First-of-its-kind BW graduate business program prepares 'enlightened' leaders

As businesses bounce back and move forward, forever changed by the pandemic, and as younger employees with different perspectives enter the workforce, Baldwin Wallace University has a fresh take on the future of business leadership.

BW School of Business Professor Param Srikantia, who developed a global following for his talks that started under the title "Why Life Sucks," has designed a graduate business program based on an "enlightened" approach to understanding and overcoming "why life at the office sucks."

Building a new breed of business leader

The first-of-its-kind, stackable graduate certificate in "Enlightened Leadership" is aimed at a new breed of business leader and reflects the growing interest in transforming workplace culture and human consciousness within organizations.

In a cleveland.com guest column, Srikantia explains what enlightened leadership looks like, noting that business leaders "are conditioned to associate only performance and financial outcomes" with organizational success.

That bias, he continues, leaves behind concepts like "enlightenment, mindfulness or self-actualization" and "contributes to a culture in which, according to Gallup surveys, only about a third of U.S. employees are engaged."

Transformative new approaches

"Organizations can grow enlightened cultures nicely aligned with the work/life aspirations of younger persons entering the workforce," Srikantia says. "The fusion of systems theory, consciousness transformation, design thinking, organizational change and mindfulness practices is helping build organizations where human potential can flower to its fullest."

The enlightened approach leads to greater authenticity, heightened creativity and innovation, more cohesive teamwork, as well as enhanced engagement and job satisfaction. At the same time, enlightened leaders find it easier to reduce the sabotage of ego, conflict and miscommunication.

Srikantia outlines a path to go from:

• inner chatter to mindfulness,
• social masks to authenticity,
• roboticism to wakefulness,
• ego-based to ego-transcendent and
• myopia to farsightedness.

Find out more

To hear more about the concepts, sign up for a free "Enlightened Leadership" webinar with Srikantia on July 14.

You can also view his TEDx talk, read the cleveland.com column or visit the "Enlightened Leadership" graduate certificate page to read and/or request more information.