Wharton Journal

Issue date: 11/1/04 Section: News

The reputation and the clout of the Wharton School of Business spread far beyond its home-city Philadelphia. In fact, it is world-famous. This finance powerhouse and management think-tank is known to produce experts of the finest quality using cutting edge research, technology and world-class faculty in virtually all areas of business. Corporate empires reserve a special place for the graduates of this fine institution, expecting them to bring in near to magical powers and superhuman skills in return for top salaries and signing bonuses. It is not surprising then, that the main hero the fictional business saga The Corporate Shaman by Richard Whiteley is a Wharton graduate. Jason, the fictitious hero's name, saves his client, an established corporation, from a financial collapse, just as the reader might expect. What does come as a surprise, however, is the methodology and techniques employed by Jason to achieve his objectives, namely Shamanism, an ancient tradition dating back thousands of years.

Before embarking on the topic of shamanism, which might be a new word for many readers, let's first take a deeper look at Jason's life. In many ways Jason is a success story. A talented businessman, Jason has fulfilled the dream of many but the reality of few. He co-founded a company on a shoestring, out of a garage, and grows it into a multi-million dollar international corporation. The dramatic success does not come free, however. A heart attack and divorce in his mid-forties make him face a rather common mid-life crisis question: "What's next?" In addition, Jason feels a deep disappointment with the way the business culture has gradually evolved from the family-like bonding and support to a "dog eat dog" environment, where behind the formal smiles one can often find chilling indifference and concern for only personal well-being. Human passion for the future of the company and personal pride in the success of the business are being effectively replaced by computer-like logic of the corporate machine, which seems to have a mind of its own. Jason begins to feel that something is fundamentally lacking in his world, or that perhaps it has simply been lost. The search for answers on this dilemma turns into a life journey on the path of personal development and self-realization with shamanism being at its core.

Traditionally, one of the main goals of a shaman has always been to provide healing to either an individual or the entire community or tribe in two possible ways: by either retrieving an essential part of the client that had been figuratively lost (soul retrieval), or by extracting a foreign entity or energy, which caused disease and lack of balance. The role and responsibilities of a shaman, however, have always been very complex and multifaceted and have often gone far beyond traditional healing.

Continued...

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