leadership

TransformingDysfunctional Organizations

into Healthy Communities

Richard Bellingham, Ed.D.

Julie Meek, DNS

HRD Press, Inc. Amherst Massachusetts


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2001 by HRD Press, Inc.

All rights reserved. Any reproduction in any media ofthe materials that appear in this book without writtenpermission from HRD Press is a violation of copyright law.

Published by:

HRD Press22 Amherst Road

Amherst, MA 010021-800-822-2801 (U.S. and Canada)413-253-3488413-253-3490 (FAX)www.hrdpress.com

ISBN 0-87425-617-8

Cover design by Eileen KlockarsEditorial services by Sally M. FarnhamProduction services by Anctil Virtual Office

Printed in Canada


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Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Am I living in a dysfunctional organization? . . 1Is it academic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2All we need is love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Wanted: remarkable people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

I. How Do You Recognize a Healthy CommunityWhen You See One? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7How do you know a healthy community

when you see one?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81. Physical indicators of a healthy

community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82. Intellectual indicators of a healthycommunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3. Emotional indicators of a healthycommunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4. Spiritual indicators of a healthycommunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

II. Soul Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Russ Campanello

Merging technology with heart . . . . . . . . . 32Dr. Dorothea Johnson

A pioneer with determination . . . . . . . . . . 37

Dr. Barry CohenInnovation in the midst of crisis . . . . . . . . 41

Stuart SendellCommunity involvement with wit andwisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Sister Nancy HoffmanLeadership with spirit and compassion . . 50

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Table of Contents


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III. The Transformational Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

That unsettled feeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Transformation Step 1:

Understand the degree of yourorganizations dysfunction . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Transformation Step 2:Develop the discipline to use asystematic process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Transformation Steps 3 and 4:Increase readiness: assess organizational

commitment and capacity to change . . . . 64Transformation Step 5:

Identify what great results look like: theDiagnosis phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Transformation Steps 6 and 7:Involve people, benchmark possiblesolutions, and identify exemplars: the

Design phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Transformation Step 8:

Impact the culture: the Delivery phase . . . 73Transformation Steps 9 and 10:

Measure the results and take the long-term view: the Determination phase. . . . . 77

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Appendix A:Indicators of Healthy Communities . . . . . . . . . . A-1

Appendix B:

Possibilities Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1

Appendix C:Quality of Work Life Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R-1

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I-1

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Sole leadership was good in an independent and com-petitive world. A quick review of the past millennium bringsto mind hundreds of courageous men and women whoaccomplished extraordinary feats through their fierceindividualism and their uniquely heroic acts. Yes, soleleadership produced unprecedented results in the lastmillennium. And it will fail in the next.

Leadership in the future will require a new style. Leaderscannot just go it alone and expect to succeed. A criticalmass of committed and capable people is required forsuccess. In a global, interdependent, and collaborativeworld, organizations need soul leadership to continuethe momentum that was established during the last

decade of the 20th century.

Downsizing, restructuring, re-engineering, cost cuttingand de-layering have stripped corporations of whateversoul they had. Soul sick and spiritually impoverished,corporations face a new millennium that will imposenew demands to create organizations that respond to

the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needsof its employees. With pockets full, but with empty hearts,corporations face the most compelling challenge in history:to find and nourish their soul as a prerequisite to profits,performance, and productivity.

What is Spiritual Leadership?

The single most significant difference between leadershipin the 2nd Millennium and leadership in the 3rd Millenniumwill be the difference between sole leadership vs. soulleadership. While sole leadership is characterized byindependence, competitiveness, authoritarianism,obedience, and self-aggrandizement; soul leadership willbe noted by its emphasis on interdependence, creativity,

collaboration, and community development.

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The Managers Pocket Guide to Spiritual Leadership

Soul leadership means building healthy communities thatare simultaneously committed to both people and profits.soul leadership concerns itself with ethics as well as

earnings; it invites criticism as well as celebration. Soulleadership embraces the values of respect, involvement,support, development, innovation, flexibility, andempowerment.

That was then, this is nowAs we transition from the Age of Information to the Age of

Ideation, leadership will need to attend to our source ofenthusiasm and inspiration and the part of us that seesthe dreamour soul. The Age of Information focuseson knowledge and ways of keeping abreast of the latestbreakthroughs. The Age of Ideation focuses on peopleand culture and ways of generating new sources of gain.Leadership style that worked for the Industrial Age and the

Information Age will not work for the Age of Ideation. Inthis emerging age, successful leaders will create environ-ments in which there is a continuous generation of newideas. In short, they will need to engage in soul leadership.

On the other hand, sole leadership concerns itself onlywith profits, earnings, and bigger management paychecks.The quality of life and competitiveness in most organiza-tions are deteriorating and becoming dysfunctional. Peopleare working longer hours and having less fun. Work/lifebalance is a joke. A sense of work spirit is gone. Mostpeople do not have a sense that their work has meaning.And the only thing that keeps us laughing is the gallowshumor of Scott Adams and the world view of Dilbert. Arewe destined to go through our 30 years or so of workingmechanically with the only hope that retirement willconstitute a better life? Or can this change? The authorsof this book believe that change is possible only througha dedicated effort to build healthy, interdependent com-munities within organizations. We believe that profitabilityand competitiveness are only possible with interdependentstrategies. Yes, it is possible . . . primarily because it isnecessary to win.

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Defining SoulThrough the ages man has tried to define soul. Here

are a few definitions that reflect the importance ofsoulful leadership:

The beginnings of all things Plotinus

The way black folks sing when they leavethemselves alone Ray Charles

Our lifes star William Wordsworth

The part of you that sees the dreamJohn Nance Garner

A presence that releases feelingsof mystery and marvel Rudolf Otto

The breath of living spirit Hildegard de Bingen

The essential and enduring character Aristotle

The wise silence to which every part is relatedRalph Waldo Emerson

The source of light and movement Dame Julian

The entryway to a life of imaginationMarsilio Ficino

Consciousness DescartesThe first principle of life Thomas Aquinas

The exquisite realization of life Walt Whitman

The source of our enthusiasm and inspirationCarl Jung

The gray matter of the brain in actionMilan Kundera

The source of all change and transformationPlato

The inner voice Albert Schweitzer

What is most alive in your own houseA Sufi master

Preface

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Am I living in a dysfunctionalorganization?Yes. You are. Might as well step up and own it right now.Not only are you working and learning in a dysfunctionalorganization, you are also living in a dysfunctional homewithin a dysfunctional community. Indeed, you are dys-

functional yourself. Why such an aggressive confrontation?Because, if you dont see that you are trapped, how canyou ever get out?

Before you become too offended by this confrontation,you might want to hear what some intellectual giants suchas Camus, Nietzsche, Carkhuff, Reich, and Gurdjieff havesaid about the kind of lives we are living and the kinds ofcommunities we are building.

In his introduction to The Plague, Camus says,

Perhaps the easiest way of making a towns acquaint-ance is to ascertain how the people in it work, howthey love, and how they die. In our little town all threeare done on the same lines, with the same feverish,yet casual air. The truth is that everyone is bored, anddevotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens workhard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Theirchief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in lifeis, as they call it, doing business.

