At Orlando Regional Healthcare in Orlando, Florida, spiritual care of patients is a priority. Indeed, Orlando Regional has been characterized by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and state regulatory bodies as offering "state of the art" spiritual care for its patients.

How has this happened in a healthcare system that doesn't have a religious affiliation? More than 25 years ago, Orlando Regional committed itself to developing a strong chaplaincy program. The Spiritual Care Department articulated its mission: "to encourage the growth and healing of mind, body, and spirit through a spiritual presence of faith, hope, and love."

The mission gets lived out in a number of ways. First, spiritual care for patients and families is offered around the clock through hospital chaplains and connections with patients' own faith communities. The patient’s chart includes not only medical information but also a spiritual assessment and record of care provided and a care plan. Second, the spiritual care department offers ethics consults and help with processing end-of-life decisions. Third, in the belief that caregivers can offer better spiritual care when they themselves are receiving spiritual care, Orlando Regional provides spiritual care for its team members. Team members are offered educational programs, pastoral counsel, and spiritual direction. Spiritual direction, the newest offering for team members, is described thus:

In spiritual direction, team members experience a safe environment in which they can 'unpack' their questions without fear of judgment. In that freedom, they are able to reflect deeply on their life experiences, often discovering that the questions, and the answers, are more common than once thought.

Finally, spirituality is integrated into patient care through complementary therapies. The Orlando Regional Mind/Body/Spirit Center works with chaplains to offer guided imagery, healing touch, walking the labyrinth, a healing high tea, and prayer shawls, among other offerings.

The Spiritual Care Department also convenes a Community Council on Spirituality and Healing, an interfaith group of community spiritual care providers. The Community Council seeks to improve the quality of spiritual care in healthcare, and to offer educational programs for team members and community healthcare professionals.

Through its long-term, careful, integrated commitment to spiritual care, Orlando Regional has served its patients and caregivers well. Spiritual care, part of caring for the whole person, has strengthened the human connection between caregiver and caregiver, and between caregiver and patient. Convinced that whole-person care contributes to healing, Orlando Regional has pioneered the way in spiritual care, and thus served its patients and community well.

On a midsummer's day, a walk around Woodbrooke's ten acres delights the senses. The thriving gardens, the manicured lawn, the wildlife in and around the pond, and the arboretum all attest to the pride and care given to the grounds. Moreover, the delightful grounds outside reflect the thriving programs inside, and invite the visitor to come in and experience the rest of what Woodbrooke has to offer.

It wasn't always so. Ten years ago, as the gardens at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham, England went to seed, the building sat in disrepair and staff morale sank lower and lower. Programs that had served audiences well for many years no longer met the needs of busy, late–twentieth–century participants. Buildings which had once seemed adequate no longer satisfied outside groups interested in utilizing them. A commission was appointed to examine Woodbrooke's viability for the future.

From the moment Jennifer Barraclough felt called to apply for the position of director, she encountered bumps on the road. Her "Who, me?" response to her sense of call from God, followed by acceptance that she might be just the right person for the job, was followed by a sense of shock when she wasn't chosen for an interview. When one of the two candidates interviewed dropped out and it became clear that the other had excellent academic credentials but none of the necessary practical experience, Jennifer was called back and eventually offered the job, which she accepted with some trepidation.

For her first four years in the job, Jennifer lived with an underlying sense of terror about her inadequacy. Comparing herself to others who had served in leadership at Woodbrooke, she thought she should try to be a brilliant academic and a dedicated social activist as well as an effective administrator. Fortunately, her terror was balanced by another part of her. She reflected:

"But the bit of you that is terrified is being consoled and comforted by the bit of you that knows something else."

The bit of her that knew something else kept going back to her original sense of call to the position, and that kept her going when times got tough. The bit of her that knew something else also kept praying, kept reading inspirational literature, kept turning to the art that nurtured her soul, kept turning to friends and mentors for support and encouragement.

Over time, Jennifer felt that she was sent exactly the people that Woodbrooke needed: a fabulous gardener, an excellent hotel manager, and a first–class chef, among others. Over the course of five or six years, through many ups and downs, the garden was restored to its former splendor, the building was renovated, the food service was upgraded, and the educational program was reconfigured to meet the needs of the future.

