function of the leader's concern for the whole soul, the inner sense of
spirituality of self and group members. These writers counsel that lead-
ership defines the leader's true self and determines what is good and
true and beautiful for them and other organization stakeholders.

Leaders today are pressured to give their very best. They are asked to
apply all of the secular knowledge available about work and leading
others in doing work. They also are asked to bring to the task of lead-
ership their whole selves, their knowledge of the spiritual dimension of
life that, perhaps, more powerfully than any other force, guides daily
action. Surely detailed knowledge about the theory and practice of lead-
ership is important, but spiritual knowledge is essential. It is what we
are, who we are, and why we think we are here in life that ultimately
guides our individual lives and conditions our relationships with oth-
ers.

The argument in this book is, therefore, a personal one. It defines my
personal conception of leadership based on spirit as a result of my ex-
perience and review of the ferment of discussion and model building of
the past few years. I have tried to buttress my position with the work
of a host of contemporary authors, people who are in various stages of
hypothesis formation and idea deliberation. But it seems to me that while
the force of spirituality in our lives, including our work lives, is a fact,
our understanding of its operational use and certainly of its control and
guidance, is unclear. Spirituality is not easily susceptible to theory build-
ing using standard methods of search and research.

Theory building is accomplished in two ways. The first is to amass as
much information as possible from the past, use it as a foundation, and
extend common ideas into a model of what the world is or may be like.
The second method is more creative, but perhaps equally valid, given
the typical half-life of most leadership theories. This second approach is
to immerse one's self in the lore of the field of leadership--its intellectual
as well as practical manifestations--and then create a model that re-
sponds to essential elements of the operational surroundings.

The framework created in this personal, creative method is perhaps as
valid as the more plodding accumulation of data to assemble a new
paradigm from past ideas. This creative approach has, at least, the ad-
vantage of having the potential to add something new to our body of
leadership understanding. It may even produce a better concept, one
more sensitive to current needs, current values, and current operational
reality, than a reassembled package of old and perhaps obsolete ideas.
And, given the phenomenal changes in both work and worker's char-
acteristics in today's workplace, something new is needed.

Building a theory of spiritual leadership, like getting in touch with
one's own spiritual center, is an intensely personal, emotional, and pas-
sionate task. And, like getting in touch with our own spiritual center,

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