The head, hand and heart of great art - extended version
-
Upload
ageofartists -
Category
Business
-
view
149 -
download
2
description
Transcript of The head, hand and heart of great art - extended version
Whitepaper
The head, hand and heart in the arts Learning from creative disciplines for
better outcomes in business and
society
Publisher: Dirk Dobiéy
Authors: Dirk Dobiéy, Kirsten Gay, Johann
Sarmiento
Contributors: Vincent Matyi,
Thomas Koeplin, Milan Guenther
Dresden, Boston, Philadelphia, Paris
September 2014
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 2 / 91
This text is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0
(creativecommons.org).
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 3 / 91
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 4 / 91
Index
Introduction 5
The Case for Change - Our Motivation 9
The Age of Artists Model 32
The Age of Artist Model revisited - Summary and Outlook 89
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 5 / 91
Introduction
Today, our community is composed of members from different
cultures, countries, professions and generations. We combine
many years of experience in business, art, design, anthropology,
sociology and various other fields of expertise--not as individuals,
but as a team and extended community. We examine, practice and
convey how the artistic mind and craft can help to provide
solutions for some of the major challenges that all of us experience
today. We believe the artistic individual--which is not to say
everyone needs to be an artist--can contribute more than realized
before to meaningful science and sustainable business outcomes.
It will soon be fifteen years since some of us started our first
conversations about the positive influence art can have on
business and society. What if–we thought--we could distill how
artists work and offer this knowledge to professional
organizations--both profit and nonprofit--and to the people within
them in order to support the idea of a more sustainable global
economy. Already then we believed in the power of art-based
processes when it comes to "doing the right things right." Too
often professional organizations put a lot of emphasis on creating
efficiencies but miss true effectiveness. Effectiveness for
organizations means making wiser decisions leading to the results
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 6 / 91
that are desperately required: sustainable innovation, corporate
social responsibility, improved customer experience, increased
employee satisfaction and more. In contrast, business literature is
full of stories about corporations that transition from being a
leader in their own industry to irrelevance in any industry. For
decades, studies and statistics have illustrated that most change
initiatives in organizations fail 1 while the majority of leaders still
think they need a cultural shift to succeed in the future.
On the other side, research and literature on the subject of art and
business available at the time was largely about conflicts between
art and business, about art for representation purposes and artists
in residence, or about including more art in education. While all
those fields were relevant then and still are today, they seemed to
focus more on keeping the two fields separate rather than merging
them when appropriate in order to benefit organizations and the
larger society. Also there were more conversations looking at the
output of the artistic process, i.e., the product (the what), and le ss
at art-based processes and the attitude of artists (the how and
why). The latter however was exactly what we were more curious
about.
As our lives full of family, work and friends progressed, we
continued to observe and experience knowledge work from within
corporations both large and small. We realized, sometimes even
jointly while working side by side, that a major transformation was
underway. Suddenly individuals with an artistic or design
background or an affinity for the arts were able to deal diff erently
and often better with the demands of our fast-paced, complex
world. They managed to successfully and sustainably address
significant challenges within and beyond their initially defined
areas of responsibility and past boundaries set by process,
structure and performance indicators.
1 For instance: Strategy & Survey reveals only 54% of change init iatives are sustained . An article in Harvard Business Review reports 70% of change init iatives fail . A web search for “change init iatives failure rate” deliver s a substantial number of sources that report fai lure rates up to 70%.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 7 / 91
We observed that such individuals were able to:
analyze flaws and recognize patterns in processes and structures more easily, while at the same time making constructive suggestions for improvements;
address problems with curiosity, empathy and a noticeable preference towards reducing complexity and driving simplicity;
create sustainable concepts by balancing various, sometimes conflicting, viewpoints and demands;
develop, drive and market innovation and change; better cope with change, ambiguity, uncertainty and
even frustration; and collaborate more effectively with a wide range of
individuals having different backgrounds and experiences.
As soon as we observed a potential pattern forming, we
investigated the topic further, realizing a subject of such
magnitude requires a broad range of perspectives, insights,
experiences and ideas if done right. As a first step, we created a
network of people we knew had a personal interest in researching
the subject further in a collaborative fashion. Our community is
now composed of individuals from France, Germany and the United
States. Next, we responded to a call for papers from ENCATC
(European Network on Cultural Management and Cultural Policy
Education)2 on the subject of “Rethinking education: Investing in
skills for better economic and social outcomes.” This first position
paper, which was completed in March 2014 and accepted by
ENCATC, allowed us to set the stage and be used to engage more
broadly with interested individuals, thought leaders and--which
has become our main occupation at this stage of our journey--with
artists from all genres.
We do not approach artists expecting to receive solutions to
problems we identify in the global economy and society (although 2 http://www.encatc.org/pages/index.php?id=169
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 8 / 91
they often have great suggestions). Instead, we simply like to learn
about their attitudes and actions, or--to extend on sociologist
Richard Sennett--about the head, hand and the heart in the arts.
By collecting and combining3 many viewpoints and experiences, we
hope to identify common patterns that can be explained and
passed on to others as helpful--or necessary--in other disciplines
such as science and business as well.
