This open access book provides a comprehensive look at the pluses and minuses of leadership in times of an unparalleled crisis, such as the COVID-19 global pandemic. It examines the COVID-19 crisis in terms of psychodynamics, crisis management, and especially from the standpoint of complex, messy systems. It analyses how leaders need to think and act differently to cope better with—and potentially prevent—future crises.

This book aims to examine sustainability and spirituality philosophically with ethics as the balancing force. The goal is to reveal the important intersection between sustainability and spirituality by using spirituality as the invisible guiding hand in the quest for sustainability. The editors and contributors examine old social and economics dilemmas from a new perspective in order to provide alternative approaches to economic and social development. The enclosed contributions cover a br...

When Voluntary Simplicity was first published in 1981, it quickly became recognized as a powerful and visionary work in the emerging dialogue over sustainable ways of living. Nearly three decades later, as the planet's environmental stresses become more urgent than ever, Duane Elgin has revised and updated his revolutionary book.Voluntary Simplicity is not about living in poverty; it is about living with balance. This book illuminates the pattern of changes that a...

Born out of a decade of discussion between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and international management consultant Laurens van den Muyzenberg, The Leader’s Way is the unique meeting of two worlds: the global business landscape and Buddhism. At first sight, these seem to be an unlikely pairing. After a closer look, however, the best business practices and Buddhist principles in fact have much in common; both are concerned with making rational, holistic decisions and turning them into r...

At one time or another, most of us have experienced an all-consuming desire for a material object, a desire so strong that it seems like we couldn't possibly be happy without buying this thing. Yet, when we give in to this impulse, we often find ourselves feeling frustrated and empty. Advertisers, of course, aim to hook us in this way, and, from a global perspective, our tendency to get hooked fuels the rampant over-consumption that is having a devastating impact on the world's stability a...

A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education.From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human b...

With all the attention on living sustainably, the one thing missing from the conversation is how to find a personal connection with green living that will sustain us on our green path. While practical approaches to an eco-responsible lifestyle offer important first steps, it is critical that we ground these actions in broader understanding so that we can effect real change in the world.In this book, Stephanie Kaza describes what she calls the "green practice path." She offers a sim...

Positing that modern society is an adolescent culture, driven by greed and power and lying on the cusp of an era of spiritual growth and shifting values, this book explores mythic themes in various historical eras to explain the past, present, and future of the human experience. It suggests that the world is facing a rite of passage into adulthood and that a time of cooperation, stabilization, and sharing is approaching. With an original theory of history based on developmental psychology,...

Schumacher College, based near Totnes in Devon, England, opened its doors in the early 1990s and is now an internationally-renowned centre for transformative learning on all aspects of sustainable living. James Lovelock led the first course on Gaia theory. A host of visionary thinkers has followed, including mathematician and biologist Brian Goodwin, who died in 2009. This book is a realisation of his vision for Schumacher College to publish a collection of essays on sustainable solutions ...

What if the distinction between business and doing good vanished? What if all those who engaged in business were committed to a deeper purpose, and all those committed to doing good were entrepreneurial and enterprising? What would it take for a world of seven billion such people to solve all the world’s problems?More and more people are looking for meaning and purpose in their lives as employees, as consumers, and as investors. More and more people have more than enough material g...

A preview of the post-mechanistic, holistic world in 2020 and 2030 as well as a map of the obstacles we must overcome to get there• Reveals how the youngest generation is seeding the shift in consciousness• Explains how society will be reorganized into grassroots networks like those revealed by quantum physics and experienced through social media• With contributions from futurist John L. Petersen, ex-CEO of Sanyo Tomoya Nonaka, media activist Duane Elgin, and other ...

This book introduces ten tools to revolutionize how we work together - in teams, organizations, companies, and communities.If groups are how you get (or don't get) things done, you will find an abundance of insight, inspiration and practical suggestions here. The tools in this book will help you increase trust, unleash collective wisdom, and nurture the joyous ease of "many hands making light work".Each of the ten tools brings a unique perspective. Together they are a compr...