Spirit at Work: Overcoming the Ideology of Comfort and the Tyranny of Custom

Exploring the relationship between spirituality and leadership, this book is a rare breed. It contains very high quality articles from insightful writers such as Parker Palmer, Vaclav Havel, and Jay Conger. It explores the inner being of a leader and spirituality in practice. This book distinguishes itself from the multitude of management and leadership books with a class of its own. A must read for wholesome leaders with sustainable lives for significance.

This book is a great read for anyone who engages in work of any sort, or who desires to connect with self and others in a deeper, more meaningful way. While traditional approaches to career satisfaction have focused on "correct" placement in accordance with interests and personality, this book begins to step into an area that is unknown, ambiguous, and individually unique.... the human spirit.The definition of "spiritual" in this context has much more to do with a deeper connection to the ideals, values, and goals of an entity greater than oneself (be it a company, an organization, or a family) than the more traditional connotation of "religion," or human relation to "God," (although one chapter does venture into the notion of partnering with "god"). It speaks both to those who would be leaders of others, as well as to those who would just become a leader in his or her own life.Chapters on leadership, and accessing and projecting one's spirit as a leader provide a new framework that may become one of the most effective approaches to teaching effective leadership yet. Other chapters implore individuals as well as leaders of groups to understand their fears and to become aware of strengths and weaknesses.Perhaps the most valuable thread running throughout this compilation of chapters by various authors such as Parker Palmer and Katheryn Tyler Scott, is that for any of us to realize a new, higher, more fulfilling connection to those activities in which we engage daily (called "work"), we must individually take a journey within.... a journey that will prove of tremendous value to anyone willing to take it.