Embracing People’s Souls in Business

In an interview for the New York Times, Lily Kanter, co-founder and chief executive of Serena & Lily, was asked for her thoughts on culture in relationship to business. Her answer:

I think we’re at this evolutionary time in business where it’s all about people. We have to embrace that and embrace people’s purpose and their souls to be successful in business. Because if they’re just coming to work to be a body and they’re on a treadmill all day, then you won’t have a happy culture if you don’t tap into what is really meaningful for them in life. So I’m very focused on that.

Kanter is not some naive lightweight. Before starting Serena & Lily, she worked in management for Microsoft, Deloitte & Tusch, and IBM.

What do you think? Are we in such an evolutionary time, when business is becoming “all about people.” Do business leaders need to “embrace people’s purpose and their souls” in order to be successful?