Manage like a mystic (includes related articles and a listing of printed resources)

If you think spirituality has no place in business, you could be missing out on a surprisingly effective strategy

A mystic may not be someone you automatically associate with the corporate world--a setting where greed, unbridled ambition and downright bloody-mindedness are commonplace. Yet in my 25 years of consulting with many different kinds of organizations, I've found more mystics in the boardroom than the monastery. And I'd go so far as to predict that it's the qualities of the corporate mystic that will mark the successful manager in the next century.

Just what does it mean to be a corporate mystic? They are the people who demonstrate a type of spirituality that lives in deeds, not words. They are interested primarily in the benefits of spirituality, not beliefs about it (which separates them from religious mystics). They see oneness in everything--they look at a spreadsheet the same way they would view a mountain peak; they treat the janitor the same as their biggest client. You could say a corporate mystic is a visionary with her feet on the ground.

One way to get at the essence of a corporate mystic is to take a closer look at the three components that characterize mystic-style management: integrity, vision and intuition. Here's how mystics apply these qualities in the workplace.

MAKE YOUR SOUL UNSELLABLE

Mastering integrity really comes down to this: being authentic with yourself and being authentic with others. If you will commit to this kind of authenticity, you have a chance to embrace the ultimate in integrity--owning your soul and making it unsellable. By knowing yourself completely, you become immune to self-deception. And once you have this kind of relationship with yourself, you can make authentic connections with others. Without integrity there is no relationship, only entanglement.

To operate from a base of integrity, follow this simple rule: Do what you say you are going to do. It sounds so easy, but it's just as easy to backslide on an agreement you've made--or to come through on part of it and think that's okay. Most broken agreements and commitments stem from promises made without the sincere desire to fulfill them. To avoid this pitfall, identify and …