Call for Chapter Proposals
Leadership at the Spiritual Edge: Emerging and Non-Western Concepts of Leadership and Spirituality
Editors: Mohammed Raei, PhD, Stacey K. Guenther, PhD, and Lisa Berkley, PhD
We are delighted to announce an exciting new resource for scholars and practitioners of leadership and spirituality - a forthcoming edited volume, Leadership at the Spiritual Edge: Emerging and Non-Western Concepts of Leadership and Spirituality to be published by Routledge. We are seeking chapter proposals to round out our own and others' contributions and that bring new thinking and diverse voices to the conversation of leadership and spirituality.
We live in a time of explosive growth and perpetual change at an ever-increasing speed. We face innumerable intractable and wicked issues, and yet, we see more strife, disconnection, and difficulty within our global society. People are suffering and struggling to find meaning. According to WHO (the World Health Organization) despite all our societal advancements, in 2019, one in every 100 deaths was due to suicide[1]. Among 15–29-year-olds, it was the fourth leading cause of death[2]. Additionally, across the world, almost one billion people are affected by mental, neurological, and substance use disorders (MNS), or forms of depression[3].[3] This accounts for 10% of the global burden of disease and 25% of years lived with disability in 2019[4]. On top of that, many of the risk factors for suicide – job loss, financial stress, and social isolation – have been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In short, leadership has never been more needed than at this very moment. But what kind of leadership is needed? In the past several decades, the scholarship and practice of leadership have evolved significantly: from the exemplar of one white man leading the pack to victory to a process enacted by many for the sake of dignity, the greatest good, and the highest purpose.
The challenging times in which we live call for leadership that seeks to increase positivity and well-being and provides an undergirding for our collective consciousness; that is, the wide-spread awakening that some scholars (Por, 2017; Taylor, 2017) are exploring and have noted is elevating the notion of spirituality in organizations of all kinds. Spirituality, peeled away from its conflation to religiosity, is "the human spirit, fully engaged." It includes the "intellectual, emotional, and relational depth of human character, as well as the continuing capability and yearning for personal development and evolution" (Benefiel, 2005, p. 9). It is an inner, subjective focus in lieu of outer behaviors that can be measured and evaluated (Astin et al., 2011).
Over the past 25 years, there has been an increasing interest in spirituality in the workplace; however, the intersection of leadership and spirituality has less often been explored. This volume will address this junction and will go beyond the frequently discussed theories and philosophies (e.g., mindfulness, servant leadership, transformational leadership, ethical leadership, and authentic leadership). With a focus on application in an increasingly globalized and diverse workforce, this volume will present non-Western perspectives of leadership and spirituality. Additionally, starting with the position that spirituality is not necessarily always good this volume will explore the dark side of spirituality and leadership. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the focus is through the lens of post- and trans-religious spirituality; that is, spirituality beyond the context and bounds of structured religion and religiosity. This approach allows the reader to decide what spirituality is for them and then apply the discussion related to leadership as it makes the most sense to them.
The book will:
- Explore non-Western and Indigenous perspectives on leadership and spirituality;
- Introduce and discuss new and cutting-edge thinking in the area of leadership from a post-religious spiritual perspective;
- Present original and unique leadership and leadership development tools relevant to the context of spirituality and leadership; and
- Provide critical perspectives on the shadow and dark side of spirituality and leadership, something that is often ignored when the prevalent assumption is that spirituality (and leadership) are always good or at least unproblematic, thus there is no need to discuss any downsides.
Proposal Guidelines
Chapter submission proposals will be reviewed against the following priorities:
- Originality, uniqueness, and emerging areas of research, practice, concepts, and perspectives;
- Presentation of non-Western and Indigenous perspectives on leadership and spirituality that have not been presented before;
- The use of new and original leadership and leadership development tools as they pertain to the intersection of spirituality and leadership; and/or
- Critical perspectives focused on the shadow and/or dark side of leadership and spirituality (an example of this kind of work is Fenwick, T., & Lange, E. (1998). Spirituality in the workplace: The new frontier of HRD. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 12(1), 63-87).
Within those four priorities, proposals can include:
- Original research (Mixed methods, quantitative approaches, or qualitative approaches).
- Emergent experiential components.
- Theoretical frameworks.
- Unique approaches that have not been used before.
A strong chapter proposal will address multiple focus areas.
What we are not looking for:
- Transformational leadership
- Organizational behavior angles
- Management theory
- Leadership in religious institutions
- Dogmatic leadership approaches
- Leadership by the clergy (or their equivalent)
Timeline
We will have 12 months to deliver the final product to Routledge and we will begin reviewing chapter proposals on January 21, 2023, with invitations to submit full chapters by February 15. If your chapter is accepted, here are the key dates:
February 15 – April 20: Chapter Development
April 21 – May 10: Editors' Review
May 11 – June 21: Chapter Revisions (second draft)
June 22 – July 10: Editors' Review
July 11 - August 15: Final Chapter Revisions
December 15: Complete Volume due to Routledge
Proposal Submission Process
Full chapter proposals (2 pages) should include the following sections:
- Working title
- Keywords (up to 6)
- Abstract (up to 200 words to give us a complete and concise view of your planned chapter)
- Outline of key sections
- The approximate number of tables and/or graphics you intend to include.
