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Outline the key steps for leaders to implement the Soul System™ framework? Tech companies for example, which feature prominently in the Soul Index, realized early on that human capital is their only capital and pioneered many principles that companies in other industries have started to adapt. Basically, they have established a recognizable level of integrity between the intentions of purpose and strategy and the actions of the organization. Companies with soul understand what ESG means for their business and take visible action. RS: Their workers are engaged with a capital E. What are the key characteristics of companies with a corporate soul? The third level allows the leap from theory into practice, this I refer to as ‘shared behaviors’, which encompass all the interactions inside a company, aligning them with the shared purpose and understanding. Spirit is often overlooked and for me is the very essence of the desired corporate culture.

The second level is what I call ‘shared understanding’, which builds on the shared purpose and defines vision, mission, values and spirit. The Soul System defines the first level as ‘shared purpose’ – shared by the entire executive team and shared with all stakeholders. I’ve seen many exceptionally well written purpose statements that board directors never associated with, let alone reach frontline employees. RS: It starts with purpose, which has become a buzzword over the past decade. What we learned is the foundation of the Soul System. But it’s s not about me, it’s about what both I and other leaders have experienced when building or reinstating a human centric performance culture. As I was reading the messages again, I felt they were too valuable to be left on my iPhone and that’s where the book idea came from. They included a contemplation of the culture that I and my founding colleagues had been able to establish – a culture summed up by the values ‘Be Bold, Be Brave, Be Honest’ which were our north star and which we lived day in, day out. RS: The messages I received from my colleagues when I stepped down as CEO of Spark44, an industry first joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover, went beyond your typical farewell good wishes. What has inspired you to write the book and develop the Soul System? Companies with soul are masters in creating an integrity between words and actions. Harvard Professor Ranjay Gulati believes in the “soul of a startup”, which in his eyes captures the energy inside a company that is so unique. I believe that there is a lot of wisdom in this expression. There is a German saying ‘ Er (oder sie) ist die Seele des Unternehmens’ which means ‘he or she is the soul of the company’. This means that a company lives its purpose, has built its strategy on that purpose and the behaviors with all stakeholders fully reflect them. RS: Every company has its culture but only some have got what I call ‘corporate soul’. Please define what you mean by ‘corporate soul’. Here are the top takeaways from the key topics in the book. Companies that have achieved that level of corporate culture have made the leadership behaviors that build soul synonymous with the behaviors which build success.

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Contemplating corporate culture, an article he read in the Harvard Business Review inspired and led him to the idea of ‘soul’, a concept he felt could be applied to all organizations.Ī fascinating insight on how to maintain a strong culture through all phases of growth across sectors and companies of different sizes, the book explains why corporate soul lies at the heart of increased worker happiness, greater commitment and improved business performance. Never thinking that he’d do so, the messages from well-wishers about the strong culture he had helped to shape at his company propelled Specht to write the book because as he puts it, “I wanted to give something back”. To coincide with the launch of his new book, Building Corporate Soul: Powering Culture & Success with the Soul System™, we spoke to author Ralf Specht, founding partner and former CEO of Spark44, the global joint-venture marketing agency.