blueprint for new leadership

1. THE ROLE OF THE ORGANIZATION:
WE ARE AGENTS OF POSITIVE CHANGE: Organizations are more than vehicles for providing jobs and profits. They are one of the most elegant forms ever designed for us all to make a sacred contribution to each other and the planet. Organizations are interdependent, life-affirming members of local and global communities acting as instruments of positive social change and spiritual renewal.

2. PURPOSE:
OUR WORK INSPIRES: People come to work each day for more than just the money. They come to create friendships, to learn, to have fun - in short, they yearn for an uplifting experience. Therefore we must ask, "Does my work, together with my actions and words, inspire my Soul and the Souls of others?" Corporate leaders today therefore, are being called upon to be more than just the custodians of corporate financial performance. They are the new custodians of the human spirit.

3. SACREDNESS AND RESPECT:
WE TREAT ALL BEINGS AS SACRED: In order to embrace the concepts of service and quality we must first respect, trust, and love our employees, customers, suppliers and our fragile eco-system. The soul pursues values that respect the sacredness of everything, including humans. The soul reveres the truth and honors promises. The soul embodies a continuous state of grace, rejecting violence and competition and celebrating harmony, cooperation, sharing and reverence for life, because it sees the sacredness of all people, including employees, customers and suppliers. This is our inner work, and we will receive the outer rewards after we do our inner work.

4. HONORABLE PROFITS:
OUR PROFITS ARE HONORABLE: Profit is measured two ways: by calculating the financial returns derived from our efforts, and by measuring how much we have inspired the Soul. Material spiritualism degrades; spiritual materialism blesses. Profits are like oxygen - essential for our survival, but not the reason for our existence.

5. SPIRIT AT WORK:
OUR WORK IS OUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: It is just as important to ask, "How can I make this a Soulful task?" as it is to ask, "How do I make my budget?" If we love what we do (Mastery), love the people with whom we do it (Chemistry), and love the reason for doing it (Delivery), work will become our spiritual practice. People are inspired to do what they do well by the love they feel for what they do (Mastery), by the people with whom they share tasks and relationships (Chemistry), and by their commitment to being of service to others (Delivery). The object of our work is to inspire the Soul.

6. VALUES:
OUR VALUES DETERMINE OUR STRATEGY: In a Sanctuary, the old fashioned myth of goal-centered, rugged individualism and heroic leadership has been replaced by a more inclusive set of values, emphasizing what is good for you and your soul as well as what is good for me and mine. Great strategies depend on noble values and from noble values, great organizations are born. The means is as important as the ends.

7. TRUTHTELLING:
WE TELL THE TRUTH AND KEEP OUR PROMISES

8. SERVANT LEADERSHIP:
OUR LEADERS SERVE: Great leaders reject the fearsome clichés of war, violence and intimidation. Instead, they are dedicated to serving their followers by practicing the qualities and wisdom of the great spiritual leaders, mystics and philosophers. They balance the feminine and masculine energies. They don't pretend to have all the answers but strive to ask the right questions, the chief of which is, "How may I serve you?"

9. FUN:
OUR WORK IS FUN: Sanctuaries nourish the soul with a sense of play. Spontaneity, dynamism, fun, festivity, celebration, laughter, humor and freedom from fear of failure are essential components of a joyful workplace. Enlightened leaders create Sanctuaries by removing fear and replacing it with passion and joy in the workplace. When we love what we do, we do it well, because it is joyful and fun. This engages and liberates the Soul. Then work is fun.

10. LOVE:
LOVE IS THE HEART OF OUR WORK: Love and fear are at opposite ends of a continuum; love heals; competition harms. The shadow of fear retreats when the light of love is shined upon it. In Sanctuaries, leaders have learned that everyone wants more love - not fear - in their lives. They use great courage in admitting and applying this concept. Members of a Sanctuary let their Souls fly and have learned to do so safely. They assume the responsibility for helping each other to do the same.

11. LEARNING:
LEARNING FUELS OUR SOULS: Learning means, "Seeking and practicing knowledge and wisdom" and learning leads to Mastery. But Mastery is never perfect, just as there is no perfect knowledge or wisdom. Mastery is always incomplete and so continuous learning - that is, life-long learning - is essential if continuous Mastery is to flourish in all areas of our work and personal lives. If Mastery is chopping wood, then Learning is sharpening the ax and we must pause from time to time to sharpen the ax in order to chop wood. Learning is the antidote to corporate and individual irrelevance and learning is the fuel of the Soul.

12. CHANGE:
WE START ALL CHANGE FROM WITHIN - ONE PERSON AT A TIME: The difference between whether an organization is mediocre or superb is determined by whether all its individual members are mediocre or superb. All change starts within and change leading to greatness is achieved one person at a time and involves everyone. We will harvest our outer rewards by undertaking our inner work.

13. POTENTIAL:
WE CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIVIDUALS TO REALIZE THEIR POTENTIAL: Great organizations consistently encourage individuals to find their calling and teams to reach their full potential.

14. BEAUTY:
WE CREATE BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS THAT INSPIRE THE SOUL: We love and respect Sanctuaries, treating them as beautiful Soulspaces and thus permitting the beauty of our physical environment to nourish the soul. In these beautiful places that we love, human performance is transformed. Inspired performance is encouraged by creating inspiring surroundings for the soul. The Soul flourishes in beauty.

15. BALANCE:
WE BALANCE WORK WITH LIFE: Sanctuaries are designed to balance our material and spiritual aspirations and integrate them into the larger and longer-term picture - our lives and Souls depend on it. The Soul seeks to be whole, becoming healed by embracing wholeness in everything we do. Wholeness embodies grace, drawing us inevitably to cooperation. We are in balance when we treat work as one of many parts of our lives, effortlessly integrating it with everything that makes us whole.

16. AUTHENTICITY:
WE LIVE AND WORK AUTHENTICALLY: Before we can communicate effectively, we must communicate authentically. We are people and Souls, not functions. We become authentic by revealing our humanness to each other and by telling the truth and keeping our promises. Thus we become open and real. In becoming authentic we build relationships that inspire each other and our customers and suppliers. Authenticity is the path to increased revenues and inspiration - precious gifts for the personality and the soul.

17. COURAGE:
WE ARE COURAGEOUS: Inviting Spirit to the workplace begins with courage. The role of the leader who wishes to inspire the Souls of others is to model the behavior desired.

18. GRACE:
WE MAINTAIN A STATE OF GRACE: Through the practice of grace we are able to integrate ourselves with those with whom we interact. Only by learning to treat each other with grace will we learn to be graceful with our customers. Our state of grace inside our organization will show up in our relationships outside it. Grace infuses relationships, making every Soul whole - first with itself, but also with the universe. A joyful Soul maintains a state of grace - with everyone.