Leadership a Spiritual Journey

I have never bought into the idea that the bottom lineshe kept carrying it when it was not doing its job.
for business is only profit. A business whether ownedSurprised, the woman paused and looked at the
by a solo-preneur, partnership, or corporation is anbucket. She told the bucket to look at the path from
energy exchange. A business only focused on thethe river to the vegetable garden. The bucket did and
bottom line limits opportunities and ultimately stiflessaw flowers all along the path. The bucket still did not
growth by imbalancing the energy exchange. What isunderstand. The woman then told the bucket if it did
energy, " the ability to do work." What creates energynot leak, the flowers along the path would not be
is what this article is about.watered. Looking at the beautiful flowers made the
A business balances energy by paying attention to alldifficult trip of carrying heavy water back and forth
the factors that help create the energy, keep it flowingeasier and more enjoyable.
and facilitate its expansion. A manufacturing business,Living and leading from a spiritual approach makes you
uses energy to create a products. A service baseda co-creator with your inner wisdom, higher power or
business, uses its energy to provide a service.however you relate to forces in the universe that
A business that is not creating abundance is not yet inconnect all of us and are greater than each of us. This
the balance and flow of its energy. Working from anspirit was breathed into us when we came into this
energetic perspective helps you as the leader look atworld and is abundant and loving. Each of us has a gift,
all the factors that feed and utilize energy in thetalent or strength. In the bucket story, the woman, a
business in most useful and expansive ways possible.wise strengths based leader utilized the gifts of the
Living and leading from your spirit, invites forcesleaky bucket and did not toss it away.
beyond yourself to aid and assist in growing andChoosing to live and do business from spirit is a choice
expanding the energy of your business. While you mayto allow unique strengths to be utilized in yourself and
still work hard, the effort and ease in the work has aothers. You learn to live your values about spirit which
significant positive impact on you and your teams.often involve expressions of consciousness such as
Choosing to develop the ability to honor your own spiritlove, creativity, success, responsibility, connection and
and talents will help you understand and more clearlyjoy. The driving force to manifest comes from a desire
see the spirits and talents of the people on yourto spread these qualities in whatever way keeps them
teams.expanding. This is totally congruent with business and
A few years ago, I heard a beautiful story aboutan exchange of commerce.
abundance and the mind set of a leader. It comesMost leaders today function in very high performance
from an African Folk tale. There was a woman whocapacities. Using a High Performance Success Model
carried two buckets on a stick across her shouldersyou develop the tools to bring out the best in yourself
down to the river every day to gather water for herand the best in your team, staff or group. Fear, greed
vegetables. Day after day one of the buckets leakedand competition are normal to experience in leadership
along the path. By the time she got to the vegetablebut are not the driving force for the spirit based leader.
garden, one of the buckets was empty. The emptyService, cultural benefit, team work and profit are the
bucket was always sad because it believed it was notfocus. The leader who honors his or her own spirit and
doing its job of carrying water to the vegetables. Itvalues communicates that energy and looks for and
finally got the courage to speak to the woman. Thehonors it in others. Win -Win.
bucket told the woman it could not understand why