Leadership as Relational Awakening: Modest Reflections on Balance, Wholeness, and the Return to Center

Abstract

This paper explores a relational model of leadership grounded in wholeness, spiritual awareness, and the development of leadership within others. While not positioning myself as an expert in Indigenous traditions, I offer a modest reflection on how many Indigenous worldviews embody right-brain, relational, community-centered ways of knowing that complement the left-brain, analytical emphasis of Western systems. Drawing from The Ripple Effect of Being, this study highlights how Western leadership often prioritizes tasks over relationships, resulting in fragmentation, disconnection, and diminished human potential. A shift toward relational leadership—one that nurtures gifts, aligns roles with purpose, and cultivates personal growth—mirrors the metaphysical truth that separation is an illusion and that wholeness emerges from a return to one’s inner center. Through this lens, leadership becomes a healing journey rooted in love, presence, and the expression of one’s true spiritual nature.

Presenters

Robert Pruitt, II
Faculty/Director, Spiritual Life Coaching Program, Inner Visions Institute for Spiritual Development, Maryland, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Religious Commonalities and Differences

KEYWORDS

RELATIONAL LEADERSHIP, METAPHYSICAL WHOLENESS, INDIGENOUS WORLDVIEWS, SPIRITUAL ONENESS, INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH