

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 behaviours 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 behaviours that build soul synonymous with the behaviours which build success.
#Another soulless soul how to
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 organisations.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”. That’s why the project is so layered.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. Taking them on an experience like an audio movie. I just like building worlds for people who listen to me. Side note: I’m super into conceptual driven albums, so this isn’t me saying “Ohh I’m so famous look at how hard my life is”, cause I’m not haha. It isn’t until the artist in soulLESS goes through the woes of it, that he begins to understand his personal relationship with it. The first soulSESSION shows how the concept of fame can make the average person extremely paranoid. Sometimes they can seem paranoid and fleeting, while other times I can come to a new understanding. The concept of the “soulSESSIONs” is essentially just a vent piece to articulate my current thoughts.

While this could’ve work thematically, I think the distance between them in the project adds more emphasis to the switching of perspectives. However, and shout out to my friend Shiki Quentrell who pointed it out, they reflect two completely different mind frames. The funny thing about those two songs, in particular, is that they originally were two interludes put together to make a whole song in the first draft of the album.
