Chapter 7: Transitioning Contemplative Practices from the Safety of the Classroom into Secular Organizational Environments

To date, much of the research (including my own) dealing with leadership spirituality has focused on situations where an organizational leader, usually a founder, CEO, or senior participant, espouses and exemplifies an “overt” spirituality (Benefial, 2008; Pruzon et al., 2007), or where an organization openly embraces spirituality as an important aspect of institutional culture (Naughton ɦ Specht, 2011; Delbecq, 2010a). This is understandable. We learn a great deal by studying strongly manifest behavior, cultures, and their outcomes. However, in contrast, the majority of the working professional MBAs and executives who study with me work within very secular organizational settings. The 2012 theme of the Academy of Management, The Informal Economy, provoked me to investigate how leaders engage contemplative practice while working in corporate environments where spirituality is not overtly part of organizational culture (Delbecq, 2012a).