Beacons of Business - 37

[Guest guest]

Sairam Sisters and Brothers,

We will continue with Andrè L. Delbecq, D.B.A., Director - Institute for

Spirituality of Organisation Leadership, J. Thomas and Kathleen L. McCarthy

University Professor, Santa Clara University, Alameda, CA, USA.

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"I think a business exists to provide an innovative and compelling answer to a

societal need in the form of a needed service or product. The successful

"solution" encompassed by the product or service must be innovative in the

sense that it continually seeks a solution at the edge of unfolding technology,

and/or is efficient in a solution that encompasses high quality at a low price

avoiding waste. So to me this is the discipline of business. This is what we

ask of the business organisation, and this is how we should judge business

organisations.

When this purpose is approached through a spiritual lens, it will be shaped

differently in many ways. The needs you start becoming attentive to shift. You

become willing to let go of many trivial and opportunistic concerns, and

instead increasingly put energy into important challenges. The transformational

system you create to receive inputs and transform outputs will also shift,

allowing greater attention to stewardship, justice and inclusiveness of the

concerns of all stakeholders. The character of the organisation's culture will

shift. The relational culture of the organisation will be more attentive to the

gifts of all, and compassionate regarding each person's needs. Your own

willingness as a business leader to endure the mystery of suffering will shift.

For example, your tolerance regarding the discipline of having to meet Wall

Street's expectations about profitability will shift. You will see all the

elements of business challenges as part of a calling to service.

Because of this deeper perspective regarding the nature of business, a sense of

patience and a greater willingness to endure hardship unfolds. All of the

struggles of business leadership as a form of societal service take on a very

different coloration when they are seen from a spiritual perspective. Servant

leadership now becomes a reality."

© Global Dharma Center 2004

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