The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace

A philospher recently wrote "the art of the future will be the work of the collective." It's clear that today's corporate structure has a long way to go before it could be called art. The typical company is not a particularly meaningful, soulful, or enduring place. Somehow there has to be a merging of the corporate need for profit with the individual need for meaning. In The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace, Alan Briskin takes on the often contradictary nature of these twin needs. It raises a deep and difficult set of questions. Briskin doesn't minimize them by offering quick technical fixes, but rather he offers something far more important: the insight and understanding needed to begin honestly approaching them. As a result, Briskin may have also begun the long process of elevating corporate structure to that of collective art form.Parts of this book are as well written and as insightful as anything I've ever read. If you've spent any time in a corporate structure, you will see a reflection of your own situation in these pages. Layered on top of that reflection are insights from the fields of philosophy, literature, psychology, physics, management and the wisdom traditions of the world. All of which help us to understand, and to live with, the ambiguities we all face. This book will challenge you to ask yourself some important questions. I highly recommend it. Dean Ottati - Author of The Runner and the Path

The book has three main sections: Defining the concept and history of Soul; Highlighted history on our work culture; and, how we deal with Soul to make our working world better. The first section was interesting, but perhaps a little philosophical for me. He did use some nice personal story examples to make his points. By itself, the second section would score a 7-star. For this section alone, I would recommend the book. He starts his history trek in the mid 1800's with the advent of the railroad, which presents the first introduction of strict time and scheduling on our society. He continues by discussing the industrial revolution and focusing on important figures such as Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, and Fredrick Taylor, the `Father of Scientific Management'. Additionally, he discusses the works of Elton Mayo and how his finding in human resources ultimately resulted in another control factor for companies. In his final section, Briskin discusses how we as individuals and organizations can learn from our history and begin our journey towards coherence and wholeness. He believes that concerns with communication are often used to describe various barriers within organizations. He is trying to tie the book together and help us pave new ground, but his attempt is too typical and idealistic. Like many 'change' books, he focuses too much on idealistic and not enough on realistic, which renders his suggestions as weak, or even naive. I would have been happier if he left out his attempts to make this a complete book ("we can change by understanding our past") and stuck with his great historical facts and philosophical factors in defining organizational life.

On a first reading, I was amazed at Briskin's ability to articulate the key issues and dilemmas that plague the workplace and those in it - amazed, because his ability to "name" what's going on had an accuracy and depth that is unmatched by anything else I've read. It's the second reading, however, that struck the deepest chords for me. I was caught off guard with the relevance of these issues to my own personal experience, my eyes opening up to how I myself had "sold out" unwittingly to these dominant forces of control, at the cost of my own soul. Fortunately, the author didn't just leave me hanging, but offered some alternative ways of thinking about work, about my "stance" toward my job and toward others, about what truly matters to me, and about more creative ways of being. In a nutshell, the book opened up my mind as well as my heart.

I stumbled onto this book at a bookstore and was fascinated by the picture of foggy mountains on the cover of a business book. I have read some of the typical leadership-type books, and this ain't one of them -- it's much better! The author made me realize that the struggles, frustrations, pain and discomfort of working in a big corporation are normal. I didn't really want to hear that, but he tells me that to find meaning in my work, I have no choice but to embrace those struggles. The good news is, he said, I don't have to stuff my feelings down a hole. Now, just to make my boss understand that..