In the Study of Leadership, Spirituality Is the Unexpected Elephant in the Room

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12324
• Date: 01 January 2015
• Author: Dasi Fruchter
• Published date: 01 January 2015

Book Reviews 171

Dasi Fruchter is a master of public

administration candidate in the Wagner

Graduate School of Public Service at New

York University. She is also studying toward

rabbinic ordination at Yeshivat Maharat, the

f‌i rst seminary to train and ordain Orthodox

Jewish women in spiritual leadership.

E-mail: hcf225@nyu.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 75, Iss. 1, pp. 171–174. © 2014 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12324.

f‌i nd it benef‌i cial to incorporate spirituality into their

leadership and management practice, a peripheral,

incoherent approach to this kind of incorporation

is not enough.  ey argue that spirituality must be

central to organizational practice and that it should

be rooted in consciousness and appreciation of the

other, connectivity to the greater world, and a sense

of complexity and plurality of beliefs. To describe this

approach, the authors of‌f er the term “co-charismatic

leadership,” which, in contrast to theories of leader-

ship that demand high levels of charisma displayed

by the leader to motivate (neocharismatic leadership),

“stresses the mutuality of charisma . . . and of‌f ers

greater stress on critical dialogue, interdependence

and shared creation” (265).

 e tenth in a series titled Frontiers of Business

Ethics (edited by Laslo Zsolnai for Peter Lang),

Co-Charismatic Leadership joins the other titles in

going beyond conventional management literature

toward more sustainable models for businesses.

 is series on business ethics states that the current

business literature fails to answer important ethical

questions about the responsibility of businesses to

stakeholders, communities, and the greater world.

Books in the series address responsibility, sustain-

ability, ethical leadership, and spirituality from many

dif‌f erent angles. Co-Charismatic Leadership of‌f ers a

strong proposal for a theory of spirituality and leader-

ship that can truly be practiced in the workplace, be it

in a business or in a public sector context. Although

written specif‌i cally in a generic management frame-

work, Co-Charismatic Leadership has many implica-

tions for management in the public sector—the book’s

case studies range from the f‌i nance sector to govern-

ment to education and health care.

Before proposing their view, however, the authors

begin with a rich analysis of existing leadership theo-

ries, deconstructing transactional, transformational,

and servant leadership models for the reader. Assessing

both the weaknesses and important strengths of each

approach, this review stands alone as critical reading

Simon Robinson and Jonathan Smith,

Co-Charismatic Leadership: Critical Perspectives

on Spirituality, Ethics and Leadership (New York:

Peter Lang, 2014). 326 pp. $80.95 (paper),

ISBN: 9783034302166; $80.95 (eBook),

ISBN: 9783035305708.

Simon Robinson and Jonathan Smith of‌f er a

famous parable in their book Co-Charismatic

Leadership: Critical Perspectives on Spirituality,

Ethics and Leadership about an elephant stationed in

a dark room. Wise men surround the elephant, and

as they reach for the beast and feel its dif‌f erent parts,

they come to the conclusion that there are many dif-

ferent animals present instead of a single large one.

 ere are two interpretations of the meaning of this

parable: First, as a response to complexity, human

beings will come forward with the simplest mean-

ing of a phenomenon, divorced from critical analysis

and connectedness. Second, the elephant represents

something signif‌i cant lurking in the room, although

we do not quite know how to describe it. Spirituality,

as def‌i ned in relationship to leadership studies and

management, has both of these qualities—it is both

hard to def‌i ne and important.

In the last 15 years, the leadership and manage-

ment literature has exploded with claims that greater

engagement with spirituality and meaning mak-

ing in organizations is necessary—a journal titled

Management, Spirituality, and Religion emerged in

2010—but dozens of def‌i nitions and applications

can easily cloud a practitioner’s understanding of

how spirituality can actually work in practice. While

this book has the potential to of‌f er answers to reduce

this confusion, it does not fully realize such promise.

Nevertheless, it of‌f ers an important contribution to

the conversation.

Robinson and Smith have joined forces in this new

book to make the following argument: while an

increasingly complex world demands a new approach

to leadership in which both leaders and followers

In the Study of Leadership, Spirituality Is the Unexpected

Elephant in the Room

Sonia M. Ospina and Rogan Kersh, Editors

Dasi Fruchter

New York University