A business's soul

Does a business have a "soul"? Tom Chappel thinks it does. In The Soul of a Business; Managing for Profit and the Common Good (New York: Bantam Books, 1993) Chappell describes what he calles the "Soul of a business." There's no entry in Wikipedia for this, so apparently it hasn't caught on.

The following should be required reading for every entrepreneur:

By spirit or spiritual, I mean the part of you that survives when you eliminate your flesh and bones--the part you can't point to but can feel, the part you might describe to someone else as your essential being, your soul. Soul is what connects you to everyone and everything else. It is the sum of all the choices you have made. It is where your beliefs and values reside. Soul is at the center of our relationships to others, and for me it is at the center of the business enterprise. (pp. ix-x)

We all have a soul. Every business has a soul. It's what makes Starbucks different from The entrepreneur needs to think about his business's soul. It's what's there after you forget gross profit margin, cash on hand, inventory, and all that other physical "stuff".

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Everything I do is entrepreneurial. For real estate 2.0, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog. For writing 2.0 go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.