Change and disruption is all around us, with our economic, social, and environmental imperatives currently being turned upside down and governed by paradoxes. . Chaos is replacing (perceived) order, local is replacing global, digital is replacing F2F, digital enhances global, and home is replacing the tourist gaze. This sense of significant disruption means that our models of conventional management are becoming less relevant and we need new perspectives and even ontologies that give insights into emerging forms that may govern a more compassionate future.
One such lens challenging our traditional theories is quantum physics. The discovery that the quantum realm is both a subjective and an objective reality opens new possibilities in critiquing the Newtonian-Cartesian-Darwinian belief that organizations ought to be governed by competition and self-interest. Rather, quantum physics shows us that the universe is made of both properties of waves and properties of particles, that is, a sense of inexplicable wholeness and connectedness that is governed through entanglement, potentiality, and indeterminism. A quantum perspective therefore enables us to radically reframe our understanding of reality through eliminating dichotomies. Because quantum relies on our direct-intuitive experience, our personal experiences and practices become central to this shift in awareness. The result of this increase in awareness is to critique how our actions impact on others and on the world, meaning that our quantum leaders and managers are more likely to be agents who focus on enhancing human flourishing and societal well-being.
In this special issue, we have contributions from four authors who endeavor to explain and apply this “quantum” way of thinking to organizational management and leadership. All of these contributions acknowledge the role of a spiritual contemplative practice as a direct-intuitive experience; and that the outcome of this results in a wholeness that reduces the self-other dichotomy that potentially has a positive impact on organizations and society.
Our special issue begins with a contribution by Chris Lazlo with a discussion on the quantum field and how it sheds light on the power of direct-intuitive practices that may transform a leader’s conscious awareness. Chris argues that this shift in awareness is necessary as, despite enormous contributions to human progress, market-based for-profit businesses generally operate at a significant cost to society. He therefore suggests that practices such as meditation, nature immersion, and countless others are the highest points of leverage for entrepreneurial creativity and innovation. Awareness and contemplative practice leads managers to pursue business as a force for good not only because of the economic business case for it – that remains important – but mostly because of who these leaders become. Laszlo concludes by presenting new developments in science that may reframe our experience and understanding of the nature of reality.
The second contribution authored by Danny Sandra and Sharda Nandram provides a more abstract understanding of quantum through the phenomenon of organizational entrainment. Based on the fact that the heart – the strongest biological oscillator in the human body – has the power to pull other human systems into entrainment, they argue that the condition of the heart also plays an important role in the efficacy of responsible and good management. Moreover, applying spiritual leadership at the individual and team level within an organization can improve the quality of interconnectedness through the process of entrainment. They conclude that contemplative practices positively influence the entrainment process and are a prerequisite for achieving higher levels of both interconnectedness and potentiality.
In the final paper in this special issue, Kathryn Pavlovich suggests that the harmonic frequency of the Universe may be experienced through “quantum empathy”, providing an alternative narrative for global transcendence. Like Lazslo, Sandra, and Nandram, she also explains how contemplative practices – in this case, mindfulness, radical reflexivity, and empathy – may contribute to enhancing the shared experience between self and other. She argues that mindfulness contributes to self-expansion; radical reflexivity expands our experience of connectedness with others, and quantum empathy supports the shift in human consciousness to a WE collective through operating at the coherent frequency of the universe for global transcendence. Pavlovich argues that at the quantum level, empathy is an entangled, interconnected, and indeterminate shared existence – being both a wave where information travels and a particle where manifestation may occur – that may support the ethical shift in human consciousness. This view of spirituality as a macrolevel organizing mechanism does not present a tool-kit for organizational change, but rather offers a provocation of future system-level possibilities abducted from the new sciences of neuroscience and quantum.
As the Associate Editor for Pavlovich’s paper, Charles Tackney offers a commentary on the intrigue of quantum empathy. Tackney supports Pavlovich’s assertions and contributes to the quantum debate by arguing that quantum is nominally defined as a discrete quantity of energy proportional in magnitude to the frequency of the radiation it represents. This means that it can multiply and why it could be so important for shifting leadership mindsets. Tackney suggests that deployment of this “quantum” adjective before empathy sets off various notions in the mind through quantifying human ability. In doing so, he touches on topics that may include knowledge of the hearer, notions of indeterminacy, and even ultimate relativism to curiously question our management lens.
In summary, we hope these contributions open spaces for conversations on non-linear approaches to management and organizational leadership. We reiterate that the journey to higher consciousness through contemplative (direct-intuitive) practices reframes the self-other dichotomy – and opens the door for organizations and leadership to focus on engaged well-being at a societal level.