Corporate Monk – Spirituality in Leadership

I am passionately curious and aspire to become a person who can influence masses to create happiness, encourage, unlock true human potential and help make a connection on how spirituality is the very key characteristic for future of leadership. I have always found a huge correlation and benefit of integrating spiritual thinking with strong business acumen to create success in everything at work and home. I am born and brought up in India and well-travelled across the globe; consider myself a global citizen and practice Buddhist life philosophy - Strive to be a good human and work for happiness of self and others. An athlete and have played cricket since childhood at various levels. Happy to be called an HR professional and I strive to live my personal mission and life philosophy at workplace too.”

Happiness is not a life without problems, but rather the strength to overcome the problems that come our way. There is no such thing as problem free life; difficulties are unavoidable whether at work or in general life. However, the manner in which we experience and react to our problems depends on us. As we move forward in this chaotic world where evolution for both good and bad at various levels is taking place each moment, “Spirituality” is an essential element that will keep us sane and allow for us to thrive in the current and future eco system. Spirituality has direct correlation with our happiness and hence productivity @ work and indomitable life state to take on problems of any nature head on. “Everything relates to happiness” and “happiness of self and others” is our true mission of being born as a human being. Leadership to work for “Happiness” is key ingredient and force to propel the world to move forward and evolve for success, co-existence, enhanced value of life, positioning future generations for success (health and happiness), shared culture, responsibility, care and thereby business outcome.

Our vitality, the amount of energy or life force we have, is in fact the single most important factor in determining whether or not we are happy. We can never find happiness if we don’t challenge our weakness and change from within. Spiritual lever empowers us to increase our life force, overcome our weaknesses, face our problems, transform our karma, enrich the quality of our lives and become happier people.

This article of mine is an attempt to share key spiritual principles from my Buddhist practice which will enable us to tap the highest potential in our lives and create value each day. I see seamless synergies of using principle of spirituality to become leaders with heart!

Goal setting – Each one of us has set out to accomplish a goal at some point in our lives. The goal may be something life changing or something small, such as completing an assignment by a particular date. Goals motivate us and provide us the drive to make the required efforts. Likewise, in spiritual practice, goals help to focus our prayers and efforts. Unless we have our sights set on a target we tend to “spin our wheels” without moving forward. When setting a goal, it is important to make a determination to accomplish it and then put effort into taking action to reach the goal.

Lead by example with Power of Actual proof –  In my spiritual practice there are 3 kinds of proofs we study, proofs that should be used as a standard for measuring the validity of any spiritual teaching / practice. 1. Documentary, 2. Theoretical and 3. Actual proof. Actual proof is the most important of the three as that is depicted by real life experiences and benefits accumulates by actions in line with spiritual principles. Physical and spiritual aspects of our lives are inseparable, so that if the overall state of our life is elevated, it is quite natural that this improvement will be reflected in both spheres. Broadly speaking, the outcome from spirituality can be divided into two kinds of benefits; Conspicuous and Inconspicuous. Conspicuous benefits refer to improvements in our circumstances, in our working lives or in our relationships with others that are clear and obvious. Inconspicuous benefits are not immediately apparent and can usually be seen only in hindsight. Hence, it’s imperative to keep “leadership” infused with spirituality to get and provide best outcome at work and life.

We and our environment – People generally regard the environment as separate from themselves. However, from a point of view of Buddhism, the individual and the environment are one and inseparable. At the most fundamental level of life itself, there is no separation between ourselves and the environment. Life manifests itself in both a living subject and an objective environment.  People also create physical environments which reflect their inner reality. E.g. someone who is depressed is likely to neglect his home and personal care. On other hand, someone who is secure and generous creates a warm and attractive environment around them.  Picture some people at your workplace or personal life and you will be able to relate better. Look at your current life state and see how similar your environment is and as you change within, the environment changes too. This is highly governed by law of attraction. Everything around us, including work and family relationships, is the reflection of our inner lives. Everything is perceived through the self and alters according to the individual’s inner state of life. Thus, if we change ourselves, our circumstances will inevitably change as well.

The single most positive action we can make for society and the land is to transform our own lives, so that they are no longer dominated by anger, greed and fear. When we manifest wisdom, generosity and integrity, we naturally make more valuable choices and we will find that our surroundings are nurturing and supportive.

Leadership transformation through Human revolution – Human revolution is a fundamental process of inner transformation whereby we break through the shackles of our “lesser self”, bound by self concern and the ego, and grow in altruism towards a “greater self” capable of caring and taking action for the sake of others at work and personal life. There are all all sorts of revolutions. Political, scientific, artistic, industrial, etc… but no matter what one changes, the world will never get any better as long as people themselves remain selfish and lacking in compassion. In that respect, human revolution is the most fundamental and at the same time, the most necessary revolution for mankind.

When we look beyond our personal concerns and take action for the sake of others, this process is strengthened and accelerated. An experience which previously seemed like a heavy burden can become the key to finding the purpose of our lives, as we learn how to help others struggling in a similar situation. The individual process of human revolution is the very key to sparkling change on a global scale. When we take full responsibility as leaders to mentor and look after our employees, we in turn are creating a solid foundation and future for the organization.

“A great revolution in just a single person will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation, and further, will enable a change in the destiny of all mankind” – SGI president Daisaku Ideda

Leaders of future need to operate with heart and will not succeed with superficial care and mentoring. We need to infuse principles of spirituality to be genuine and responsible leaders and carve out programs at work that truly impact lives of the people we work with. This will create organisations, leaders, environment to be welcoming of future generations and world a better place to live and work in.