Katalin Illes and Laszlo Zsolnai published a paper entitled “Spiritually Inspired Creativity in Business” in the International Journal of Social Economics (Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 195–205).
The paper investigates the relationship of spirituality and creativity in a business context. It describes practical examples of spiritual-based creative business models in different faith traditions (Hinduism, Christianity and Anthroposophy).
The authors argue that spirituality and a deep sense of connectedness are essential for enhancing creativity and care in business. Spirituality creates free space and the openness to allow the future to emerge organically. It creates a distance between the self and the pressures of the market and the routines of business and daily life. This distance is a necessary condition for developing creative, ethical and responsible solutions to the complex challenges around us. Spiritually-inspired creative business models overcome instrumental rationality and the extreme materialistic orientation of today’s business management which produces large-scale ecological, social and ethical “ills”. The paper shows that business management needs a spiritual foundation in order to be more creative and caring.