TruthBook Religious News Blog

By Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Feb. 18 2009

Out of 100 American teens, only three are likely to say they see members of the clergy as role models, according to a survey on teens and ethical decision making.

Scarcely any teens (those under age 18) view their pastors, priests, rabbis or imams as role models. Instead, many reported seeing their parents as role models (54 percent), the survey conducted by Junior Achievement and Deloitte showed.

Friends (13 percent), teachers or coaches (6 percent), and siblings (5 percent) also beat out clergies as role model figures.

Just slightly more than one in ten (11 percent) say they don’t have any role models.

But the poll’s major finding is that although the overwhelming majority of teens (80 percent) believe they are ethically prepared to make moral business decisions, nearly 40 percent believe they need to “break the rules” in order to succeed.

More than one in four teenagers (27 percent) think behaving violently is sometimes, often or always acceptable, according to the poll. One in five teens (20 percent) reported to have personally behaved violently toward another person in the past year.

Furthermore, among those who say they are ethically prepared for business, nearly half (49 percent) say lying to parents and guardians is acceptable. More than three out of five teens (61 percent) say they have lied to their parents or guardian this past year.

As part of the solution to the problem, Junior Achievement and Deloitte developed “JA Business Ethics,” which provides hands-on classroom activities and real-life applications to foster ethical decision making before students enter the workforce. The students compare how their beliefs measure up to major ethics theories and learn the benefits of having a code of ethics.

The youth-oriented organization commented that the results also raise the question of why adults are not viewed as role models by more American teens and what can be done to change this.

Junior Achievement, the world’s largest organization working to prepare youths to succeed in the global market, conducted the survey on 750 teens across the United States on Oct. 9-12, 2008, with the help of Deloitte, an international network of consulting firm

Labels: business, clergy, Deloitte, Junior Achievement, role models, teenagers, violence

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Sunday, December 07, 2008

Religion at Work

This lengthy article is worth reading. It expands upon the problems, and benefits, of providing for spirituality in the workplace. Since so many Americans profess religious connection, it is an idea that makes an attempt to incorporate this important aspect of American life into this large part of the lives of American workers.

Many employers are weaving religion and spirituality into company cultures. The push may come from bosses or the rank and file—and their motivations vary. Either way, when religion and spirituality cross the threshold, they result in daunting legal and managerial challenges along with perceived benefits.

By Robert J. Grossman

Bob Pettus spent his entire career with Charlotte, N.C.-based Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated —all with top-level human resource responsibility. Like an Israelite wandering in the Sinai seeking the Promised Land, he engaged in a quest—to find the keys to attracting and retaining high-performing workers and managers. After decades in the wilderness, he was losing heart.

“Our employees’ salaries, benefits and perks were always a little bit ahead of others so we could attract the kinds of employees we needed,” recalls the HR veteran, who retired in 2005 as vice chairman of the nation’s second-largest Coca-Cola bottler with 5,800 employees in 11 Southeastern states. “I would get all excited about giving everyone a 3.5 percent increase, putting in a new insurance policy, adding a new holiday. But when I made the announcements, there was hardly any response except, ‘Hey, that’s what everyone else is doing. You guys should have been doing this a long time ago.’ We spent all those millions, and all we got for it was ‘ho-hum.’ ” ›

Then Pettus—who now consults for the company—saw the light. He was meeting the physical and emotional needs of workers, but what about the spiritual? Did it make sense to keep religion under wraps and require people to leave their faith at the doorstep? Equally important, if leaders really believed in running the business in concert with God and religious values, shouldn’t they say so?

Pettus knew company leaders who answer affirmatively buck convention: Most business leaders are faith-frosty, convinced that the less religious expression at work, the better. They comply with legal mandates and accommodate individuals who require special arrangements, but go no further.

The U.S. educational system and other teachings “say you should compartmentalize faith,” Pettus says. “Folks who are willing to talk about their faith and live it out Monday through Friday often are viewed as fanatical. Someone can go to a football game and scream and holler, throw things in the air and dress like a slob. But at work, if you mention that you should love one another and live right every day—it’s like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ ”

Pettus took a stand. Working with the chief executive officer, he drafted a mission and values statement that makes it clear company leaders embrace and honor God. It opens the door to spirituality for all employees and champions stewardship. The statement leads with “Our Values Honor God.”

Finally, an initiative that was met with an overwhelming positive reaction. When people learn they can live out their faith, Pettus says, “There’s this loyalty, this willingness to go the extra mile.”

