INCENTIVES & BENEFITS FOR A GLOBAL WO KFORCE

increasing pTessure to prove its strategic worth. the profession has been forced to devise metrics. leading experts demon­strate how HR measuresm as can be directly linked to bottom-line results

38 spiritual leaders

Businesses are turning increasingly

to spiritual guidance, so you may

feel it's time to gen up on some

genuine philosophical gurus, Here

are a few to start you off on the

path to enlightenment

Business has a habit of taking words and re­engineering them to suit its own needs. So it is with "guru". Test this out by asking a co l­

league to name two gurus who have made an Impact on the business world. The odds are that they w ill come out w ith Peter Drucker, Charles Handy, Tom Peters or, if they are feeling patriotic, Sir John Harvey-Jones. You'll cast around in vain for a ment ion of the Baghwan.

But recent developments suggest all that might be about to change. A growing number of unashamedly spiritual philosophers - real gurus, if you like - are making inroads into the business world .

When an organ isation as traditionalist as the Chartered Institute Personne l and Deve lopmen t in Britain can make room at its conferences to discuss the impact of shamanic techniques on morale and performance,you know the issue has become a sig­n ificant one.

What is at the root of this growing quest for spir­ituality in the workplace?

No doubt it owes much of its momentum to Western society's wider adoption of Eastern med­itation and self-improvement techniques .

As the boundaries between home and working life blur, an overspill of some kind is inevitabl e. As many US organisa tions demonstrated in the 20th century. companies can often flourish on a com­mon set of ethics frequently grounded on a shared system of spi·ritual belief

Bu t the real problem with gurus w ill always lie in sorting the wheat from the chaff No-one needs reminding that this is an area in wh ich charlatans flourish .

In recent years, some decidedly questionable organisations have speci f ica lly targeted the cor­porate wor ld in their recruitment campaigns. They have managed to cap itali se on the blurred ground between management "self-improvement" techniques and something more sinister.

Here. we offer a potted guide to some of the more obviously benevolent gurus that have emerged in recent years. Enjoy the karma.

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40 I spiritual leaders

Hailed by Time magazine in 1999 as one of the "top 100 icons and heroes of the century", Chopra has done more than any o ther ind ividua l to familiarise the American people w ith the tenets of Eastern mysticism. Born in India, he is a qualified doc t o r w ho combines his spi ritual message w it h practica l suggestions for physical w ellbe ing and self-improvement. In 1996, he opened the Chopra Cent er for Well-Being in LaJolla, California, offering every ­thing from yoga , chant ing and meditation, to Ayurvedic and conventional detox treatments.

"The poet-p rophet of alternative medicine" is a prol if ic author and translator of mystic classics. His 25 books. translated into 35 languages, have won him a strong global following, but his heartland is still Californ ia.

"Everything we expe rience as material reality is born in an invisible realm beyond space and time - revealed by sCience to cons ist of energy and information .. . We are now ready to understand divine intelligence directly In many ways, th is new know ledge reinforces what spiritual traditions have already promised ... Un less some small pa rt of God touc hes t he material w orld. he w ill remain inaccessible forever "

Too many to name. His w ebsite is currentl y giv ing promi­nence to "How to Kn ow God':

Easi ly accessible . Bridges the gaps betw een spi ritua lity. science and modern commercial imperatives . Prov ider of imaginative paCkage holidays.

Can you cope with all that "primord ial sound meditation" (aka chanting)?

Energy. quantum soup, information, miracles. darshan (blessings) , pujas (r ituals), dormant potentialities, detox.

If you're seeking a more holistic approach to life, this is the guy for you. You coul d read his On the Shores of Eternity, new English versions of poems by Rabindranath Tagore, w hile undergoing colonic irrigat ion at the Center for Well­Being. Ei t her w ay, you're bound to emerge feeling positive.

Kenton hurtled on to the HR sphere when she told the CIPD that companies should follow shamanic techniques to improve morale and performance. This former Harpers &

Queen editor is clearly a renaissance woman, combining ad vice on achiev ing health . beauty, pe rsonal development and spiri tual pow er w ith an undoubted entrep reneurial streak. Kenton achieved sales of £2.3m within two years of launching her regenerati ve skin product on to the UK market . Daughter of the late US jazz musician St an Ken ton, she is al so a social and environmen tal activ is t and TV cook.

Everyone from Estee Lauder, through Unilever to the Euro­pean Parliament. Kenton's insistence that good hea lth boosts creativ ity. pow er and autonomy - both personally and in the business environment - has found fertile ground In co rporate circles . Other clients have included Guinness, Boots an d LOreal.

"Rea l health , creati vity and pow er come from w ithin. The only t rue 'guru' is the human soul." She can provide tools and techn iques to help you release your potential for energy, health and persona l freedom, and thus improve your home an d ',' orkl ng life.

(noose f rom more than 30 best-selling books. Passage to Power sounds promising for busi ness types.

Learn how to be beautifully effective at t he same time as being effecti vely beautiful.

May not appeal to unreconstructed ma les w ho don't use moist uriser.

Natural heal ing, vibrant, passion, raw, origins , ageless

ageing.

A breath offresh air on the management consulting circuit, Kenton's obvious ability to practice what she preache s attracts admiration. Sign her up if you're serious about work­life balance issues and want advice about healing the planet.

globolhr Qecembe<LJanUll'Y 2002

This article originally appeared in globalhls sister title Personnel Today. To subscri be ca ll :

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