Dr Scott Churchill is the founding professor and chair of the psychology faculty at the University of Dallas, USA. A fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and editor-in-chief of the prestigious journal The Humanistic Psychologist (estb. 1975), Dr Churchill is currently engaged in the study of leadership in corporate and other organisations.

Newspeg. Churchill was in India in early January for a series of workshops on ‘Leadership in Corporate India’, organised by Sukrut Human and Organisation Consultants Pvt. Ltd, a Bangalore-based company promoted by well-known HR professional Manab Bose, a former HRD director of GE (India) and Tata Group. The leadership workshops conducted in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore over a fortnight (January 8-23) attracted enthusiastic participation of over 75 chief executives and HR professionals from blue-chip companies.

Direct talk. “The idea of holding leadership workshops was proposed to me by Manab, whom I’ve known for several years. I have been following the growth and development of Indian business and society ever since I read Erik H. Erikson’s Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence in the 90s. Therefore when I received the invitation to conduct leadership workshops, I accepted gladly,’’ says Churchill, a biology postgraduate of Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, who earned his Ph D in clinical psychology from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, where he began his teaching career in 1974. In 1981, he moved to the University of Dallas.

During his long and distinguished career in academia, Churchill has received wide acclaim for his experiential studies of interspecies communication by bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees), and as director and local coordinator of renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots global conservation and education programme.

According to Churchill, there’s a vital need to create compassionate and enlightened leaders in the business world. “Corporate leaders need re-training to make their companies more consumer and people-friendly. They must look beyond the bottom lines into issues of employees’ health, psychological well-being and family lives, and be aware of environmental sustainability. These are important issues upon which corporate leaders must introspect, and reassess their objectives and priorities.”

Future plans. The India leadership workshops are the first in a series which Sukrut Human and Organisation Consultants together with Dr Churchill intend to take to other countries. “The enthusiastic response to our workshops has persuaded us to take them to other countries. Moreover, Jane Goodall and I are working to bring the Roots and Shoots programme to Indian schools and colleges,” says Churchill.

Wind beneath your wings!

Rohini Sharma (Bangalore)