Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) has set up a Centre for Wisdom in Leadership (CWIL), which will partner with researchers, social organisations, public policy makers and industry from around the world to design innovative interventions in management education to groom leaders who can address complex issues like climate change, rising inequality, political polarisation and unethical practices.
CWIL intends to conduct research projects which are relevant to address contemporary world problems, from a wisdom perspective. The approach will be multi-disciplinary and drawn from the most pertinent findings in neurosciences, philosophy, developmental and organizational psychology, spirituality, ethics, sustainability, economics and sociology and leadership.
CWIL will offer evidence-based wisdom interventions like seminars, executive education modules, workshops, and online courses; publish a practitioner-oriented journal; and hold an annual international conference.
Explaining the objective of CWIL, Dr.Surya Tahora, Head of CWIL and Professor, Science of Spirituality at Bhavan’s SPJIMR, said “the Centre will disseminate ideas and interventions for more responsible and sustainable society by bringing together the domains of leadership and traditions of wisdom, from East to West, and bridging the gap between wisdom researchers and organisations.”
“There is little doubt that we need more wise leaders to address the challenges of our society. It is time that India explores the richness of all her wisdom traditions in a scientific, rigorous and systematic way, by initiating a dialogue with researchers to transform leaders, organisations and therefore society at large,” he said, adding “today, many CEOs are questioning the capacity of leadership development training industry, estimated at USD 370.3 billion globally, to produce desired leaders who will have qualities beyond technical skills,”.
The centre has an eminent advisory board including researchers such as Howard Nussbaum (Director of the Chicago Center for Practical Wisdom and Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago), Monika Ardelt (Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida) and David Rooney (Honorary Professor of Management and Organisation Studies at Macquarie Business School, Sydney, Australia). From SPJIMR, Snehal Shah (Professor of Organisation Behaviour, Chairperson of the Fellow Program (Ph.D.) and Head of Research) and Preeta George (Professor and Group Head – Economics and Associate Dean – Executive Education and Modular Programmes and Chairperson of Executive Management Programmes). It also has practitioners from Europe, USA and India such as Laurent Ledoux (Founder, partner and Chairman of the Board of Phusis, Brussels, Belgium), Nitin Seth (CEO Incendo Inc) and S Padmanabhan (Executive Chairman of Tata Business Excellence Group).