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Leading with Wisdom: Spiritual-based Leadership in Business
Authors: Peter Pruzan, Kirsen Pruzan Mikkelsen, with Debra and William Miller
Publisher: Sage Publications
Imprint: Response
Format: Paperback
Pages: 391
ISBN: 978-81-7829-739-2
Price: Rs 495

Leading with Wisdom: Spiritual-based Leadership in Business portrays an emerging global culture. This path-breaking book offers the experiences and perspectives of 31 top executives from 15 countries in 6 continents. They are executives who express from their first-hand experience what it is like to lead a business from a spiritual basis. They tell amazing, down-to-earth, real-life stories about how spirituality and rationality can go hand-in-hand in leadership and life.

Their words of wisdom demonstrate that executives who lead from a spiritual basis can achieve success, recognition, peace of mind and happiness, while at the same time serving the needs of all those affected by their leadership.

Here is an excerpt:

Introduction
Spirituality as the basis of leadership

They do it!
A CEO, freshly recruited from a highly profitable, family-owned business, faced the stark reality that the high-tech company he now led would not survive unless a major reduction in staff was made. He made the decision that, aside from keeping the very few people whose skills were absolutely critical for the survival of the business, the first to be released would be those who could most easily find a new job. Furthermore, no one over the age of 50 would be let go. Everybody – including the company’s bankers who were keeping extremely close tabs on what was going on – was deeply sceptical about the rationale behind the CEO’s decisions.

When the staff reduction was to take place, instead of leaving the task to the department heads, the CEO talked personally with each employee who was to be laid off. Training and assistance was given to help them find new positions. As he told us, ‘We got through this amazingly well. There was total acceptance, even though no one really understood it. But once it was done, people said “wow” and respected my decisions.’ What remained was a revitalised and dedicated group of people who focused together with the CEO on creating a far-reaching purpose for the company and a revolutionary form of organization. Today, the company is a world leader in its industry.

What was the basis of Lars Kolind’s decisions as he handled this crisis at Oticon, the renowned Danish manufacturer of products for the hearing impaired? ‘Later,’ he said, ‘I realized that this was really an expression of my spiritual theme of “love God and love your neighbour.” When I see what I have done, and the decisions I have made in different situations, it is clear that spirituality has always been there; I’ve just become more conscious about it.’

In another part of the world, where relations between union and corporate leaders are often characterised by mutual distrust, 20 union leaders showed up one morning in the lobby of corporate headquarters for a surprise visit to the company president. They looked angry and ready for a confrontation. Security officers called the president for instructions. ‘Send them up to my office,’ he said – and told the office assistant to ‘prepare tea and coffee for 20 plus myself.’

The union leaders did not trust the president to handle an important human resource issue – that of filling two executive vacancies – believing he would pick the Chairman’s favourites over ‘more qualified’ candidates. When they came in, they stood, shouted and complained. Security was still edgy about what might happen.

How did S K Welling, Executive Director of HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools) International Ltd. in India, view the situation? ‘Because of the spiritual feelings I have inside, I knew immediately that they didn’t mean anything against me; they just wanted to show their strength, what they were feeling. I knew this very well in my heart, and since I had the inner feeling that they meant no harm to me, I had no reason to be concerned.’

Looking back to that morning, S K Welling reflects upon what happened. ‘I told them, “I will not accept these two just because there is pressure from the Chairman. Nor will I not take these two fellows just because you are saying that I should not take them. I will apply my own mind, my own judgment, and I will only go by the merits in each case. If you think that I am going to take them based on pressure from the Chairman, I am the last one to do that; I would resign and go away instead. And I will not bow to your pressure either.” Once I said this, they all calmed down. Then I invited them to sit and have coffee, and we were able to talk harmoniously.’

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