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 I received a Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (Business Management Leadership Spirituality and Business Transformation), The Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 2004
Several years ago, I became interested in exploring the integration of spirituality in business leadership. I discovered the wonderful work of Dr. Gilbert Fairholm, who has written extensively about spirituality in the American workplace. The more I explored the question of how to define spirituality and leadership, the more I found that management science and the field of organizational behavior continued to ignore this area of serious study and concentrated instead on systems and models of management that cultivate command and control techniques. I also found that many business leaders were looking for opportunities to reflect upon the integration of spirituality into their leadership roles. I decided to explore this topic with CEOs and senior executive leaders of technology companies to learn what they are saying about spirituality and how it informs their leadership practice.
Dissertation Title: "Spirituality and Business Transformation: Exploring Spirituality with Executive Leaders." A study of spirituality in business environments based upon responses from executive leaders.
My dissertation research data suggests the participating leaders included spirituality as a component of their leadership perspectives. Spirituality, as described by these leaders, was termed as "that which deals with the seen and the unseen." Aspects of spirituality were reflected in individual behaviors, values, actions, relationships, connections, and choices executives made in their roles as leaders. Additional dimensions of spirituality were reported in the participants' descriptions of the ideas, concepts, insights, and possibilities for the future that many spoke about in relating spirituality and leadership.
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