The Extraordinary Move to Be a Spiritual-Based Leader

What does it mean to be a spiritual-based leader? How can it help if you distinguish between spirituality and religion at work?

By William C. Miller and Debra R. Miller

 

Many people are rightly skeptical about the notion of spirituality mixing with leadership. They feel it can disrupt the workplace more than help it, especially if it turns into a confrontation of religious differences.

And yet the experiences of so many spiritual-based leaders show a way forward that can mitigate the difficulties and accelerate the benefits. Let’s explore all that together, in 2 parts:

• Becoming a spiritual-based leader
• Distinguishing between spirituality and religion at work

Becoming a Spiritual-Based Leader

Anyone who expresses his or her spiritual Self with confidence can be a
spiritual-based leader, whether they influence 1 or 10 or 100 others.

Twenty-five union leaders showed up one morning for a surprise visit to the company president. Security officers called the president for instructions. “Send them up to my office,” he said – and told his assistant to “prepare tea and coffee for 25.” The leaders didn’t trust the president to handle an important HR issue fairly. They stood and shouted what they were unhappy about.

He spoke calmly and respectfully, inviting them to sit and enjoy their drink while they talked. He reassured them that he’d quit before compromising his principles for fair and just hearings – and would reach a judgment based purely on merit, without giving in to favoritism and pressure. The dialogue softened, and the union leaders left his office with a new seed of respect and trust for the president. This seed was nurtured when he lived up to his word.

What made for this turnaround? Was he just using a tactic of diplomacy? No. He was, and is, a person who bases his leadership attitudes and actions on his spiritual view of life. It was from this spiritual view that he experienced everything that was happening. As a result, he had no need to react; he listened attentively to discern where the misunderstanding had occurred and how he could give them reassurance of his intentions. He is a spiritual-based leader, and he’s part of a fast-growing movement in business.

Imagine with us this bold possibility for the workplace:

• Spirituality is the context for revolutionary, transformational leadership
• Leaders develop within themselves a purity and unity of thought, word and deed
• Leaders actively express their spiritual character in every aspect of their lives
• Spiritual values transform all aspects of life in business and society

Sound too good to be true? To most – yes. But to us, it’s a practical reality available to us when we dedicate ourselves to leading from a spiritual view of life. By leadership, we don’t just mean those in positions of power. We mean anyone who expresses his or her spiritual Self with confidence, whether they influence one or ten or a hundred others.

What does it take to be a spiritual-based leader? Every spiritual-based leader we have interviewed around the world has had their own, unique story about how they stepped onto the path of spiritual-based leadership. From our experience in the business world, such leaders have developed in themselves four key faculties:

• They have a clearly held spiritual view of life. That is, they have a clear definition of spirituality, they know their own relationship between spirituality and religion, and they continually ask, “How can I approach this situation from my spiritual view of life?”
• They explore their spirituality from the inside out. That is, they take consistent time to nurture their spiritual growth, they identify their spiritual purpose and values in life, and continuously check up on their purity and unity of thought, word and deed.
• They embody their spiritual principles in their leadership. That is, they see spirituality as the basis of business success, they appreciate work in terms of spiritual opportunity and spiritual growth, and they seek to “talk their thought” and “walk their talk.”
• They engage in revolutionary activities. That is, they promote fundamental change, based on their spiritual view of life, in their workgroup culture, company culture and society itself.

This may sound like a lot, and certainly people don’t develop into spiritual-based leaders overnight. In fact, they tend to go through three stages, depending on which of these three questions they most focus on:

1. How can I bring spiritual values into business?
2. How can I integrate spirituality and business?
3. How can I do all my work from my spiritual view of life?

We’ll explore each of the four faculties in future articles. For now, a beginning point is to contemplate on your heartfelt answers to these questions:

• What is my spiritual view of life?
• How do I nurture my spiritual growth from the inside out?
• How have I put my spiritual purpose and values into action in the last 24 hours?
• How does my work culture currently look different when I view it from my spiritual view of life?

Distinguishing between Spirituality and Religion at Work

Spirituality is by nature inclusive of all people and religions. It allows people of
all religions to work together in harmony, even in the “secular” world of business.

Several years ago, William spoke at a large business symposium in New Delhi on the many varied aspects of becoming a spiritual-based leader in the workplace. During the question and answer session, a business executive asked him in a strong tone, “You’ve talked about how you can be spiritual and successful in business at the same time. India is known to be a spiritual nation. If we’re so spiritual, why aren’t we more successful in business and why is there so much corruption?”

William answered, “Over the last 10 years in the U.S., there has been a growing awareness of a distinction that you may or may not make here in India – the distinction between ‘being spiritual’ and ‘being religious.’ Spirituality is the single essence of all religions, while religions are the set of rituals and beliefs that are designed to evoke our spiritual nature. A person can be religious – engaging in all of the rituals and discussing all of the beliefs – without necessarily being spiritual. Perhaps people here are engaging in religious rituals and beliefs, without living the true essence of spirituality in their lives.”

The man then replied with a full-hearted response, “I would say that in many ways we are more of a religious nation, than a spiritual one.”

Each religion has its own understanding of the nature of creation and the Creator; this diversity provides people with different avenues for realising the one, unifying spiritual basis that we all share. But a religion that only focuses on the outer form of rites and rituals has lost its essence. When the rituals become the prime focus, rather than the spiritual nature they are intended to unite us with, then the differences become all-important. The result can be divisiveness and outright warfare, rather than the inclusive, unifying nature of spirituality.

Because spirituality is the single essence of all religions, it is by nature inclusive of all people and religions, rather than exclusive. From a spiritual (unity) view, the differences in religious understanding and practices deserve respect. The role of any religion is to help people tap into their spirituality, and to support that spirituality in the shared circumstances of life and work. Spirituality allows people of all religions to work together in harmony, even in the “secular” world of business.

So… how do you, as a spiritual-based leader, keep your attention on the inclusive nature of spirituality at work, while respecting the religious affinities of those you lead?

While interviewing spiritual-based executives, both in India and abroad, we asked them about their advice on this matter. Two of them told us:

When leaders have the clear conviction to lead from a spiritual basis it will become evident in their behavior. They will always seek and speak the truth, and will take the time to understand fully and respond properly. They will have no need to convince; they will lead others through their own example.

It’s okay to use religious texts at work if they are used to inspire or guide others, just as you would use other philosophical and meaningful works. The key is that the leader must be an example of one who puts the spiritual wisdom into practice and one who does not resort to empty preaching.

From these and other executives, we have learned that a focus on spirituality can naturally lead to work perspectives and decisions that are harmonious and inclusive. And the different religious backgrounds can be honored as providing pathways for people to know and practice their spirituality at work, for the betterment of all.

So, ask yourself:

How do I distinguish between spirituality and religion at work?

How can I focus on spirituality, while honoring the religious paths of those I lead?

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This article was previously published in the book “Put Your Spirituality to Work” from Global Dharma Center.