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Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations

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Margaret Benefiel is a wise theologian who is addressing the problem that daily grows larger in the media - the betrayal of humanity in the costume of Business. What a perfect time for this immensely readable, wise counsel, and ray of sunshine little book with a big message.

Benefiel sets about to diagnose the problems with businesses that have forgotten about the consumer, the worker, and the purpose of being. This loss is in the realm of spirituality which Benefiel wisely defines as 'the human spirit, fully engaged'. Though her credentials as a theologian and teacher are well established, Benefiel relies on the gentle approach to pursuing her suggestions for true success in the business world. She presents several examples of companies who thrive because they care for the people who work for them and tend to their needs, and shows how this internal spirituality naturally extends to the consumer or customer.

And while SOUL AT WORK is a fascinating and solid guide to steer businesses into a mode of functioning that incorporates spirituality, the book also is a gentle, well written manual for self-examination, a reminder that tending to our own souls is the given starting place. Reading this book offers each of us the opportunity to become the spiritual leaders of our respective workplaces and of our lives. A timely guide to tranquility. Grady Harp, December 05

"Soul at Work" is a perceptive book on how to increase productivity and prosperity on every level in the workplace, for the owner, manager, employee, and his environment, through "the interdependence of life" and the empowerment of implementing spiritual principles. Examples are given from many walks of life, and in various faiths. These principles benefit everyone from the worker on the lowest rung of employment to the people owning stock in the company, and one can envision how this workplace philosophy could change the world if actualized on a global scale. The eventual beneficiary of course is the customer, patient, etc., who deals with people he can trust, and who treat him fairly.

In Part One of the book, Ms. Benefiel sets the stage with descriptions of the organizations that use these principles. There are interviews with the leaders, how they have succeeded by having spirituality as their core value, and how spiritual discernment has guided them to make decisions that achieve excellence and prosperity in their endeavors. Most interesting is the history of Genny Nelson, who started the Sisters of the Road Café, and has been able to take homeless people she has helped, and move them up the ladder in the organization to positions of responsibility. These people in turn help others, in an ever-increasing chain of positive change. It is a great success story, and makes wonderful reading.

Part Two addresses how the principles outlined in Part One are implemented on a broad scale, and in Chapter 8, Ms. Benefiel's description and graphics of the "Individual Spiritual Transformation" and "Organizational Transformation" are perfectly illustrated. It shows the ups and downs, and the "dark night" that comes before the "fullness" of one's destiny, and is a bridge that must invariably be crossed. Whether one is the leader of an organization, or self-employed with a "company of one," what this book has to offer will be helpful, and an inspiration to apply these principles to one's life and one's work.

Margaret Benefiel writes with clarity, in language that is crafted for precise understanding; it is a book that is easy to read, and at the same time carries a depth that could change lives. May her message start in our neighborhoods, and spread throughout the world.

"Soul at Work" is an inspiration for anyone who thinks that we don't have to live a divided life leaving our morals and spirit at the workplace door. Benefiel's case studies show real-life experiences of people who have made choices that allow them to maintain the integrity of their beliefs and make a profit at the same time. In a time when it is hard to trust businesses, this book gives hope for commerce.

Several different types of business are represented: a hospital, a bakery, U-2 (yes, the rock band!), and others. Soul needn't be confined to one kind of work or one size company.

The author's knowledge of spirituality in the workplace and business practices makes this book a useful resource both for executives and managers who are searching for ways to make their work and companies more soulful, and for religious people who want to minister to people who feel stripped of their spirituality in the workplace. She speaks about discernment and leadership, about which she has done much research, in holistic ways.

This book definitely has a wide scope and is not just about religious organizations lest the subtitle "Spiritual Leadership in Organizations" make you think it is. This is for anyone interested in the workplace who has a soul. That is probably you.

In five to ten years time, I predict we will see a spurt of entrepreneurialism directly traceable to Margaret Benefiel's Soul at Work. Much writing about spirituality and the work place is little more than enthusiastic commentary. This book is much more. In its breadth of real world stories ranging from U2 to Reell Precision Manufacturing to Mercy Medical, Soul at Work tells the experiences of leaders in their own voices.

