Before advancing to our findings, it is important to understand the process that we used to come to our conclusions. From the outset, this project was not just about researching a topic, but to apply our findings, beliefs, and experiences in a practical way. The end goal was to create a curriculum of transformational leadership for the University of Transformational Studies and Leadership (UTSLA). And while the curriculum was the end goal, experiencing the journey was essential to inform our work.
We had already done a good deal of research and reflection by the time we started this project. We formalized the project with specific “learning goals”, “learning strategies” and a way of showing “evidence of learning.” Three important concepts or personal biases shape our journey as well as our conclusions. Let us present those here.
First, we both saw that humanity was in need of leaders who are prepared to help bring about a world that works for everyone; a world that is socially just, environmentally sustainable, and economically sustainable. This resonated with some of the literature that our mentor had recommended on the “triple bottom line” (Savitz, 2006; Elkington, 1998) as well as the writings of Michael Lerner about the “new bottom line.” Our research subsequently confirmed that spiritual fulfillment was an important component of this “bottom line thinking” and we thus began to look at leadership through the lens of what we now called the quadruple bottom line: social justice, environmental sustainability, economic profitability, and spiritual fulfillment.
Our second initial bias is that we believed, based on our own experience as well as the literature, that personal transformation and a greater understanding of the bigger picture were key to more effective leadership.
Our third bias is that we believed the integration of body, mind, emotion and spirit could increase one’s capacity to undertake a personal transformational inner journey toward self-knowledge and authenticity. Furthermore, we agreed that this increased capacity helps to facilitate the transformation of others through similar processes, and ultimately leads to a shift in the consciousness of a group. Our goal became how to explore and experience this on our own and find a way to make this available to other interested parties—particularly for UTSLA since they had asked for our help in crafting such a curriculum.
It was clear to us from the beginning of the project that there is a business revolution taking shape. Peter Senge and his colleagues in their book, The Necessary Revolution: How individuals and organizations are working together to create a sustainable world, (2008) are among the many scholars and practitioners who are describing the way that organizations are changing. Globally, companies have begun adopting transformative strategies to create a sustainable future for humanity, the planet, and their businesses. Our question is this: As business leaders recognize, for the sake of their companies and for our world, that we must implement revolutionary changes in thinking and practice, what will be the focus of leadership development that will adequately equip future leaders to run the emerging “conscious” businesses?
Our initial hypothesis was that those business leaders who would be considered more “conscious” would be wise as well. They would probably score high on measures of Spiritual Intelligence. They would have a level of ego development that embraces a “unifying” awareness of the need to think globally and act in ethical, responsible ways for long-term benefit of all concerned. They would practice conscious capitalism that is socially and environmentally responsible. They would think beyond short-term economic measures of success and would guide their organization to focus on a quadruple bottom-line. That is, their attention would be sensitive to social justice issues in their marketplaces, engage in business practices that produce economic and environmental sustainability, and actively create a workplace that is spiritually fulfilling—offering meaningful work and engagement of all employees.
As we explored the literature, engaged in meaningful dialog, and interviewed transformational leaders, our initial hypothesis seemed to be confirmed. There was ample evidence of leadership descriptions that looked much like what we imagined. Many leadership development approaches also exist to facilitate the development of conscious, ethical, spiritual, aesthetic, and transformative leaders. Buoyed up by our findings, we endeavored to envision a leadership development approach that incorporates what we saw as “best practices” for guiding the potential leader’s inner development and outward leadership effectiveness. The core design elements for such a curriculum emerged from a confluence of the many models we encountered. Our attempts to reconcile those models into a cohesive flow of essential principles became a passion for us over the duration of the project.
Our research and work included a number of activities that advanced our thinking and ultimately led to our curriculum design. These included face to face meetings, a series of weekly dialogues about specific readings, emails and phone conversations, our own individual leadership development practices (LDPs) which we also shared in daily and weekly communications, and interviews and dialogs that we conducted with a set group of transformational leaders and scholars about wisdom and transformation. Our collaboration was usually in alignment and each of us brought the other up to a higher level of understanding in areas of discussion and debate.
In the next posts we will explore the complementary and convergent models we encountered during our research that formed the foundation of our approach to developing leadership wisdom and spiritual intelligence.
Paul R. Scheele and Rick Warm
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