SPIRITUAL IS AS UNREAL AS THE HOLY GHOST

I recently participated in a string of LinkedIn posts involving whether the workplace needed spirituality. I had a real problem with this. A bunch of people, with a few exceptions, insisted that the workplace required more spirituality. My first question was whether the workplace needs anything and whether adding something like spirituality is anything more than someone's idea of starting a new fad, such as the Peter principle dogma from the last century.

But my real question was whether spirituality has any meaning at all. You start with the word spirit. That sounds supernatural to me. I live in the natural world and believe that is all there is. There's no evidence of the paranormal. Some people believe in it, but that does not mean it is true.

My next question is, what does the word spirituality really mean? Does it represent some new concept of management that is appropriate in the business world? What does it mean? Nobody had an answer to that one. A word that has no meaning does not advance the management of people in business or otherwise in life.

The next problem is if it has any meaning at all. It is akin to and a surrogate of religion. I think most people use it as a euphemism for religion when they don't really want to speak of religion; any dogma introduces all kinds of issues about whether there is a God, about what religion is the right one, and if it's Christianity which denomination, which branch of which denomination, which church, which sect and so on.

Of course, the issue of God is an impossible one. We are all agnostic since none of us knows. People believe, but that does not mean that it's true. There is no evidence of a God, which nature can't explain. And then which religion and on and on and on.

It is silly to attempt to introduce religion into the business world. For what purpose? All the concepts of morality are well established in our species, and most have preceded religion for a long time. Spirituality in the workplace doesn't really mean anything. We cannot define it, and it smacks of religion. I'm concerned because the religious right is insidious and tries to worm its dogma into all aspects of life. It needs to leave business alone.

We all know the traits of a good leader. First, the leader must be intelligent and talented, above and beyond those he leads. Then, he must have honesty, integrity, empathy, and transparency, to name a few of the virtues with which we are all familiar and to which all leaders aspire. We know very well what our business leaders need. We don't need to introduce some new fad such as spirituality, especially since we cannot define it, let alone explain how it should enhance the workplace environment. As a former CEO  and Marine Corps officer, I know what it takes to improve morale and get the troops moving. What's needed is more Marine Corps officer training in the workplace. Frankly, if we turned over business to Marine Corps officers, I think their version of “spirituality” is just what we need.