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Take the Eastern approach to business, says ChopraWestern companies can learn more from an Eastern approach to business, according to Deepak Chopra, who says that corporate leaders should strive to encompass a "differentiated consciousness", which will hold the key to soulful leadership. On 15 November 2006, Chopra will be providing the tools to help leverage today's leadership deficit during a live all-day seminar entitled The Soul of Leadership in Johannesburg. 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 keyAwareness 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 leadershipSo 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:
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." |