1 Mind & Management conference On Numbers, organisations and virtuosity Vinca Bigo Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Cambridge University, England Associate Professor in Gender, Ethics & Leadership KEDGE Business School vb243@cam.ac.uk, vinca.bigo@kedgebs.com Abstract The paper is written in a context of growing interest in the development of conscious being, thinking and feeling in managerial processes, reflected in currents promoting mindfulness and/or spirituality in organisations (Bosch 2009). The means to achieve greater consciousness are manifold. The specific aim of the paper is to introduce a timeless numerological system, and to show its relevance to organisational processes. The system describes the world through essences associated with numbers that can be used to shed light on processes inherent to human behaviour. Since numbers are highly abstract and universal, the system complements and helps to deepen our understanding of other numerological frameworks, as well as of theories seeking to foster more mindful and virtuous ways of being. Key words: spirituality, consciousness virtuosity, organisations, managerial processes, numerological system, Sikhism Introduction 1 The context of the paper is an increasingly visible tendency in all walks of life to search for meaning (fullness). Concurrently, there is a quest particularly salient in the global north to bridge the divide between work and spirituality. The emergence of initiatives such as corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, triple bottom line (economic, social and environmental) thinking, and socially responsible investment funds, are all clear manifestations of the noted trend. Over time, these phenomena have been criticised for favouring form over content, for not going far enough, leading to accusations of “green washing” and “red washing”. In continued search for meaningfulness, we observe an “explosion of interest in spirituality as a new dimension of management “(Howard, 2002, p. 230)”. We find large companies such as Ford, AT&T and Boeing now offer “spirituality training” as part of their human resource development programmes (Bosch 2009). Like those working to develop mindfulness and spirituality in organisations, the general aim of the paper is to provide a reference system for developing conscious being, thinking and feeling, in support of virtuosity in managerial processes. The paths to virtuosity are manifold. All require consciousness, that is, an awareness of self, others and the world more generally. Numbers, we suggest, constitute a reference or guide to 1 I am most grateful to Shiv Charan Singh for the comments I received on an earlier draft of the paper, and more generally, for imparting his deep and acute understanding of numbers in relation to the world and of the world in relation to numbers. I wish to thank too Dr Maria Fernandez for her clear and inspiring numerology classes over the years. My gratitude extends to the Karam Kriya students with whom I learnt and continue to work with numbers, for without their questions, listening, and personal stories, my understanding of numbers would be strictly theoretical, devoid of relation with lived experience. Finally, I thank Dr Mark Thompson, Sascha Jenke, and my partner, for their insightful and pointed questions and suggestions, regarding my intentions on writing this paper.