 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
EMP 755A D. Surel 3 credits
Spiritual Leadership: Part II
Description
Spiritual Leadership - A Transformational Process - Part I examined the historical development of leadership with its different models and schools of thoughts. The element of spirituality was studied and integrated into the basic attributes and qualities that make a leader. Students explored their own meaning of spirituality and how it relates to the responsibility of leadership. The focus of this course, Spiritual Leadership Part II, will be to prepare the student for the unexpected leadership challenges of the 21st Century. Instead of operating solely through the use of models, students will learn how to fortify their own character structure and develop critical thinking skills and tools to become a competent spiritual leader.
In order to open students’ minds and guide them to think beyond their own cultural and socio-economic filters, the reading material will span a wide range of authors and philosophical concepts. However the students will be required to remain grounded and write about the applications of their learning to real life situations. This course will encourage the students to demonstrate their developing leadership skills by giving them some freedom on two levels: selecting outside reading material of their choice and suggesting writing exercises that contribute to their transformational process. A list of reading materials will be offered with specific writing exercises assigned, but the student will have the opportunity to suggest alternative readings and assignments with the approval of the professor. The guidelines are that readings and writing must be of scholarly level and have a relevance to the course topics.
Synthesis of concepts from various cultures will be encouraged in order to sharpen the students’ analytical and intuitive thinking. Correlations between various cultural paradigms throughout the ages will be examined. For example, one of the characteristics of spiritual leadership today is humility (Level 5 Leadership, Jim Collins) but this trait had already been recognized as a criteria for transforming the mind by Geshe Langri Thangpa (1054-1123) who stated: “Whenever I interact with someone, May I view myself as the lowest amongst all, And, from the very depths of my heart, Respectfully hold others as superior”.
As students take a more global and holistic view of reality and context of reality, critical issues emerge such as values. Different cultures and social groups believe in different sets of values. This course will address the topic of ethics and the values that compose ethics.
Topics
Objectives
The goal of this course is to open the student’s mind by exploring and synthesizing diverse concepts related to spiritual leadership. Students will learn how to break away from models and build self-confidence in their mode of thinking while remaining grounded and rational in the real world.
This course will encourage the students to demonstrate their developing leadership skills by giving them some freedom on two levels: selecting outside reading material of their choice and suggesting writing exercises that contribute to their transformational process. A list of reading materials will be offered with specific writing exercises assigned, but the student will have the opportunity to suggest alternative readings and assignments with the approval of the professor. The guidelines are that readings and writing exercises must be of scholarly level and have a relevance to the course topics. This relative freedom of choice will have two learning purposes: 1/ discernment and appreciation for scholarly level work and 2/ opportunity to focus on what is meaningful to the student. These two learning criteria support the integration of theory and applications.
At the end of the course students will be prepared to manage 21st Century leadership issues by having developed a critical thinking process and holistic approach to assess situations and create consciously evolved win/win solutions.
Texts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
