Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations

by Margaret Benefiel

Book Overview

Dozens of books about spirituality and management have demonstrated the yearning for spirituality in the workplace that exists in people like Kerry Hamilton. No longer content to abide the widening chasm between their deeply-held values and the all-too-common business practices they encounter, these readers long for congruence between their values and their work. They wonder whether the days of the giants of corporate character like Johnson & Johnson,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596270136
• ISBN13: 9781596270138
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Seabury Books
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.8" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A guide to spirituality especially for organizational leaders

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.

The Antidote for Corporate Corruption...and In Praise of the Human Spirit

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

"The Human Spirit, Fully Engaged"

"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.

Spiritually-Grounded AND Successful

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 and Work CAN go together!

"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.