Does a business have a Soul? Does a business have a heart? Does a business breathe? Does it need to breathe?

Accountants and other business officials say that a business is an entity of its own right and some say that it is seen as a living entity. Makes sense as there are many components within a business that need to work in unison and need to communicate with one another. Human cells, in fact any type of cell is a living entity. That to has many components that inter relate with one another. Surprisingly cells breathe and they manufacture product for the body. Cells have a Soul which can be identified as a component of the nucleus or the DNA

Can we say that businesses have a Soul? Can it be identified as a part of the business or is it not measurable?. Some would say it was measurable based on the success of the business. The bottom line profit and the positive results of the various balance sheet ratios.

What about; if the Soul of the business can be determined by the health of the business? Not its wealth, but its health. All the functionality of the business is in balance and it is resilient to outside forces impacting negatively on its welfare. A cell has its defences and thus when threatened it either changes shape or it is killed off or it creates its own toxins to kill off the invaders.

A business can still grow and the Soul can remain intact due to the belief system operating within. Who generates this belief system and do they focus on the wealth or the health as a priority? “Wealth is of no value if you don’t have your health” How many people would prefer to have their health when they would have all the money they needed. Thus the Soul must be the people within the organisation sharing in the same values as the leader and the other members. The culture must be seen to nurture the Soul when the environment within and outside threatened the harmony /the balance.

So what is this Soul? Can it be measured and seen other than using accountancy practices. The other day I considered the winner of a sports event . Like runner. The success of the champion, the determination of a champion, or a winner is not measured by the hours of training or the devotion of the winners family to his her task, but by the time recorded against other competitors on the track on the day. It is said that the persons “ will power” is strong because he is a winner. Yet no one discusses the heart of the competitor, The Soul of the competitor. We only assume the “Soul” based on the background information of the winner but it can never be measured. As it is not measured it cannot be seen. It is spoken about in prose or in metaphors to give an artistic meaning to us.

Thus can the Soul exist in business environment without compromise of "will power" and determination of wealth? The two must be in balance as the Soul and the heart of an organization determines the sustainability and resilience in times of stress and threats. The Soul must therefore be determined by the people and their beliefs and values.

It is therefore the 'Soul' of a business that determines if the business is a winner or loser in the competitive market race.