Get off the mountaintop and back in the marketplace: Leadership as transpersonal psychology’s highest calling

Abstract

Leadership since time immemorial has been considered a sacred calling, a spiritual and moral responsibility that attracted great thinkers from East and West. Only with the realpolitik of Macchiavelli, followed by industrialisation, did leadership theory become secular and transactional, a trend that lasted until the late 20th century. About the time transpersonal psychology emerged, sacred leadership was reclaimed and has dominated the past 50 years of the organisation behaviour and psychology literature. Four dominant models of spiritually–oriented leadership have emerged – servant leadership, transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and ethical leadership – with more proliferating every day. Despite William James’s and Abraham Maslow’s pointing the way for transpersonal psychology to engage with leadership as the fulcrum for social change, the field has yet to embrace this responsibility. The current state of leadership theory and research and the current state of the world represent great potential for transpersonal psychology, if the field is to remain relevant and make a vital contribution to the greater good.

Toward a Utopian Society: From Disconnection and Disorder to Empathy and Harmony

“…A similar mode of leadership that altruistic-idealistic (or self-actualized) leaders in particular may embody is “authentic leadership” (Gardner et al, 2011; Peus et al, 2012). This shares many characteristics with Maslow’s (1965) “enlightened management,” since it is, as Wade (2019) has noted, “The result of high levels of adult development” (p. 28) with attributes such as self-awareness, self-regulation, humility, interpersonal transparency, and a strong ethical compass. Authentic leaders are empathically aware of the emotions and the abilities of others and can adapt their own behavior in response.…”

“…They inspire trust by behaving with integrity and by refusing to compromise moral principles under pressure. They encourage collaboration and consensus, valuing the views of others and giving due credit (Wade, 2019). 2 Last, another relevant leadership model is "ethical leadership" (Brown et al, 2005).…”

“… 2 Note that there has been controversy about the findings of research into authentic leadership, with concerns about statistical anomalies and the reporting of data (Wade, 2019). …”