Jennifer gradually learned to accept herself for the person she was, understanding that God had called her to the position for her gifts and skills, not expecting her to be someone she wasn't. Like the flowers in the newly restored garden, Jennifer and the staff complemented one another well when they were planted in the right soil and given the right conditions for their particular needs. Then they could flourish and make their unique contributions to the whole.

Of course, nothing is perfect. And everything always changes. Staff retire, demands for programs change, the economy convulses. Running Woodbrooke will never be easy.

At the same time, with acceptance of herself and her gifts, with reliance on her spiritual practices, and with a strong staff with complementary gifts, Jennifer has turned Woodbrooke around and set it on firm footing for the twenty–first century. Gardens and institutions alike thrive with the appropriate acceptance, care, and nurture.

Kenya experienced a rocky beginning in 2008. With a contested election which led to violence, killing thousands and displacing thousands more, Kenya is just now beginning to get back on its feet.

While NGOs' efforts to help bring about healing and reconstruction are important, business has an equally important role to play in rebuilding the country. Business can rebuild the economic infrastructure and contribute to a thriving economy in ways that are unique to its place in society. While the news media reports on political happenings in Kenya, those of us outside of Africa hear little about business leaders, except when we hear about corrupt businesses in cahoots with corrupt political leaders.

Contrary to the image presented by the media, Kenya boasts many talented business leaders who lead with integrity, leaders who will be pivotal at this crucial moment in Kenya's history. Gerald Macharia, for example, is a Kenyan business executive who lives by his Christian faith. Macharia turns to the Bible for direction in his work, and seeks to conduct all his business dealings by its spiritual principles.

Macharia, blessed with considerable gifts in helping companies grow and turning around troubled companies, understands his gifts as God-given. He believes that, in the creation story in Genesis, humans were directed to use their gifts:
Our role was to maintain the good. So we can't sit back and admire creation, we have to work at it, to maintain the goodness. Wherever I go I see opportunities, and I turn those opportunities into real benefits for the people, for whomever the stakeholders are. That is my role in the calling to shepherd creation.

Macharia has shepherded creation well. At age 26, he turned around a division of a multinational company. A few years later, he served on a leadership team to develop products for the South market, the non–European, non–American market, for Colgate–Palmolive. At age 32, he became CEO of Kenfin, a Kenyan financial services company, and he turned it around in seven months, bringing it back to profitability.

After his tenure at Kenfin, Macharia accepted an invitation to head up Faulu Kenya, a Christian microfinance institution. Macharia transformed Faulu Kenya from an NGO into a commercial microfinance institution, growing it by leaps and bounds, all the while maintaining its spiritual principles. He also spun off another company from Faulu Kenya, which, by a few years later, had become a two and a half million–dollar company.

Macharia's reputation for integrity has earned him both friends and enemies. When encountering envy for his success or anger at his refusal to compromise his principles, he turns to biblical characters as role models, and he turns to God for strength and guidance. When he has faced social vilification and trumped-up charges in court, Macharia has trusted God to bring him through the trials.

Now the Clinton Foundation's representative in Kenya, heading up microfinance initiatives, as well as CEO of his own consulting company, Macharia's track record has demonstrated that living by spiritual principles in business pays off. He has made an impact financially, turning businesses around and growing businesses dramatically. He has made an impact socially, strengthening microfinance and the lives it supports. And he has made an impact on the soul of Kenyan business, demonstrating that doing business with integrity helps weave the fabric of society.

At this moment in the life of the country, Kenya needs to honor its talented and trustworthy business leaders. It needs to give them all the support they need to re–weave the tears in the fabric of society. And the international community needs to recognize the many unsung heroes like Gerald Macharia who are laboring in tremendously challenging conditions to revitalize Kenyan business and the country as a whole. Gerald Macharia and his colleagues, shepherds of creation, have an enormous opportunity ahead. May we give them our recognition, our support, and our prayers.

“Let us see what love can do,” the words William Penn used to guide his experiment in government in Pennsylvania, can also guide us at work. Particularly in health care, love can be a powerful force.

