There is a steady erosion of values and ethics in places of work as evidenced by Enron debacle and many others we have witnessed over the past months.
People have become more self-centered much to the exclusion of the well being of other humans and co-workers. This preoccupation with self to the exclusion of others has surpassed normal bounderies that we could say , many are so selfish and higly ego-centered.
Some have wrongly concluded that happiness lies in "things" or possessions or even positions. We have got so obsessed with materialism that we no longer have time to smell the roses.
Inner development and the intergration of a value-centric Management style is the very foundation to building higher spiritual intelligence. It even changes the very structure of neurons in the brain.
So as you begin to ponder on SQ this week, I hope you will all have an enriching experience that will make you stop, pause and think of deeper aspects of life and that you will not be a victim of instant society and instant gratification of desires.
I hope you will not simply earn for your family and fall into the trap : "Men for the sake of earning a living forget to live"
Wishing you all a Happy Spiritual journey
A New Paradigm of Intelligence
Leaders build all three forms of capital--material, social, and spiritual--by using their own intelligence. But here I am not just referring to IQ. I want to include the intelligence of the mind, the heart, and the spirit. I have written a great deal about the types of intelligence that correlate to the three types of capital:
• IQ, or intelligence quotient, was discovered in the early 20th century and is tested using the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales. It refers to our rational, logical, rule-bound, problem-solving intelligence. It is supposed to make us bright or dim. It is also a style of rational, goal-oriented thinking. All of us use some IQ, or we wouldn't be functional.
• EQ refers to our emotional intelligence quotient. In the mid-1990s, in Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman articulated the kind of intelligence that our heart, or emotions, have. EQ is manifested in trust, empathy, self-awareness, and self-control, and in the ability to respond appropriately to the emotions of others. It's a sense of where people are coming from; for example, if a boss or colleague seems to have had a fight at home before coming into the office that morning, it's not the best time to ask for a pay raise or put a new idea across.
• SQ, our spiritual intelligence quotient, underpins IQ and EQ. Spiritual intelligence is an ability to access higher meanings, values, abiding purposes, and unconscious aspects of the self and to embed these meanings, values, and purposes in living a richer and more creative life. Signs of high SQ include an ability to think out of the box, humility, and an access to energies that come from something beyond the ego, beyond just me and my day-to-day concerns. SQ is the ultimate intelligence of the visionary leader. It was the intelligence that guided men and women like Churchill, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa. The secret of their leadership was their ability to inspire people, to give them a sense of something worth struggling for.
Spiritually Intelligent Leadership
BELIEVE that all human beings are born with the capacity to use all three intelligences to some measure, because each contributes toward survival. A leader may be strong in one and weak in others, but each can be nurtured and developed. Spiritually intelligent leadership can be fostered by applying 12 principles:
• Self-Awareness: Knowing what I believe in and value, and what deeply motivates me
• Spontaneity: Living in and being responsive to the moment
• Being Vision- and Value-Led: Acting from principles and deep beliefs, and living accordingly
• Holism: Seeing larger patterns, relationships, and connections; having a sense of belonging
• Compassion: Having the quality of "feeling-with" and deep empathy
• Celebration of Diversity: Valuing other people for their differences, not despite them
• Field Independence: Standing against the crowd and having one's own convictions
• Humility: Having the sense of being a player in a larger drama, of one's true place in the world
• Tendency to Ask Fundamental "Why?" Questions: Needing to understand things and get to the bottom of them
• Ability to Reframe: Standing back from a situation or problem and seeing the bigger picture; seeing problems in a wider context
• Positive Use of Adversity: Learning and growing from mistakes, setbacks, and suffering
• Sense of Vocation: Feeling called upon to serve, to give something back
Prof.Lakshman Madurasinghe
