This page contains descriptions of and links to PDF versions of publications related to organizations, organizational health and organizational development. There is a separate page containing articles related to somatic learning, the Feldenkrais Method and the Anat Baniel Method for Children. |
How Generative Mindfulness Can Contribute to Inclusive Workplaces. With Lemuel W. Watson & Elizabeth King (2021) Humanistic Management Journal, 6(3), 451-478. Read online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-021-00120-2 or download a PDF copy (free). | |
How can people live harmoniously with one another, despite what separates us culturally, racially, and economically? We describe how mindfulness can be a core contributor in creating communities and societies where people feel sufficiently at home with themselves, their beliefs, and their traditions so that they can live and work along people from very different cultures. This article is based on both the personal experience and scholarly research of its authors and suggests ways that humanistic management education can contribute to creating inclusive workplaces through incorporating generative mindfulness in executive development as well as undergraduate programs. | |
“Bringing Mindfulness and Joy to Work: Action Research on Organizational Change” Handbook of Personal and Organizational Transformation, Judi Neal, editor, published by Springer, 2018, with M.O. Taylor & O.M. Wolberger | |
This action research case study describes a process of introducing mindfulness into an organization to shift the work culture over a two year period. While many studies show the impact of mindfulness practices on productivity and stress management, our outcomes appear somewhat unique, in that the most consistent themes distilled from one-on-one confidential interviews with participants were an increased connection with one another, with nature, and with the meaning of their work. In other words, this approach, both here and in an earlier phase of this program of action research, seems to encourage people to sense their interdependence with the human and natural worlds in which they live. Purchase at Springer or contact me by email for a copy for your own use — cannot be posted due to copyright restrictions. |
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Peter Senge: “Everything that we do is about shifting the capability for collective action….” In D. B. Szabla, W. Passmore, M. Barnes, & A. Gibson (Eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of organizational change thinkers. New York: Springer, 2017. | |
This book chapter describes the unique contributions of Peter Senge to the field of organizational change. Peter is an author, organizational consultant, and systems thinker whose writings and workshops have contributed to a fundamental shift in the way that many look at the nature and scale of change. His writings and collaborative work with leaders in schools, not-for-profit organizations, and corporations continue to contribute to organizational and societal evolution. Contact me for a copy for your own use—cannot be posted due to copyright restrictions. | |
Experiences of presence as a key factor towards sustainability leadership. Journal of Leadership Studies, 9 (4), 54-59. doi: 10.1002/jls.21427 . With V. Koskela (2016). | |
We describe how individual experiences of presence may be a key factor in giving birth to the kind of leadership that enables deep sustainability. The empirical data come from two studies of the same theme: (a) an international action research project about Waking Up Moments at Work and (b) a Finnish phenomenographical study about experiences of presence. Both studies address the generative qualities of waking up or presence, suggest the value of such experiences as catalysts for inner shifts in human consciousness, and begin to explore how this may be a core component of developing leaders’ potential for contributing to sustainability. | |
“Moments of waking up”: A doorway to mindfulness and presence. Journal of Management Inquiry, 26, 86-100. doi: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1056492616665171 |
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The context for this article and the research project that it describes is the potential importance of being awake and present for leaders. This 2-year collaborative action research project was designed to explore whether simply intending to be present could make a difference in participants’ quality of experience at work and also to find out whether this would impact people with whom they worked. The study included a phenomenological analysis of contemporaneous notes taken several times a week for 4 weeks by two groups of 12-15 people from North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. The study also explored the possibility that this approach to mindfulness might be useful for leadership development and education on a broad scale. The results suggest that sustaining ongoing awareness practices supports leaders in attaining the steadiness and flexibility needed for addressing the adaptive problems of our world. | |
Mindfulness as waking up: Musings about how to be optimally alive. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 62, 59-75. doi: dx.doi.org/10.9774/GLEAF.4700.2016.ju.00010 | |
Although mindfulness-based methods can be used to reduce stress, such practices have long been intended for more profound purposes. The goal of this paper is to convey how people can learn to attend to the moment mindfully without extensive training, in ways that shift their approach to leadership, work, other people—and life. My recent research invited people to direct their attention towards “waking up” rather than training them in mindfulness techniques by drawing on the inherent curiosity and wakefulness of the human mind. Subsequent to the completion of this research project, I began exploring how leaders might work from such a model. The paper describes the difference between seers, who need deep, traditional-nourished practices, and leaders, who may benefit from less extensive approaches that instead invite them to pay attention to what lives in the moment. I use C.G. Krone’s approach to systems thinking to distinguish between these two types of leaders. I close with a case study, briefly describing one leader’s use of my work in her organization. | |
Embodied Leadership—Coherent Leadership: Developing Wise Leaders (5 pages). |
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This is a working paper that describes how my thinking has been evolving while writing Inner Peace—Global Impact (2012), “From the Ground Up” (2013), and Leading with Spirit, Presence, and Authenticity (2014), as influenced by my international action research project on waking up at work. It depicts a model for conceptualizing the contribution of somatic and spiritual awareness to developing wise leaders. | |
From the Ground Up: Revisioning Sources and Methods of Leadership Development. In Melina, L. (Ed.) (2013). The Embodiment of Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass/Wiley. |
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Mindfulness practice and a particular form of embodied learning (the Feldenkrais Method) can be sources for new perspectives on leadership development. These two areas offer deep ways to connect to the ground, both physically and in terms of the fundamental ground of being—something that leaders rarely receive in today’s forms of management education. This chapter provides an introduction to both the Feldenkrais Method and mindfulness as methods relevant to leadership education, based in the author’s experience as a teacher of Feldenkrais and years of study and practice of mindfulness. | |
Inner Peace—Global Impact Tibetan Buddhism, Leadership, and Work Information Age Publishing [IAP] scheduled for release August, 2012 |
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This book describes underlying principles of Tibetan wisdom traditions relevant for successful leadership in the 21st century. Rich with vivid pictures of deep personal experience. Long-time Western Tibetan Buddhist practitioners describe how their practice is influenced in fields as diverse as scientific research, social work, art, dance, and university teaching.
