Healing the corporate soul: Lance Secretan is changing the world, one leader, one organization at a time. (Profile).

SITTING AT A CONFERENCE TABLE, A MIDDLE-AGED EXECUTIVE fidgets and repeatedly wipes his brow. Then he starts to tremble a bit, coughs involuntarily, and eventually reaches for a luncheon napkin and wipes the tears streaming from his eyes. Lance Secretan sees this often. He should -- he caused it: a man, a woman, a team, an organization suddenly realizing a better way, a sacred way of doing business. Speaking to large groups, one-on-one with CEOs, in retreats, and via the printed word, Secretan is inspiring corporate CEOs, officers, and community leaders to reevaluate their roles and see what possibilities exist within their work force and witness a new way to not just organizational success but also life-changing success.

"The modern corporation has the clout, the power, the reach, and the intellect to change the world -- for good or evil," says Secretan. "It has the greatest power to change the world for good, to make it more sustainable and more loving. I want to be part of the movement that uses the modern organization to change the world and make it a better place, to reawaken spirit and values in the workplace."

The modern workplace could use a reawakening. Spirit and values lay unconscious amid piles of pink slips. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that last year, mass layoffs (8,191) and the number of workers those layoffs separated from their jobs (1,695,335) were higher than in any year since the data have been tracked. Unfortunately, corporations are driving their most important decisions on suspicion and fear, forcing employees to work longer hours and enjoy it less, Secretan says. He and the Secretan Center, Inc., a worldwide consulting organization he founded in Alton, Ontario, aim to reverse the trend.

"We cause people to stay," Secretan declares. "In a 14,000-person company with a 35 percent turnover and replacement cost of $65,000 a year, that translates into $318.5 million in unnecessary cost that we can impact. If people feel honored and loved at work, our experience is that these figures can be reduced by more than two-thirds. You do the math."

Although the 63-year-old Secretan looks the part of a mystic -- physically fit, shaved head, wire-rim glasses, and pajama-like shirts and slacks -- he knows the business world in which he operates better than most he counsels. As the leader of Manpower Ltd., he grew that organization to 72,000 full- and part-time employees. He has sat in the seat in which he now sees the troubled faces of executives under fire, leaders who wonder how they can satisfy ever-higher stakeholder arid customer expectations.

He challenges executives to envision a company in which truth-telling and promise-keeping are restored, corporate culture is rebuilt around personal integrity, and inspirational leaders satisfy employee expectations. The opportunities are enormous. Secretan estimates that 10 to 20 percent of a company's staff spend their time checking on the rest of the work force, customers, and suppliers. Creating a culture in which these employees do not nurture mistrust and do not undermine team effectiveness, but instead serve their colleagues and customers, uncovers latent wealth (he estimates at least $10 million in a 10,000-employee firm) and vastly improves the spirit and work of those they've been monitoring.

One fundamental obstacle to creating such a company is the great disconnect today regarding the role of leaders, explains Secretan. Research by the Center indicates that leaders see their role as "adding market share, expanding markets, dominating the competition, increasing profits, adding shareholder value, [and] having a big vision of the future and a strategy." Contrarily, followers see leadership as respect, integrity, truth-telling, promise-keeping, compassion, honesty, fairness, and justice.

To align the two, Secretan says, "servant leaders" must treat followers as customers and inspire them. History's greatest leaders, he notes, have been servant leaders: Jesus Christ, Confucius, Gandhi, Buddha. "New story leaders see business as the greatest instrument of positive social change known to man and thus have refrained their role as leaders accordingly. The success of future corporate leaders will not be measured by market share, profit, and increased shareholder wealth alone, but by their effectiveness as missionaries, stewards, and custodians of the human spirit. My Destiny, Cause, and Calling reflect the fact that I want to change the world by pulling on the levers of the most powerful institutions in the world."

Secretan calls himself a pathfinder and missionary, and, like missionaries who ventured into foreign lands, his message challenges old ways and frequently runs counter to what MBA programs breed into CEOs. "Those who get it understand that this is the way to change the world," he says, "while others probably scoff at what they pejoratively dismiss as 'touchy-feely' work of all kinds because it is threatening to them and could cause them to remove their masks and become humans again -- a terrifying prospect for many."

Wearing corporate masks, modern leaders too often chant the mantra of competition. "We've created a condition in modern organizations where we think what we win other people must lose," says Secretan, an anti-competitor who won't even keep score when playing tennis. "This is a zero-sum game. We're about dominating and controlling and having victory over other people, destroying them. This is a toxic behavior of leadership. It makes people sick."

