"These days can be unsettling and sometimes just plain depressing, what with mass bankruptcies, sudden layoffs, and other recession-era woes. But we've heard of a way to inject a shot of fun back into your work: have an analysis done on your company – by a psychic trained to pick up capitalistic vibrations. You can find one at the School of Metaphysics, a non-profit educational service organization in Windyville, Missouri. With plans one day to become a four-year college, the school runs workshops on visualization and meditation that attract between thirty and fifty students each weekend, and it has been conducting business analyses since its inception in 1973...

"We'll admit it, we were curious. So we got an acquaintance of ours, Vic, the owner of a small, nine-person, advertising agency – to volunteer for a analysis...A tape of the analysis came back within two weeks. Transcripts followed later. The analysis was relatively clear and to the point -- with no moans, altered voices, or jargon. Though Vic remained a bit skeptical, he said the analysis gave him some insights. 'I knew there were problems in the company but I'd never been able to pinpoint and solve them.'

"The psychic [intuitive reporter] began with her impressions of the emotional state of the company, saying she sensed confusion around the company – confusion she attributed to Vic's frustration at being unable to run the company as he would like. She also sensed that many people regularly brought their personal problems to work. And she picked up on a lack of communication between Vic and his employees, as well as problems meeting deadlines. 'There is difficulty in making commitments and meeting them. Work is seen as a job that has to be done by a certain time, and the creative staff resents that. They don't want to be disciplined.'

"In a step unusual for a psychic, she ended with some solutions, such as advising Vic to re-focus his goals. Some of the advice seemed a bit nebulous, as when [the intuitive reporter] said employees should learn to make their emotions work for them. And sometimes the advice was impractical, as when she advised hiring a counselor to help employees 'develop more self-awareness' – a suggestion that would surely prove expensive.

"We looked for insights into Vic's specific company, and we found some. For example, Vic asked about an artist who, despite good intentions, continually finishes his work late. From this bit of information, [the intuitive reporter] identified defensiveness, insecurity, and excessive sensitivity in the artist. As anyone who knows him could tell you, she was right. Now how could she divine that? It seemed more than an educated guess, because being late isn't necessarily a function of defensiveness.

"[The intuitive reporter] suggested that if Vic decided to keep this artist, he would need to give him more attention. But that might be difficult, she continued, because Vic shares many of the same negative attributes. Bingo – she was right again.

"Based on our experience, if you're looking for a new awareness of your company's dynamics, a business analysis may be a good place to start."

[from Business Ethics Magazine Vol.5, No.5, Sept/Oct 1991]