Lead with Heart in Mind: Treading the Noble Eightfold Path for Mindful and Sustainable Practice

This enlightening and inspiring book shows both accomplished and aspiring leaders how to harness Buddhist philosophies to practice more effective and sustainable leadership. Illustrated through the stories of visionary and innovative leaders in many fields, including Elon Musk (Tesla), Malala Yousafzai (human rights), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), and Muhammad Yunus (microfinance and development), this volume links an ancient Buddhist concept, known as the Noble Eightfold Path, to contemporary needs to develop an alternative paradigm to the excessive bottom-line focus and winner-take-all approach that has come to dominate leadership practice in recent decades.
The stunning rejection by the United Kingdom of the European Union and the divisive US presidential race of 2016 serve as a dramatic backdrop to complex social issues that require creative solutions bringing together stakeholders from different fields and points of view. The Eightfold Path--characterized by the following elements: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration--is an approach to leadership that balances individual and collective concerns while aligning pragmatic and spiritual priorities.
Joan Marques, an accomplished author, speaker, and educator on spirituality in organizations, with extensive experience in teaching and applying Buddhist principles, demonstrates how the Eightfold Path can inform practices and decisions that result in long-term communal benefits, and, in the process, develop more mindful and conscientious leaders capable of tackling multifaceted challenges.

Joan Marques, PhD, EdD, serves as Dean of Woodbury University’s School of Business, and Professor of Management. Her teaching focuses on leadership, ethics, and organizational behavior, and her research interests pertain to the same areas with specific focus on workplace spirituality, leadership awareness and Buddhist Psychology in Management. She has been widely published in prestigious scholarly journals such as Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Development, Business and Society, Journal of Organizational Analysis, Organization Development Journal, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Journal of Global Responsibility, Journal of Communication Management, International Journal of Organizational Analysis, and many others. Joan has authored/co-authored/co-edited more than 20 books on management and leadership topics, including Ethical Leadership (2017), Leadership: Finding Balance between Ambition and Acceptance (2016), Business and Buddhism (2015) and Leadership and Mindful Behavior Action, Wakefulness (2014). She is also the co-author/co-editor of, among others, Engaged Leadership, Transforming Through Future-Oriented Design Thinking (2018) and Leadership Today, Practices for Personal and Professional Performance (2017). Joan frequently presents and conducts workshops on international forums, most recently at the Academy of Management (US) and the Center for Communications and Public Relations (Suriname). More info about Joan Marques is available on her website, joanmarques.com.