If leaders can dominate the competition, he reasons, what keeps them from dominating colleagues and employees? They are burdened by the requirement to dominate and motivate, punish and reward. Secretan asserts that individuals are "inspired" to great works, nor "motivated" to them: "When we're inspired, we love something. We love the people we do it with, and we love the reason for doing it. Love is what powers inspiration. And greed powers motivation."

He asks satirically, "What part of loving and telling the truth don't you get?"

Showing others the path

Secretan encourages anyone and everyone to believe in a world in which love can conquer all. Colleagues say he irrefutably believes and lives this himself--he is "authentic," having the courage to reveal the true self. Others recognize it also. In 1999, he was honored with the International Caring Award from the Caring Institute, joining the company of Jane Goodall and Mother Teresa as recipients. This year the American YMCA will present him with its highest honor, the W.M. McFeely Award.

"Lance is so congruent, he is so committed," says Tricia Secretan, his wife of 17 years and the Center's "Muse," "Moccasin Walker" (chief empathizer), and senior vice president and co-owner. "Yes, he trips sometimes, but he's always trying to walk the talk."

"Lance absolutely, 99.9 percent, embodies everything that he says," says T. Kay Rix, chief "focus" officer, who ensures the many approaches deployed by the Center stay "focused" on the cause -- reawakening spirit and values in the workplace. "He practices everything that he preaches."

Secretan's "preaching" has attracted an impressive congregation. He speaks to more than 200,000 people annually, reawakening spirit across a spectrum of companies, including Abbott Laboratories, The Body Shop, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, and Herman Miller, as well as government and academic organizations. His impassioned, multimedia-savvy delivery rivets audiences and gets them to consider an alternative workplace -- a working, sharing, loving organization.

Through his speaking engagements, Secretan witnessed the yearning of CEOs to take his message deeper into their organizations and their need for support as they inspire employees. He developed a path for them to do that, a way to achieve "Higher Ground Leadership," a breakthrough practice intended to question, deepen, and enrich conventional leadership thinking with new wisdom culled from ancient teachings and adapted to modern organizations.

According to the Secretan Center, a number of organizations are currently embracing Higher Ground Leadership. In Africa, the Center is helping a global organization unite the operations of 13 separate countries into one unit. Work there ranges from community development activities, such as support for HIV/AIDS education and testing, to drafting new employee materials (e.g., Values-centered Leadershipt [TM] job applications and descriptions and employee appraisals) that encompass the principles that the Center teaches. At the Mount Carmel Healthcare organization in Columbus, Ohio, which includes three hospitals and more than 9,000 doctors and employees, a two-year relationship is completely transforming the company, infusing spirit and values-centered work into the employee ranks. Hundreds of staff have participated in monthly Higher Ground Leadership retreats, led by their CEO, Joe Calvaruso, and vice president of Higher Ground, Julie Snyder. The Center is similarly active in a cultural transformation at one of the largest health-care systems in the West. Likewise, the CEO focus includes creating a common cause; the approach and organization to emerge from this work will be uniquely crafted to touch the hearts and minds of 14,000 people.

"People innately know that loving each other and telling the truth is the right thing to do," says Rix. When the first to transform is senior management, it frees the path for the employees to openly embrace the message they've been waiting to hear. "The CEO is the person who makes the decision from the get-go. There isn't that obstacle of getting buy-in at the top, and that's huge," she says.

Out of this senior-level relationship, the company's leadership begins work with Secretan and a faculty of Associates. Associates come from all walks of life -- business, religion, education -- and have embraced, studied, and been certified in the Center's values. "It really doesn't matter what they do, it's who they are," says Secretan. "What unites them is a deep understanding of the need to engage the spirit." Rix adds, "It's not just enough to know and regurgitate the [Center's] work; Associates have to be the work. It becomes their 'authentic self.'"

The Center conducts a High Spot Review, which quickly assesses what's been going on in the organization, the legacy in place, the achievements and strengths, and areas in which the work can have immediate impact (e.g., employee turnover). Secretan's team then helps senior management create a new story which begins with an intensive eight-day Higher Ground Leadership retreat. During this remote gathering, participants are encouraged to reflect and connect with others in a way they may not have experienced before. Participants try to rid themselves of obstructing beliefs. Sometimes it goes smoothly; sometimes it does nor. The executives eventually work to a place where they can appreciate and practice the sacredness of everyday life and work. "We teach people how to see the sacredness in everything," Secretan says.

