Action leadership is a creative, innovative, collaborative and self-developed way to lead. It eschews the hierarchical structure usually associated with leadership and is based instead on the democratic values of freedom, equality, inclusion and self-realization. It take responsibility for, not control over, people through networking and orchestrating human energy towards a holistic outcome that benefits the common interest. Action leaders are passionate people who abide by the motto that “Learning does not mean to fill a barrel but rather to ignite a flame” in others. And in this time of rapid economic, political, technological, social and ecological changes, action leadership and action leaders are precisely what’s needed to improve how people and organizations engage constructively to address the myriad complex issues challenging society at all levels. Action Leadership: Towards a Participatory Paradigm explains and illustrates how action leadership can be developed through participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). It addresses real-life issues by people who choose to work collaboratively towards shared goals while developing their learning, insights, knowledge, people skills and personal relationships through involvement in a PALAR project. The book provides a conceptual framework for action leadership and for the integrative, practical theory of PALAR; and examples of applications in higher education, management education for organization development, and community development. Readers are encouraged to adopt, adapt and further develop the evolving concepts of action leadership and PALAR in a participatory paradigm of learning, research and development.

This book investigates the lived experience of CEOs in their quest for wholeness and presents a model of spiritual intelligence for contemporary leadership. The experience of ethical and spiritual crisis in the post-modern society especially in organizational leadership, calls for deeper quest and spiritual intelligence. Four essential themes emerged from the analysis of the in-depth interviews with top leaders of different organizations across the globe: (1) Sensing Crisis, (2) Embracing Crisis (3) Awakening Hidden Wholeness, (4) and Serving Greater Good. From the analysis of the themes, a model of spiritual intelligence and leadership wholeness is constructed. This Spiritual Intelligence Model portrays the intra-dynamics of leaders’ ongoing quest for wholeness penetrating through their existential, learning, spiritual, and moral dimensions of being and the five ethical dimensions of wholeness permeating through the personal, organizational, social, global, and environmental spheres of life. This book gives a fresh perspective on spiritual intelligence and leadership practice today.

The majority of leadership theories and studies have tended to emphasize the personal background, personality traits, perceptions, and actions of leaders. From this perspective, the followers have been viewed as recipients or moderators of the leader's influence, and as vehicles for the actualization of the leader's vision, mission or goals. One of the major challengers of this dominant view was the late James R. Meindl. As an alternative to the leader-centric perspective on leadership, Meindl offered a follower-centric approach that views both leadership and its consequences as largely constructed by followers and hence influenced by followers' cognitive processes and inter-follower social influence processes. As a tribute to Jim Meindl and his contributions to the field of leadership studies, Information Age Publishing is releasing a book on follower-centered approaches to leadership. The book covers a wide variety of perspectives that acknowledge the active roles of followers in the leadership process. These include the psychoanalytical perspective, leadership categorization theory, social identity theory, the shared leadership approach, attribution of charisma through social networks, the role of the media in constructing images of the leader, the social construction of followership, vision implementation by followers and a post modern approach to followership. It is hoped that the volume will provoke readers to reflect upon and extend Jim Meindl's seminal work on followership. ars and practitioners curious about the nature of research on leadership, both those with much research exposure and those new to the field.

This edited work expands the theory of followership by drawing on biblical examples to illustrate the role of faith in being a better follower. Building on previous scholarship, the book identifies different types of followers and explores how each type meets the needs of a leader in various scenarios. The authors analyze various principles from the lives of followers of Jesus and demonstrate how they apply to modern workplaces. Building upon the growing scholarship on workplace spirituality and organizational leadership, this book offers practical and theoretical perspectives on integrating faith at work.

This innovative book explores the universal and cultural foundations that underlie the dynamics of leadership. It asks key questions such as: why are we attracted to leaders? Why do we perceive certain leaders as charismatic? And why do some leaders who are perceived as charismatic during a certain period cease to be perceived as such in another period?

Sustainable Leadership: Sourcing and Multiplying Happiness acknowledges the desire of those in leadershipCEOs and other executivesto sustain their own positions as leaders and to bestow legacies upon those who follow and the societies in which they live. To that end, Jacob Thomas outlines and describes sustainable leadership, presents several novel frameworks that enable individuals to develop methods for practicing sustainable leadership, and suggests sets of self-assessment questions to guide ones personal reflection. In the course of its discussion, Sustainable Leadership describes how leaders can sustain their positions, cultivate insight, strengthen their inner selves, develop intention, consider context, show regard for followers, create strategy, act decisively, make an impact, analyze performance, engender wonder, and plan for the future. Ample numbers of illustrating figures and insight boxes highlight the key points of Sustainable Leadership. These features help any leader or researcher who seeks to appreciate, understand, and apply the insights of this approach to see clearly the main points to grasp when discerning the sources and the potential for multiplying happiness as a practitioner of sustainable leadership.

Commentaries on the readings for weekdays in ordinary time.