Soul Business

In Good Business by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi there is a big focus made on soul and a leader’s vision. Mihaly comments that many business leaders “endorse a vision for their companies that is characterized by soulfulness,” yet I don’t know if I buy into what he describes as the soul. He sums it up as what takes a vision beyond what shareholders or company executives want and accomplishes larger goals. I believe that companies may have a soul, but it’s something more along the lines of company culture, not grand visions. It is hard to reconcile the two different opinions because how can anyone really define what soul is. In one dictionary it is the eternal part of a living being, and if that were the case then Mihaly is right, yet another definition has it down as the immaterial part of a person, which would fit more with company culture.