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Possibilities: Aesthetic Intelligence

Last year I embarked on one of the most memorable journeys of my life, a research project with two regional theatres in Atlanta, Georgia. I wanted to explore what business organizations could learn from theatre ensembles to enhance alignment and performance. I came to understand how the world of the arts embodied many of the cultural and behavioral attributes that most business organizations yearn for.

Probing beyond the covert revealed the underpinnings of this enviable culture, an artistic mindset driven by a capacity, Aesthetic Intelligence (R. Mucha and C. Goodwin, What Business Can Learn From the World of the Arts, 4^th Art and Management Conference, Banff, Canada, 2008). Many of us associate the term aesthetic with ‘beauty’, and in the business world, the word aesthetic could easily be dismissed as irrelevant. But the derivation of the term, aesthetic, explains that it refers to a sense of perception, the utility of our senses, and it is this definition that informs the context for how aesthetic is used in this article. We consume and distinguish our environment through what we see, hear, touch, smell, feel and intuit. Our increased reliance on technology and virtual relationships has atrophied our senses and I contend compromised people and financial performance. Learning about Aesthetic Intelligence will illuminate how we can reclaim the power of our senses, enhance our capabilities, and in turn enhance how we can better serve our client organizations.

So What!

            If you Google the terms organizational leadership, culture and alignment, over three-quarter of a million citations will pop up for your review. This is an astounding number, and evidence of how important these topics are to business leaders across functions and at every level.  One of the driving reasons for the vast numbers of these resources is that although business leaders may not yet know the answer on how to assure high performance, they do know the consequences. Creating a culture of high performance, effective leadership, and sustainable alignment is not only important, it is critical, and when absent, performance is compromised, and profits erode.

It is likely you have not met a client organization of any size or industry that does not covet a high performance culture where:

▪        T eam play is a given, and everyone has their eye on the same prize;

▪         Feedback is ongoing and embedded;

▪         Experimentation is welcomed, not punished;

▪         Individuals passionately and proudly invest 100% of their energy and focus every day;

▪         Pride and playfulness, compromise and competency, self-interest and collaboration, and structure and freedom stand side by side;

▪         And where these enviable attributes are implicit, not promoted with team buildings, pep rallies, town halls, road shows, mission statement plaques, and laminated cards.   

This culture is not imaginary, not a fantasy. This coveted culture describes the culture of the performing arts: a world where ego, self-direction, and individuality aptly describe the players; respect, connection, and dependency, describe how they play. As organizational professionals, we know that culture is omnipotent in whatever entity it prevails: an organization, community, or a country. And so I pose:

Can we afford to ignore what the culture of the ‘world of the arts’ offers the ‘world of business’?  

The Culture of the “World of Performing Arts”

There is no doubt the typical world of the arts is different from the typical business enterprise. Still, to achieve and sustain success both must master the creative process of performance.

Bridging the world of the arts and the world of business is an emergent relationship. Over the past decade or so, arts-based learning has cracked the door open in business schools (Babson, Stamford, Wharton, Harvard, NYU, UCLA, Columbia, McGill, Copenhagen, Essex,) and organizations (Google, Unilever, IBM, McGraw Hill, P&G) across the globe.   

The arts have been employed to dramatize culture, spark imagination, enhance teamwork, and challenge the traditional model of leadership. Much of the work to date has focused on a specific method, such as improvisation to foster innovation, or roles and characterizations illuminating parallels between a typical performing artist and business leader. The arts have long been a source to teach presentation and media skills, and more recently served up models for enhancing customer experiences.  

Although these approaches have enriched the people and places they have touched, they embody a piecemeal approach, similar to taking a team out for a rock climb, or to brave the rapids and as such, their value is poised to being reduced to a fad, trend, or flavor of the month. This type of rub off experience falls short of internalized cognitive and behavioral culture change. Cultivating and integrating an artistic mindset into the fabric of organizational life holds the potential to energize leadership and organizational performance.

A Capacity for an Approach, not a Methodology

The pace of change continues to be relentless. Organizations will succeed or fail NOT by their ability for rapid response in an environment bombarded with stimulation, but by their ability for the BEST rapid response. This demands being able to absorb, assimilate, associate, and act appropriately - the capacity to be present, to be authentic, and to synthesize. These fundamental elements define Aesthetic Intelligence, the capacity to bring an artist’s sensibility to leading and running your business.  

You will come to see that Aesthetically Intelligent people are competent, fully engaged in their work, acutely aware, and emotionally intelligent; and that an Aesthetically Intelligent organization embodies, encourages, and executes the collective energy and focus of its members.

The article continues to introduce the elements of aesthetic intelligence: presence, authenticity, synthesis, and through case examples illuminates how each contributes to strengthening individual leadership and organizational performance (alignment, culture and engagement).