In Search of Sustainable Leadership Paradigms: Insights from Catholic Social Thought

Both in scholarly debate and among organizational practitioners, we are currently witnessing the search for new leadership paradigms, that is, models capable of supporting innovative and sustainable management of human resources in the context of uncertainty and inevitable change fueled by today’s scenario. In this light, the key idea proposed by the chapter is that Catholic social thought offers multiple insights leading to identifying, in current leadership practices, the need for elements such as reciprocity, participation, caring behaviors, the search for meaning and even spirituality in the workplace and the ability to share ethical values oriented toward the common good in and around organizations. It is claimed that these suggestions are valuable for fueling a humanistic approach and can strengthen and enrich what is recommended today by several cutting-edge approaches such as servant leadership, spiritual leadership and caring leadership. Furthermore, some practical implications of the presented perspective are discussed.