Naturally they dont eschew such simpler pleasures

as love-making, sea-bathing, going to the pictures.But, very sensibly, they reserve these pastimes forSaturday afternoons and Sundays and employ therest of the week in making money, as much aspossible. In the evening, in leaving the office, theyforgather, at an hour that never varies, in the cafes,stroll the same boulevard, or take the air on their

balconies. The passions of the young are violent

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Introduction


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and short-lived; the vices of older men seldom rangebeyond an addiction to bowling, to banquets andsocials, or clubs where large sums change hands

on the fall of a card. These somewhat haphazardobservations may give a fair idea of what our townis like.

However, we must not exaggerate. Really, all thatwas to be conveyed was the banality of the townsappearance and of life in it. But you can get throughthe days there without trouble, once you have formedhabits. And since habits are precisely what our townencourages, all is for the best.

Habits. Camus was right. We have all established mech-anical habits that prevent us from seeing the amazingpossibilities that constantly unfold in front of us. Perhapsthe biggest obstacle to developing corporate soul is the

collection of habits we have formed and to which we areenslaved.

Is it academic?To whom should we turn to help us break our mechanicalhabits and start to awaken to the possibilities of healthy

communities? Academics? Educators? In Thus SpakeZarathustra, Nietzsche raises questions about thosesources of transformation.

I have moved from the house of the scholars and Ieven banged the door behind me. My soul sat hungryat their table too long; I am not, like them, trained topursue knowledge as if it were nutcracking. I lovefreedom and air over the fresh earth; rather wouldI sleep on ox hides than on their decorums andrespectabilities. They watch each other closely andmistrustfully. Inventive in petty cleverness, they waitfor those whose knowledge walks on lame feet: Likespiders, they wait. I have always seen them carefullypreparing poison; and they always put on gloves of

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glass to do it. They also know how to play with loadeddice; and I have seen them play so eagerly. We arealien to each other, and their virtues are even more

distasteful to me than their falseness and their loadeddice.

Clearly, Nietzsche harbors great suspicion of the theoristsand scholars as sources of transformation. So if ourtraditional sources of change and perspective are suspect,to whom do we turn for inspiration? How do we createchange and build a healthy community?

In a landmark project conducted in the 1960s inSpringfield, Massachusetts, people from all walks of lifein a dysfunctional environment came together to build amuch healthier community. Dr. Robert Carkhuff, the projectconsultant for this ambitious effort, documented theprocess in a book entitled The Development of Human

Resources.According to Carkhuff, transformation mustfocus on effectiveness and collaboration among allmembers in a community:

It is clear that constructive change cannot be possiblewithout the cooperation of both the conservatives andthe activists. Peace in itself is not a goal. Effective-

ness is. Where peace and effectiveness are mutuallyexclusive, we must choose the latter, for the formerwill most certainly lead to war. Where they are notmutually exclusive, the transformation may be anonviolent one.

The credo of the healthy activist is based upon thebasic principle that at the deepest level there is no

understanding without action. To really understandsomeone is to understand a persons need to actupon their situation. To really act we must firstunderstand the critical dimensions of the situationand then develop progressive step-by-step programsto achieve the goals desired.

Introduction

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This is not a call to arms for intellectual ineffectuals.Their day is past. They are going into hiding to awaitthe restoration of sanity before they scramble to

secure the positions whose power they abused inbringing about the present crisis. Rather, it is adeclaration of war upon those who throw up thesmoke screens of dialogue to resolve communicationproblems only to hide their own basic incompetencies.The answer to their privilege is our power. Power notjust in political and economic action but power to

utilize our inherent resources and our createdopportunities to the fullest.

This is a plea for the strong and the healthy of allfactionsblack and white, rich and poor, youngand oldto join together, not simply to resolve theproblems of the present but to anticipate as matureadults the problems of the future in this and otherlands.

This is a plea for those who are competent enoughto entertain a lifetime of learning, for those for whomhelping in its present form can at best be a transitionalphase; for those who can die growing, secure in theunderstanding that the only meaning to life is growth,

and that no price is too high to pay for the opportunityto grow.

Carkhuff is telling us that the key factors to change andbuild healthy communities are openness to learning, afocus on effectiveness, and a willingness to collaborate.Many corporations have tried to implement constructive

change, but individuals were so intent on securing theirpositions of power, that they refused to learn new ways,to collaborate, and to keep the desired results in mind.

All we need is loveAbove all, a healthy community is built upon love.Without love, we have nothing. Wilhelm Reich, in his

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book Character Analysis, speaks of the difficulty ofbuilding healthy communities in a society that suffersfrom an emotional plague, or an inability to love:

The term emotional plague has no defamatoryconnotations. It does not refer to conscious malice,moral or biological degeneration, immorality, etc. Anorganism which, from birth, is constantly impeded inits natural way of locomotion develops artificial formsof locomotion. It limps or moves on crutches. Similarly,an individual moves through life by the means of theemotional plague if, from birth, his natural, self-regulatory life manifestations have been suppressed.The individual afflicted with the emotional plaguelimps, characterologically speaking. The emotionalplague is a chronic biopathy of the organism. It madeits appearance with the first suppression of genitallove life on a mass scale; it became an epidemicwhich has tortured the peoples of the earth forthousands of years. There are no grounds for theassumption that it passes, in a hereditary manner,from mother to child. Rather, it is implanted in thechild from his or her first day of life on. It is anepidemic disease, like schizophrenia or cancer, withthis important difference: it manifests itself essentiallyin social living. Schizophrenia and cancer are bio-pathies resulting from the emotional plague in sociallife. The effects of the emotional plague are to be seenin the organism as well as in social living. Periodically,like any other plague, such as bubonic plague orcholera, the emotional plague takes on the dimensionsof a pandemic, in the form of a gigantic break-throughof sadism and criminality, such as the Catholicinquisition of the middle ages or the internationalfascism of the present century.

Reich raises our inability to love to the status of a plaguethat has devastating effects on our personal lives as wellas on the organizations and communities in which we live,

learn, and work.

Introduction

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Wanted: remarkable peopleAs a reader, given this context, you must be asking, Is itpossible to have any impact on this ugly state of affairs?

We believe it is possible, indeed necessary, with soulfulleadership. But that kind of leadership requires aremarkable personthe kind of person that Gurdjieffdescribed in his book Meetings with Remarkable Men.In his own words, Gurdjieffs primary aim was to destroymercilessly the beliefs and views rooted for centuries inthe mind and feelings of man by arousing in the mind of

the reader a stream of unfamiliar thoughts. Gurdjieffbelieved this kind of drastic action was required to freemen and women from the habits, plagues, and fantasticdistortions you read about from Camus, Nietzsche, andReich.

From Gurdjieffs point of view, a remarkable person is one

who:

Stands out from those around him/her by theresourcefulness of her mind, and who knows how tobe restrained in the manifestations that proceed fromhis nature, at the same time conducting herself justlyand tolerantly towards the weaknesses of others.

This definition of a remarkable person will be our touch-stone as we think about the soulful leaders needed totransform our dysfunctional organizations.

Yes, we live in dysfunctional organizations and thereare significant obstacles to change; in particular, ouringrained habits and our inability to learn and to love.

If we acknowledge and own these problems, however,it is possible to create healthier communities, if thatbecomes our aim. But in order to be successful, we firstneed compelling reasons for change and we need todefine clearly what the desired end state looks like.

