Spring 1998, Vol. 7, No. 1

Executive leadership, character and spirituality of work

By Len Sperry, M.D., Ph.D.

"Character" and "spirituality of work" are hot topics in executive circles today. The leadership literature is replete with books and articles on both, and seminars on these topics are well subscribed. It may well be that the recent spate of moral scandals in both the business and political arenas are fueling this interest, or it may be that the self-actualizing, spiritual-seeking preoccupation of the aging baby boom generation would have surfaced these interests anyway. Whatever the explanation, corporate clients have begun prevailing on organizational psychiatrists and psychologists for advice in these areas. This article will briefly describe, from the organizational consultant's perspective, the current status of each of these topics and provides a bibliography for those who wish to pursue the topics in more detail.

Character

The origin of the word character is from the Greek root meaning "engraving." As applied to human persons, character refers to the enduring, unique marks that life etches on the psyche. These marks are etched by parental and religious imprinting, by early interactions with siblings and peers, as well as with authority figures. The effects of social class and subculture along with the experiences of traversing various life transitions in early adulthood also leave a lasting impression. Essentially, character refers to the enduring component of personality based on learned, psychosocial influences. Character reflects the capacities of the self , the exercise of good judgment and the display of moral development (Leonard, 1997). It is the body of skills that represent "emotional intelligence" rather than cognitive intelligence (Goleman, 1994). Character is, as the saying goes: how you act when you think no one is looking! Character can, of course, be differentiated from temperament, the biological influence on personality.

The value of assessing the character dimension

While top management has always been interested in the personality dynamics of executives, they are increasingly skeptical about the way these dynamics are assessed by most clinicians and consultants. Many executives are uncomfortable with the use of clinical and psychiatric diagnostic language to describe workplace behavior. Not surprisingly, classification systems like DSM-IV and personality tests that have been normed primarily on clinical populations--such as the MMPI-2 and MCMI-II--are considered suspect by most executives as well as many organizational consultants. Even instruments such as the California Personality Inventory, which have been normed primarily on normal, non-clinical populations, are believed to have limited utility in assessing the kind of factors top management believes is helpful in screening and evaluating executives. Specifically, there are a large number of candidates for executive positions with superior knowledge, technical abilities and skills who will derail in the workplace because of their inability to function effectively with others with consistency. While they may have interviewed well and scored well on standard measures of "normal" personality, they cannot seem to sustain effective interpersonal functioning over time and under specific situations. They are said to be charming and "good" interviewees. In short, these executives have the capacity to present themselves as more promising during the job interview than their actual performance after they have been offered the position.

Corporate clients are begging organizational psychiatrists to provide more than standard clinical fare. At some level these clients recognize that traditional psychiatric evaluations and personality assessment do not provide sufficient value to them. They are too limited. These clients want to know if a specific executive is a good "fit" in working with a given manager or a certain team. They want to know if what they observed about a prospective executive during the interview process holds up over time. And most importantly, they need to know if this executive will demonstrate sound judgment when threatened, tempted, or when taking the appropriate action may or may not be in his or her own best interest. In short, corporate clients expect organizational psychiatrists and psychologists to be able to understand and deal effectively with both the "dark" as well as the "bright" dimension of personality (Leonard, 1997). In other words, they want and need to know about basic character dynamics of executives and other employees.

Spirituality and work

The classic prescription for mental health attributed to Freud, "to love well and to work well," has been eclipsed by the search for well-being. Today, many, particularly baby boomers, are seeking not just psychological well-being, but also physical well-being and spiritual well-being. It should not be too surprising that a concern for the soul and spirituality has ostensibly made its way into the workplace. Many individuals are creative and meaning-seeking, and spirit is the creative, meaning-seeking part of being human. Soul is the connective link between conscious and unconscious, between self and others, and between the material and the spiritual. Thus, the measure of soul in one's life is the measure of belonging and connectedness. Work can be thought of as an expression of the spirit at work in the world through individuals. As such, work is the expression of one's soul or inner being.

Spirituality and religion overlap in their concern with soul and spirit, but are different. Spirituality is more concerned with personal beliefs, meanings, and internal experiences, while religion tends to be focused on shared formalized beliefs and doctrines, rituals and externalized behaviors. Nevertheless, a religious affiliation can provide a shared context for individuals to discuss and relate their spiritual experiences with others. In other words, religion can foster spirituality. Yet, some can recount instances where it did just the opposite. Nevertheless, the workplace--just like a religious service or activity--can become a means of personal and spiritual growth, a pathway for the inner journey.

The executive seeking well-being finds a subtle complementarity between the dimension of spirit and daily practice of leadership (Conger, 1994). While leadership has to do with doing, achieving and performing, spirit is a matter of being and becoming, of creating and recreating. Furthermore, while spirit invites contemplation, analysis and insight, leadership directs its attention toward visible results. Many of the current spate of books and articles on spirituality of work and leadership emphasize the importance of balancing the inner with the outer dimensions of leadership (Bolman & Deal, 1995). The outer or external dimensions of leadership emphasizes what a leader does and enables others to do. The inner dimension of leadership emphasizes what the leader knows--self-knowledge and wisdom--and how he or she relates to others in terms of vision, encouragement, and empathy. The search for well-being involves a blending of both of these dimensions.

References

Character:

1. Joseph Badaracco, The Discipline of Building Character, Harvard Business Review, pp. 115-124, March-April, 1998. This article is based on his book, Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right. Harvard Business School Press, 1997.
2. Daniel Goleman (1994). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam.
3. 3. Special Issue of the Consulting Psychology Journal (Fall, 1997) on "Character in Organizations and Executives." Articles include: Skipton Leonard, "The Many Faces of Character," pp. 235-245; Harry Levinson, "Organizational Character;" Robert Hogan and Robert Sinclair, "For Love or Money? Character Dynamics in Consultation;" Len Sperry, "Leadership Dynamics: Character and Character Structure in Executives;" and Richard Kilburg, "Coaching and Executive Character: Core Problems and Basic Approaches.

Spirituality:

1. Lee Bolman and Terrance Deal (1995). Leading with Soul. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
2. Alan Briskin (1996). The Stirring of the Soul in the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
3. Jay Conger (1994). Spirit At Work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4. Steve Sphar (1997). Spirituality in the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 
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