These are not portraits of saints - of leaders who made decisions in extraordinary circumstances. These are ordinary people who did make the commitment to create an environment where they and their colleagues could bring their whole selves to work. Recognizing the array of spiritualities that leaders (and readers) bring, Benefiel defines soul as "the human spirit, fully engaged." Importantly, she has collected stories from a diversity of wisdom traditions.

The book is divided into two sections, first hearing from the leaders themselves and then moving on to examining their organizations. The author concludes with a set of lessons/guides that are traced back to their origins in the stories presented. She helpfully demonstrates what people any place in an organization - and across a wide diversity of organizations - can do.

What I found most exciting was that some readers who find their current circumstances inhospitable to bottom lines other than the financial may well be spurred to create new, more spiritually-grounded organizations that are also designed to be successful in the marketplace.

Buy a copy for yourself - then buy another to share with colleagues. You'll want to keep your own handy. But as you read it, you'll want to be able to talk about it with people you know seek a fuller engagement of soul at work.

Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations is a guide to spirituality especially for organizational leaders. Written by an expert teacher in the areas of spirituality and organizational leadership, Soul at Work examines the role of individuals in nurturing soul, the organizational means by which soul can be manifest, and procedures for balancing tensions and difficulties between individuals and organizations. Segments discuss the leadership requirements to bring about transformations, how leaders listen, the importance of honoring what really matters in both business and volunteer organizations, the importance of remembering the real cause behind charitable organizations, and much more. Numerous anecdotes and examples vividly illustrate this insightful, practical, and soulful guide.

On the first page of the Introduction (page 9 in the book) I got hooked when Margaret defined spirituality as "the human spirit, fully engaged." That drew me in and from then on I read the book without putting it away. It is a breeze to read and then leaves you with much to mull over. All the stories are heartwarming, yet they also show the hard work that the business owners and employees continue to have to do, and that the soul searching and the discernment are never finished. The notion of discernment is a useful one for the business world. She defines it as "a drawing on one's whole self, soul, mind, heart and spirit, including but transcending intellectual analysis" (page 51)and covers both the personal and the group discernment as spiritual practices that are actually used in the workplaces she observed. Discernment is one of those practices that would go far in reducing impulsive and misguided decision making.

Margaret dealt upfront with the usual knots that tie spirituality and religiosity together, and her interviews show that such a knot is not necessary, although in some examples it holds.

An uplifting book with some good ideas to try out.

Having heard about Soul at Work in advance of publication, I couldn't wait to get my copy. And it was worth the wait! Defining soul as "a verb in noun's clothing," Benefiel says "soul is how `the human spirit, fully engaged' is realized in the real world." In her clear, approachable, well-organized style, Benefiel illuminates the inner workings of several organizations-in the for-profit, non-profit and health-care fields-that have established "purposes and practices [that] combine to create a workplace that embraces fully engaged human spirits." She reveals the nature and personalities of the leaders of these organizations, how these leaders nurture and maintain their own soul lives, and how that translates into their leadership styles and to the success of their organizations.

While this book looks specifically at the business world, I find this book inspires me to think about how to deepen soul life, as well, in churches, in families-wherever a group of people are gathered to live and work together. I have recommended it to so many friends already who seek greater integration of their spirit and their work. "Instead of driving each other toward excellence, we strive to free each other to grow and express the excellence that is within all of us." This says it all!

One of the constant problems of modern life is the amount of `soullessness' that surrounds us. This has come to be expected from big institutions and bureaucracies, governmental agencies and corporations, but has become so much a part of our culture that it permeates even the way we view ourselves in our own dealings with each other. Being part of a large organisation does not require one to lose one's soul, or even check it at the door. In the Western culture, we likely spend more time at work than at home and/or at leisure, and far more than at church (or other directly spiritual pursuit).

This need not be the case, according to Benefiel. `Soul at work is not a theological abstraction or a dogmatic mantra, but the way that sustained purpose, culture and identity can transcend and enhance an organization's performance and success.' This requires an understanding of certain key elements, such as spirituality, purpose, transformation - words often used but little understood with any kind of fullness or precision. Benefiel's discussion is fully grounded in her own experience both as a teacher and as a person at work in various sorts of environments, but also in the experiences and insights from others. These others can be as diverse as the music group U2 to the corporate giant Southwest Airlines.