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IntroductionOrganizations are increasingly interested in buildinghealthy corporate communities. Several businessdrivers account for this rapidly growing trend.

Marketplace. The requirement in the marketplacefor continuous creativity imposes new demandson organizations to work collaboratively. Healthycommunities support collaboration.

Customers. The change in customer relationshipfrom independent parties to interdependent partnershas created the need for open communications, intimatesupport, and real empathy. Healthy communities fosterthese types of behaviors.

Recruitment. The search for meaning at work hasintensified over the past several years and has imposednew recruiting requirements for the best and brightest

people are choosing firms more for the culture they havecreated than for the pay package they are providing.People work smarter and think better in healthycommunities.

While there is a high level of consensus on the needand desire for healthy communities, there is no common

image of what a healthy community looks like or how anorganization might create one. This discussion will answerthe question, how do you recognize a healthy communitywhen you see one?

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I. How Do You Recognize a

Healthy Community When

You See One?


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How do you know a healthy

community when you see one?We believe healthy communities are characterizedby their physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritualdimensions. Each of those dimensions has a few keyindicators that will let you know just how healthy yourcommunity is. They are as follows:

1. Physical IndicatorsA. Safety and environment

B. Healthy lifestyle behaviors

2. Intellectual IndicatorsA. Productive management styleB. Continuous creativity

3. Emotional IndicatorsA. High performance on shared values

B. Organizational support for personal development

4. Spiritual IndicatorsA. ConnectednessB. Joy

All of these characteristics can be scaled, weighted,and measured (see Appendix A for examples). Moreimportantly, all of these characteristics can be achievedthrough leadership attention, a participative process, andorganizational rewards. Lets take a closer look at eachdimension.

1. Physical indicators of a healthy

community

A. Safety and environment

Fundamentally, a healthy community has to be safe andpractice sound environmental practices. Safe communitiesensure that their members are not assaulted, harassed, orabusedphysically, emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually.

This means that people feel secure coming and going from

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the building. It means effective hazard communicationand training. It means compliance with OSHA regulations.

And it means that managers respect differences and think

inclusively. Environmentally sound communities ensurethat air, water, heat, light, noise, and work stations are allwithin regulatory standards. They are also conscious ofthe environmental issues associated with their productsand the way they do business. Environmentally soundcommunities don't pollute, they don't consume excessiveamounts of energy, and they don't try to get around or

avoid environmental regulations, e.g., CFC emissions. Inshort, the first indication of a healthy community is a safeand healthy work environment.

B. Healthy lifestyle behaviors

A second way to recognize a physically healthy communityis to observe the health habits of its members. A healthy

community supports healthy lifestyle behaviors. Healthenhancement is more than individual, physical riskreduction. An expanded systems view of healthencompasses the emotional, intellectual, and spiritualdimensions of our lives as well as the possibilities forenhancing our own health and wellness and the healthof the organizations and communities in which we live,

learn, and work. These behaviors can be measured andpromoted. Not promoting positive lifestyle behaviors is oneof the surest ways to cause deteriorating financial healthand corporate soul.

I. How to Recognize a Healthy Community

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Table 1.

The total dollars spent on healthcare is staggering

Year Health Care Costs

1980 $250 billion1990 $650 billion1995 $1 trillion

2000 $1.5 trillion


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By any measure, health care costs America too much.The inflation rate for health care costs is steadily increas-ing despite a relatively stable Consumer Price Index

(CPI). From 1966 to 1993, national health care costsincreased by about 11 percent per year, a much higherrate of growth compared to the general CPI trend. In 1996,we exceeded $1 trillion on health care spending, which isapproximately $100 billion more than we spend on all ofdefense, plus primary, secondary, and higher education.

No one has 20/20 vision when it comes to the predictionof health care costs and its toll on our communities, butthe impact is fairly obvious. As Table 2 indicates, healthcare costs as a percentage of GNP grew by 2 percent inthe 1960s and 1970s, 3 percent in the 1980s, and morethan 3 to 5 percent in the 1990s. Even though health carecosts increased by about 5 percent per year from 1993 to1998, most experts are predicting a return to the double-digit increases that plagued us in the 1970s and 1980s.It is easy to understand how other services might get asmaller and smaller share of available resources. Whenwe compare these data to other countries, the problembecomes even more alarming. None of the countries withwhom we compete spend more than 10 percent of theirGNP on health care. If we do nothing, we will have nothingleft to do.

Unfortunately, our current priorities are out of sync with thereasons for our health care problems. The fact is that over50 percent of the variance for the leading causes of deathcan be attributed to lifestyle behaviors; yet, in the UnitedStates, we are spending less than 3 percent of our health

care expenditures on prevention.

Lifestyle is simply the way we live our lives from day-to-day. Our health lifestyle is the collection of habits we haveadopted that contribute to a long, happy life, or a short,miserable one. As mentioned before, its our habits thatget us. The good news is we have a choice; the bad news

is that we are not doing very well. We conduct ourselves

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in ways that make us old before our time and dead beforeour full life has been realized. We eat, drink, smoke,neglect exercise, and relate to others in ways that robourselves and our families of a large part of our potentialcreativity and productivity.

Changes in technology during the past century have pro-vided us many new conveniences, yet they have allowedus to become very sedentary. A recent study indicates that25 percent of our youth are obese. In contrast, interest infitness and nutrition has grown steadily over the pastseveral years with technological advances to support that

interest. The opportunities have never been better to get inshape and stay that way.

In the past, there was more stability in our lives. Now, withthe rate of change escalating every year, people have todeal with more uncertainty, more fear, and more stress.Some people handle it; some dont. On the positive side,

advances in communications and travel allow us to stay


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Table 2.

The alarming escalation of health

costs in the United States

Year % of GNP

1960 5.2%1965 5.9%1970 7.4%1975 8.3%1980 9.1%1985 10.6%1990 12.2%1995 13.9%2000 15.6%2005 18.0%

2020 ?


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connected to loved ones no matter where they are. Andthere is a growing interest in human relations and inunderstanding new worker values such as involvement,

creativity, and challenge. The potential for improving ouremotional health is greater than ever.

The rapid changes over the past hundred years havemade an abundance of lifestyle choices available to us.Some people choose for better; some choose for worse. Ina healthy community, leaders recognize the importance ofhealthy habits to the stockholders and to the employees.In healthy communities, leaders promote healthy lifestylebehaviors and employees practice positive health. Bothwin.

In Appendix B, you will find the Possibilities Profile, a self-scoring health risk appraisal that people can use to assesstheir own health and well-being.

