Take the Eastern approach to business, says Chopra

Chopra explains that "thoughts, feelings, emotions, dreams, fantasies, electromagnetic storms" - are all transmitted through our synapses via "messenger molecules." When people become aware of the connection between mind and body, oneself and others, spirituality can manifest itself in all areas of life, from personal to business to political.

Awareness is key

Awareness is the key to successful soulful leadership, says Chopra. Most humans are a mixture of dark and light, with a little bit of tyrant and saint - the complementary aspects of any complete entity. After all, he said, "the sinner and the saint are merely exchanging notes".

According to Chopra, this can be used in the context of leadership once we understand that being aware is half the battle. If a leader fails to become aware of his role as the soul of a community, they will not be able to lead effectively because ego and self-indulgence will corrupt them and they will lose followers.

"Some people live their entire lives without ever catching a glimpse of their soul." The leader/follower paradigm is "co-arising" and interdependent. "Followers and leaders co-create each other," he says. "States of consciousness are all interwoven" and "determined by self-conception, beliefs, values, memories, meanings, context, relationships, and archetypal themes of a culture."

The soul of leadership

So what exactly is the soul of leadership? Chopra's leadership programme enables people to create - or rediscover - the drive to exceed their capabilities. By unlocking the desire to succeed, and the ability to inspire similar growth in others, his words could have a direct result on a corporation's effectiveness and success.

Chopra has specifically channelled his teachings on wellbeing into the corporate world into 'The Soul of Leadership' programme. The programme is leveraged by corporate and political leaders as a means to fast-track development.

The Soul of Leadership can be broken down into three important pillars:

Making the crucial choice to become a leader

Can you be the soul of a collective consciousness, either at work, in the family at home or anywhere else? Leadership in this respect is about great responsibility (not power or money) but to affect change and allow everyone to express their potential.

Setting out to become a leader by looking inward

To know yourself and develop your own 'soul' profile. Do you have a vision for one day, one week, one month, one year, five or 10 years from now, and what would you like your legacy to be? Looking inward takes courage, practice and discipline and significant leaders of our time always take time to reflect. Reflection is one of the most important aspects to great leadership.

Finding wisdom amid chaos

How can you be the enlightened businessperson of the future? You need to be willing to relinquish the known and step into the unknown. You need the vision and flexibility in response and have to be intuitive in the moment. You have to present total flexibility as a leader to bring about change, otherwise you're merely a manager. The more you can expand awareness, the more you can manage change.

Deepak Chopra will appear live in Johannesburg at the Sandton Convention Centre on on 15 November and will coach executives to get in touch with the deepest part of themselves and explain how synchronicity (or the 'good luck factor') works.

For more information, go to www.globalleadersevents.com/chopra.

"A leader is anyone who asks the right questions and seeks the answers, and has flexibility in his/her response to the situation. So a good leader will ask, 'What is the need, how do I fulfil it? A good leader knows when to act as a nurturer or a visionary in a given situation."
- Deepak Chopra, 2006