Buffeted by numerous challenges, injustices, and looming crises we are called to imagine a more just, humane, and sustainable world. To bring about this new world will require leadership across our institution and society, a role each of us can inhabit regardless of our particular title or unit. In living out Santa Clara’s mission of innovation and leadership, the Ignatian tradition offers important opportunities for us to think about what inclusive and transformative leadership looks like.

Whether it is as an individual or an institution, how we orient ourselves in relation to those around us is critical to innovative leadership. As Chris Lowney suggests, we have to see everyday as an opportunity to search for something more and something greater through the lens of our personal mission and values. In the Ignatian tradition, and many others, this mission cannot be in service of personal desires and attachments, but animated by the common good. Lowney’s words mesh with Professor Jennifer Woolley’s call to take the time to exercise our spiritual muscles and to reflect on our values as we seek to be more innovative leaders. Ignatian spirituality offers a number of practices that lead us through this process of discernment that will allow us to act from a firm foundation in a world that is often in flux.

Making Good Decisions
A collection of resources to help leaders make good choices and practices of discernment rooted in Ignatian spirituality

Ignatian Leadership Resources
Information on communal discernment, leadership-focused Examens, and other useful content from Jesuit Resource

What is Ignatian Leadership?
Additional reading by Sarah Broscombe