From Scarcity to Stewardship: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Transformative Mindset Shifts in Leadership
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68050/JAMS.2026.655Keywords:
Mindset shifts; Transcendental phenomenology; Conscious change leadership; Mindset sync; Financial flourishing; Stewardship; Scarcity paradigm.Abstract
Mindset shifts represent a crucial leverage point in organizational development, leadership performance, and personal transformation. However, conventional management literature frequently treats mindset change as a superficial, tool-based adoption rather than an embodied, relational repatterning of perception and identity. This article bridges empirical findings from Silas A. Ngong's (2025) transcendental phenomenological study of support-based leaders experiencing financial flourishing in Cameroon with multi-perspective mindset models, specifically Ash Buchanan’s (2025) taxonomy of organic, controlled, and postponed mindset shifts and Dean and Linda Ackerman Anderson’s (2010) conscious change leadership framework. Utilizing Moustakas’s phenomenological method alongside secondary theoretical synthesis, this study explores how leaders operating under severe resource constraints achieve a transformative shift from scarcity-driven anxiety to proactive stewardship and relational peace. The findings demonstrate that authentic organizational transformation relies on 'mindset sync'- the alignment of mental models with authentic essence and situational essentiality - rather than forced, controlled change initiatives. The resulting interdisciplinary framework provides actionable strategies for organizational leaders, educators, and change agents seeking sustainable, ethical transformation in complex, resource-constrained environments.
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