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Invoking the spiritual in campus life and leadership

Journal of College Student Development,  Nov/Dec 2001  by Rogers, Judy L,  Dantley, Michael E
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Soul leaders, who commit themselves to the inward journey, do not operate out of fear or ego gratification but out of an inner power that is based in meaning, calling, passion, courage, vulnerability, spirituality, and community (Hagberg, 1994). This is a leadership of being rather than a leadership of doing (Jaworski, 1998). The primary question becomes, "Who is this person from which leadership emanates?" The soul leader recognizes that the path to wholeness is a process of continuous personal change and ongoing critical reflection about one's relationship to the Other. It requires courage and a commitment to authenticity and is driven by a sense of calling and a need for meaning. The idea of servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1970), in which the leader is seen as one who first serves others, is encompassed in the definition of soul leadership. Both represent leadership grounded in deeper values and a style that involves conscious service to those values (Zohar, 1997).

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A well-developed spiritual intelligence provides a powerful new framework for understanding one's place in the world; that is, people recognize that they participating in an unfolding universe. Humankind does not just react to events; we have the ability to create the future. If we want the world to change, we have to change it. By acting on the world, we make it into what we want it to be. When people operate from their souls, they have an urgent drive to make real the vision and values that they hold dear. Soul leaders are propelled by a sense of calling. "This has to happen. I have to do it" (Zohar, 1997, p. 147). When leaders operate from their souls, they create a space in which everyone recognizes their right and their responsibility to participate in an unfolding future. "This is the deeper territory of leadership-collectively, 'listening' to what is wanting to emerge in the world and then having the courage to do what is required" (Jaworski, 1998, p. 182). For example, spiritually intelligent leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, and Nelson Mandela listened to the call for a more just world and responded with courage to enact it. They each in their own way kept the focus on the human relationship in the political struggle. Through their actions and beliefs they were or are able to lead people towards "our complex and inexplicable caring for each other" (Palmer, 1992, p. 8).

The picture that emerges from the literature on the role of spirituality in leadership suggests that leaders who operate from their souls, those possessed of high spiritual intelligence, seem to develop particular capacities and insights. For example:

1.They have a deep sense of the interconnectedness of life and know intimately what it means to be part of or create community.

2. They know themselves well and practice integrity, reflection, and collaboration.

3. They can suspend their own assumptions in order to truly listen to and understand the Other.

4. They know what they ultimately serve and are connected intimately with a higher power. They operate from a sense of "I have to."


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