Synopses & Reviews
Leading with Spirit, Presence, and Authenticity presents voices from around the world focused on developing leaders’ inner wisdom, so they can address difficult global systems challenges grounded in various wisdom lineages and practices, yet alert to today’s technologies. Edited by an international team of experienced scholars and consultants, readers will be prodded to reflect on their own lives and choices, as they hear of their colleagues’ diverse experience teaching mindfulness, guiding leaders, and leading.
The book is structured around the three inter-related themes of spirit, presence, and authenticity, with each section introduced by thoughts from one of the editors who has deep experience in that area. Lead editor Kathryn Goldman Schuyler sets the context by exploring the subtle interdependencies involved in leadership today. Karin Jironet, Sufi teacher and executive guide, discusses the role of spirit in leadership. John Eric Baugher, social science editor of the Journal of Contemplative Inquiry, introduces the section on presence by discussing the contribution of sociological mindfulness to leadership education. Lena Lid-Falkman, Marie Curie Scholar at ESADE Business School in Barcelona, reflects on authentic leadership as communicated through technology such as social media in introducing the chapters on authenticity.
The book includes a chapter by noted author and consultant Otto Scharmer, sharing his view on what the world needs from leaders, juxtaposed with Cipla CEO Subhanu Saxena’s life story. Saxena went from earning an MBA at INSEAD to becoming a global executive at Novartis, and is now the leader of a rare pharmaceutical company that Ghandi urged to “put the nation’s health before profits.” Tales of teaching mindfulness in Canada, the US, and Africa prompt reflection about the place of contemplation and dialogue in management education. Community development after the devastating earthquake in Japan, efforts to expand online learning in South Africa, and supporting teams of managers in one company that has employees in culturally different Scandinavia and Texas—all of this lets readers consider the truly global nature of efforts to inspire innovative, heart-based leadership that can face today’s complex challenges. The book closes with a chapter describing research on the essential nature of the experience of authenticity among leaders.
Synopsis
Developing inner wisdom as a leadership strengthLeading with Spirit, Presence, and Authenticity presents the perspectives of leaders, social scientists, and educators from around the world on the topic of developing inner wisdom. Structured around the notions of spirit, presence, and authenticity, the book encourages readers to reflect on their own lives as they read about their colleagues' diverse experiences, all in an effort to address difficult global systems challenges with a foundation of various wisdom lineages and practices.
Each chapter is introduced by an editor with deep background experience in the topic at hand, and the book includes an examination of research on the essential nature of authenticity among leaders. Stories of leadership initiative from across nations illustrate the truly global nature of leadership inspiration, and accounts of teaching mindfulness, guiding leaders, and leading in the arts and humanities integrate critical theory with authentic leadership development. Topics include:
- Subtle interdependencies involved in modern leadership
- The contribution of sociological mindfulness to leadership education
- Authentic leadership as communicated through technology
- The role of spirit, and what the world needs from leaders
A diverse mix of contributors, including a Sufi teacher, a social science journal editor, and a CEO, provide a truly inclusive examination of the ways a leader is defined by self and others. Leading with Spirit, Presence, and Authenticity, a volume in the International Leadership Series Building Leadership Bridges from the International Leadership Association, helps connect ways of researching, imagining, and experiencing leadership across cultures, over time, and around the world.
Table of Contents
The Contributors
Introduction: Of Leadership and Light (Kathryn Goldman Schuyler)
Part 1: Spirit
1. Awareness and Beyond: Why Moving On Means Letting Go (Karin Jironet)
2. Connecting Inner Transformation as a Leader to Corporate and Societal Change (Otto Scharmer, Subhanu Saxena and Kathryn Goldman Schuyler)
3. Leadership Development through Deep Presencing and Awareness-Based Practices (Jonathan Reams, Olen Gunnlaugson and Juliane Reams)
4. Enspirited Leadership in Japan (Bob Stilger and Yuka Saionji)
Part 2: Presence
5. Sociological Mindfulness and Leadership Education (John Eric Baugher)
6. The Dance of Joyful Leadership (Catherine Etmanski, Mark Fulton, Guy Nasmyth and M. Beth Page)
7. Why on Earth Are We Staring at Raisins? (Linda Kantor)
8. Intergroup Dialogue: Mindfulness and Leadership Development for Social Change (Brighid Dwyer, Ralph A. Gigliotti and Hanna H. Lee)
Part 3: Authenticity
9. Appear Authentic! The Rhetorical Oxymoron of Authentic Leadership (Lena Lid-Falkman)
10. Leadership Values in Africa and Implications for Online Learning Communities (Sylvia van de Bunt-Kokhuis and Hellicy C. Ng’ambi)
11. Reflection and Authentic Leadership (Deanna M. Raffo)
12. Embodying Authentic Leadership: An Actor’s Perspective (Marco Aponte-Moreno)
13. Leaders’ Lived Experience of Authentic Moments (Susan Skjei)
Notes
Index