For example, at Joseph's House, a home for formerly homeless men and women with terminal illnesses in Washington, DC, staff, volunteers, and residents alike experiment with "what love can do." Love is the motivating force behind the Joseph's House experiment.

Patty Wudel, now director, first came to live at Joseph's House as a volunteer. What motivated her to work all day at her stressful job and then be available half the night for the sick and dying? It was the love she saw manifested there. Patty's first visit to Joseph's House came as the result of an invitation from one of the residents to Sunday brunch. As she sat at the big table and enjoyed the family–style meal with the residents, she knew that this place was different.

Joseph's House stresses compassion and community. Rather than being a charity that gives to people, Joseph's House is a community of people living with people. The family–style meals represent this philosophy. Over time, as Patty noticed the decline in some residents' health, she also observed that they continued to come to meals. When they couldn't feed themselves, other residents would sit next to them at the table and feed them. When they couldn't eat at all, they would still come to meals for the experience of community.

Loving sick and dying formerly homeless people isn't always easy. Creating community among those who live and work at Joseph's House carries many challenges. Yet for staff and residents, all the difficulties are more than compensated for by the rewards.

“There's a spirituality to the institution. You can feel it when you're in it,” claims Patty. “It can be recognized and nourished and met.” To nourish the spirituality of Joseph's House, Patty takes staff on retreat days, led by an outside facilitator. As their own souls are nurtured and as they build community as a staff, the spirituality of Joseph's House as an institution is nourished. In Patty's view, “Spirituality is not an add–on to the budget or the program. It's integral to the life of an institution.” 

“Let us see what love can do.” William Penn's words are exemplified at Joseph's House. Joseph's House has experimented with what love can do, and has found love to be one of the most powerful forces around. This Valentine's Day, take as your theme,  "Let us see what love can do."

Studies show that 35% of all New Year's resolutions have been broken by the end of January. Organizational change efforts, like New Year's resolutions, follow a similar pattern: about 70% of all organizational change efforts fail to achieve the desired results. How are these two statistics related?

Broken New Year's resolutions and failed organizational change efforts have something in common: they both neglect "competing commitments" to their peril. But the learning that can occur through examining these competing commitments is the silver lining in the cloud. Self-reflective individuals and organizations celebrate their failures as a way to learn and grow.

In How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work, Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey point to the competing commitments that prevent individuals and organizations from achieving their stated goals. We break our New Year's resolutions because we don't pay attention to the commitments that compete with them. For example, one of my resolutions for 2008 was to get organized and de-clutter my home office. It's the end of January, and my home office is just as cluttered as ever, cluttered with the photos and memorabilia that came from my mother's house when I cleaned it out after her death almost a year ago. I've realized that I have a competing commitment: to hold onto these objects from the past, and the memories that come with them. My competing commitment, to honor my mother's memory, is one that I can celebrate. Once I understand my competing commitment, I can honor both desires: to honor my mother's memory and to get organized, and find a way to express both commitments in my life.

Like individual New Year's resolutions, organizational change efforts tend to focus on desired change without digging deeper to examine competing commitments. We're all familiar with the term "resistance," used to describe the forces that keep us from changing, both individually and organizationally. It's easy to view resistance negatively, viewing it as the effort to cling to the old when it's time to usher in the new. If instead of thinking in terms of organizational resistance to change, we can think in terms of competing organizational commitments, we will be able to mine rich veins of learning.

For example, when hospital employees move to a new facility, they may "resist" the new team structures tailored to the new setting. By exploring employees' competing commitments (such as a commitment to honor the relationships built within the now obsolete team structure of the old setting), leaders can understand and respect employees' needs. Uncovering such competing commitments can help organizational leaders take into account important values that they overlooked.

The next time you're feeling discouraged by a broken New Year's resolution or a failed organizational change effort, look deeper. You're likely to find a competing commitment that is just as important and honorable as the "failed" commitment. If you can find a way to honor both commitments together, you may find yourself well on the road to success. What you learn from your "failure" can ultimately build a stronger foundation for moving toward your goal.

I don't know about you, but I don't like waiting, thank you very much. Like most of the people around me, I tend to rush from one thing to another in my busy life. When the bank puts me on hold during a phone call, or when I find myself stuck in a long line at the post office, I get impatient.

This season leading up to Christmas is Advent, a season of waiting for Christians around the world. What's the point of a season of waiting?

A season of waiting is countercultural, particularly in the West. In the business world, leaders and managers are rewarded for making quick decisions. Taking too much time to make decisions is seen as wasteful; in the business world, time is money. Yet at least half of managerial decisions fail, often because the decision-maker didn't wait, didn't weigh the decision wisely. Studies show that time pressure, the perceived need to appear decisive, and unrealistic expectations of superiors and subordinates are the causes of this failure.

Advent is about waiting for God, listening to God, looking for the new thing that God is doing. Advent holds a lesson for all of us in this busy world, especially organizational leaders. What would it look like to wait, to incarnate the lesson of Advent in one's daily work life?

Bob Carlson, retired co-CEO of Reell Precision Manufacturing, a Minnesota manufacturer of hinges and clutches, finds that he needs regularly scheduled, spiritually nurturing time away to be at his best. Walking in nature, listening to music, and attending worship services help to keep him nurtured and centered for his leadership role. Without the "down" time of waiting and being open, he finds that he's not his best self as a leader and decision-maker.

Genny Nelson, co-founder of Sisters of the Road, a café for the homeless in Portland, Oregon, spends her "down" time journaling. She also takes time out to pray at the downtown chapel, one her favorite places in the neighborhood. These practices help her to stop and wait, giving her perspective on the challenges she faces, and helping her to cultivate a calm and open inner disposition. She finds that her decisions are better as a result.

The next time I'm feeling tense and irritable while waiting, I will stop and breathe and remember the lesson of Advent. Bob Carlson and Genny Nelson make better organizational decisions because they are able to wait, and to be open. May we all learn from them.

In the early nineties, Landry's Bicycles in Boston faced a major crisis. The company had opened a new store six months later than planned, causing Landry's to miss out on part of its projected seasonal business. With the expenses of a new store, low revenues, an economic recession, and the rent due, the bank pulled Landry's loan and advised the company to file for bankruptcy. Struggling for survival and seeking a way forward, manager Tom Henry presented this apparently impossible challenge to a roundtable gathering of the support group for business leaders, Seeing Things Whole, to which he belonged. As he struggled under the burden of the Landry's situation, a member of the roundtable asked, "How might you see your work as a gift rather than as a burden?"

The roundtable member's question changed everything for Tom. Despite the seeming impossibility of the situation faced by Landry's, Tom began to view his work as gift rather than as burden. Furthermore, he preached that message to his co-workers at Landry's.

With this shift in perspective, Tom found new hope to face his challenges. After the bank pulled its loan, Landry's needed $40,000 immediately in order to avoid bankruptcy. Because he was viewing the opportunity to work at Landry's as a gift, and because he believed in the possibilities of Landry's, Tom branched out to other sources of financing, approaching friends for loans. An artist friend lent Landry's $5000 from his precious savings. Another friend sold stock he had inherited from his parents to provide another $5000 loan. Fairly quickly, with small loans from various supporters, Tom was able to raise the $40,000 he needed. Full of gratitude for the outpouring of support, Tom and the Landry's team reflected on the place of gratitude and the difference it had made for them. "There's no work better than our work in the world," Tom says, reflecting on his new perspective. "There's other good work, but there's no better work. It's a gift before it's a burden." The Landry's team vowed to make gratitude a cornerstone of their work.

The immediate crisis averted, Tom turned his attention to preparing the sales force for a strong season the next year. He decided to receive his co-workers at Landry's as gifts, and began to encourage others to do the same. He stressed the importance of regarding one another as mystery, of maintaining a sense of wonder toward one another. In a fast-paced business setting in which it's easy to view other people merely as objects useful to furthering one's goals, Tom sought to maintain a sense of awe toward each person as a unique human being.

With this foundation of gratitude, Landry's has discovered over the last decade and a half the power of giving thanks. Through viewing their work and one another as gift, the Landry's team has unleashed powerful energy and productivity. Employees love coming to work, customers are satisfied, and the business is thriving. Landry's has discovered a well-kept business secret: the power of giving thanks in the workplace.