Faith Focus

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated represents one of many faith-focused U.S. companies. These organizations proactively conduct business in a manner that embraces the faiths of leaders or owners. Their faiths provide underlying values that motivate and guide the organizations. A few, such as Coca-Cola Bottling, are publicly traded. Many more—such as Austaco Ltd., a privately owned Taco Bell franchisee with 1,800 workers in Austin, Texas—number among the nation’s small and medium-sized and frequently family-owned businesses.

“We classify ourselves as a Christian company—Christ- or God-centered,” says Don Barton, Austaco’s HR vice president. “We do things like say grace when we have a meal, something a typical company might not do. The employees know that our CEO, Dirk Dozier, is open about sharing his Christian faith in personal testimony. Our motto is to serve, which includes serving our employees on a spiritual basis.”

A strong majority in the United States are religious, even as religious affiliation becomes increasingly diverse. According to a 2008 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:

* 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God.
* 83 percent are affiliated with a religious group.
* 54 percent attend religious services at least once or twice
per month.
* Nearly 60 percent pray every day.
* 39 percent meditate at least once a week.
* 74 percent believe in life after death.
* 63 percent say they believe Scripture is the word of God.

Labels: business, Coca-Cola Bottling Co, faith-friendly, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Robert J. Grossman, workplace spirituality

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Monday, June 09, 2008

i4cp Study Finds Employers Struggling with How to Handle Religious Differences

i4cp Study Finds Employers Struggling with How to Handle Religious Differences

Nearly a third of employers surveyed said they have seen personal clashes in the workplace linked to religion

Seattle, WA, June 09, 2008 --(PR.com)-- According to a recent study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), nearly a third of employers surveyed said they have seen personal clashes in the workplace linked to religion. Despite the frequency, it’s clear that many of those organizations are still unsure of how to handle religious differences in the work environment.

While 61% of companies said they have made an accommodation for an employee based on the worker’s religious beliefs, just 12% of respondents actually have a written definition of what is considered to be a “religious belief.” And, even though a third of respondents reported that their organization has experienced personal friction over religious beliefs, almost two-thirds of those companies said they do not have a written policy specifically addressing religious bias.

Perhaps because of this lack of clarity, most companies opt to handle disputes quietly and internally. Over half (56%) of the employers surveyed reported that they use in-house mediation to resolve religious disputes. For some, those disputes might be avoided if leaders were better trained on how to handle them. Of the companies surveyed, a mere 29% train managers on how to avoid religious bias in their decision-making.

“Businesses must find ways to handle religious conflicts while allowing room for employees’ spiritual needs,” said Anne Lindberg, research analyst with i4cp. “Effectively handling religious differences not only requires specific attention, but also creativity, empathy and fairness.”

When asked about practices used to attend to religious diversity, 68% of companies reported they “make reasonable accommodations for beliefs and practices,” implying that the remaining 32% don’t. “This is interesting because, by law, all companies are supposed to offer reasonable accommodations,” Lindberg adds.

Other findings from the survey:

-Fifty-five percent of companies provide flexible scheduling to allow people to attend religious services, yet only 33% offer paid time off for religious holidays.

-31% said that unsolicited sharing of religious views has been a problem in the workplace.

-13% said that, because of their religious beliefs, employees have refused to do certain work or associate with certain co-workers.

The Taking the Pulse: Religious Discrimination survey was conducted by i4cp, in conjunction with HR.com, in April 2008. A total of 278 organizations participated. The full results of the survey are now available exclusively for i4cp corporate members.

About i4cp, inc.

i4cp is the world’s largest private network of corporations focused on improving workforce productivity. Our vendor-free community facilitates innovation by giving our members – among the largest and most respected organizations in the world – access to:

1. Peers to spark new ideas and prevent “reinventing the wheel,”

2. Research to enable members to understand current practices and next practices,

3. Tools to put ideas and research into action,

4. Technology to enable members to easily access tailored information and execute workforce strategies.

With more than 40 years of experience and the industry’s largest team of human capital analysts, i4cp is the definitive destination for organizations seeking innovative ways to improve workforce productivity.

Labels: business, disputes, Institute for Corporate Productivity, religion

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Monday, March 31, 2008

Religion at the register

To retailers such as Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby, spiritual principles go hand in hand with profits

By Dana Knight
Posted: March 31,2008

When customers walk into Chick-fil-A, they get a side with their chicken sandwich that's rare in the world of monstrous fast-food chains: Christianity.

