Since 2014
Leaders as Shamans: Working to Heal a Troubled World
Journal of Management for Global Sustainability
View Archive Info| Field | Value | |
| Title |
Leaders as Shamans: Working to Heal a Troubled World
Los líderes como chamanes: Trabajando para curar un mundo aquejado |
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| Creator |
Waddock, Sandra; Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
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| Subject |
Leadership; shamanic leaders; sustainability; memes
Liderazgo; líderes chamánicos; sostenibilidad; memes |
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| Description |
In a world greatly in need of healing, today’s leaders acting as shamans could potentially bring the shaman’s ancient wisdom to the effort to create a more sustainable, just, and equitable world. Today’s shamanic leaders undertake the same roles as the traditional shaman: healing, connecting, and sensemaking in the service of a better world. From a leadership perspective, the shaman’s work is that of healing the world around us and our (human) relationship with that world, which is what many leaders are already attempting to do. In this context, healing can mean making our relationships, systems, and organizations whole or sound. In a similar vein, connecting means working across boundaries of different types, such as relationships, disciplines, functions, sectors, and institutions, among others, to create collaborative initiatives or new insights that can move ideas and institutions forward in a positive way. Finally, sensemaking means helping others understand and interpret their world in new and hopefully constructive ways. It means creating a new vision of the future through tasks like developing new memes or framing new stories or narratives that help people relate to their enterprises or the world in different ways. In today’s troubled world, where our dominant cultural mythologies, policies, and practices have resulted in frighteningly unsustainable conditions and divisiveness, I argue that more leaders explicitly need to (and can) take on these shamanic roles.
En un mundo que necesita curación, los líderes de hoy que actúan como chamanes pueden traer la sabiduría milenaria del chamán al esfuerzo de crear un mundo más sostenible, justo y equitativo. Los líderes “chamánicos” del presente tienen los mismos papeles que los chamanes tradicionales: curar, conectar y dar sentido al servicio de un mundo mejor. Desde una perspectiva de liderazgo, el trabajo del chamán es curar el mundo que nos rodea y nuestra relación (humana) con ese mundo, lo que muchos líderes ya están intentando hacer. En este contexto, curar puede significar sanar nuestras relaciones, sistemas y organizaciones. De la misma manera, conectar significa trabajar a través de fronteras de diferentes tipos como relaciones, disciplinas, funciones, sectores e instituciones, entre otros para crear esfuerzos de colaboración o nuevas percepciones que puedan promover ideas e instituciones de una manera positiva. Por último, dar sentido es ayudar a los demás a entender e interpretar su mundo de un modo nuevo y constructivo. Eso significa crear una nueva visión del futuro a través de tareas como hacer nuevos memes o enmarcar historiaso narrativas que ayuden a las personas a relacionarse con su trabajo o el mundo de otra manera. En el mundo aquejado de hoy donde las mitologías culturales, políticas y costumbres dominantes han desembocado en condiciones insostenibles y conflictividad, afirmo que más lideres tendrán que asumir estos roles chamánicos (y lo pueden hacer). |
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| Publisher |
International Association of Jesuit Business Schools
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| Contributor |
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| Date |
2017-01-04
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| Type |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — |
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| Format |
application/pdf
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| Identifier |
https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/jmgs/article/view/JM2016.04102
10.13185/JM2016.04102 |
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| Source |
Journal of Management for Global Sustainability; Vol. 4, No. 1 (2016): Leadership for Resiliency; 57-73
2244-6893 2244-6885 10.13185/JM2018.061 |
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| Language |
eng
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| Relation |
https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/jmgs/article/view/JM2016.04102/2395
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| Rights |
Copyright (c) 2017 Journal of Management for Global Sustainability
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