Spirit: What Every Great Organization Has That Others Have Lost

We talk about spirit freely in almost every corner of life.

“She seems in good spirits.”

“He’s got a great spirit about him.”

“That team really showed some spirit out there.”

We have school spirit, holiday spirit, and spirited debates.

We talk about the resilience of the human spirit when people overcome unthinkable challenges.

As long as it’s outside the corporate walls, the word is safe.

But walk into the workplace, and the word spirit suddenly becomes dangerous, politicized, religious, or too emotional.

Even though, according to the Pew Research Center, about nine in ten U.S. adults (90%) say they believe in a Force or Presence greater than themselves.  

We can talk about engagement, performance, or synergy. But not spirit.

And yet, in many of the less than optimally performing organizations, that’s exactly what’s missing.

Spirit animates every living system.

Every movement, family, organization, or faith that endures across time has something invisible binding it together, something you can feel but can’t fake.

In Judaism, it’s Ruach HaKodesh, the breath or wind of God, the animating energy behind creation.

In Islam, it’s Ruh al-Qudus, the sacred spirit that strengthens and guides.

In Hinduism, it’s Atman, the divine essence that connects the individual soul to the universal.

In Taoism, it’s Chi, the vital energy that flows through all things, the unseen current of balance and harmony.

In Buddhism, it’s Prajna or Bodhicitta, awakened consciousness and compassion, the pulse of enlightenment within us.

In Christianity, it’s called the Holy Spirit, the presence of God alive and moving through the world.

And in modern, everyday life, it’s the “Let’s f***ing go!” energy, the spark that makes teams believe, this is our moment.

Different languages.

Same truth: the invisible “It.”

That spirit, whether you call it Ruach, Chi, The Holy Spirit, or LFG energy, is what you feel when you walk into a place that’s alive.

You don’t need a mission statement to tell you it’s there.

You can feel it in the laughter, the flow, the way people lean in when they talk.

It’s not words on a wall.

It’s expressions on faces.

It’s the sound of people who still believe in what they’re building together.

And you can feel its absence just as clearly.

You walk in, and something’s off.

The work is technically excellent, but the life is gone.

There’s precision but no pulse.

It’s all process, no presence.

Spoiler alert: Technical excellence is just permission to play in today’s always-improving markets, not proof of a thriving culture.

Without spirit, technical excellence becomes just another job description.

Without spirit, the mission statement becomes an epitaph.

And when spirit dies, people start leaving.

Not everyone at once, just enough to make you notice.

And if you trace it back, it’s almost always the same story.

One office.

One leader.

One slow leak of energy.

Someone or something is sucking the spirit out of the room.

You can’t fake your way out of that.

You can’t spreadsheet it, slogan it, or “initiatiative” it.

You have to resuscitate the spirit itself, the shared energy that makes people feel alive again.

Because spirit is the ultimate KPI.

It’s the difference between compliance and commitment.

Between “We take pride in what we do” and “We’re building something sacred together.”

When we talk about spirit, we’re really talking about what it feels like when human beings are aligned, alive, and connected.

A thriving organization has a living, breathing spirit, the sum of every individual’s energy, purpose, and heartbeat working in harmony.

When those spirits align, it’s electric.

You feel it in your bones.

The place hums.

Ideas move faster.

People trust more.

There’s a rhythm, a soul.

That’s not religion.

That’s not sentimentality.

That’s sustainability.

So the real question is this:

If every great faith, every living system, and every winning team has a spirit that sustains it,

What’s the spirit of your organization?

You already know the answer.

You can feel it when you walk in the door.