III. Future vision, present action

The global crisis is not just a matter of learning how to conserve resources and not to pollute more than the system can absorb. It is the human spirit that literally gives us life that needs to be rekindled. When work is driven by a purpose and imbued with passion, the acts, the actors and the stage come to life.

The conscious practice of spirituality is not a simplistic answer to the myriad problems of the world, some of which were mentioned in the two previous blogs. It is the dimension that has the ability to change our thought patterns because it lies at the root of them. As Einstein counseled us, it is not possible to solve problems with the same mindset that created them. We can observe this phenomenon in most organizations, from enterprises which have only one employee to government offices with hundreds of thousands - the mistake of thinking that rearranging the same things constitutes change. In fact, nothing essential changes if the same mental patterns (the same people with the same worldviews) persist in trying to 'control' things.

A complex society requires a more conscious, deep and meaningful understanding of the situations, in order to solve the problems that assail us. Public and private organizations have to become more 'spiritualized'. This presupposes that they are directed by people who take up the responsibility for creating more sustainable individual and collective futures. This is a number one imperative in this uncertain and ambiguous world of the beginning of the millennium.

(excerpt from the book "O Espírito do Leader, Vol. 1', Ken O´Donnell, Editora Integrare, São Paulo)