Compassionate Leadership

Compassionate

Leader

If I were the leader of any business, I would strive to be ethical in my dealings with other organizations but most importantly with my co-workers/employees. Ethical behavior to me means treating all people as valuable, being honest in my interactions, and not harming the environment if at all possible. I particularly liked chapter 8 in Spirituality in the Workplace because the authors stated most emphatically that people must be valued and recognized for their skills and abilities regardless of their position or education. One of my main focuses would be to remain accessible to my employees and give true weight to their thoughts, suggestions, and grievances.

Just for fun, I am going to describe how my future business will look from a compassionate leadership point of view. I have a vision of a health-food store with a lunch counter with organic food. I will have a reading room/bookstore upstairs and a building in the back for practioners of many different modalities of treatment. Oh yes, there will also be a Zen garden for contemplation and reading. As the owner and leader, I will practice personal ethical integrity and so model what I expect from my employees. However, modeling is not usually enough so I will hire very carefully. I will look for people who are caring, giving, and have a willingness to learn; I am not overly concerned about them having a high degree of skill so long as they are tolerant, compassionate, and cheerful. I feel that the practical skills can be taught and the important thing is to find employees who already value humanity and have a willingness to serve. As a compassionate leader I will pay my employees as well as I can monetarily but will also make sure that they are rewarded with recognition when due; I feel that validation is often neglected and as a compassionate leader, I want my employees to know how much I respect and honor their humanity and good performance. Part of my business will be feeding a certain number of the homeless and my employees must respect and honor that practice with as little judgment as possible.

Because I recognize that my ability to interact with others is my greatest strength, I will also be humble enough to admit that I will need employees who are good with management minutia. I will require them to do their job with tolerance and compassion also. I realize that in order to pay people a wage my business must also be run well but that does not mean that my employees will be viewed as commodities. I feel that if I follow the Buddhist and Taoist principles and expect such basic behaviors from my employees I will create an excellent, joyful, and hopefully successful place to work.