Consciousness as the Source of Purposeful Leadership

Abstract

AbstractStrong, focused, and inclusive leadership is of the essence in articulating and solving the overwhelming problems of climate change, social inequality, bio-extinction, and more. Many researchers have highlighted the need to design new integrative approaches to gather the collective energies of humanity to face those challenges (Datar et al., Rethinking the MBA: Business education at a crossroads. Harvard Business Press, 2010). Purposeful Leadership based on a higher purpose (Quinn & Thakor, The economics of higher purpose: Eight counterintuitive steps for creating a purpose-driven organization. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2019), a deep purpose (Gulati & Adam, Deep purpose: The heart and soul of high-performance companies. Harper Business Press, 2022), a sustainable purpose (Polman & Winston, Net positive: How courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take. HBS Press, 2021), and total interconnectedness (Tsao & Laszlo, Quantum Leadership, Stanford University Press, 2019) is another way proposed to harness the integrative self-awareness of people in organizations. We propose that purposeful leadership emerges from the higher consciousness of leaders and managers (Maheshwari, Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion 18:77–91, 2021; Nader, One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness. Aguilar, 2021). The foundational Vedic message of Yogasthah kuru karmani, or “Established in Consciousness, perform action” (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The science of being and art of living, 1963) from Bhagavad Gita, implies that highly developed consciousness of individuals leads to more evolutionary leadership (Harung et al., Leadership Org Dev J, 16:44–59, 1995). This chapter will discuss purpose-driven leadership and purpose-driven organizations (Quinn, & Thakor, The economics of higher purpose: Eight counterintuitive steps for creating a purpose-driven organization. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2019) in the context of developing a theory of organizational purpose (Morrison & Rota, Academy of Management Review, 2021), which describes the principal values and drivers of purpose-driven organizations, and how such organizations may be better positioned for solving the problems facing humanity. It will also describe how regular practice of transcending can help develop the consciousness of leaders and managers and help clarify their deeper purposes.