Sustainable Development and Consciousness Development

Abstract

This chapter addresses how management education can propel the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by including tools for consciousness development within degree programs. Consciousness is the capacity to comprehend and care about the wholeness of life in ourselves, our society, and the natural world. Recent studies indicate that how individuals perceive challenges, formulate solutions, and collaborate with others is determined by their development of consciousness – that individuals functioning at higher levels of development are more likely to demonstrate sustainable leadership than those at lower states. To realize a sustainable world, universities must provide the necessary tools for students to transcend conventional thinking and experience higher states of consciousness. When the technologies of consciousness are included in management education, the world will realize a global shift towards a new sustainable paradigm.