Throughout his 25–year career as a human resources professional, Gus Tolson has persevered in putting people first. From his varied experiences working in the financial sector, for IBM, in the pharmaceutical industry, and currently for a specialty materials company, Gus has become all too familiar with the forces that exert themselves to push people to second, third or even last place in an organization. In all his positions, Gus has insisted on considering not only the business impact of every decision, but also the decision's impact on people. Furthermore, he insists that the company communicate with people in a way that maintains their decency and integrity.

Gus commits himself to being the same person at work that he is at home, to bringing his fun-loving, spiritual self to work. Even (perhaps especially) when his company faces major business challenges, Gus draws on all of who he is in order to put people first in the midst of a challenging situation.

For example, in the mid–'90s, when Gus was working at CoreStates bank in Philadelphia, the company faced a significant merger. Knowing that a thousand people would lose their jobs, Gus worked with the company's CEO to devise a way they could put people first, by supporting those who would find themselves in transition when the merger was completed. They designed an internal training program for those in transition called CoreSearch. Employees were informed early on about the merger and downsizing, and through CoreSearch, they were offered six months of training while still on salary in order to help place them in new positions.

In a move that was highly unusual at the time, CoreSearch committed to the ongoing development of employees in transition. For six months, employees came to work every day and worked on developing new skills. They received training and worked temporarily in other parts of the business to gain expertise in new areas. In designing CoreSearch, Gus consulted with external search firms to understand the psyche of a person in transition, a person who's been told that his job is ending, that he must find a new job with the company's help. The company wanted to create an environment in which people could feel good about themselves in the midst of their transitions.

The process was designed around the person's needs rather than those of the company. "It would have been really easy for us to take the shortcut and not really think about the person, the individual, but just the organization," Gus says. But the company didn't take the shortcut. Based on what he had learned, Gus provided everyone with office space and told them, "You're still going to have a place that you can call your own. We want you to put pictures up there and make it yours. You're still going to get a paycheck. You're going to continue to report to work."

In the end, the program boasted a placement rate of 84 percent and cost the company a few million dollars. Many employees expressed grateful sentiments: "I appreciate the effort that you demonstrated, the commitment that you made, to trying to keep me whole." Even those employees who didn't get jobs immediately had time for their transition and were treated with dignity and respect.

Gus Tolson has always been committed to putting people first. Because of his commitment, shared by the company's CEO, a merger that could have spelled tragedy for many people became an opportunity to learn new skills and to move forward into fulfilling work.

Two years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. New Orleans, the city that gave birth to jazz, had served for many years as an incubator for great musicians. Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans' music. With musicians homeless and separated from their bands, their instruments and sound systems damaged or lost, and their performance venues in ruins, it appeared that the New Orleans music scene was irrevocably damaged.

Would Hurricane Katrina spell the death of New Orleans jazz and the other music it had spawned? Not if the Edge, lead guitarist of U2, could help it. In a press release, Edge commented:

In the post–Katrina leadership vacuum in New Orleans, Edge founded Music Rising, partnering with producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz. Strongly committed to getting instruments back into the hands of musicians, Edge led the effort with heart and soul. Along with Bob and Henry, his partners, Edge dared to dream that members of the music industry, so often in competition, could come together for a worthy cause. The Music Rising partners invited all who are involved in the industry to participate, from musicians to instrument manufacturers to promoters.

In late 2005, Edge visited New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities, talking to musicians and helping them to envision how their music could rise again. As he met musicians whose instruments had been lost or damaged, as he learned about their needs, he invited each musician to dream with him about what was possible.

The result? Each qualified musician received $1000 from Music Rising to purchase an instrument and the gear to go with it. Furthermore, MusiCares, a partner nonprofit which had signed on to distribute the grants, was able to make the instruments available to the musicians at wholesale prices.

