The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America

Very good

a surprise wow in this one. Whyte famous poetry and stories to make points that are valuable to any Executive or team leader.

David Whyte is a poet. This book is prose but everything Whyte does is poetical. You can see/hear him on You Tube. What a treat! The gift of his books is that you can pick them up for a moment any time for his combination of lyrical language and deep wisdom. He reluctantly began speaking to groups in the corporate world, but what he says to that world as summarized in this book and in Crossing the Unknown Sea is appropriate to us all - how to preserve your soul. His spins (I think that word best defines his chapters) go from story to myth to poetry and back to story, leaving you in awe, his personal revelations initiating your own. His topics include exploring your ancestry, discovering your vocation, knowing your fear, and finding your way to leadership, all of which involve being "faithful to our own eccentric nature and bringing it out in conversation with the world." His criticism of the corporate world is that it "has too little poetry, too little humanity, and too little good business sense for the world that lies before us." He see us replacing the word "manager" with "artist." Manager "conjures images of domination, command, and ultimate control, and the taming of a potentially wild energy." Whereas the artist's sensibility "understands that our place in this world can never be measured by the Dow Jones, that our ultimate arrival on our deathbed entitles us to other perspectives than mere fiscal success or the size of our retirement account." Well, I can't do him justice here. Just read and listen for yourself.

I love poetry and hate corporate America . . . or at least I thought I did. David Whyte transformed my view, bringing insight, spirituality and compassion to my heart and mind. I can't think of any place that needs spiritual transformation than corporate America. And because the corporate doors have opened to me, Whyte's book is a godsend guide to my journey.

David Whyte, poet and philosopher, is a brilliant and likeable soul. This is one of his earliest works and a good representation of David as a young man. His escapades and how he grew:) He'll teach you without your realizing it because, as a storyteller, he's one of the best.