The study of Organisational Behaviour took a turn when management scholars Louis Fry and Mark Kriger introduced the concept of ‘beingfulness’ in 2009. They posited that a ‘being-centred’ leadership can inspire organisations at five levels — the physical world, the world of images and imagination, the level of the soul, the level of the spirit and the non-dual level. Now this model of leadership has been revised and broadened to include an Indian perspective, by Ram Nidumolu, Clinical Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Indian School of Business (ISB).
Derived from the ‘dvau suparnau’ mantras of the Mundaka, Katha and Svetasvatara Upanishads. the model adopts the Indian perspective of the ‘ego self’ (ahamkara) and the ‘witness self’ (sakshi). Ram had described this being-centred leadership model in detail in his 2013 book, Two Birds in a Tree: Timeless Indian Wisdom for Business Leaders” published in the US by Berrett-Koehler while the Indian publisher was HarperCollins.
Says Nidumolu, “Since 2015, I have been using the simpler term ‘Beingful’ to describe how to reconcile the lower and higher natures of ‘doing’ and ‘being’ in us. In my work, I have since extended the concept of Beingful to work, where we bring our whole self to work, to teams, culture, organisation, etc.
