Business transformation through faith

Integrating spiritual principles to unlock leadership growth in the corporate world

A recent conversation with a longstanding business partner prompted me to put down my thoughts on faith in a commercial setting. This is a “first draft” type essay, to being to shape my thoughts, rather than a final finished product. I hope you find it useful.

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In my inbox I regularly receive newsletters from one of my esteemed former telecoms colleagues, who now runs a boutique leadership coaching business. He is a very talented professional, and I am certain he does a great job for his clients. Each email reminds the audience of the need for clarity of purpose, ambitions beyond mediocrity, and space to engage in reflective practices. There is a structured methodology to focus on what matters, perhaps akin to Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints in process manufacturing. The outcome is still measured in relatively conventional terms of worldly impact, and elimination of wasteful or harmful activities that limit achievement.

One of my biggest personal discoveries was that I struggled to make progress in spreading truth in telecoms because of differences in what we worshipped, yet lacked a language to describe that. In the seven or so years since fate separated me from the technology industry I have been forced by circumstances to “up my game” in spiritual awareness and frameworks of understanding. This same associate is someone who privately has a strong faith, and it strikes me how our occasional conversations have a broader tableau than those of his marketing emails. What he is selling is a better leadership philosophy, and there is nothing wrong with that, just its universe of discourse excludes questions of theology.

Noting that religion and spirituality are different axes of inquiry, and many find religious themes repelling, the omission of spiritual terminology and concepts is curious. I have many questions I ask myself about spirit in the workplace:

• Why don’t we discuss the eschatology or teleology of commerce?

• Where do idolatry, stewardship, sin, grace, sacrifice, redemption, and sacrifice belong in business?

• Which metaphysical kingdom are we serving, and is that a shared belief, or even a worthy one?

• Would you recognise the deployment of witchcraft by your peers or competitors?

• How do you “hold church” in a way that ensures the enterprise is ultimately governed by truth and righteousness?

• What does divorce and family breakdown at home imply about your leadership?

• Why is “love” a taboo word in most boardrooms?

I am sure you can think of many more.

The commercial world is founded on two essential pillars: contracts and competition. Morality is largely defined by the law — be it of employment, intellectual property, trade, tax, or consumer protection. It is taken as axiomatic that success is measured in material metrics, such as units of sales. Corporations really are “corpse-orations”, dead fictions animated into a bodily simulacrum of life; they have no soul to speak of. This contrasts with the living world, which is based on covenants and (pro-)creation. A mother does not send an invoice to a child upon it reaching its 18^th birthday for “milk provision and nursing services”. You can limit your financial liability for pollution, while still getting cancer from your own effluent; there are distinct kingdoms in play.

In the material world we have the idea of Lean Production, based on types of variation that cause inefficient allocation of resources. The three types are Muda (waste), Mura (unevenness), and Muri (overburden). Could the legal and finance departments of corporations be slimmed down if we eliminated Mistrust (guarding against bad actors), Misunderstanding (lack of clarity in contracts, policies, or financial documents), and Mistrial (defensive legal actions due to fear)? How much cost and risk is associated with spiritual problems and misalignments? Should we be aiming to make contracts smart, or eliminate them entirely using love and forgiveness as a substitute?

Again, this leads to as many questions as answers:

• If the workforce was aware of narcissistic abuse, the worship of self to the detriment of others, how many employment lawsuits and sick days would be avoided?

• Is the focus on contracts and competition inhibiting the essential urge to create that we were born with?

• How many jobs would still be done for their intrinsic value if everyone had a basic income that removed the need to labour for survival?

• Would your corporation have a spiritual purpose still if all material rewards were removed?

• Is the outcome you are striving for so beneficial to humanity that you would sacrifice your reputation, home, relationships for it if necessary?

• How would you market a spiritual benefit?

The corporate would is governed by civil law because it is by construction spiritually deadening, as contracts can give psychopaths a socially beneficial role. The living world needs agreements and handshakes, as it operates on honour instead. It may be that we cannot escape the constraints imposed by the crooked, and that the hope for “enterprise that is more than mere business” is delusional — but I do not think so. For instance, parts of the crypto industry seek to liberate us from debt slavery, human trafficking, and money laundering, which are moral outcomes greater than any profit from commerce can define. Until and unless faith can be an ordinary part of the language of work, we will remain stunted in our potentiality, and ability to evangelise our purpose to others.

My own lived experience has radically altered my conception of faith. I used to see it as an excuse mumbled by the self-righteous for their trust in woo. Now I view it as a rational expectation of peace in my heart and home for following “The Way” — while facing inevitable persecution for abandoning the lower kingdoms of status and power. My own sense is that I cannot be one spiritual being when acting professionally, only to transform into a different one as a father, spouse, brother, pastor, or community leader. The spirit of who we deeply are is the same across all contexts; to be otherwise is a psychosis that pulls us apart, and is unhealthy, no matter how “successful” we are.

Any enterprise or workplace will have some element of those who are “in the world and of the world”, “not even in the world”, and “not of the world while being in it” — there is no option where everyone instantly sees the upside of acting through faith over law. The potential to evade the costs of contracts and limits of competition, and enjoy the benefits of covenant and upside of creation, depends on how far we collectively “raise our vibe” spiritually. The ultimate cap on our impact is the master we serve, not the doggedness of product development or ruthlessness of HR. Faith is not a matter external to work, confined to weekend observance at a religious venue; it is essential to our existence and purpose for being.

This faith matter was an optional discussion before the Covid pandemic, but the slow realisation that it was a scam to attain political and cultural ends via media and medical means makes it a mandatory topic of conversation going forward. Most enterprises were easily co-opted and weaponised to aid war crimes, with consequences that have yet to fully play out. It is a far bigger issue than eliminating the woke mind virus from the business world; we have to become conscious of evil, and an opponent, and hence the divine. Many “high impact” leaders may lose their lives and life’s work on this single matter alone. Faith is a defence against ruin risks, as well as a means to evade the workplace costs of more ordinary human failings.

This cannot be a novel topic of discussion, yet the timeliness of a looming financial reset and mass disclosure of hidden criminality cannot be ignored. The collective failure of academia, including business schools, to confront the “mother of all hoaxes” under Covid totalitarianism is telling. The crisis is not an intellectual or psychological one, but rather has roots in our exclusion of divinity, sacredness, and spirit from out workplaces and professions. Given the literal life or death consequences, nothing could be of greater importance or impact. The time is right to re-introduce faith (and the language of spirituality) back into our work, as only Creator holds the ultimate power of business transformation.

January light on the shores of Loch Brora, Sutherland, Scotland.