It has a section on leadership (focusing on the Dalai Lama as a leader and the feminine principle in Tibetan Buddhism), a section about westerners’ personal experiences bringing their practice into their work lives, a section on the largest global Tibetan Buddhist organizations, a section of research studies, and a closing section with comments by a 10th generation Tibetan yogi on teaching wisdom culture in the West and reflections by noted social scientists on the importance of contemplative practice for leaders. See InnerPeace-GlobalIimpact.com/ to download the preface. INNER PEACE—GLOBAL IMPACT is on sale from Information Age Publishing for only $20, including shipping, anywhere in the US, and for $29.99 outside the US, if you call them for this price at 1-866-754-9125 or 1-704-752-9125. You must call to get the special pricing. |
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Increasing Leadership Integrity through Mind Training and Embodied Learning. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 2010, 1, 21–38. © 2010 American Psychological Association, DOI: 10.1037/a0018081. (18 pages) | |
Published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, this article offers foundations for an integrated approach to leadership integrity consultation, using both somatic learning methods and practices for training the mind, known as lojong in Tibetan Buddhism. As the abstract states: “Embodied learning and mind training are grounded in similar perceptions about the importance of attention and awareness for developing effective, powerful action in the world. … The paper describes these methods, identifies how they have been addressed in research, shows how each has been used in consulting, and suggests that they may be used together synergistically within processes of leadership development.” | |
Being a bodhisattva at work: Perspectives on the influence of Buddhist practices in entrepreneurial organizations. Journal of Human Values, 2007, 13(1), 41-58. (excerpted, 5 pages) | |
Written for a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, this article describes research on entrepreneurs who are practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism and discusses the underlying concepts. (Excerpt only, as permitted by copyright law). | |
The Possibility of Healthy Organizations: Thoughts toward a New Framework for Organizational Theory and Practice. Journal of Applied Sociology/Sociological Practice, 2004, 21(2)/6(2), 57-79. (23 pages) | |
This article, written for a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, describes the intellectual influences on Dr. Goldman Schuyler that led her to develop her approach to organizational health. | |
Practitioner – heal thyself: Challenges in enabling organizational health. Organization Management Journal, 2004, 1(1), 28-37. | |
Scholarly piece on organizational health that is also personal, describing how Dr. Goldman Schuyler’s experiences are similar to those researched about how one’s own health may be impacted by the roles one takes in organizations. | |
Invoking New Mindsets for Peace -The Kalachakra as a Transformational Practice. Sociological Practice Newsletter, American Sociological Association, Summer 2004. (2 pages) | |
Written for sociologists, this article describes Dr. Goldman Schuyler’s experiences at the Kalachakra Ceremony for world peace, given by the Dalai Lama in Toronto, Canada, 2004. | |
The Power Line: A Model for Generating a Systemic Focus on Organizational Health. Sociological Practice. (2003) 5, 77-88. (12 pages) | |
Dr. Goldman Schuyler developed the Power Line Model in the early 1990s to support leaders in taking a systemic view of organizational change. While it is increasingly accepted that organizational development is built upon attention to issues at the individual, group, and systemwide levels, we lack theoretically-grounded yet practical tools to help leaders to identify and encourage holistic approaches to organizational change that integrate work across these levels. | |
Awareness Through Movement Lessons as a Catalyst for Change.The Feldenkrais Journal, Winter, 2003, pp. 39-46. (6 pages) | |
Dr. Goldman Schuyler developed and taught a graduate course in “The Art of Change” that introduced students to using Feldenkrais principles as a source of change in both their personal and work lives. | |
What Kind of Change Enables Transformation? Sociological Practice Newsletter, American Sociological Association. Winter, 2002. (3 pages) | |
Dr. Goldman Schuyler presents her thoughts on how the Feldenkrais Method can be used to create a vivid experience of significant change via our bodies and somatic learning. This article, written for sociologists, discusses the possibility that if we enable people to experience and sense that they can change habits and patterns that seemed immutable, we can teach them how to generate their own simple and highly effective mental models for change leadership. | |
Reflections from the Mountain— Paradigms for Change. OD Practitioner, Organization Development Network. 30(1), 18-26. (9 pages) | |
A severe skiing accident catalyzes new perceptions about the relationship between how people learn through movement and how change occurs in organizations. |