2. Intellectual indicators of a

healthy community

A. Productive management style

The first indication of an intellectually healthy communityis the management style pervasive in the organization.North American companies are not alone in their problemswith management style. We are inclined to think of Japan,for example, as a country where happy workers gathereach morning to sing the company song and then workin harmony to achieve greater profits. In truth, there

is growing concern in Japan about the harmful effectsof corporate stress on the worker. A study of stressin 130,000 workers found that stress diminishes as

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you move up the executive ladder; and that the criticaldifference between a happy and productive work force anda tense, depressed one was clearly a result of differences

in management style.Well use the acronym EMPOWER to illustrate the criticalelements of a productive management style:

E mpathize with the experience of associates, suppliers,and customers

M easure the gap between stated values and actual

behaviorsP rovide a secure environmentO pen up opportunities for learningW in with your employees through clear communicationsE ncourage participation and involvementR eward and recognize great performance


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Dilbert, a role model?In The Dilbert Principle, Scott Adams revealed that

he used a lot of bad boss themes in his syndicatedcartoon strip. He said he received at least 200 e-mailmessages per day from people who were complainingabout their own clueless managers. His favorite storyis as follows:

A manager wants to find and fix software bugs morequickly. He offers an incentive plan: $20 for each bugthe Quality Assurance people find and $20 for eachbug the programmers fix. (These are the sameprogrammers who create the bugs.) Result: An under-ground economy in bugs springs up instantly. Theplan is rethought after one employee nets $1,700 thefirst week.

The Dilbert books contain hundreds of stories reflectiveof unproductive management styles.


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Unfortunately, just as quality, re-engineering, andrestructuring have been distorted and misused, so hasthe notion of empowerment. Most employees translate

empowerment propaganda as you can do anything youwant as long it supports my thinking. On the other hand,many companies initiated empowerment programs underthe banner of autonomy and freedom. The problem, ofcourse, was that employees went off in random directionsthat may or may not have been related to the mission.Leaders who empower their employees effectively use

the following formula:Empowerment =

Direction + Autonomy + Support

For empowerment to work, employees need to have welldefined boundaries and they need management supportfor achieving their goals.

B. Continuous creativity

Major changes in the way business is conductedhave imposed new demands on organizations to becontinuously creative. In this century, businesses havebeen transformed from vertical to virtual and fromindustrialized to intellectualized. To highlight that point,

a dollar spent on innovation (research and development)now returns eight times that spent on efficiency (mach-inery) in some industries. And just-in-time informationand intelligence are taking the place of just-in-timeinventory. While it took an entire century to transition fromthe Industrial Age to the Information Age, it has taken lessthan a decade to transition from the Information Age to the

Ideation Age. New ideas now drive the economy. Only themost innovative and the most willing to share will thrive. Asa result of these changes, the new emphasis is to buildintellectual capital, manage knowledge, learn continuously,and find appropriate ways to measure this new wealth. Ina recent book (Bellingham and Friel, 1998), a whole newset of meaningful measures is proposed. Two charts from

that book are presented on the following pages.

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Healthy communities send the message that they valuea persons contribution and want them to remain partof the creative fabric. As a result of that commitment,

organizations normally experience reduced time to market,more innovations, and a soulful environment which, ofcourse, is:

The beginnings of all things.Plotinus

The source of light and movement.Dame Julian

The entryway to a life of imagination.Marsilio Ficino

The source of our enthusiasm and inspiration.Carl Jung

The gray matter of the brain in action.Milan Kundera

The source of all change and transformation.Plato

If we could build a community that reflected the abovedefinitions of soul, we would not only see continuouscreativity, but profitability would soar.

In Appendix C, the Quality of Work Life Survey lists allthe questions used to assess whether an environmentsupports continuous creativity. All of these questions have

normative data, so we can compare an organizationsresults with industry norms. Continuous creativity is anindicator of an intellectually healthy community. The surveydata should be used to raise questions about what can bedone to improve quality of work life, employee satisfaction,and innovation. Without the data, organizations are leftwith random attempts to solve a shifting problem.


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18


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3. Emotional indicators of a healthy

community

A. High performance on shared valuesThe first indicator of an emotionally healthy communityis high performance on shared values. Most organizationshave a set of stated values, but they are rarely shared ormeasuredmuch less inculcated. With the abundanceof leadership books espousing the importance of vision,mission, and values, very few leaders have ignored the

pressure to create well-crafted statements that reflect thepurpose and direction of their organization. In most cases,these statements are posted prominently on corporatewalls and on the backs of corporate identification badges.However, there is normally a wide gap between these loftystatements and the day-to-day realities of work life. Andleaders tend to be reluctant to actually measure the gap.

Healthy communities have vision statements thatreflect the deepest aspirations of their employees.Vision statements in healthy organizations are written insuch a way that people want to have their picture takennext to the statement to show their loved ones what anextraordinary place they work. Unfortunately, some vision

statements do not inspire that response. For example,a large telecommunications company had a visionof becoming a $10 billion operation by the year 2000.When that statement failed to rally the troops with inspireddedication, it changed the statement to Connectingcivilizations through people and technology. In healthycommunities, participants have a clear sense of the

purpose and a firm commitment to support it.

Healthy organizations have mission statements thatclarify the nature of the work and serve as a mobilizingpoint for all activity. One of the biggest stressors inorganizational life is role ambiguitywhen people don'tknow how their jobs relate to the mission. A well-defined

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mission statement gives community members a clearsense of direction and a keen awareness of the valueof their work.

Value statements anchor the decision-making processesand define what is important in the organization. Unfortu-nately, most organizations go to great lengths to craftthese statements, but then ignore them once they arecreated. If an organization is willing not only to createthese statements, but also to support a systematicprocess to implement and measure them, there is agreater likelihood that the organization will last. In hisbook Built to Last, Jim Collins makes that point crystalclear.

Contrary to business school doctrine, we did notfind maximizing shareholder wealth or profitmaximization as the dominant driving force or primary

objective through the history of most of the visionarycompanies. They have tended to pursue a cluster ofobjectives, of which making money is only oneandnot necessarily the primary one. Indeed, for many ofthe visionary companies, business has historicallybeen more than an economic activity, more than justa way to make money. Through the history of most of

the visionary companies we saw a core ideology thattranscended purely economic considerations. Andthis is the key pointthey have had a core ideologyto a greater degree than the comparison companiesin our study. A detailed pair-by-pair analysis showedthat the visionary companies have generally beenmore ideologically driven and less purely profit-driven

than the comparison companies in seventeen out ofeighteen pairs. . . . Yes, they pursue profits. And, yes,they pursue broader, more meaningful ideals. Profitmaximization does not rule, but the visionary com-panies pursue their aims profitably. They do both.


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There are key values that distinguish a healthy communityfrom an unhealthy one. On pages 23 through 26 wevelisted some of the most common and compelling values

that live in a healthy organization and some norms thatlet people know what it means to live by those values inorganizational life. These values are listed in a hierarchy,because they should be seen as cumulative buildingblocks. In Maslows hierarchy of needs, he suggeststhat basic needs such as physical food and shelter needto be taken care of before an individual seeks to satisfy

higher needs such as belonging, self esteem, and selfactualization. Similarly in this hierarchy, organizationswanting to optimize their health need to satisfy the firstorder needs before they take on higher order needs.

These values are organized by their physical, intel-lectual, emotional, and spiritual characteristics. It is ahierarchy in nature because the difficulty of inculcation

increases as you go through the list from the basicphysical needs to higher level spiritual needs. In ahealthy community, values are shared, and there isa commitment to continually strengthen them in thecommunity. To build commitment to shared values, itis critical to involve the community in stating the valuesand norms and to measure progress on the normsregularly. The extent to which these values are sharedand practiced is one of the best measures of corporatesoul.

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23

I. Shared physical values

Productivity

In healthy communities, high performance is valued. Norms foundin an organization that values productivity might include: We are fast; we put a premium on speed to market. We are always looking for ways of working smarter. There is incredible energy here. We are always looking for ways to make our products more

useful to our customers.

