I just had to share with you both of these incredible people for K. All along I was planning to highlight Cynthia Kersey and then I just listened to a webcast with Ken Blanchard and am so inspired by the way that he lives out his spirituality that I thought why don’t share about both of them. Both of these amazing people put their love in action as they serve others through their work.
Work is love made visible. – Kahlil GibranKen Blanchard
Ken Blanchard is the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an international management training and consulting firm. He is also the cofounder of the Center for FaithWalk Leadership.
Being in the training and development industry, I was first introduced to Ken’s work by getting certified to teach one of his programs called Situational Leadership. Ever since then Ken’s been a mentor for me in how to live out my spirituality at work. I love that even his work title is being the chief spiritual officer for his organization. His philosophy, from the perspective that I know about him through reading his books, listening to presentations of his and attending workshops, is that Ken is passionate about spreading servant leadership. A way of leading and being that is “not all about us” but is all about how you can serve others to really make a difference for them.
I feel like he’s done that for me just from afar by living his life this way. His influence continues to spread to others as well. He recently partnered with Colleen Barrett, the president emeritus of Southwest Airlines, to write the book Lead with LUV: A Different Way to Create Real Success. It’s a great example of a company that puts love in action through creating a culture in which people are inspired to be who they are and share that love with their employees, customers and shareholders. In an earlier blog, I wrote about Southwest as a model example of an organization embracing spirituality in the workplace.
One way Ken does this at his company is that he sends out a daily inspirational message to his 300 plus employees. When asked if he had only one practice that he could do that would matter the most, he said it would be to “wander around and catch people doing things right.” This is the concept he introduced in his best-selling One Minute Manager book. His work is impactful, his message is inspirational and his contribution to spirituality at work is invaluable.
Cynthia Kersey
Cynthia Kersey is unstoppable. What I admire most about her is that she has an unstoppable heart that keeps on giving. She quit her high-paying corporate job to write the book called Unstoppable and to form her business around this same concept. Now she recently shifted her focus to be on living an unstoppable live by her vision of wanting all children on the planet to receive an education. Thus, she is putting all her time and energy into her Unstoppable foundation to build schools for children in Africa.
I’ve heard her speak multiple times on recorded presentations. She shares how she’s able to keep going with her unstoppable work is that she first has a practice of giving to herself each morning to connect with her mind, body and spirit. When she fills herself up, that when she is able to fill up others as well through her work. In regards to finding her calling she said, “When you are called, the miracles come when you fully jump on board.”
A few months back I participated in her “give a little, get a lot” program in which she sold educational online programs from some of the top personal and professional development gurus to people like me. They donated their programs, she sold them at a reasonable cost and then used the money raised $270,000 to build the schools. I felt great being part of her program and look forward to the many ways that I’ll learn from her on how to be unstoppable with my giving and putting my spirituality to work.
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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.
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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.