Benefiel states that `organisations, like individuals, have souls that transcend and support their practical activity'. This kind of soul-making comes from the collective efforts of those involved in the community created, by recognising a healthy balance of purpose between the individual and the communal, and a wider responsibility of the group to the rest of the world. It does not mean having no care or concern for the purposes of the organisation (even the financial bottom line), but often, `paradoxically, keeping their eyes on the spiritual goal often results in material reward.'

Benefiel looks at specific individuals, who exemplify different elements of leadership in both the spiritual and the institutional senses. She gives practical suggestions as to how these things might be interpreted in other contexts and communities, so that general principles can be derived in many cases.

This is a book that would make an excellent study for any company or organisation seeking to clarify its direction and purpose. The practice of corporate discernment is not a common one, but is deserving of consideration as the task of making life worth living comes be seen in more than bottom-line, paycheck kinds of terms. It is also useful for those who `go it alone', both to help them in their clarity as well as to see the greater connections beyond their own individual work.

Margaret Benefiel has provided a good service to the business world with this text. It introduces spirituality in broad terms, and so can be used in interfaith/ecumenical environments without difficulty.

Soul at Work is certainly an interesting look at a fascinating, nontraditional style of business organization. Not only does it advance the notions of spirituality at work, it offers revealing examples of organizations and leaders already putting the idea into practice. Although author Margaret Benefiel tries to divorce the idea of spirituality from religious practices, though, I don't think she truly succeeds in doing so - although she certainly shows how a wide spectrum of religious beliefs can be utilized in fostering a spiritual work environment. The practical examples of what would otherwise be fairly esoteric ideas are the real key to this book's success, though. The author makes her point clearly and effectively, but I'm not so sure that such spiritual organization can be successfully applied anywhere and everywhere. Maybe it's just because I'm such an independent thinker, but I would not be comfortable working at some of the businesses and nonprofit organizations profiled here. By way of example, one organization discussed in the book starts business meetings by having everyone describe how he/she is feeling, and then participants pass around a speaker's rock (you can't talk when you don't have the rock) - that kind of incredibly self-conscious work environment is clearly not one that I personally could thrive in.

Effective organization starts with effective leadership, so Benefiel first profiles the personal characteristics of spiritual leaders - how they mature spiritually in their inner lives and acquire the kind of spiritual discernment that fosters sound decision-making. According to the author, more than half of all business decisions are wrong; spiritual discernment means taking the time to study an issue, getting input from others, and coming to the "right" decision, even if it goes against short-term gain. Part Two discusses how the leaders already profiled brought spiritual organization to their own organizations. Benefiel covers the spectrum of business, health care, and nonprofit companies by way of her practical examples. This is the real meat of the book, as it reveals what soul at work looks like, how it develops, and how it helps businesses as a whole and their employees benefit.

The transformative power of soul at work is then discussed in the final part of the book. It's all about transforming workers while also transforming businesses at the same time. Ultimate transformation, the author contends, makes the organization a force for change that cares more about transforming itself and its employees than simply making a profit. The author does a good job of comparing this spiritual transformation on both levels and showing how they go hand in hand. All of these ideas certainly lend themselves to health care and nonprofit businesses, but I'm just not sold on the idea of profit-based businesses strengthening themselves by subjectively ignoring the bottom line. To some degree, though, any business can sustain economic growth by such things as strengthening the customer base and encouraging a sense of pride and purpose in workers, which is why Benefiel says it is OK to inculcate soul at work even for profit-related reasons - but the ultimate purpose, she contends, is always spiritual transformation of the individual worker as well as the organization.

Ultimately, I can't agree with some who think the inculcation of this type of spiritual transformation of the workplace will revolutionize how business is done in this country. Benefiel makes her points very effectively, but I guess I'm too cynical to believe that profit-based businesses are going to look past economic growth in favor of spiritual growth. Certainly, though, Soul at Work makes for provocative reading, and the ideas it discusses can work extremely well in certain organizations. Benefiel takes a somewhat abstract subject and effectively demonstrates its practical aspects and benefits. In a way, though, it all comes down to business ethics, caring about your customers, and empowering your employees - and I think the introduction of soul at work is only one of several effective means, largely depending on the type of organization, for achieving such ends.

Interesting book, with great insight into businesses willing to remain on the high road.