ProfitabilityIn healthy communities, everyone realizes that profitability is anecessary condition for growth. Norms found in an organizationthat values profitability might include: We spend money as if it were our own. We are always looking for ways to reduce costs. We are always looking for new sources of gain. We are regularly informed of the financial status of the

organization.


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24


II. Shared intellectual values

Involvement

In healthy communities, all voices are heard and people have asense of ownership for the tone of the community and where theorganization is heading. Norms found in an organization thatvalues involvement might include: We are involved in decisions that affect us. We include from the start all groups concerned with a process

or a change. We contribute ideas and take responsibility for decisions.

We feel like we are an integral part of the community. We are involved in problem-solving activities.

Commitment to excellence

In healthy communities, there is a passion for quality and service.Norms found in an organization that values the commitment toexcellence might include: We make decisions that are based on the customers

requirements for growth and success. We hold ourselves accountable to customer service standards. We clearly communicate desired outcomeswe start with the

end in mind. We empower people to find innovative ways of improving

processes and services. We know what success looks like.

LearningIn healthy communities, there is continuous learning andprocessing. Norms found in an organization that values learningmight include: Thinking is encouraged. Mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn. Tasks are assigned with development in mind. There are ongoing opportunities to expand knowledge and

skills. We seek out new, emerging technologies (information, human,

and organizational).


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25

III. Shared emotional values

Respect

In healthy communities, people are valued and differences areseen as gifts. Norms found in an organization that values respectmight include: We treat people with dignity. We think inclusively. We treat individuals as whole persons with unique needs. We share responsibility for eliminating bias. We promote diversity.

Open communications

In healthy communities, there are open, honest, and directdiscussions. Norms found in an organization that values opencommunication might include: We freely share information at all levels. We respect confidentiality. We listen to ideas.

We feel free to disagree. We give and receive constructive feedback.

Fairness

In healthy communities, there is an appropriate attribution ofresponsibility and allocation of resources. Norms found in anorganization that values fairness might include: We are harder on ourselves than we are on others.

We contribute fully our unique talents and experiences. The organization distributes its wealth fairly. We share responsibility for improving quality of work life. Schedules are realistic.

Teamwork

In healthy communities, there is an abundance of collaborationamong people, and work is coordinated among groups. Norms

found in an organization that values teamwork might include: We share common goals. We work together. We look for ways to support each other. We can count on people to be responsive. We trust each other.


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IV. Shared spiritual values

Stewardship

In healthy communities, there is a sense of responsibility for theenvironment and for the effective use of resources. Norms foundin an organization that values stewardship might include: We manage our budgets thoughtfully. We are mindful of the effects of our actions on the environment. We seek out ways to improve operational efficiency. We actively support the larger communities in which we live,

learn, and work through time and money.

Our rewards and recognition system is congruent with ourvalues.

Interdependence

In healthy communities, there is a grow-grow mentality, i.e., eachperson and group actively looks for ways to help the other grow.Norms found in an organization that values interdependence mightinclude:

We actively look for ways to help our members succeed. We actively look for ways to help our customers succeed. We actively look for ways to help our suppliers and partners

succeed. We actively look for ways to help our larger communities

succeed. We actively look for ways to help our stakeholders succeed.

IntegrityIn healthy communities, there is an emphasis on ethicalleadership. Norms found in an organization that values integritymight include: We are reflectivewe try to do the right thing. We are honestwe say what we mean. We are reliablewe do what we say. We are forthrightwe openly communicate our reasons for

positions we take. We are steadfastwe stay the course in the face of criticism

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B. Organizational support for personal

development

The second indicator of an emotionally healthy community

is the amount of organizational support for personaldevelopment. This support can be in the form of tuitionreimbursement, training programs, sabbaticals, mentoringprograms, elder care or child care benefits, vacation time,wellness programs, or simply recognition of personal orprofessional change. Since the psychological contractbetween employer and employee has evolved into

developmental opportunities in exchange for commitment,it makes good business sense to create a developmentalenvironment. Research also indicates that the singlebiggest factor in employee commitment is the belief byemployees that managers genuinely care about theirwell-being (Mendes, 1995). Organizational support canbe measured by an Organizational Support Indicator

(Allen, 1990) or by including questions about perceivedlevels of support in employee attitude surveys.

4. Spiritual indicators of a healthy

community

A. ConnectednessThe first indicator of a spiritually healthy community isthe sense of connectedness employees have. Peoplecan feel connected to themselves, to others, and/or toa larger purpose. Therefore, in a connected community,there would be free expression of emotions. People wouldnot only be conscious of their thoughts and feelings, they

would find constructive ways to express them. In a con-nected community, one would see high performing teamsin which there would be lively debate and discussion ofnew ideas. Finally, in a connected community, there isusually a vision that taps into peoples deepest aspirations.


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You can also recognize a connected community by whatyou don't see. In a connected community, there would bevery little evidence of rumor mills, undermining, cross-

departmental friction, or festering conflicts.

B. Joy

The second indicator of a spiritually healthy communityis the presence of joy and laughter. In addition, a spirituallyhealthy community has several indicators of success aswell.

First, in joyful communities, there are celebrations ofunique gifts. People are encouraged and supported toshare their gifts with the community.

Second, people reflect upon and acknowledge strengthsand weaknesses. In his most recent book, ExtraordinaryMinds, Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner suggests

that extraordinary people have a clear sense of theirstrengths and weaknesses and are open about sharingthose.

Third, in joyful communities, there is encouragementfor whole person development, and all members of thecommunity go out of their way to support each persons

unique talents.Fourth, members of joyful communities constantly check inwith each other to deal with issues and concerns as theyarise.

Fifth, there is a willingness to accept and initiate feedback,and there is an agreed upon level of honesty that the

community subscribes to. For example, a member mightsay that its okay to point out problems in certain areas,but there are issues on which feedback is not welcomeand here is what they are.

Sixth, there is agreement in advance about how problemsare going to be handled. For example, are all problems

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surfaced to the entire community? Is there a particulartime when problems are to be discussed? What is theprocess for conflict resolution?

Finally, there is a high level of awareness about eachothers lives and a constant sense of affection andaffirmation. Essentially, people love and feel loved ina joyful community. And, if you are really interested increating a joyful community, positive and enthusiasticgreetings are not a bad place to start.

How do you recognize a healthy community when yousee one? There are physical, intellectual, emotional, andspiritual indicators that enable you to not only diagnosehow healthy your community is, but also to developspecific interventions to make it healthier.

Why would you want to have a healthy community in thefirst place? Because it is a prerequisite for sustainableprofitability and performance. In a climate that requirescontinuous creativity, healthy communities are arequirement for success.

How do you create a healthy community? You start withsoulful leaders who understand the necessity and have apassion for innovation and change. To give you a glimpse

of the characteristics of soulful leaders and possibilities ofhealthy communities, the next section will overview somemodels of each.


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IntroductionThe role of soul in healthy communities is fairly obvious.Soul leaders know that their organizations can be prisonsthat enslave people to act in habitual and mechanicalways as Camus and Reich so eloquently described. Soulleaders know that a healthy community is a prerequisiteto profits. Soul leaders know intangibles (e.g., intellectualcapital, continuous creativity, shared values, connected-ness, and joy) lead to tangible results (e.g., productivity,profitability, performance, and partnerships).

