Since that interview, Elizabeth has written The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul. The spirituality and work movements have grown along with a movement towards socially responsible business or conscious capitalism.  Still, simple, compelling pictures of what it’s like to do ordinary work with meaning and joy are still fairly rare.  That’s why I’m excited by the new TV show, “Undercover Boss,: which puts CEO’s into entry level jobs throughout their company, with a fake identity and a real quest to see what’s really happening.

When Employers and Employees Care About What They Do, We All Benefit.

Probably the biggest blessing any employer could give is to be fully acknowledge employees, as President and COO Larry O’Donnell of Waste Management did when he demonstrated a willingness to learn from his employees and to honor them during the launch of “Undercover Boss” on CBS.

While there was not a “religious” word spoken in this show, I saw in it a great model of the basic Buddhist practice of mindfulness, the Muslim practice of creating no split between what you do in the marketplace and what you do in your religious life, the Jewish and Christian practices of compassion and service, and the Hindu practice of engaging fully with any task but surrendering the results to God.

7 Spiritual Practices Demonstrated by the First “Undercover Boss”

No, none of these principles was stated in the show, but they’re what I saw in action:

See The Truth, Then Live By It, That You May Be Free. In business, truth is often hard to come by, because most managers are surrounded by spin doctors and “yes” men or women who only say what seems currently expedient.  Also, rarely do all of us see others without projections or fear, or a quick dismissal because they don’t seem to offer us anything at the moment — which leads to the power of the next tip.

Bless Others By Acknowledging And Appreciating Them As They Are. As many workplace surveys have found, a top yearning for many employees is simply to be seen, acknowledged and appreciated. When they get this from their employers, their morale naturally soars and stress diminishes. Often, productivity also soars — as was reported at Waste Management in the follow-up section of the show.

Open Your Eyes To The A Workplace Full Of Spiritual Allies. O’Donnell was blow away by the gifts and commitment in his own employees.  As I discovered during a hard time when my husband was out of work and we were dealing with three fatally ill family members across the country, workplace spiritual allies are everywhere, at every level of the corporate ladder.  I learned from such expert practitioners of acknowledgement and appreciation as receptionists and mailroom clerks that simply acknowledging and appreciating others is a deliciously satisfying practice.

Put Your Values Into Action. A huge value for O’Donnell is workplace safety, because his daughter was brain-damaged after a doctor failed to follow proper procedure in a routine medical procedure. That led his vow only to work for or run companies that take safety seriously.

See And Take Responsibility For The Impact Of Your Actions On Others. O’Donnell was shocked to see how badly his productivity policies impacted employees.  As CEO, he had the power to change hurtful policies, and he did.  We of lesser status in smaller companies always have the option to notice how we affect others for good or ill, as the Iriquois say, “to the seventh generation.”  We always have the option to be more socially or environmentally responsible, to be more kind to others, to tell the truth more.

When Life Hands You S__t, Laugh and Deal With It! At Waste Management, some employees literally have to work with human waste.  Fortunately, O’Donnell was taught to deal with it from a master, Fred the potty mentor.  If you don’t think of laughter as a spiritual practice, remember the proverb that a merry heart is healing for you and everyone around you.

Whatever Your Work, Do It With Caring And Integrity. Or, to paraphrase Khalil Gibran, allow love to take form and be seen through your work.  Or as people of many faiths say, through our work in the world, whatever our work,  we are God’s hands and feet.  So work as if we worked for God or another beloved.

What spiritual practices do you now quietly, and without fanfare, engage at work?  What else could you discover if you also shed your usual workplace personal and simply saw it afresh with new eyes?

Please comment below and, as always, many blessings,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

Career confusion is one key sign that you need a true vision from your heart and soul. That means you need something more than a goal set by someone else or even a brilliant idea that you activate before you discern whether or not it matches your true needs, dreams or desires.  You need a clear, compelling vision that’s anchored in current reality and leads you to your most fulfilling future.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll feature practical tips and tools for being the visionary you were born to be, particularly around your work, money dealings, and spiritual life.  Now, here are some key signs for how all this can be useful to you.

