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The Vision of Spiritual Entrepreneurship and Management
I had heard of social entrepreneurship. In fact, one of my good friends has just completed her dissertation on the subject. But, the first time I heard the term spiritual entrepreneurship was on April 30th when I tuned into Worldview, Chicago Public Radio’s global affairs program hosted by Jerome McDonnell (www.wbez.org/Program_WV.aspx). The guest that day was Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, president and founder of the Zambuling Institute for Human Transformation (http://silentpeacemeditation.com). Sfeir-Younis also worked with the World Bank, as a senior official for almost thirty years. An environmental economist with degrees from the University of Chile, the University of Wisconsin and University of Rhode Island, Alfredo’s life has taken many twists and turns—all of them interwoven, underpinned and strengthened by his own quest for self-realization and spirituality. The issues he has worked for include peace and social justice, poverty eradication, international trade and finance, gender and women’s issues, and spirituality in sustainable development. Along the way his spiritual journey led him to become a Mayan Priest. And now, in the midst of the global economic meltdown that threatens us all, Alfredo has a message that is both gift and warning: It is time for a new paradigm in entrepreneurship and management—and that new paradigm must include spirituality. What is needed for the survival of humanity and the entire interconnected planet is Spiritual Entrepreneurship and Spiritual Management. Alfredo’s been working on this idea for a long time. But when things were flush, the deafening cacophony of Me! and More Money! drowned out Alfredo’s message. Now, people are starting to sit up and listen. Over one hundred of those people showed up at the DePaul Center on May 1st to hear Alfredo lecture on “The Spiritual Dimensions of Entrepreneurship.” The lecture was sponsored by DePaul University’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, Office of Mission & Values, The School for New Learning and The School of Public Service. Some of those people were folks like me who came because they had heard Alfred speak on Worldview. Many others were DePaul business students and business men and women from throughout metropolitan Chicago. Some were no doubt intrigued by DePaul University’s online description of the lecture: “The presentation will address a number of corporate issues leading to the nature and scope of spiritual entrepreneurship. Examples of those issues are: values and belief systems, realization of corporate goals, avoiding management by terror, and adopting a new paradigm in business: The Paradigm of Corporate Enlightenment.” Alfredo believes that Spiritual Entrepreneurship and Spiritual Management are a Stage Three Development. Stage One is entrepreneurship or management that is solely business-focused. The consciousness here is all about how to make profit, how to select technology, how to develop human resources and capital, how to produce widgets or whatever needs to be produced to make profit. But corporations have found that this is not enough. Today, there is great emphasis on what Alfredo calls Stage Two. Stage Two is about the Triple Bottom Line (Profits, Environment, Social) and the concept of Social Entrepreneurship. The consciousness here is not only aware of the business, but also is aware of the environment—the natural environment as well as the human environment. It is not only about making profit, but about affecting others. But this, according to Alfredo, does not go far enough. “There is a lot of money spent at Harvard, MIT, University of Chicago, Berkley, De Paul, etc. in creating these programs of social entrepreneurship,” states Alfredo. “But, you cannot be a good social entrepreneur if you are not aware of yourself, if you don’t know who you are, how you see the world, what is your vision of the world, what is your essential language for the world, what is your action, your behavior in the world. So, it is impossible to be a really good social entrepreneur without being a spiritual entrepreneur—that is to say being aware of yourself.” And this, says Alfredo, is also true for management. “I think spirituality is very important for management,” he says. “You are managing people. If you cannot manage yourself, you should not manage people. And managing yourself means that you really need to follow your path or your own spirituality, your own identity, your own strength of what you bring to any corporation.” But what is the definition of spirituality? It is a question that came up during the DePaul lecture—a very good question, too. Alfredo defines spirituality as “the collection of intuitions, actions, and self-realization that lead you to remember what your mission is on this planet.” A key emphasis for Alfredo is self-realization. On Worldview, he emphasized the connection between being spiritual and being self-realized. “We need,” he stated, “to be anchored into some spiritual space, otherwise it is very difficult for us to self-realize anything.” Getting self-realized involves developing a spiritual practice like meditation or prayer. However, it does not stop there. “Spirituality is not relevant if we don’t anchor it into our material life,” states Alfred. “For example, architects need to self-realize space. What gives you the authority to modify our space if you have not self-realized space? Medical doctors need to self-realize life. How can you deal with life if you haven’t self-realized life? Lawyers need to self-realize justice. And if you have never self-realized justice, how can you impart justice?” At the De Paul lecture, Alfredo’s reply to the spiritual definition question included his Eight-fold path to spirituality: Right Vision, Right Intent, Right Language, Right Behavior, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Concentration, and Right Meditation. Alfredo’s message of Spiritual Entrepreneurship and Spiritual Management is full of hope of what can and should be. It is a business model based on generating a better collective welfare and better collective benefits. It is based on the knowledge that all of us—human and non-human—are interconnected. There is no I, present, past—and definitely not future—without the collective We. Alfredo’s message is also a warning—one that has been brought home by the crisis of excessive corporate and financial greed that is threatening each and every one of us. It is a message that points out that life is not like the TV reality show Survivor and we can not work our way out of it by voting the rest of human and non-human kind off the globe. It is a message that emphasizes that we’d better change our ways individually and collectively before it’s too late. And that, in order to stick, this change has to come from the deep spiritual core of our being. Next month: More about Alfredo Sfeir-Younis: The Zambuling Institute for Human Transformation and the messages from indigenous people that we need to hear. My Advice: Check out the archives for April 30th and May 1st at the Worldview website (www.wbez.org/Program_WV.aspx) to hear the full interview with Alfredo Sfeir-Younis. While you’re there explore the treasure trove of informative Jerome McDonnell interviews that range from Nobel Peace Prize winners to Nicaraguan sweatshop workers. And don’t forget to check out The Zambuling Institute for Human Transformation website (http://silentpeacemeditation.com) for more information on Alfredo’s work.
Mary Montgomery is a certified web author and developer. Her company, |
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