Fortunately, there are many examples of soul leaderswho demonstrate that purpose and profits dont have tobe incompatible. We selected our models on the following

criteria:

Intellectual

Innovation Results orientation

Emotional Decency

Compassion

Spiritual

Integrity Courage

In the examples that follow, you will see how soulfulleadership has not only created healthy communities,but has also produced enormous profitability.

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Russ Campanello

Merging technology with heartRuss Campanello is the Chief People Officer atNerveWire. He has also been the VP for Human Re-sources at Lotus Development Corporation and the VPfor Operations at Nets, Inc. He is chosen as a model forthis book because he is a seasoned executive who knowsthe importance of community in the business environmentand who lives by his principles.

With the support of Jim Manzi, Russ formed the first soulcommittee in corporate America. The purpose of thiscommittee was to define the desired relationships withcustomers, employees, communities, and stockholdersand to analyze the gap between stated values and actualbehaviors at Lotus. This committee was rewarded forsurfacing issues of incongruency between policy and

practice. Its intent was to build a culture with enduringcharacterone that was based on a shared set of valuesthat inspired people to be their best. In many ways, Russwas simply trying to reconnect the company back to itsroots and to find current expressions for those roots.

Like many start-ups, Lotus was strongly defined by the

personalities of its founders. Lotus was founded by MitchKapor, who started the company in his house and hiredhis first employee, Janet Axelrod, in 1981. Axelrod hadpreviously worked for the Haymarket Peoples Fund, anactivist-controlled foundation committed to radical socialchange. Kapor freed Axelrod to create the tone of the newcompany, and it was she who was largely responsible for

the early corporate culture. Axelrod integrated the HRfunction, fought for workplace diversity, advocated forphilanthropy, and sponsored AIDS walks. She alsofacilitated the creation of Lotuss operating principles,which were intended to serve as guidelines for interactionbetween all employees. Their purpose was to foster andpreserve the spirit of Lotus and to promote the well-being

of all concerned.

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spouses of married, heterosexual employees to thedomestic partners of spousal equivalents of lesbianand gay employees. If adopted, Lotus would be the

only publicly traded corporation to offer such benefits.When Russ assumed his position as Vice President,he faced multiple challenges: there were widespreadpay and benefits inequities between company divisions,sagging employee morale, tremendous internal change,and limited success in hiring and developing a diversework force. Thus, his initial reaction to the proposal toextend benefits to gay partners was, Oh my God, Ivebeen in the job only for a few months. I cant believe thisis the first policy decision Im facing.

But face it he did. In spite of his concerns about the roleof business in challenging these issues, the impact of thispolicy decision on employee morale and the marketplace,

and the fact that this was his first major policy decision,Russ still proceeded. During the meeting with the threewomen, Russ had thought:

Shes been with her partner 10 years and I was divorcedafter three. And look at the stresses that a lesbian couplehas to face in the world. This is really about creating

equity. There is something inherently wrong with thesystem currently in place that doesnt acknowledge thepartners of this community.

Russ presented the idea of spousal equivalents benefitsto CEO Jim Manzi in 1990. The senior executive teamsigned on quickly. The proposal was consistent withpre-existing policies and addressed some of the diversity

issues that were troubling the senior team. Internally, thepolicy decision went smoothly. Externally, however, therewere problems with insurers and the IRS. And when thedecision was publicly announced on August 26, 1991,Russ was deluged with phone calls from local, national,and international media outlets.

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According to a Harvard Business Reviewcase study onthis policy and Russs role, letters poured into corporateheadquartersas did a few destroyed software packages.

Responses were 80 percent positive to 20 percent nega-tive; people called and wrote to congratulate Lotus on itsleadership, and to condemn the company for falling preyto everything from the forces of Satan to the pressuresof political correctness and liberalism run amok. Lotusexecutives knew of only one significant investor whowithdrew support for the corporation as a result of this

new policy.What the Harvard case study did not report was thatRuss also received threatening phone calls at his home.He withstood the pressure and the policy remains inplacea model several other major corporations havenow adopted.

Russ also played a major role in the nurturing andfeeding of the norms and values that enabled Lotus tocontinuously generate new products and solutions, tocompete with Microsoft, and, ultimately, to be acquired byIBM for the hefty sum of $3.5 billion.

Russ also was responsible for the creation of the Lotus

Day Care Center to help working parents balance theirhome and working needs. It was physically located inthe middle of the corporate campus. Russ viewed thisprominent placement as the corporate equivalent to theStatue of Libertya real statement of values.

Russ was not only concerned with social responsibility andcorporate values, he was also focused on business and

how HR could get more connected with the customer. Oneof his most significant contributions was to re-engineer HRwithin Lotus. Russ describes what HR needs to do to enterthe information age and come to grips with workflowtechnology in a January 1995 article in The Review(a publication of the Association of Human ResourceSystems Professionals). Essentially, in two years, Russ

transformed the HR function at Lotus by applying workflow

II. Soul Models

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technology to standardize the content knowledge ofthe company to provide a quick and efficient way ofadministering policies and transacting business. Now,

almost 25,000 employees transactions are handled eachyear without paper. That means the HR function is nolonger about reacting to problems, it is focused on how tofind solutions to problems and to address programs for thefuture.

Russs tenure at Lotus was cut short by IBMs acquisitionof Lotus. Shortly after IBM acquired Lotus through itshostile take-over, 80 percent of the senior managementteam left Lotus; unfortunately as they left, the Lotus soulquietly slipped out of its body. During that whole difficultprocess, Russ maintained the highest possible integrity.He constantly fought for what was right for people and hedid what he could to preserve the cherished values atLotus. At no point did he sell out for personal gain orengage in vindictive reactions. This is soul leadership.

Building integrity and deciding to take a stand for criticalprinciples does not occur in an overnight transformation.From previous experiences, Russ had learned theimportance of these values. Russ took an indirect routeto HR. He entered Lowell Technology Institute, what he

called the poor mans MIT, as an engineering student butquickly transferred to marketing. When Russ confessedto a professor that nothing made sense, the professorsuggested Human Resources. In HR, Russ found acombination of traditional business concepts and theoryabout human behavior and motivations that were moreresonant to his soul.

Throughout the years, Russ has consistently been anexample of the criteria for soul leadership: innovation,results orientation, decency, compassion, integrity, andcourage. The stories above provide rich examples ofhow these values come alive in Russs work and life.

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Dr. Dorothea Johnson

A pioneer with determinationDr. Dorothea Johnson is the former Vice Presidentfor Health Affairs at AT&T. In that position, she wasresponsible for the health of over 300,000 employeesand their families. She is chosen as a model for thisbook because she is a pioneer with vision and verve.

Dorothea was one of the first women to break the glassceiling in a Fortune 50 firm. Instead of resting comfortably

and seeking safety in her new position of status andpower, Dorothea continually challenged senior manage-ment to create a healthier workplace.

Dorothea initiated the first culture-based health promotionprogram in the corporate world. Total Life Concept (TLC),the process she founded, extended the notion of risk

factors to include the norms and values of the worksite.She also secured corporate funding for the most com-prehensive evaluation of worksite health promotion in thecountry. The work done at AT&T is still seen as a landmarkstudy in the creation of a healthy work environment.

