Is Spirituality the Cure for CEO Self-Importance and Corporate Malfeasance?
April 13, 2009
Suzanne Heibel--HispanicBusiness.com
|
|
|
|
The lessons of hubris have been taught throughout the history of great literature. Aristotle warned of hubris as the great downfall to great men, and Shakespeare wrote tragedies where protagonists were ruined via an overriding character flaw. But America is now living its own Greek tragedy, where a small group of the powerful, spurred by their excessive pride and greed, have managed to unsettle the entire U.S. banking system.
With too many Bernie Madoffs at the top of the country's economy, Professor Andre Delbecq is seeking to prevent more bad apples in corporate America's barrel via meditation-induced spirituality. Delbecq teaches spirituality management at the University of Santa Clara. He first learned of the troubling, extensive state of executive hubris a few years ago during a seminar attended by CEOs of 25 of the highest-performing firms on NASDAQ. These leaders identified greed and hubris as the Achilles heel of big business, and largely indicated that temptation led many executives to feel as if they were all-powerful -- something Delbecq refers to as "situational narcissism."
"We're very distressed by the fact that leaders try to distance themselves by the suffering the organization is going through, instead of being with that suffering," he said.
The professor concluded that the element missing from these lives was spiritually driven sanity and basic asceticism.
"Asceticism is the ability to say no to things that are in front of you so you can stay in self-control and you can live in greater humility," explained Delbecq. "It's simply a form of humility and self-discipline."
Delbecq created the Seminar in Spirituality and Business Leadership, a one-day per week, seven-day course that gives its participants reading assignments and even has a syllabus outlining the grading system (60 percent journal reflections, 20 percent participation, and 20 percent final exam).
A seminar begins every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 2:30 p.m., a normal day scheduled in the form of meditation, topic, meditation, another topic, then a prolonged form of meditation. Seminar topics include "Integrating Business Leadership as a Calling into a Spiritual Journey" and "Listening to the Inner Voice in the Midst of Turbulent Business Environments." Early in the seminar, these meditations are guided by both hypothetical and real-life questions asked aloud by the professor, which are made to have the exec rethink his or her normal perspective.
"The power of meditation is that you have to step away from your wonderful thoughts and personal energy and you enter a place where you detach from the ego. It's a very important practice for gifted people," said Delbecq. "We examine the spiritual disciplines that allow leaders to exercise their giftedness without being trapped by the false self and slipping into narcissism."
Delbecq goes on to explain that high-powered leaders often fall victim to corruption for two reasons:
1. Anxiety caused by the uncertainty of the future they will face and then be expected to lead; and
2. The traps and temptations of being rich and powerful, which cause this great spat of hubris.
"The role of leader is to be at the cutting edge of a future that doesn't exist. If they're willing to take the risk and bring their future into play, but because it doesn't exist, it can lead to anxiety and fear," analyzed Delbecq. "Leadership behavior becomes dysfunctional because they are trying to impose instead of problem solve."
As these high-powered students progress in their spiritual journey, meditation becomes a silent, self-invoking practice unguided by professors, something Delbecq refers to as "apophatic meditation."
"[It's] the form of meditation where you step away form your thoughts and reach a deep stillness," he stated. "It's [the] form of mediation that young managers are most drawn to because they know if they can begin the day of centered quietness then they don't enter the day with the desire to over control, fear, or anxiety. They really appreciate that form of mediation."
By activating spirituality through meditation or prayer--the second form of self-evaluation the seminar teaches--Delbecq is not implying that people need to believe in God or another all-powerful being in order to keep their heads on straight. The professor admits that he has participants from every religious and spiritual background, from Christians to Taoists, to Agnostics all the way to Atheists. "There is a felt need to understand the inner journey," said the professor. "Hubris doesn't begin when you are appointed a CEO; it begins when you are a head of your marketing team, an engineering team. As the younger professionals listen to the pitfalls they see that temptations are already emerging in our life now."
Delbecq believes that "career is itself a form a prayer" and that by starting one's day off with meditation, the calmness of the self will cause one to make more informed decisions because he or she is less stressed and will have decreased anxiety over the uncertainty the future holds.
"For those who are called to leadership, spirituality unfolds day to day. And that leadership, it isn't going to be found at a mountain in Nepal, it is going to be found in that action of call to leadership," explained Delbecq. "Successful leaders have to have a spirituality in order to avoid slipping into hubris and losing their moral compass."
Notably, the employment of guided meditation is similar to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, a technique used by psychologists to abate addictions and bad habits. Using CBT, patients work to change their way of thinking in order to change their behavior.
"The main idea is by altering people's thoughts you can alter people's moods. If you can change the way you can perceive yourself and your world, you can reduce your anxiety," explained Steven Lopez, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California. "You teach clients how to come up with alternative thoughts and challenging thoughts. By challenging [these thoughts] and reducing their plausibility you reduce their [effect]."
An example of Delbecq's everyday humility program is having an administrator fly coach with lower-level managers instead of saying 'I'll see you there.' Instance by instance, he or she will incrementally reincorporate humility back into the workplace environment. Flying business class would be more beneficial to the self, but as a successful leader, says Delbecq, little instances of choosing others goes a long way.
"We look at biography of exceptional leadership as well as the biography of business leaders that are admired [in order] to understand that the moments that we remember them for are predicated by long terms of delayed gratification, small actions," said Delbecq. "[It is important] that [students] understand that leadership isn't about exceptional moments, but day to day unfolding that leads to the future of their foundations."
Delbecq identifies the causes of hubris as temptations and anxiety caused by the uncertainty of the future. But where does prevention come into play? How do leaders forfend themselves from becoming supercilious bosses in the first place?
"Prayer and mediation," answered Delbecq. "To forewarn those who are not approaching leadership from a spiritual form from entrapments and dangers. Look at the traps, which are the particular temptations of leadership, hubris and greed. Choosing not to avail yourself of things that are good in themselves but become a pattern of obsessed personal privileged."
Delbecq said that people who enter leadership positions are often not aware of the hefty consequences associated with power. "Your family makes great sacrifices, [you] lose privacy," said Delbecq. "The giftedness of the leader is their great intellectual ability, their extraordinary communication skills...It's very easy for a person with those to slip into dominance."
The latter of which causes the corruption the American people have dealt with all too much in recent history.
Source: HispanicBusiness.com (c) 2009. All rights reserved.
|