7 Symptoms of Limited Vision

1.  When you meet a goal (or even spend a lot of time and energy on it without meeting it), you realize you really don’t like the results or what you have to do to meet that goal.

2.  You feel burnt out while following your supposed dream.  Your pain goes beyond the kind of tiredness that can be eased with rest, exercise, proper nutrition or fun with others.

3.  You’re either closed to new possibilities or always feel like you have to create something new  and different.

4.  You suffer from a dearth of ideas or feel overwhelmed by them.

5.  You have a habit of falling for (and being betrayed by) the wrong partner, employer, financial plan, etc.

6.  You tend to be so pessimistic or you are so perpetually optimistic that you fail to notice opportunities or problems in time to deal with them effectively.

7.  You can only meet your goal by significantly harming yourself, others or the earth.

7 Benefits of Being the Visionary You Were Born to Be

Each one of these benefits actually reverses the key symptoms above!

1.  The process of building a vision is in itself energizing and enlightening.  Whether you meet your original goal or you discover new ones, you grow.

2.  You meet challenges with grace and resilience.  Because your vision is purposeful and meaningful, burnout just isn’t an issue.

3.  You welcome insight from all sources (e.g., intuition, imagination or even “out of the blue”), whether they are groundbreaking or tried and true.

4.  You are always entertaining new possibilities, but you’re so clear about what you’re called to do that your mental “find” tool can quickly wade through mounds of data and find the information that’s just right for you.

5.  Your sharp discernment skills and boundaries lead you toward what’s right for you and away from what’s not.

6.  You are aware of dangers and opportunities, not stuck in fear or illusion.

7.  Integrity in all its meanings — honest, just, on true with yourself and on the level with others- – is your basic bottom line. Meeting your goals enriches the lives of yourself, other humans and creatures, and the earth.

What can you add to either list?

As always, many blessings, Pat McHenry Sullivan

How Does Empathy Benefit the Workplace?

Human beings want three basic things: respect, love, and empathy. Respect in the workplace means being listened to and not disregarded.  Love in the workplace doesn’t mean romantic love, but caring, as in reaching out when others are in need, remembering a birthday, or lending a hand when the person needs help.

Empathy means that you can imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes and relate with what they might feel or experience.  Rather than resist differences of opinion, even argue or actively defend our position, we welcome others’ viewpoints and encourage resolution of differences.

With empathy we can show respect and caring for co-workers, not just for rules and regulations. Dr. Judith Orloff, an expert on empathy, explains that an empathic leadership style can make everyone feel like members of a team, which increases productivity, morale, and loyalty. When a boss says to employees, “I respect how you’re feeling. Let’s try to work it out,” this statement alone lets employees know they are heard, which makes it easier to reach a compromise.

When we’re in empathy with others, we enhance our own capacity for gut feelings and intuition.  This means we bring more wisdom and creativity to the table. The same goes for our workplace colleagues.  When members of a discussion feel listened to and appreciated, instead of written off, their creativity blossoms. This leads naturally to better brainstorming sessions.

An Example of Empathy in Action

At a nonprofit where I was president, one board member was an irritating “devil’s advocate” on every issue. When I was not empathetic, I tried to dismiss what he had to say.  I’d avoid calling on him at board meetings, and I frequently was irritated. When I operated from an empathetic place, I remembered what mattered to him and honored the value of his viewpoint, even when we disagreed. And sometimes I had to admit that he had a good point, one I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

That led to a powerful understanding:  when people feel heard, they don’t interrupt or upset the flow of business; rather, they add to it.  They speak less and contribute more.

Empathy Requires Good Boundaries, Not Allowing Others to Dump On You

Sensitive people tend to be what Dr. Orloff calls “emotional sponges.”  In Emotional Freedom, she says that to protect ourselves, setting limits and boundaries is essential.

For instance, when a co-worker calls and complains endlessly in a “poor me” mode, not being open to solutions, it’s helpful to say in a kind but firm tone, “I understand the stress you’re under. I can only talk for 5 minutes now, but I’d be happy to discuss solutions when you are ready.”

When you’re under stress, a simple 3-minute meditation can give you a mini-tune up that brings you back to your open-hearted, self-caring center. Turn off the phones and  shut the door.  Focus on your breath and a very positive image that makes you happy, such as a sunset, a child’s face, a flower.