What differentiated TLC from other corporate health pro-motion programs was its emphasis on corporate culture

and management behaviors. TLC took the position thatpeople could only swim upstream (practice positive healthin a dysfunctional culture) for a short amount of time andthat it was unfair to ask them to do so because their effortswould likely result in failure. Even in those corporationsthat do sponsor health promotion efforts today, theemphasis is still on individual physical risk reduction.The mission of TLC, on the other hand, was alwaysto build a healthy community. TLC measured culturalchanges, assessed organizational support, and providedfeedback to managers on their behavior.

Unlike any other corporate health promotion program,TLC began its intervention with a Managing for Health

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and Productivity Seminar that was designed to persuademanagers to believe that supporting positive healthpractice was a first priority business need.

Dr. Johnson was a pioneer in many aspects of her life.When Dorothea went to medical school in 1952, only3 percent of medical students, nationwide, were female.Now, approximately 50 percent of medical students arefemale. In 1980, she established a unique union/management Employee Assistance Program. In 1985,she became the first woman President of the AmericanOccupational Medical Association. And in 1986, she waspromoted to Vice President and Division Executive ofHealth Affairs at AT&T, one of very few women executivesat that time.

In practically every initiative she proposed in her careerat AT&T, the same paradigm repeated itself: Resistance

ResultsResourcefulness. Whether she was attemptingto create a comprehensive Employee Assistance Program,sponsor fitness programs, develop a culture-based healthpromotion program, or implement a blood donor program,the first response from corporate AT&T was alwaysnegative. As a soul leader, however, Dorotheas com-passion and restraint overrode the initial rejection, and

she would always persevere to get her ideas accepted.

When Dr. Johnson first became Corporate MedicalDirector of AT&T Long Lines in 1978, she was chargedwith creating an alcohol treatment program, although thecompany didnt really believe there was a problem. Basedon a survey in which managers were asked how many

people in their department had alcohol issues, AT&T LongLines concluded that 32 people out of 40,000 employeeshad alcohol problems. We know now that the number wasprobably closer to 4,000 employees, but poor surveymethodology and the phenomenon of denial resulted in theerroneous conclusion. In spite of those results, Dorotheapersisted by finding an executive who would sponsor a

pilot program. The results of that pilot were so successful

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that the program was adopted company-wide. In 1983,AT&T Long Lines was recognized as having the best EAPprogram in the country by the Association of Labor-

Management Administrators and Consultants onAlcoholism (ALMACA).

In the late 1970s, AT&T had a few fitness centersscattered about the country. They were all operatingindependently and there were no real standards to ensuresafety and positive conditioning. When Dr. Johnsonwanted to expand the fitness centers and standardizethe physical conditions, processes, and procedures, sheagain met with resistance. In fact, she discovered that allthe shower heads had been removed from showers at theheadquarters buildings because executives didnt wantemployees jogging around the building. When Dorotheaapprised the President of this situation, the shower headsimmediately re-appeared. Dorothea then found a sponsorfor a state-of-the art fitness center with professional staffand demonstrated the results that could be achieved whenfitness centers are designed and run professionally. By thetime Dr. Johnson retired from AT&T in 1995, there wereover 40 fitness centers around the country all reportinginto Health Affairs and all running according toprofessional standards.

In 1982, just prior to divestiture, Dr. Johnson proposeda comprehensive, culture-based wellness program tohelp employees manage the changes that were about toimplode upon them as a result of the largest corporatebreak-up in history. At the stroke of a pen, AT&Ttransformed from a million employees to about 300,000.

More importantly, AT&T changed from the most stable,secure, certain environment in history to an unstable,insecure, and uncertain environment in which tens ofthousands of people have been delayered, downsized,reduced-in-force, out-placed, etc. Total Life Concept (TLC)was designed to ease some of the negative effects ofchange and to help people see the opportunities that

change represented. Again, the first corporate response

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was no. But Dorothea found a champion to sponsor apilot that demonstrated results translating into more than$300 million in savings over a 10-year period if the

program were expanded. Dorothea was resourcefulenough to get funding for a company-wide program. WhenDorothea retired from AT&T, the TLC program was widelyrecognized as one of the most comprehensive and cost-effective programs in the country. This is soul leadership.

Finally, during her last five years at AT&T, when resourceswere continually cut in spite of the human and economicbenefits, Dorothea directed her attention to a blood donorprogram. Following the resistance-results-resourcefulnessparadigm to the letter, she was at first denied the fundingsupport to implement this critical program. Undaunted,Dorothea found a sponsor who would fund her effort.Based on the results of the pilot she conducted in a fewlocations, she was able to broaden the scope and depthof the program. Over the next few years, she producedfour award-winning videotapes on blood donation. In 1993,the American Association of Blood Banks gave thePresidential Award to AT&T for outstanding commitmentto the promotion and support of voluntary blood donationprograms. This is soul leadership.

In every case, Dorothea started out with one-on-onemeetings until she found a champion. Then, she wouldquickly move to involve a broad base of support for herefforts. In every case, she had an elevated purpose inmind: to improve the health of the community. In everycase, she encountered resistance and overcame it. Inevery case, she achieved results and ensured that

evaluation protocols were solid. In every case, she wasresourceful enough to find a broad base of support, tomobilize key people around the cause, and to influenceleadership to look differently at what can be accomplishedand how it can be accomplished. Dr. Dorothea Johnsonclearly deserves to be included as a soul leader in buildinghealthier communities.

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Dr. Barry Cohen

Innovation in the midst of crisisDr. Barry Cohen is the Executive Vice President incharge of Marketing at Parametric Technology (PTC). Hewas the Senior Vice President for Human Developmentand Organizational Productivity at Computervision (CV)before CV was acquired by Parametric. He is chosen asa model for this book because he is a philosopher withcourage and compassion. Indeed, he could be one of the

only senior executives in corporate America with a Ph.D.in philosophy.

Barrys experience at CV was particularly soulful becausehis organization suffered inordinate trauma over a 10-yearperiod. In 1988, when Prime Computer and Computer-vision merged, the organization had revenues of $1 billionand had 15,000 employees. By 1998, revenues had

slipped to less than $200 million and there were less than1,000 employees remaining. While the company engagedin heroic efforts to save the business, marketplace condi-tions proved to be overwhelming. No one wished for thesteady deterioration of CV, and surely mistakes were madealong the way. Independent of all that, the employees atCV continued to fight. While they were suffering from battle

fatigue by the end, there was still an unending spiritpermeating the last remaining building. A great deal of thatfighting spirit can be attributed to Barrys soul leadership.What makes Barryan ideal selection as a soul leader is how he dealt withindividuals, teams, and the organization during thisprolonged series of crises that eventually led to the

purchase by PTC.

