Ecological Selves and Organizational Leadership Values that Matter

Abstract

One striking feature in the sweep of history is the extent to which humans have manipulated the natural environment to serve our needs and our desires. In the early written record, there are tales of deforestation and soil erosion (Plato, 360 BCE). As early as the seventeenth century, natural historians compared the grasslands around villages to inhabited areas and speculated on the consequences of human activity on natural systems (Goudie, 2006, p. 3). The onset of the industrial revolution in Western Europe combined with a growing understanding and knowledge base of science has rendered a circumstance of uncontrolled manipulation of the ecosystems and ever finer ways to measure these consequences.

This article is an invitation to challenge us as scholars and practitioners to seek understanding as companies and other organizations take up their roles in a world that we are transforming irrevocably. Why does it matter, after all, that we seek to build a body of knowledge around corporate functioning? It is my intention that this article helps us ponder and reflect on that question.