Spiritual Intelligence in Leadership By Sarah Alexander – Book Review

Spiritual Intelligence in Leadership – From Manager to Leader in your own life By Sarah Alexander

Leadership is such a large and extensively written about topic, so where would a new approach start?

Alexander structures the book by looking at leadership and the act of leadership through the journey from manager to leader:

“Knowing our true value and worth”

Knowing our security is within us”

“The power of intuited wisdom”

“The value of deep faith”

“Right Intention…right action”

“Letting your light shine”

“First among equals”

And finishes with what she calls “The lotus rising from the mud”, the bringing together of beauty and form having passed through change and struggle.

The book starts out exploring the changing culture in which we operate, and people reactions to the 1980s approaches to capitalism. Looking through people’s needs to collaborate and achieve more for the greater good of society. This all sounds warm and fluffy, but with examples like the “games makers” at the 2012 Olympics in London, our changing attitudes to volunteering and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) changes many businesses are making, just go to show that there is a desire for change, and that change starts with individuals…. Leaders in their own field.

Alexander takes us through the way we have been brought up to manage our lives, and the focus on managing rather than taking control and leading. For those that can see through the fog of conformance, this is eye opening for many.

The journey of the manager is from control through to self awareness, and it is this that Alexander calls “spiritual Intelligence” (to be fair to the author, a rather simplistic summary!)

In keeping with the title of the book, the author uses examples from a range of religious examples to highlighter her thinking, these include Gandhi, Taoist, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity as well as Islam and several other references. Spiritual in the widest of senses. The book also documents Alexanders’ life journey through discovery of applying the tools and techniques on her journey as an example to the reader.

For those seeking to discover their own journey of self leadership first, this book is a good starting place, expect the journey not to be smooth, for there are struggles from one phase of awareness to another.

Spiritual Intelligence in Leadership – From Manager to Leader in your own life By Sarah Alexander – Book Review