Art & Innovative Leadership

1. Art & Innovative Leadership Prof. Danica Purg, President, IEDC-Bled School of Management and CEEMAN The 10th Bled Forum on Europe March 6, 2009

2. Challenges for Leaders andManagers • Leaders and entrepreneurs have to cope with a continuously changing environment • They need to consciously create and influence changes, to align business with social interests • They need to become more creative and innovative to develop a vision that can inspire other people • Arts and science are increasingly seen as a means to develop more creative and innovative leaders

3. Implications for Leadership and Management Development • Classical way of educating business leaders and entrepreneurs in functional courses does not respond to the need to see business as part of society • More holistic approach and emphatic attitude is required • Accent on knowledge and skills does not satisfy the need to develop leaders with an open and receptive mind and to continuous change in cross-cultural environments • Leaders and managers need to generate outputs that are needed by customers and society at large

4. THE IMPACT OF PHILOSOPHY AND ART Philosophy and art have traditionally had an important place in our education. It has enriched our understanding of language and also expressed spoken language. We have, therefore, to our disposal a very important tool in the process of conceptualization, essential for every process of change.

5. WHY SHOULD LEADERS LEARN FROM ART AND ARTISTS? Art communicates, inspires, shocks and provokes! • Art and artists stimulate us to see more, to hear more, and feel more of what is going on within us and around us. • The artist can stimulate us to broaden our skills, our behavioural repertory, and our flexibility of response. • Analysis of how the artist is trained and how he/she works can produce important insights into what is needed to perform and what it means to lead and manage. • Most important of all, the art puts us in touch with our creative self

6. ARTAS INSPIRATION FOR LEADERSHIP • Arts offers us concepts and tools: • to see the symptoms of forthcoming change, to understand them, and to respond to them • see patterns more clearly • understand the role of teams and leading teams

7. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM A VIOLINIST? (1) • Violinist might not have heard for chaos theory, but can show through the work of famous composer Bach, that order and chaos are mirror images • Patterns can be shown and discovered together with the participants • What appears to be irregular isactually very systematic

8. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM A VIOLINIST? (2) By “decomposing” music the violinist: • Examines leadership style from the perspective of listening • Studies patterns in the musical evolution • Drawsparallels with leadership behaviour • Stimulates reflective conversation • Transfers musical experience into personal and organizational situation

9. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS? • The orchestra is more than the sum of its parts • The relationship with the environment (sponsors, quality of playground, public etc.) is essential for the final performance • The conductor needs to optimize the system for the good of a greater whole

10. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM A PAINTER? • Inspires business leaders to show their talents • Makes participants experience the magic of shared creative moments and pride of unexpected results • Uncovers the hidden abilities of leaders to express themselves by symbols • Stimulates them to find a common language

11. To sum up: ART IS IMPORTANT FOR LEADERSHIP The important impediment of the holistic approach is the change of levels: From rational thinking to intuition and realization of abstract contents. It’s the beginning of another perception that produce other kind of attention for: A task A team The ability to communicate and to experience

12. CREATIVITY NEEDS A CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT • Concept of the school as art gallery • High-tech facilities and equipment • Innovative programs, using art, science and philosophy in leadership development