The Leader's Muse: an Exploration of How Artistic
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THE LEADER’S MUSE: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW ARTISTIC SENSIBILITIES INFORM ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP A dissertation presented to the Faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Organizational Systems by Ipek Serifsoy San Francisco, California December 2011 Approval of the Dissertation THE LEADER’S MUSE: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW ARTISTIC SENSIBILITIES INFORM ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP This dissertation by Ipek Serifsoy has been approved by the committee members below, who recommend it be accepted by the faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Systems Dissertation Committee: __________________ ___________________ Dennis Jaffe, PhD, Ph.D., Chair Date ____________________ ____________________ Alan Briskin, PhD Date ____________________ ____________________ Gwen Gibbs-Wade, Ph.D Date ii Abstract THE LEADER’S MUSE: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW ARTISTIC SENSIBILITIES INFORM ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP Ipek Serifsoy Saybrook University This dissertation investigated the emerging concept of leadership as artistry that exists in literature at the intersections of psychology, neuroscience, leadership, organizational development, communication theory, creativity, the expressive arts, education (especially art education), spirituality, and business. This study investigated how artistic sensibilities might enhance one’s leadership effectiveness through the subjective experience of attunement and expression. Attunement involves a full experience of one’s internal and external environment, and expression is the ability to articulate one’s unique perspective. The purpose of this study was to discover and map the uses, value, and application of leadership informed by artistic sensibilities in work situations. Phenomenologically oriented interviews were conducted with organizational leaders who had significant experience with an artistic medium. The findings suggest that the spillover of one’s artistic sensibilities into one’s leadership approach may enhance aesthetically oriented capacities such as relational awareness, mindful engagement, creative imagination, and inspired states. Based on these results, further inquiry and research are recommended. iii Acknowledgements This dissertation was the product of a village. A large web of people supported this project in numerous ways. Mentors, colleagues, clients, friends, and family offered inspiration together with tremendous mental and emotional sustenance to pull me through a long and difficult project. I am immensely grateful for and in awe of the power of such a support system. I offer special acknowledgement to those who played a very direct role: To my research participants, whose stories and experiences brought life to what would otherwise remain a theoretical and abstract concept. Thank you for openly and wholeheartedly sharing your experiences and reviewing my understanding of your stories for accuracy. To my dissertation committee, whose mentoring and guidance ensured the rigor and discipline to ground an especially elusive topic. To my chair, Dennis Jaffe, thank you for holding the bar high to ensure this topic received the respect it deserves. Thank you for bearing with me after years of false starts in trying to give form to this mercurial concept. To Alan Briskin, thank you for helping me connect with the joy of writing; for understanding the paradoxical possibilities in writing a dissertation that is both a solid intellectual endeavor and also a creative, artistic process. For Sharada Wade, thank you for your passion and enthusiasm for this subject. Your excitement kept me committed even when great sacrifices were needed to complete this work. I am also grateful for my husband, Jim DiFalco, who endured this dissertation as a third wheel in our marriage for most of our life together. Thank you for holding the faith that I could succeed in this endeavor during my frequent bouts of self-doubt. I dedicate this dissertation to the two most creative and beautiful feminine forces that bookend my life: my mother, Ayla, and my daughter, Sema. iv Poem There are two kinds of intelligence: One acquired, As a child in school memorizes facts and concepts From books and from what the teacher says, Collecting information from the traditional sciences As well as from the new sciences. With such intelligence you rise in the world You get ranked to your competence in retaining Information. You stroll with this intelligence In and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more Marks on your preserving tablets. There is another kind of tablet, one Already completed and preserved inside you. A spring overflowing in its springbox. A freshness In the center of the chest. This other intelligence Does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid, And it doesn’t move from outside to inside Through the conduits of plumbing – learned. This second knowing is a fountainhead From within you, moving out. ~ Rumi v Table of Contents Figures ...................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 1 Value of This Research ......................................................................... 5 Approach ............................................................................................. 7 Rationale ............................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 13 Review of Literature in Attunement .............................................................. 17 Empathy as a Form of Attunement ............................................................18 Perception and Seeing as a Form of Attunement .......................................27 Levels of Seeing .............................................................................28 A Sense of Curiosity ......................................................................34 Presencing/Sensing Social Fields and the Emerging Future as a Form of Attunement ...................................................................................35 Beauty ........................................................................................................37 Types of Knowing..................................................................................................42 Review of Literature in Expression ............................................................... 43 Voice ..........................................................................................................46 Authenticity....................................................................................47 Embodiment ...................................................................................50 Playful Engagement ...................................................................................59 Engagement....................................................................................59 Play ................................................................................................60 Review of Literature on the Marriage of Leadership and Artistry .................. 65 Brief Historical Overview .................................................................. 65 Organizational Aesthetics .................................................................. 68 Aesthetic Leadership ......................................................................... 73 Artistic Media .................................................................................... 75 Verbal Arts ............................................................................. 76 Performing Arts ...................................................................... 85 Visual Arts .............................................................................. 98 Arts-Based Leadership Development ..................................................................101 Conclusion and Next Steps ..............................................................................................104 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 106 Choice of Method ....................................................................................... 106 Participants ................................................................................................. 109 Role of the Researcher ................................................................................. 110 Definition of Terms ...................................................................................... 111 Artistic Sensibilities ......................................................................... 112 Artistic .................................................................................. 112 Sensibility ............................................................................. 114 Organizational Leadership ................................................................ 114 vi Organizational ....................................................................... 114 Leadership ............................................................................. 114 Procedures ................................................................................................... 114 Interview Schedule ...................................................................................... 116