The Five Personal Pillars
The Five Organizational Pillars
Vocation
The individual’s personal development has
tremendous implications for the organization,
with each worker’s position on the circle of
personal development playing a role in which
pillar of development the organization reaches.
At the individual scale, vocation (from the Latin vocatio) comes
first. Vocatio means “to call,” “to invoke” or “to summon.” It is
this inner calling from the soul that tells us what it is that we are
meant to dedicate ourselves to, that signaling to an occupation
to which a person is specially drawn or for which she is suited,
trained or qualified. Vocation’s opposite is obligation, a forceful
outer command to do something.
Devotion
If we heed our vocation, we should experience a true and
genuine dedication to it—after all, the Latin root of “devotion”
is devotio, meaning “dedicated by a vow.” Devotion is understood as an ardent, often selfless, affection for and dedication to
a task. There is no devotion without vocation. Devotion implies
total involvement with a cause. Its opposite is disengagement.
Transformation
Derived from the Latin transformatio, transformation refers to
a change in something’s form or shape. We are transformed
and transform the world around us if we follow our vocation
with devotion. We abandon the feeling of alienation and
achieve the sensation of belonging, changing our ego-centered
tendencies into community-building efforts. Transformation’s
opposite is stagnation.
Perfection
Defined as fulfillment of the highest standards, perfection (from
the Latin perficio, meaning “to finish” or “to bring to an end”)
has with it a sense of completeness, roundness and wholeness.
This ensues once inner transformation is assimilated and
mastered into an artistic way of functioning in life. Perfection’s
opposite is defectiveness.
Satisfaction
When perfection is attained, the sense of satisfaction (from the
Latin satisfactio, meaning to “atone for sin,” “discharge fully,”
“make amends” or “comply with a requirement”) finally is
achieved. In this case, it means to comply with what the inner
voice requires, and thus