https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492617710758 https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492617710758 Journal of Management Inquiry 2018, Vol. 27(2) 119–137 © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1056492617710758 jmi.sagepub.com https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492617710758 Journal of Management Inquiry 2018, Vol. 27(2) 119–137 © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1056492617710758 journals.sagepub.com/home/jmi Editors’ Choice 710758JMI XX X 10.1177/1056492617710758Journal of Management InquiryAdler and Delbecq research-article 2017 1 McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada 2 Santa Clara University, CA, USA Sadly, Andre Delbecq passed away in October 2016. He is profoundly missed by all those who knew him personally and knew his work. Corresponding Author: Nancy J. Adler, S. Bronfman Chair in Management, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, 1001 rue Sherbrooke ouest, Montreal, Québec H3A 1G5, Canada. Email: nancy.adler@mcgill.ca Twenty-First Century Leadership: A Return to Beauty Nancy J. Adler 1 and Andre L. Delbecq 2 I am not a businessman, I am an artist. Warren Buffett (as cited in Bryan, 1998, p. ix) More than 2 millennia ago, Confucius encouraged leaders to seek wisdom and perspective through contemplation, not simply by attempting to create success based on their own and others’ experience. Validating Confucius’s ancient insight, Harvard Professor Howard Gardner’s (1995) contemporary research revealed daily reflection as one of only three core competencies The soul…never thinks without a picture Aristotle (n.d.), 384-322 BCE Abstract Highlighting Aristotle’s appreciation that “The soul . . . never thinks without a picture,” this article weaves together art and ideas into an aesthetic encounter with beauty, leadership, and our humanity. It invites reflection based on long-established wisdom traditions as well as drawing on insights from everyday sacred traditions. You are invited not only to engage in reading the words presented on each page but also to stop and to reflect on their meaning. You are offered the power of art to intensify your experience and understanding. The article invites you to enter into a contemplative silence designed to increase your appreciation of your own and others’ humanity while deepening the beauty of your own leadership. Such encounters with art and deep reflection have the power to guide us in rediscovering and creating beauty in our fractured world. Encountering art and wisdom through a deeply reflective process does not dismiss science but, rather, partners with all ways of knowing to go beyond what any one approach can produce on its own. Thus, the overall invitation of the article is to heighten your understanding of yourself, your role, and your aspirations as a 21st-century leader. Keywords leadership, art, beauty, reflection, meditation, spirituality Leading Beautifully from the Self-Portrait series. Nancy Adler that distinguish leaders who make an extraordinary difference in the world from their more ordinary counterparts. 1 Similarly, noted management expert Peter Drucker (1999) recommended