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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

7. Spiritual Leadership: A Superior Way to Be and Serve

Author : Satinder Dhiman

Published in: Holistic Leadership

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US

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Abstract

The corporate world is realizing that spiritual values are integral to employee well-being and business success. Organizations are becoming increasingly aware that people seek meaning and purpose in their work and have a deep desire to connect with other human beings as part of a community. This chapter focuses on the moral and spiritual dimensions of holistic leadership. Spiritual leadership is not dependent on your title and you do not have to be at the top of an organization to practice spiritual leadership. It depends upon the self-power and not the position-power. It is about being true to yourself and living your core values. It has been observed that leaders need to follow their internal compass in living out their core values and purpose.

Authentic leadership and servant leadership are primary expressions of spiritual leadership. Authentic leaders are altruistic, honest, trustworthy and principled decision-makers who care about the well-being of their followers, organization and the needs of the broader society. Authenticity is defined as the unity and purity of one’s thoughts, words and deeds. The authenticity of a leader is measured not only in terms of the nature of the values the leader espouses but also by how consistently the leader strives to live up to those values. Servant leadership represents a shift from followers serving leaders to leaders serving followers. It denotes increased service to others, a holistic approach to work, and a greater sense of community. Since leadership is an expression of who we are, in discovering, living, and sharing our deepest values lies the fulfillment of our life and leadership.

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previous chapter Appreciative Inquiry: Discovering the Best in People and Organizations

next chapter Meaning & Purpose in Leadership: What Are You Willing to Bet Your Life On?

A variant rendering of the quote: ‘We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.’ Most authors who quote it do not provide its source. It is quoted here for its telling force in underscoring the primacy of our spiritual dimension.

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Ibid., 702.

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इन्द्रं॑ मि॒त्रं वरु॑णम॒ग्निमा॑हु॒रथो॑ दि॒व्यः स सु॑प॒र्णो ग॒रुत्मा॑न्।

एकं॒ सद्विप्रा॑ बहु॒धा व॑दन्त्य॒ग्निं य॒मं मा॑त॒रिश्वा॑नमाहुः॥ १.१६४.४६

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See Robert A. Giacalone and Carole L. Jurkiewicz, Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance (London: Routledge, 2nd edition, 2015); Don Grant, Kathleen O’Neil, and Laura Stephens, “Spirituality in the Workplace: New Empirical Directions in the Study of the Sacred”, Sociology of Religion, 65 (3), (2004): 265–283; Lake Lambert III, Spirituality, Inc.: Religion in the American Workplace (New York: New York University Press, 2009).

George Gotsis and Zoi Kortezi, “Philosophical Foundations of Workplace Spirituality”, 575.

Robert A Giacalone and Carole L. Jurkiewicz, Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance (London: Routledge, 2nd edition, 2015).

Cavanagh, G. F., & Bandsuch, M. R., “Virtue as a benchmark for spirituality in business”, Journal of Business Ethics, 2002, 38 (1), 109–117.

Ian Mitroff and Elizabeth Denton, A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, xv–xvii.

Joseph C. Rost, Leadership for the Twenty-First Century (NY: Praeger, reprint edition, 1993). See also Joseph C. Rost, “Leadership development in the new millennium”, The Journal of Leadership Studies, 1 (1), (1993): 91–110.

Ibid., 181.

Joseph C. Rost, Leadership for the Twenty-First Century, 101.

Ibid., 102. [emphasis added].

Ibid., 107.

These are perhaps not her exact words: http://www.motherteresa.org/08_info/Quotesf.html.

See Lee G. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal, Leading with Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, revised third edition, 2011); Parker J Palmer. “Leading from Within”. Chapter 5 from Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000). Chapter retrieved March 15, 2016: http://www.couragerenewal.org/PDFs/Parker-Palmer_leading-from-within.pdf.

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Louis W. Fry, “Toward a theory of spiritual leadership”, The Leadership Quarterly, 14, (2003): 693–727.

Cited in Sue Howard, S and David Welbourn, The Spirit at Work Phenomenon (London: Azure, 2004), 123.

John Gardner, Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too? (New York: W. W. Norton, 1984), 154.

S. Harter, “Authenticity”, in C. R. Snyder and S. J. Lopez, Eds., Handbook of Positive Psychology (London: Oxford University Press, 2002), 382–394.

See: B. George and P. Sims, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007); B. George, P. Sims, A. N. McLean, and D. Mayer, “Discovering Your Authentic Leadership”, Harvard Business Review, 85 (2), (2007): 129–138.

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Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1977), 77.

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See: Measuring the Return on Character, HBR, April 2015, 20–21.

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Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), 43; 447.

Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader (New York: Crown Business, 2015), 392.

Ibid.

Anthony Imbimbo, Steve Jobs: The Brilliant Mind Behind Apple (Life Portraits) (New York: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2009), 42.

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Marc Benioff on the Invisible Hand of Steve Jobs|Disrupt SF 2013. Interview Retrieved March 22, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rO_Vs4M29k.

Walter Isaacson in his biography, Steve Jobs, lists a number of books that influenced Steve Jobs: William Shakespeare’s King Lear, Plato, Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma, Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Chogyam Trungpa’s Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. See: Isaacson, Steve Jobs, p. 35.

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Cited in Bolman and Deal, Leading with Soul, 236.

Title: Spiritual Leadership: A Superior Way to Be and Serve
Author: Satinder Dhiman
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US
Book: Holistic Leadership
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55570-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-137-55571-7

Copyright Year: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55571-7_7