No bones about it, this company's business philosophy is based largely on biblical principles -- including the decision to remain closed on Sundays, when the company could be making big bucks at its 1,356 stores.

Once scared to speak out about religion in business, more and more companies are coming out of the spiritual closet. No organization actually tracks the number of companies driven by a religious philosophy, but there are plenty of examples.

Nationally, Hobby Lobby closes its doors on Sundays, so its employees and customers can honor the Sabbath.

Intel sponsors employee-based religious networks, and Deloitte & Touche offers employee prayer groups. Other companies, such as Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and subsidiaries of Wal-Mart, hire chaplains to visit employees in hospitals, deal with their mental health issues and even deliver vows at their weddings.

Locally, the McDonald's on Olio Road in Fishers features a Bible on the wall and Scripture. And at Transformations Salon and Spa on Madison Avenue, Christian music plays and Scripture is written on the walls.

Most spirit-based businesses say they aren't trying to shove religion down customers' throats. It's simply a way of doing business.

Dan Cathy is the son of Chick-fil-A's founder, S. Truett Cathy, who started the business in 1946, when he opened an Atlanta diner know as The Dwarf Grill.

The elder Cathy and his son have stuck to the values the chain was founded on.

"Nearly every moment of every day, we have the opportunity to give something to someone else -- our time, our love, our resources," Truett Cathy wrote in his book "Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People." "I have always found more joy in giving, when I did not expect anything in return."

Still, Chick-fil-A has recorded 40 consecutive years of annual sales increases. And some might attribute that to the company's philosophy.

A study by McKinsey & Co. found that when companies engage in programs that use spiritual techniques for their employees, productivity improves and turnover is greatly reduced.

Chick-fil-A has some of the most committed employees in the industry, "given the strong principled, religious and value-driven corporate culture," said Richard Feinberg, a professor of retailing at Purdue University. "Committed employees do better. One would think that closing Sundays would hurt business, and in a sense it does, but it improves employee business relationships and leads to the commitment that the others do not have."

Customers are drawn to the restaurant not only for the food but also for the values.

Danville resident Jared Wade was eating at the Avon Chick-fil-A last week and walked up to Cathy to thank him personally for his business philosophy.

"Being a Christian, I really admire what you are doing," Wade told Cathy. "I have had to fight to get Sundays off, and what Chick-fil-A does is incredible."

And different. Even Family Christian Stores, the nation's largest Christian retail chain, which had been closed on Sundays, decided to open its doors seven days a week several years ago.

Chick-fil-A stands out for its integrity and values, said John Livengood, president and chief executive officer of the Restaurant & Hospitality Association of Indiana.

"Being closed on Sundays probably enhances that reputation as they forgo profits to stay true to their values," he said.

Labels: business, Chick-fil-A, Christianity, Dana Knight, Hobby Lobby, religion, retail, spirituality

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Monday, March 03, 2008

Thinking positive boosts bottom line

Ruth Ostrow | February 29, 2008

IN the elegant foyer of The Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, 350 business leaders have gathered. Chief executives and managers from all the major corporations are there.

They have come as members of the Australian Institute of Management to hear advice on how to be more effective in business, but not from a sales guru. They're here to listen to one of the great thought leaders of our time; father of the positive psychology movement; Mr Happiness himself, author of the best-seller, Learned Optimism, Dr Martin Seligman PhD.

Seligman is selling the happiness message to our top corporations and he intends to return to Australia next year with a team to run in-house programs. "I teach the new prosperity," he tells me later.

"Not how to get rich, but how to stay prosperous in all aspects of life: work, home and body. We need to look at a gross wellbeing indicator, not Gross Domestic Product so we can get ahead without illness, depression, anxiety and fear stopping us in this new, positive paradigm."

Indeed, there has been a paradigm shift in corporate thinking since I last worked as a finance journalist in the "greed is good" 1980s and 90s.

Cairns says this is the new frontier - business with a spiritual edge. "I don't use the word spiritual. It is about transformation. To get the most out of your business and people, you have to work on yourself first. Buddhism has given me a profound sense of meaning and purpose."

Akehurst says: "I was an anxious over-achiever driven by anxiety, wanting targets to be met, and fear of failure. The change is that I have become mindful of the moment, I am only motivated by the positive, and have learned the value of authenticity and integrity. When you tell the truth to the people you work with, you save so much valuable time and money."