Then remind yourself that you need healthy boundaries so you can be more comfortable in yourself and better able to be truly caring to yourself and others.
This might include closing the door or not answering the phone when we are under a deadline, not over-committing to projects that we realistically can’t deliver, being clear how much time we have if someone asks our help, etc.

What works for you in setting healthy boundaries?

How can we cultivate empathy if it doesn’t seem to come naturally?

Empathy comes from the heart, not the head. So it is important to mindfully cultivate this sense of unconditional respect from the heart and proceed from there.

Take a few minutes to intuit the other person’s perspective, not just from your head, but from your heart. Ask yourself, “How might the other person feel?”

Imagine seeing the world from their point of view, even if you disagree. I find it helpful to ask “Why?” in a friendly (not interrogating) tone, when someone expresses a view I might not agree with, or ask myself that question if I know the person and have an understanding of their values and priorities.
Each time you practice, you just might find it easier.

In peace,

Kimberly Weichel

Kimberly Weichel is a social pioneer, educator, author and specialist in global communications, leadership and peacebuilding. She is co-author of “Healing the Heart of the World” and director of the Institute for Peacebuilding.  www.kimweichel.org.

If love is one of the most powerful forces for good in the universe, then loving money must also be a powerful force for good.

Consider just the loving aspects of patience and kindness. Loving a child with patience and kindness includes nurturing not just his creative spirit and self worth, but also her respect for the boundaries of others. Loving a friend or spouse means accepting their imperfections and helping to meet their needs with joy, but not allowing abuse from them.

When I truly love money, I can’t do un-loving things to it, like put it on a pedestal or demand that it make me feel better about myself. Nor can I allow it to hold me or my values in bondage.

Having patience with money means no more investments or credit cards where I’m too busy to understand the terms. It means foregoing the heady excitement and sense of entitlement like I had in the 90′s when I watched my 401 (k)’s “worth” grow so fast, than I became enraged when it dropped to less than a 15% return, then lost money.

Loving money also means discerning the impact of my earning and spending, even when it costs more to support fair trade than to buy cheap stuff from companies that exploit the land or people. It means giving up the illusion that I am somehow more spiritual than those who have more money and admitting that underneath this illusion are some pretty unspiritual things like arrogance or fear. It means taking on more of the scary tasks of money-making, particularly marketing and selling, with patience and kindness.

And it means being patience and kind with all the parts of me that are not patient or kind around money, work and everything else– like the parts of me that are in a hurry to get this post done and the parts of me that resist doing it and the parts that are so into perfection that I can never get anything done.

Imagine loving money with patience and kindness as a personal and corporate strategy.

That’s actually happening way more than is reported, even when the words “patience” or “kindness” aren’t used. Many examples can be found in the spirit and work movement, the trends towards socially responsible businesses and investing, and the slow money movement.

Money itself is experiencing an extreme makeover through the conscious capitalism movement. Patricia Aburdene, author of Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism reported in the most recent edition of Enlighten Next Magazine  that half the Fortune 500 companies actually already practice at least a little conscious capitalism. She reports how these companies have turned away from “the worship of profits while ignoring the long-term costs of earning them” to business that “embraces all its stakeholders – investors, customers, communities, employees, and the environment.”

Profit is alive and well in conscious capitalism, and the bottom line of conscious capitalists benefit greatly from increased customer and employee loyalties. One of the things that’s needed for the benefits of conscious capitalism to become more popular is for it to be reported more and for a new standard helps us assess the material value of such values as compassion and long-term thinking.

That’s a subject we touched on here several months ago, in a call to let go our obsession with the latest burps of the Dow and instead focus on a more long-term Tao (meaning way or path to wisdom, among other things) that takes care of the immediate needs and the future, while leaving plenty of good things for generations to come.

What’s your vision for how your relationship with money could be transformed with patience and kindness?

What thoughts stir about the true love of money when you read and meditate on 1 Corinthians 13?

What other sacred texts from any faith, poetry or quotes inspire true love of money for you?

What practices help you truly love any aspect of your relationship to money?

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome. Many blessings, Pat McHenry Sullivan