Music Rising raises money through donations, auctions, benefit concerts, and sales of a specially designed Gibson guitar that has wood from New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas replacing the usual plastic body. An online ticket auction held throughout the entire month of April 2006 involved 60 artists, working alongside Ticketmaster and other promoters. Fans bid on tickets to more than 80 concerts, and also bid on special Gibson guitars, autographed by participating musicians, that had been donated for the cause. Artists were quick to support the effort, and Ticketmaster donated all of its service fees. The auction raised substantial funds and dramatically increased awareness of the need.

Music Rising's biggest fundraising event, an April 2007 "Icons of Music" auction in New York, raised $2.5 million. Auction items included Edge's 1975 cream Gibson Les Paul custom guitar, which he had played on every U2 tour since 1985 (which sold for $240,000).

Two years after Katrina, with the need still great, Edge and the rest of the leadership team have recommitted themselves to rebuilding the music of New Orleans. Over 2500 professional musicians are back on their feet, with instruments received through Music Rising, and school and church music programs have been served as well. With all that it has already accomplished, Music Rising knows it can make a difference. Edge has demonstrated that leadership in the midst of despair is possible, and that when given an opportunity, people will open their hearts to those in need.

Today America celebrates Independence Day, the day she declared independence from the British crown. America's founding fathers, of course, knew the importance of independence — that's why they fought so hard to win it. At the same time, they knew the importance of interdependence, both the interdependence of forging alliances among the colonies and the interdependence of maintaining alliances abroad.

We would do well to learn from America's founding fathers and to apply their lessons to the workplace. How can workplaces exhibit both strong independence and strong interdependence?

Rabbi Samuel Karff knows the answer to this question. An experience as a dependent and vulnerable hospital patient caused Rabbi Karff to notice how equally dependent and vulnerable his caregivers were. From his patient bed, Rabbi Karff observed that the hospital could often be just as demoralizing for employees as it was for those they cared for. He wondered how the sense of calling, the sense of sacred vocation that had originally brought health care workers to the field, could be rekindled. How could a sense of dignity and independence be restored to health care workers and patients alike?

The resultant Sacred Vocation Program draws on caregivers' ability to practice both independence and interdependence as a way to help them rediscover their own passion for work. Through the program, Rabbi Karff has been able to help frontline caregivers claim independence from the obstacles and drudgery that demoralized them. As program participants meet in small groups, they can also draw on the power of alliances with one another and so tap into the strength of interdependence.

Now in its sixth year, the Sacred Vocation Program starts with small groups of eight to twelve employees learning to recognize their work as sacred vocation. Trained facilitators teach the group listening and community-building skills. In five 90-minute sessions, employees share stories of what brought them to health care, how their work is connected to their spirituality, and how they understand vocation. Rabbi Karff underscores the importance of affirming all forms of spirituality represented in the groups, both those forms connected to established religions and those with no particular religious connection.

Participants in Sacred Vocation share stories of the barriers that have prevented them from being healers, as they role play situations and brainstorm coping tips, collecting lists of the most helpful tips which are then circulated to all. For participants, the exercise is empowering, allowing them to experience the support of the group when they return to the front lines to practice the coping tips they have helped to create. At the end of the first phase of the program, the group writes a Sacred Vocation Oath. Taken publicly in a program graduation ceremony, the oath ends with the words, "No one can take away my power to heal." Group members thus claim their independence from the barriers they face every day, while also experiencing the interdependence of the small group support.

The second phase of Sacred Vocation focuses on improving the workplace. In five 60-minute small-group sessions, employees consider the changes management could make that would create a better environment for living out their sacred vocation at work. In a recent sacred vocation program, for example, a group of Certified Nursing Assistants made 27 recommendations to management, 24 of which were implemented. As a result, morale soared among the CNAs and patient satisfaction increased dramatically. The combination of the group's interdependence, open-minded management, and careful facilitation served to create a more highly functioning workplace.

What is the bottom line for this program that focuses on employees' sacred vocation, independence, and interdependence? Sacred Vocation boasts a high success rate, improving both employee morale and patient satisfaction. "The Sacred Vocation Program is probably the best investment we've made in the last ten years," says John McWhorter, CEO of Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

As Rabbi Karff has demonstrated, independence and interdependence can mutually coexist and strengthen one another. Frontline caregivers can learn to take more responsibility and claim their place in their organization as strong, independent workers. They can also learn the power of interdependence with the help of small-group support. This Independence Day, let's take a lesson from America's founding fathers and strengthen both independence and interdependence in our workplaces.