Rennie from McKinsey, a promoter and fan of both Seligman and Rinpoche, says: "When I tried to sell this type of thinking into the corporate market 10 years ago I was considered a heretic. Now it's mainstream."

Meanwhile, David White, a director of Port Jackson Partners who is organising the meditation event, says what's really being taught is "the science of the mind" and how to transform thinking to achieve quantifiable results.

International Business Week summed it up thus: "It may sound flaky but a growing number of companies are setting off on spiritual journeys ... in search of a soul as a way to foster creativity and motivate leaders." The list includes US corporate giants such as AT&T, Boeing and Xerox, not to mention the World Bank, where leaders sit in a semicircle once a week and "connect".

The crux of the new prosperity movement is happiness, not a superficial happiness but a deep, resounding contentment born of having abundance in all areas of life: work family and play.

As Seligman says, happiness doesn't come from pleasures alone, such as making money or having sex, but from adding a deep sense of meaning - what the Buddhists and yogis call bliss.

Property developer Bruno Grollo, of Rialto fame, understands this. "You work so you can gain security and material wealth, but money never made me happy. I made money but I never felt the way I did when I was 18 or 21, so I realised that money didn't matter. Transcendental meditation is the closest thing to the euphoria of youth I have discovered," he once confided to me.

With an international Happiness conference being held in Sydney in May, the medical statistics bear out the premise. Happy people live eight to 10 years longer and fight off illness at double the rate of others.

The Reserve Bank's Akehurst, admired for his leadership qualities, shuns the notion that working with concepts such as happiness and authenticity is the "soft and fuzzy" option. "This is hard-nosed business practice. It creates tough but fair leaders."

He says: "Authenticity is a beautiful, time-saving process. When you cover up, people know it's not true and trust is damaged. If you say something isn't working, everyone says that's bad, and gets on with fixing it. Otherwise it takes ages to get things sorted." Personal growth leads to efficiency.

It's two decades since I wrote my book The New Boy Network on the excesses of the 1980s. In some circles people joked that to be interviewed by me was the kiss of death, as those I had revered for their enthusiasm and determination seemed to go down like tenpins: Larry Adler, father of Rodney; textile king Abe Goldberg; Alan Bond; Christopher Skase; Adsteam's John Spalvins; Robert Holmes a Court and Coles Myer's Brian Quinn.

Many Asian visitors went with them, such as Thai confectionery mogul Jack Chia and Malaysia's Lee Ming Tee.

Why? I have thought a lot about it the past decades, myself having moved to Byron Bay to embrace wellness. I have observed that what drives you can drive you over the edge. My own journey echoed theirs. A workaholic, a believer that somehow external success would take away that nagging sense of fragility and unworthiness that so many of us feel, I soon discovered external success was like water to sand and resulted in burnout and bad decision-making. At the height of my own career, burnt out and suffering depression, I walked away.

Years later, having sat at the feet of people involved in personal growth: Buddhists, yoga teachers, wellness and longevity masters, I have unravelled the greatest mystery of all.

The answer to happiness is the ability to live now, comfortable in your own skin whatever the circumstance.

Greek poet C.P. Cavafy talks about not being so outcome-driven, not so eager to get to Ithaka, mythical home of Odysseus. Rather, he says, to be able to enjoy the journey itself on the high seas will teach us to appreciate the riches of Ithaka when we arrive. Seligman calls it being in the flow of life. The Buddhists call it absorption in the moment.

Others simply describe it as the pleasure of stroking your child's face or playing with the family dog. Whatever it is, those able to connect from the heart, rather than through ego alone, seem more able to achieve enduring success.

Indeed, coming back to Sydney to put into practice what I've learned, I have found a different corporate landscape. While some - such as the recent spate of overgeared entrepreneurs - are still suffering for their sins of hubris and being too driven, it's a rapidly changing world.

Funds management icon Brian Sherman is fighting for animal rights, our Prime Minister is fighting for home care for his son, and former Microsoft mogul Daniel Petre is taking time off to be with his wife and kids - all for the sake of joyfulness and meaning.

According to Gordon Cairns, words such as empower have replaced command and control, while abundance and prosperity have replaced wealth.

My new column, Business Life, is about the things that matter: business and life, work and play, passions and health, heart and soul - in balance. In a world in which happiness is the hottest new corporate commodity and health and success depend on it, it's no longer a dream to have it all. It's a necessity.

