The Enlightened Leader: An Introduction to the Chakras of Leadership [Hardcover]

Enlightening this book certainly is, but it is not the first adjective that comes to mind. 'Riveting' comes first, if only because of its unique quality (unique in management literature) to grab the reader. The book has an uncommon intensity, and an often biting humor, particulary in the many case stories. This makes for a very pleasurable and stimulating read. The authors' main theme is: clearly we have recently seen a lot of leadership that can only be termed 'endarkened', so we need to find another way to run our enterprises.
Before they sketch out their envisioned future, the authors force us to take a hard and revealing look at how we got where we are today, exposing three 'evil geniuses' who jointly took care of dehumanising our approach to work forces: Frederick Taylor of Scientific Management, who gave us efficiency at the expense of turning people into robots, Albert Carr who told us that having a double moral standard, one for private use and one for business which allows cheating, was not just okay but actually advisable, and Milton Friedman who taught that the only social obligation of business leaders is to create shareholder value. Certainly other management gurus that the authors do not mention have played their role, but they make a strong argument that among them these three have been the chief actors in shaping an exploitative business attitude, marked by 'inhuman use of human beings'. Then when they move to the subject of enlightenment, they stay refreshingly clear-headed and down to earth, building not an ethical case, but a business case for a more human-centred style of leadership. They convincingly argue that in a period when the economy was largely about manufacturing, about making things, the feelings and thoughts of workers could be largely ignored because they had little or no impact on the end result, but that in a service/knowledge sharing economy these inner aspects of workers are crucial. That at the moment when the actual added value is created the chief determinants are the degree of passion people feel for their jobs, their sense of loyalty to the company, their sense of purpose and connectedness. They also argue that the 'moment supreme' of value creation these service / knowledge workers are essentially sovereign agents, impossible to supervise because the work is largely done in one-on-one personal interaction. In other words, most workers now are beyond command and control. This means that a new type of leadership needs to be developed, based not on telling people what to do, but on inspiring them.

The core of the book is the presentation of the Chakras of Leadership, a novel way of differentiating aspects of leadership that is inspired by the Yoga philosophy. I must admit to a certain hesitation at first to accept this. Never having practiced yoga, nor being well versed in Indian philosophy I wondered about the applicability of their concepts in the business world. But as the authors went on to explain that they have chosen the chakra system simply as a set of metaphors for energy levels, the relevance soon became clear. I ended up accepting it as an unusual, but beautiful way to draw attention to the ways in which we, as business leaders, expend our vital energies. They discern seven levels, similar to Maslow's but stretching beyond the top of this pyramid, going from survival and profit-making, relationships and creation, willpower and respect, love and courage, communication and purity, intuition and self-reflection, to a sense of universal connectedness and higher purpose.

The last section of the book is about how to bring a more enlightened type of leadership into practice. It is the smallest section. One might have wished for a more expansive treatment, but perhaps this would be the theme for a follow-up book. The aim, obviously, is that we use their Chakras of Leadership to rethink our own ways, remodel our leadership styles and find our own way to a more enlightened use of our talents. 'The Enlightened Leader' is essential reading for leaders who want to make optimal use of human potential. Its exploration of new paths is challeging and inspiring, and a courageous example of leadership in itself.

Stephan Viegen, M.A., CEO Mindshift

I've studied the chakras and leadership and I was so excited to get this book...at first. However, this book is so dry and not practical, that I ended up being disaapointed. I respect the work these gentlemen have done to present the Chakras as a way to engage leadership, but their presentation of the model and lack of compelling stories to support the text left me shaking my head. This is not a book that touches your soul, which is what any study of the Chakras is meant to do. Instead, the book is just a mental showcase for the authors' expertise. Their test on-line is worth taking. In fact, I suggest doing that and downloading the website descriptions rather than reading this book. I was so hoping for more from the book as I like Trompernaars model on culture. The book is not something you can give to a client; it's meant for fellow academics who enjoy a good bit of intellectual processing. Too bad the authors didn't write from their 7th Chakra--the book could have truly been great.

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