Above all, Barry always dealt with people directly andhonestly. Clearly, Barry had to deliver hundreds of cold,ugly messages during 10 years of decline. The contentof hard messages, however, can be delivered in a caringway. While Barry could never be accused of sugar coating

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a message, he would always ensure that the personheard the full message and that the person felt heardin the process. Barry understood fully the differences

between content, process, and context. Even though thecontent could be devastating at times, the process washumane and the context respectful. For example, layoffswere handled in decent and sensitive ways. While Barryrealized that HRD at Computervision translated intoHuman Reduction and Destruction for many people, hestill did all he could to create a humane, innovative, and

productive environment.Just as he impacts individuals, Barry also has a powerfulimpact on the teams he leads. Three norms that Barryinstills in his teams are:

Be harder on yourself than you are on others Do what you say

Assume nothing

Driving these norms is a critical behavior for soulleadership. On Barrys teams, there is always a winningattitude even if the team is not winning at any particularpoint in time. In the face of daunting challenges, Barryis always able to keep his teams mobilized and goal

oriented. He is constantly looking for ways to improvethe commitment and capacity of his teams. This is soulleadership.

When PTC bought CV, Barry was the only senior execu-tive to hold a meeting with his employees to tell themthe truth . . . . that the likelihood of being laid off wassignificant and that they should spend the merger time

thinking about what was right for themselves; they shouldprepare themselves by writing resumes and exploringopportunities. He asked that they each work to help themerger, but also to help themselves. The employeeappreciation of Barrys candor was overwhelming. At atime when people were feeling the most fear, they werealso feeling a sense of dignity and respect.

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In addition to making an impact on individuals andteams, Barry also exerts an amazing influence onthe organization. In the midst of all the restructuring,

downsizing, and delayering that CV had to do, Barryinitiated a Health and Healing Program for all employees.Clearly, Computervision needed healing at an individualand organizational level, but few executives would havethe courage to implement such a process in the midst ofsevere budget cutting and layoffs. Barry deemed it anecessity and his decision paid off. The Health and

Healing Program consisted of four phases: Orientation,Education, Support, and Evaluation. We will review eachphase here to give a fuller sense of the commitment Barryhas to his convictions.

The Orientation included a comprehensive health riskappraisal, biometric testing on-site, and an overview ofhealth promotion. All participants received a confidentialreport of their health risks and went to a workshop onhow to interpret the results and get started on a behaviorchange program. Employees learned how their lifestylebehaviors could contribute to a long and healthy life or ashort, miserable one. They were also introduced to LukeChan, a ChiLel Chi Gong Master, who presented thenotion of Eastern healing techniques and invited people toa two-day, company-paid workshop to learn how to do theexercises, affirmations, and visualizations associated withChi Gong.

The Education phase consisted of the two-day workshopwith Luke Chan, where people learned ChiLel Chi Gongmethods and received a tape to facilitate their first

100 days of practice. This particular form of Chi Gongencourages people to change their habits by doing ChiGong everyday for 100 days. The workshop also includesa healing component in which participants experience thebenefits of giving and receiving Chi.

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In the Support phase, all workshop participants wereinvited to attend daily half-hour Chi Gong sessionsduring work hours. Sessions were held at three different

times during the day to accommodate peoples schedules.Every few months, Luke would attend the sessions to givefeedback to employees regarding their Chi Gong skills.In addition to the Chi Gong support, a steering committeewas also established to explore ways to promote healthand healing at Computervision. This committee met everymonth to review progress and to recommend additional

action that might be taken to improve employee healthand well-being. Needless to say, Barry took a significantamount of heat for his continued support of this effort inthe midst of crisis conditions. Thats soul leadership.

During the Evaluation phase, Computervision analyzedthe process and impact variables related to the healthand healing program. Findings indicated that 40 percentof the employees who attended the workshop completedthe 100-day commitment. Of those who maintained theirChi Gong practice, 65 percent reported improvements inhealth, productivity, and innovation. These participantsreported decreases in weight, cholesterol, blood pressure,and doctor visits. Participants also reported reductions instress, illness, and absenteeism. Most importantly, theprogram helped people stay calm, centered, and focusedin the midst of all the chaos in the organization. Theysimply had more energy to do what they needed to do.Specifically, pre and post survey results showed significantimprovements on the following attitudes:

I feel connected with people at CV.

I have a sense of belonging at CV. CV cares about my sense of well-being. CV offers ways to learn more about myself. I am able to handle stress on the job. I feel good about working at CV.

These results validate the importance of soul leadership.

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The Computervision experience represents just one phaseof Barrys career and just one reason we have selectedhim as a soul leader. Barrys early work was in community

mental health and psychiatric rehabilitation where hedeveloped and implemented programs that still serveas models for the field. As the statewide directorof community mental health in Youngstown, Ohio, inthe 1970s, Barry established himself as a pioneer inpsychiatric rehabilitation. His Skills + Support Modelis still being used in rehabilitation programs nationwide.

In the 1980s, as the Director of Technical AssistanceServices at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation atBoston University, Barry co-authored texts on psychiatricrehabilitation that still serve as standards today. Barryalso produced award-winning videos on the practiceof psychiatric rehabilitation.

In the 1990s, Barry dedicated his leadership talent to thepsychiatric rehabilitation of business and industry. Theterminology, of course, has changed, but the end resultshave not. Through his work with over 100 organizations,Barry has continually sought to bring the human dimensioninto the work equation. He has done this through humor,direct confrontation, and honest dialogue.

If we review the criteria for soul leadershipthat isinnovation, results orientation, decency, compassion,integrity, and courageBarry is a soul model for all ofthem.

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Stuart Sendell

Community involvement with

wit and wisdomStuart Sendell is the Managing Director of LarsonFinancial Resources. He is chosen as a model for thisbook because he is a community leader with wit andwisdom. In addition to serving in a leadership capacity atone of the most respected financial services firms in NewJersey, Stuart invests an enormous amount of time in non-

profit organizations in Morristown, New Jersey. He hasserved as Chairperson of the Housing Partnership, theMorristown Unitarian Fellowship, Children on the Green,First Night Morris, Morris 2000; has been treasurer ofthe Morris Shelter; and has been on the board of theCommunity Foundation of New Jersey and the UnitedWay. To give you a sense of Stuarts commitment to

community, here are brief descriptions of some of theseagencies.

The Housing Partnership is designed to provide and locateaffordable housing for people in need throughout MorrisCounty.

Morris Shelter provides transitional housing and support to

450 homeless men, women, and children each year. Stuartwas treasurer for nine years when the agency went from abudget of $125,000 to $1,350,000.

Children on the Green provides child-care services forlow-income parents by subsidizing their services withfee-paying, higher income families. Stuart helped to found

this agency in 1994. The program facilitates the earlyintegration of children from a wide spectrum of socio-economic status, and it addresses the critical needs ofparents who are trying to transition from welfare to work.

First Night Morris is the annual non-alcoholic New YearsEve celebration modeled after the Boston First Night.Stuart helped to found First Night Morris in 1992 and

served as chair for two years.

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Morris 2000 is a unique nonprofit organization whose by-laws require the 30-person board to be equally dividedamong business, government, and civic members. The

board acts as a watch dog over the countys quality of lifeand responds to requests from towns and the county toresearch issues, establish consensus on a course ofaction, and implement solutions.

Stuart evolved as a soul leader through a series of tem-pering and enlightening experiences. He was exposedearly to the perils of sole leadership at Bendix Corporationwhere he worked for 10 years in the 1960s. At that time,Bendix was a quintessential theory X firm. Managerswere autocratic, operated independently, and tried tokeep workers in the same jobs doing the same old thingbecause they didnt want to lose them. Developmentalleadership was not a concept that had any meaning forthem. I

the manager's pocket guide to spiritual leadership

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