Labels: abundance, business, Dr Martin Seligman PhD, happiness, learned optimism, meaning, Ruth Ostrow, spirituality

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Sunday, November 25, 2007

A business model for saving souls

By Manya A. Brachear | Tribune religion reporter
November 24, 2007

Page one of a two-page article. Please click on "external link" for complete article.

For more than three decades, Willow Creek Community Church has defined its success by tallying the throngs who walk through its doors.

But a survey recently revealed something the South Barrington mega-church hadn't realized: Some of its members had become unsatisfied, saying they felt abandoned on their spiritual journeys.

The research yielding this uncomfortable revelation came from the business world. Using a model originally designed to find what emotionally drives consumers to buy perfume, running shoes and insurance, each of Willow's members was placed on a spectrum of belief, ranging from curious about Christ to seeing Christ at the center of their lives.

It then pinpointed what kind of spiritual formation works best for each believer.

Willow Creek Association paid for similar surveys at 30 more churches, with similar results. Now Willow is offering to conduct surveys at 500 more churches around the world. More than 1,500 churches from 14 denominations applied, including Methodist, Lutheran and Roman Catholic.

"We are doing an exemplary job with people who are far from God and just beginning to explore Christian life," said Rev. Bill Hybels, Willow Creek's founder and senior pastor. "But there were some unpleasant surprises we had to face. If people are not feeling supported by the church, they don't grow in faith."

The business model doesn't sit well with all Christians. Some say the survey fails to grasp that not all things spiritual can be measured empirically. Though Rev. Erwin Lutzer of Moody Church commends Willow's intentions, he says it's risky to measure applause.

"The marketing approach might have some benefit, but we must be careful that we simply not consider our members to be customers who we need to satisfy," he said. "The care of souls is very different from the goal of satisfying shareholders. We must be willing to give people what they need, not just what they want."

But surveying customer satisfaction is part of how Willow became a model mega-church.

In 1975, Hybels spent six weeks knocking on doors to find out why people stayed home on Sunday mornings. Some didn't like the way pastors pestered them for money. Others described church as "boring," "predictable" and "irrelevant."

Hybels decided to "defer to the customer except where it conflicted with Scripture." With simple sermons, rock 'n' roll and no collection plate, Willow took off, growing to nearly 20,000 members.

Recently other mega-churches have left Willow in the dust by drawing even more members and retaining them. To figure out why Willow was static, Hybels turned to noted consumer scientist Eric Arnson.

For 25 years, Arnson studied consumers for Fortune 500 companies such as Nike and Procter & Gamble. He revolutionized the insurance industry by gauging buyers' attitudes toward risk and redefined the perfume market by mapping customers' romantic sentiments.

To do something similar for churches, Arnson "segmented the market" by defining churchgoers' relationships with Christ and placing them on a scale of Christian maturity. Questionnaires probed the circumstances that brought people to Willow and sought to rate their experience since then.

Arnson discovered that two-thirds of those surveyed traced spiritual growth to difficult times in their lives such as addiction or personal loss.

He also interviewed nearly 300 people who had left Willow; about half said they did so because the church was not helping them grow. Those who came to Willow 30 years ago said they were hearing the same message though their faith had matured.

"What we need is a different framework that says each of us is at a different place," said Greg Hawkins, Willow's executive pastor. "Creating a different lens for people would quite honestly generate higher satisfaction with the church."

Jerry Thornhill and his wife are among the seekers who came to Willow Creek based on its reputation as a relevant and welcoming place. And it was. "When we first started there, we really loved it," he said.

But after a few years, Thornhill said, "We felt like we were kind of stagnating."

Thornhill, who is a veterinarian. , only had time to attend church once a week, so he relied heavily on the message from the pulpit to stoke his faith. He found the guidance he was looking for at Harvest Bible Chapel, another mega-church in nearby Rolling Meadows.

Labels: business, church, Manya A. Brachear, marketing, spirituality, surveys, Willow Creek Community Church

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Friday, November 23, 2007

Spiritual Economics at Work

Trust Matters, new Chicago-based consulting firm, helps organizations improve bottom line through building and promoting trust

A recent global trust and credibility survey indicates that trust is a market asset and a new way forward for global institutions.

According to survey results, average employees are considered more credible spokespersons than corporate CEOs. While the survey reported that 53 percent of respondents trust business, marking an all-time high for the survey, with business trusted more than government and the media, only 27 percent of U.S. respondents judged information about a company coming from a CEO or CFO to be "very" or "extremely" credible, compared with 42 percent for regular company employees. The survey also found that distrust can result in refusal to buy or invest in a company's products or services.