- An argument as to how your proposed chapter will address any or all of the criteria mentioned above. Please make sure that the reviewing priority criteria (noted above) are clearly spelled out in your proposal.
We also require a current abridged (up to 5 pages) CV (from each author) and one writing sample (a single sample even with multiple authors is fine).
This book will be published in US Style English and should follow APA guidelines, 7th edition. Chapters should be in the range of 6,000-8,000 words, including references.
Chapter proposals should be submitted in Word Doc format to mraei1974@gmail.com no later than January 21, 2023.
Our final decisions will take into account the volume as a whole and the proposal's uniqueness and content of new and cutting-edge ideas and tools.
We hope to hear from you. Please feel free to forward any questions to me or the other co-editors at any time. We would be happy to provide feedback on an idea before you create a full-chapter proposal.
About Us
Mohammed Raei, PhD is an independent scholar, leadership and organization development consultant, and coach. He has consulted on strategic planning, program evaluation, and 360° feedback. Additionally, he facilitated workshops on trust, adaptive leadership, and immunity to change. He also served as the programming chair for the Pacific Northwest Organizational Development Network (PNODN). He is also the co-editor of Adaptive Leadership in a Global Economy: Perspectives for Applications and Scholarship (Routledge). He presented for a variety of professional organizations including PNODN, PSPMI, and ICF (Jordan and Seattle chapters) in addition to several times at the ILA conference. Following a Kundalini awakening in 2019, his primary focus became spirituality and mysticism. Mohammed resides in Amman, Jordan, and caters to clients worldwide. He can be reached at mraei1974@gmail.com.
Stacey K. Guenther, PhD, is a certified leadership coach (PCC), organization development consultant, educator, certified mindfulness meditation teacher (CMT-P), and contemplative scholar. Her scholarship is focused on deep connections (coherence), intersubjectivity, and contemplative practices. She is the principal and founder of a small consultancy, Awakened Impact (https://awakenedimpact.com). Stacey has had a 20-year affiliation with George Mason University, currently serving as adjunct faculty for the organization development and knowledge management graduate program. She is the former director of educational programs for the Center for Consciousness and Transformation (now known as the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being) and was a corporate facilitator for the university's outdoor challenge course. She was named a 2021 Fetzer Scholar by the Academy of Management's Management, Spirituality, and Religion (MSR) Interest Group and her dissertation proposal earned one of three awards by MSR as a 2021 promising dissertation proposal. She is a long-time, committed meditator, and she finds the sacred in nature as well as in animals. Stacey lives near Asheville, NC, with her spouse and two rescue dogs. She can be reached at stacguen@gmail.com.
Lisa Berkley, PhD serves as an elected council member in her home city of Marina, California and is faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is also a Founding Director of the Center for Applied Values and Ethics in Advancing Technologies (CAVEAT). She is the Founding Director of the Institute for Inner Economy & Compassionate Governance, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to operationalizing positive peace and establishing compassionate governance at the local, national, and international levels. As a licensed massage therapist and Reiki teacher certified in different modalities of mind-body-spirit healing, Dr. Berkley has more than 30 years teaching meditation and working in the healing arts. This background serves as the underpinning of her life's work exploring how we heal, as individuals and society. Lisa lives in Marina, CA. She can be reached at lisa@innereconomy.com.
References
Astin, A., Astin, H., & Lindholm, J. (2011). Cultivating the spirit: How college can enhance students' inner lives. Jossey-Bass. https://doi.org/10.6151/CERQ.2015.2303.05
Benefiel, M. (2005). Soul at work: Spiritual leadership in organizations. Church Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766080509518601
Pór, G. (2017). On the verge of collective awakening. In S. Momo (Ed.), Collective enlightenment (pp. 15–30). Spanda Foundation. https://spanda.org/assets/docs/spanda-journal-VII,1-2017.pdf
Taylor, S. (2017). The leap: The psychology of spiritual awakening. New World Library.
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[1] WHO World Health Organization A. (Retrieved 20 June 2022). https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-launch-of-the-live-life-implementation-guide-for-suicide-prevention-17-june-2021
[2] WHO World Health Organization. B (June 20, 2022) Suicide. World Health Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide
[3] Global health estimates 2019: disease burden by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000–Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020 (https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mortality-and-global-health-estimates/global-health-estimates-leading-causes-of-dalys, accessed 11 May 2022).
[4] Global health estimates 2019: disease burden by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000–Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020 (https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mortality-and-global-health-estimates/global-health-estimates-leading-causes-of-dalys, accessed 11 May 2022).
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Stacey Guenther
Consultant
George Mason University
Black Mountain NC
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