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.
Wisdom from yore
Nidumolu has developed the approach of Beingfulness based on ancient Indian, Greek and other wisdom traditions that emphasise an ultimate reality that is beyond the world of senses. This comes easily to Nidumolu who also teaches a course on the Philosophy of Science DBA/PhD students at ISB.
Explains Nidumolu, “Beingfulness is a way of life that is true to our being while engaged fully in doing to restore internal and external wholeness. Beingful leadership describes the beliefs, orientations and behaviours that influence people to enable a harmonious balance between being and doing to restore wholeness in themselves and their ecosystem.”
Beingful leadership modules spread from one day to four weeks are customised age-wise. “The age group of 25-35 years is still seeking a sense of purpose and identity, the 35-45 year group is beginning to come to grips with the nature of work and at 45-55 years are middle-aged people who are beginning to realise their mortality. At ISB, these correspond respectively to the PGP, PGP Pro, and PGP Max programs at ISB.”
Beyond beingful
Apart from developing the concept of Beingfulness as the foundation of leadership in 2015, Nidumolu has also developed a set of frameworks, tools and practices for Beingful leadership and Beingful work. He says, “I plan to extend these ideas to other contexts such as teams, organisations, governance, capitalism, etc.”
Speaking about the effectiveness of these courses, Nidumolu says that students, including executives in the Executive Education program, instinctively understand and relate to these concepts. “While they have grown up being vaguely familiar with the concepts of witness, self, being, etc., from ancient Indian wisdom, they have not been able to apply them in a practical way to their work. My courses allow them to do so in ways that are practical and insightful. The common phrase used by students is that Beingful leadership is a transformational experience for them,” states Nidumolu and elaborates, “A beingful manager brings the ability to excel simultaneously in two key aspects of any given situation where decisions have to be made or work needs to get done: 1) “Zooming in” on the activities and goals to do the work rapidly and efficiently, and 2) “Zooming out” to the big picture or system within which the work is situated.“
Currently Nidumolu and his team are undertaking research directed at developing concepts that are measurable, relevant to integrating ancient wisdom with modern psychology, and useful to managers. “We are currently submitting an empirical paper on Beingful work to a top journal, completing data collection on a model relating Beingful leadership to other management concepts. Our models, practices and insights are based on data collected from hundreds of managers and used to develop robust theories of beingful leadership and work.”
