| The purpose of this study was to discover the ways in which community college presidents in the Southwest perceive, experience, or use spirituality in their roles as executive leaders. The significance was to find out if Spiritual Leadership is a viable leader paradigm for community college higher education leadership. A phenomenological research design based on the works of Moustakas (1994) and van Manen (2016) was used to identify and describe the essences of community college presidents' perceptions, experiences, and uses of spirituality in leadership. Twenty presidents from the states of New Mexico, Arizona, West Texas, and Oklahoma were interviewed face to face for an average of 65 minutes.;Phenomenological reduction and analysis of the participants' transcripts revealed several themes regarding presidents' perceptions, experiences, and uses of spirituality in executive leadership with definitions also being identified. Themes included serving others instead of self, providing meaning and purpose, helping people find their way, and relying on spirituality when making tough decisions. Findings revealed that the presidents in this study rely on specific spiritual behaviors, states of mind, and values when leading others and on spiritual intelligence when making decisions. Presidents indicated that spirituality is necessary to lead institutions into the 21st century. Interpretation of the findings suggests that Spiritual Leadership is a promising and viable leader style for community college executive leaders. If one wishes to cultivate or teach Spiritual Leadership, the findings in this study can be borrowed as a heuristic or as a foundation to develop a curriculum. |