Other surveys indicate that employer turnover costs companies millions of dollars each year, and that employers' communication with employees is key to earning their trust. Current research shows that a large majority of companies in the United States and around the world are struggling to attract and retain top-performing and critical-skill workers. Studies indicate that to attract, retain and motivate the best employees, companies must clearly communicate expectations about rewards and then deliver as promised.

These studies confirm that trust is a critical factor in employee retention and customer loyalty and can have a bottom line impact on an organization's profitability. "Trust Matters works with business leaders to build an environment of trust and helps transform a company from the inside out," says Noreen Kelly, Trust Strategist and President, Trust Matters.

"Since the periods of major corporate and accounting scandals involving Enron and other companies that resulted in a decline in public trust, followed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002," says Noreen Kelly, organizations are being held to higher standards in their behavior and communications, yet mistrust in business is still prevalent. Establishing trust can increase profitability, boost market value, Add competitive advantage, lower costs, provide efficiencies, improve morale, and result in lower turnover, improved productivity, and increased job satisfaction.?

"Trust is a fundamental, timeless spiritual dimension that is at the core of all business activity," states Noreen Kelly, also a member of the International Center for Spirit at Work (ICSW), a worldwide, non-profit organization whose mission is to support global transformation by integrating spirituality in the workplace. As reported in Megatrends 2010, by Patricia Aburdene (2005), a shift in corporate consciousness has been happening, from ?profit at any cost? to the rise of Conscious Capitalism. Promoting trust within organizations can create a positive force in the workplace by its focus on both the highest good and the bottom line.?

About Trust Matters

Trust Matters is a newly formed (2007) Chicago-based consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations deliver trust building strategies and solutions. Its mission is to help organizations drive their business towards greater levels of trust by offering: executive coaching and communications counsel to management, consulting on employee engagement issues, organizational change and transition strategies, mediation services for mergers and acquisitions and restructurings, promotion of new initiatives to internal and external audiences, and facilitation of knowledge sharing and collaboration initiatives. Contact Noreen Kelly, Trust Strategist and President, Trust Matters, at 312.988.7562 or noreen@noreenkelly.com More information is available at http://www.noreenkelly.com

Labels: business, credibility, distrust, Noreen Kelly, spirituality, Trust Matters

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Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Capitalising on the spirit

Page 1 of 3

Wednesday October 03, 2007

The days when businesses could operate solely on self-interest, short-term gain and with an eye on the bottom line are numbered as customers, employees and shareholders insist on knowing what companies are doing in the world.

There is a growing interest in what is being called 'spiritual capital'.

Financial planner, chartered accountant and managing director of Money Matters and Rodger Spiller & Associates, Dr Rodger Spiller, says spiritual capital is the value reflected in a business's commitment to quality of life.

"It is a bit of an intangible - like brand worth," he says. "It's something that helps companies be better able to attract customers and employees.

"It's about focusing on quality of life and sustainability. These are things that citizens are getting more aware of and are seeing as more important."

A recent survey in Britain showed that 53 per cent of workers felt a tension between their spirituality and daily work. "This needs to be addressed," Rodger says, "as it affects productivity and engagement."

Rodger points out that wealth is being redefined but, in some ways, it's reverting to its original meaning.

According to Wikipedia, wealth comes from the old English word "weal", meaning "well-being" or "welfare", and the term was originally an adjective used to describe the possession of such qualities.

"Spiritual capital reflects the original definition of wealth as wellbeing - not just money," Rodger says.

"It's about individuals and businesses being environmentally and socially responsible and wanting to improve wellbeing for all.

"Employees want to work for companies that take into account these things. Interestingly, companies with this broader perspective who look to enhancing quality of life are doing better financially.

"Responsible investors who prefer these companies are doing well by doing good. Stakeholders want to work and invest in companies that make a difference in the world and make money at the same time."

A famous quote from Body Shop founder the late Anita Roddick is: "The end result of kindness is that it draws people to you."

Rodger talks of the four Ps of spiritual capital: purpose, principles, practices and performance.

He says the old idea that greed is good has been rejected by a lot of people who don't merely want to work to finance the weekend. They want to feel good about the work they're doing.

"People are searching for meaning, and becoming more aware of spirituality. Employees who feel in tune with their company's efforts will be more productive and enthusiastic," Rodger says. "People's purpose in the world is more than just about money.

Labels: 'spiritual capital', business, spirituality, wealth