During the Infusion Plan segment of the retreat, participants learn how to implement Higher Ground Leadership company-wide. They're guided to consider the difficult work of displaying their new-found passion. How will they behave as Higher Ground leaders? Will they revert to their old ways? Speaking to this challenge, Secretan quotes St. Francis of Assisi: "Always preach the gospel, and when necessary use words."

After the retreat, or multiple retreats as is the case with many companies, Associates may continue to coach and counsel on a weekly, remote basis. But it's imperative, says Secretan, not to create codependency with the organization. "Our energy is directed at doing some deep work and moving out as fast as we can," he says. The Center's ultimate goal is to transform as many organizations and people as possible -- to change the world -- and that can't happen if it's anchored in companies. There's only one Secretan, only so many Associates, and many who wanted to be served (significantly more companies than the Center can accommodate, says Secretan).

In the end, the organizations must make their own success and rake on the day-to-day challenges within their organizations, albeit now aided by a foundation of spirit and values. Though seemingly "soft" work, Secretan cautions that it is difficult. "People vastly underestimate what's involved here." Organizations have to commit significant resources, primarily people, and they must reinvent all of their processes throughout the organization. For example, marketing plans, quality programs, and job descriptions must reflect the new values. "It's one thing to tell people to tell the truth, it's another thing to operarionalize this throughout an organization," he says. This is particularly difficult when whole departments exist to fudge the truth. "How often have you seen truth-telling in the budgeting process?" Secretan asks.

The process is challenging, but it's also rewarding. "Inspired people create inspired teams. Inspired teams create inspired communities. Inspired communities will create an inspired world," Secretan says.

And it's profitable. "This translates into very hard numbers of very large order," he humbly points out. Values, spirituality, and profit are not mutually exclusive. "We live in a capitalist society and play by those rules. However, profit is like oxygen -- essential for our survival, but not the reason for our existence."

A rich life of soulful work

When Secretan is not transforming people and organizations in person, he's optimizing virtually every other medium at his disposal. He has written nine books, including The Way of the Tiger: Gentle Wisdom for Turbulent Times (Thaler Corp., 1988), Reclaiming Higher Ground (Macmillan Canada, 1997), and, most recently, Inspirational Leadership: Destiny, Calling, and Cause (Macmillan Canada, 1999), in which he proposes his theory of leadership based on inspiration rather than motivation and explored through the practices of history's noble servant leaders.

Secretan, who has a master's degree in international relations from the University of Southern California and a doctorate from the London School of Economics, has won numerous speaking and authoring awards. He has been the Special Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program, and chairman of the Advisory Board for the 1997 Special Olympics World Winter Games. He is currently trustee of the International Heart Foundation Trust, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

"I don't think Lance could believe [in the Center and its cause] any more deeply than he does," says Tricia Secretan. "It's why he lives. If it cost him his life, he would be OK with that." That prospect, though, does not resonate with her, nor does the prospect that as the Center's work grows exponentially, so will his direct, physical presence in the work. And that is perhaps the Center's biggest challenge.

"You just can't clone this guy," she says, which is why it has been essential for a devoted, talented group of Associates to align with Secretan, gradually closing the gap between what's inside Secretan and what's inside the Secretan Center. "If we cannot re-create Lance, we can at least have the work continue," she says. "It's about a whole lot more than Lance, so we need to move him out of the picture a little bit, and he knows that."

Moving him out of the picture should put him more on the edge of the Canadian wilderness where he and Tricia live along with their "wonder dog" Spirit, the Center's "director of unconditional love." And although he would be on the geographical fringe of society, Secretan will still be intrinsically connected, apparent by a greeting with which he meets people, signs letters, ends speeches, and lives life: "Namaste."

"What it means is a greeting of honor, sacredness to each other," says Secretan. "We're saying to each other, 'I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you of love and light and truth and peace. I honor the place within you where, if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there's only one of us.' Namaste."

BECOMING AN INSPIRATIONAL LEADER

1  Defining the leader's
   uniqueness that call to
   be lived -- the destiny

2  Defining the cause -- a
   magnet for passion

3  Enabling parceners *
   to find their calling

4  Aligning cause and
   calling

5  Serving parceners

6  Guiding the contribution
   of brilliance

7  Creating the environment
   that encourage parceners
   to inspire their leader

* those who partake or share in something with another or others;
partners

Soure: Inspirational Leadership: Destiny, Calling, and Cause (Macmillan
Canada, 1999)

Lance Secretan can be reached at [e-mail].

George Taninecz is a freelance writer living in Akron, Ohio.