Bhaktivedanta Hospital:Serving in Devotion

There has been a growing need for responsible leadership among firms, social organizations, policy makers, educators and the general public at large. This may be attributed to highly publicized scandals or instances of management misconduct leading to eroded public images of leaders. The paper attempts to present a case of Bhaktivedanta Hospital, based on the concept of “Serving in Devotion”, driven by the vision of its founder Radhanath Swami. Specific initiatives of the hospital focus on the needs of body, mind and soul with a broadminded approach to traditional and modern medicine. Apart from providing modern amenities to cater to chronic illnesses, it also provides a unique spiritual care through a dedicated palliative care department that trains nurses to deal with the terminally ill patients and their families in its hospice. The case discusses how institutions can be built and sustained on strong foundation of its values. Organizations can learn how to create an institution to serve to deal with the problems of today’s society in terms of systems, ideologies and role modeling. The lessons for implementation have for practicing managers is largely focused around driving ethical and value driven leadership.