Cultivating Spiritual Self-Leadership: A Pathway towards Authentic Spiritual Leadership

Abstract

Finding ways to promote connection and inclusivity in our increasingly diverse workplaces, and doing so authentically, can often be a challenge for leaders. Being authentic requires leaders who have the ability to lead others towards holistic well-being that mirrors how they lead themselves. Spiritual self-leadership provides one pathway for leaders to know and develop their own inner lives which, in turn, allows them to create space for connectedness and purpose within their organizations. In this study employing narrative inquiry, the lived experiences of 25 Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs), ranging in age from 18 to almost 80, were examined for how spiritual self-leadership can foster identity development and sense of belonging in ATCKs in order for them to elevate their potential and value contribution in the workplace. ATCKs have experienced highly mobile, cross-cultural childhoods and, as a result, bring both benefits and challenges into their personal and professional lives. The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify how ATCKs’ professional lives are impacted by their cross-cultural mobile life before the age of 18; 2) explore how the Spiritual Leadership model can foster identity development (inner life) and sense of belonging (membership) for ATCKs within the workplace; 3) examine how ATCKs’ deconstruction and/or construction of faith impacts their inner life and, by extension, spiritual self-leadership; and, 4) propose recommendations for how ATCKs can cultivate spiritual self-leadership for themselves and leverage their value within their workplaces. A signature contribution from this study is my Spiritual Self-Leadership model, which arose from the fourth objective and is examined in this paper. This model is an important tool, not just for ATCKs, but for anyone who would like to cultivate their own inner life and spiritual self-leadership, and exercise spiritual leadership within their organizations.