In a banking world known for its focus on the single bottom line of profitability, Boston's Wainwright Bank is known for its double bottom line, focusing on both people and profits.

Wainwright Bank's mission statement reads, in part:

What does this mean in the day-to-day operation of the bank? How does Wainwright Bank walk its talk?

First, Wainwright Bank walks its talk in terms of products. The bank provides loans to underserved groups, including loans for affordable housing, homeless shelters, food banks, environmental protection, health centers, HIV/AIDS services, and immigration services. Along with other socially responsible CDs, Wainwright Bank offers customers the option to invest in Equal Exchange CDs, which support coffee farmers in developing countries. In addition, CommunityRoom.net, a website-hosting service provided to all non-profits holding Wainwright Bank accounts, generates nearly $1 million in donations to the non-profits annually.

Linda Cornell, president/CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association of Eastern Massachusetts, testifies to what Wainwright Bank meant to her organization: "Wainwright Bank has been the epitome of the community bank — very socially responsible. We were a little community organization with a big dream, and they believed in us. They financed the dream and made it happen."

Second, Wainwright Bank walks its talk within the company. Wainwright Bank hires inclusively, not discriminating with regard to race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Sixty percent of Wainwright Bank's employees, and nearly 50 percent of the bank's officers, are women. Over 30 percent of the bank's employees are minorities, and 22 languages are spoken. The bank was one of the earliest to provide domestic partner benefits, leading the way in the banking industry.

Third, Wainwright Bank pays attention to its stakeholders. Naysayers assumed that Wainwright Bank would suffer financially for its idealism, claiming that loans for homeless shelters and food banks are risky business. In fact, the opposite is true: Wainwright Bank"s $600 million in community development loans has experienced zero losses over the 20 years of the bank's life, in sharp contrast to other banks' loans. Furthermore, Wainwright Bank has grown steadily over the past 20 years. In 2006, for example, loans increased 9 percent over 2005, and net interest income was $27.6 million, up from $26.9 million in 2005. Now boasting 11 branches in the Boston area, Wainwright Bank is among the 700 largest of the 8,000 banks in the United States.

Wainwright Bank has demonstrated, against the common wisdom of the banking industry, that social conscience and profitability can mutually support one another.

Meg Clapp, director of the 250-person Pharmacy Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, practices transparent servant leadership. She leads by personal example and staff collaboration. Clapp characterizes her leadership as an integration of “being” and “doing”: “Who I am at MGH is the same person you encounter 24/7 at home or at church.” Furthermore, she trains her managers to practice the same kind of leadership.

At the MGH Pharmacy, employees are hired for attitude as well as for skill: “We hire the best, brightest and most positive people with the expectation that they will learn, grow and share the spirit and energy with others." The growth is not left to chance: “We treat each person with the interest and awareness that you would expect to experience when you begin a significant relationship.” Clapp follows up the hiring with a year-long training program, aiming to give people the level of confidence they need to quickly become productive. Each new employee gets a training buddy, and receives mentoring throughout the program. Within a year of hiring, each employee articulates three goals, and then receives coaching to achieve those goals.

Consistently practicing transparent servant leadership is no easy task. How does Clapp do it? “Prayer is part of my day and is often the retreat I seek when the work is particularly difficult,” she explains. “I offer a 'moment away' to anyone working with me on a difficult situation to take the time to focus on what it is that we are supposed to accomplish. The other person may or may not pray, but I need to make space for the Holy Spirit to be present to the moment.” She sees her work as God's work in the world: “Together we are doing the work of God's love.”

What are the results of this kind of leadership? In her recent annual review, Clapp received the highest grade for human resource management. The department is known for its high standards and for how employees extend themselves to patients. The pharmacists are well respected in the medical community. With low turnover and high morale, the department is known as a great place to work.

At the MGH Pharmacy Department, Meg Clapp has demonstrated that servant leadership will positively impact the patient and the hospital as a whole. In the midst of a large, impersonal bureaucracy, the Pharmacy Department shines as a beacon of hope.