As said, a key aspect of our work is to collect and combine, to
explore and exploit, the work of researchers and thought leaders
who are “dancing on the cutting edge,” as violinist Miha Pogacnik
describes it, which is to say the work of individuals who attempt to
make a connection between various disciplines, such as art and
business or art and science. We at Age of Artists like to see
ourselves in the same spot in order to live our mission:
continuously learning from creative disciplines for better
outcomes in business and society.
3 We pursue a two-fold research approach where on one side we interview artists about their attitudes and approaches (yet not about their artwork itself) and by doing so aim at identifying patters across art genres that can be relevant for other disciplines as well. On the other side we read from and talk to scientists and thought leaders that have done already work that is a major contribution to the f ield we are investigating. By personally exchanging our ideas with them we receive valuable feedback, insights and most important verif ication or correction of our work.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 9 / 91
The Case for Change - Our Motivation
“Art is the future of knowledge,”4 Chus Martinez stated when she
was a member of the core team for dOCUMENTA (13). While a bold
statement, it is a good representation of the evolution we are
witnessing. When comparing the available literature on both art
and business and art and science of fifteen years ago with what is
out there today, there has been a huge increase in people’s
thinking about the connection, resulting in the development of a
broad range of ideas, concepts and practices. 5 Why is this? We
think it is because the time has come to look differently at many
things and in particular to revisit the “idea of man,” as alluded to by
German painter Aris Kalaizis. He stated that “we need to develop
another idea of man if we want to lead change.” 6 To us, it seems a
yet unspecified avant-garde has already developed a certain
readiness for change. They see clearly not only what needs to be
changed for the better, but they also want to know how to possibly
be the change themselves--both for themselves and for everyone
4 Chus Martínez, "Unexpress the Expressible: 100 Notes, 100 Thoughts. Doc umenta Series 075, Hatje Cantz, 2012, quoted from ID Factory. 5 Such ideas, concepts and practices for instance are: artistic intervention, art research, art transfer, organizational aesthetics and many more. Frequently contributions to the f ield are not associated to a certain scientif ic domain or subdomain but covering specif ic integration points for instance between jazz and the learning organization, theatre and management, music and society, poetry and systems thinking, etc. We refrain from providing r eferences at this point as there are too many good examples and stating only a few would not do justice to all others. However, we wil l share our sources on our website as an emerging reference catalogue. 6 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Pain ter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 10 / 91
on the planet. They are realizing that it is important to first
develop the right attitude within them and in parallel learn about
what actions they might take in life and work to support the
transition.
As we looked both back and ahead, it became apparent that the
demands of our society and the globalized, digitalized information
economies require answers that go beyond the traditional notion
of work in organizations, growth in the economy, and advancement
in science.
By now, it is common sense that people--both young and
experienced--need to be equipped differently in order to succeed
in this accelerated and complex time we live in. Skills and
competences such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity,
improvisation and cooperation become more important. Many
leading thinkers promote a new approach to leadership that
embraces authenticity, curiosity, invention and collaboration.
Organizations--and the large ones often struggle with this--need
to constantly innovate to survive and need to look for sustainable
ways to execute their missions. While all of those are noble
endeavors, they are targeted mainly at maintaining the status quo
and making sure we further advance in science and grow the
economy. But what is the price of exclusively focusing on
advancement and growth?
Clearly, something bigger is at stake. The world is full of major
challenges and problems to be solved, and while many hoped--
even predicted or promised--that most of them would be gone by
now, they are more present than ever. The evening news is full of
conflicts, catastrophes and crises. Since the Enlightenment,
science and the economy have become the two main pillars on
which societies are built around the globe and more certainly in
the Western world. Advancement and growth are the two most
important mandates for the modern world and are big business.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 11 / 91
Yet neither has led to solutions for the most urgent problems.
Many believe some of the problems are likely to grow worse:
Technological advancements have led to great things but also to an overabundance of options, resulting in acceleration that overwhelms many, directly causing fatigue and burnout. Studies show people in developed countries have not become happier on average since the fifties, despite increased wealth for a great number of people.
Wealth is again at risk as the dominating financial system creates an unequal distribution of resources and exponential growth--not of value but of debt--by offering a few the opportunity to get rich without creating any value whatsoever. That condition is questioned by too few who actually have the power to change it.
The growth dogma has reached its limits with “peak everything,” resulting in scarcity of natural resources, destruction of nature and climate change due to human intervention.7
Many people feel a lack of meaning and purpose, leading to a collective crisis of identity. Their identity is also at risk as freedom grows precious again in a fully digitalized world wherein everything is transparent and nothing can be kept in private.
It would be shortsighted to blame abstract systems such as science
or the economy and all the people within them. Most people have
no bad intentions and also wonder where this is all going and what
they can do to support a positive future. So, not every sc ientist or
business person represents evil. The opposite is the case. Most
scientists think hard about how to solve problems in all fields of
life, and more and more managers do care about sustainability and
social responsibility on top of securing revenue. This brings us to a
key question: If most people would like to see the core problems
resolved and think now is time, why is there so little progress?
Maybe it is because we understand what is wrong--sometimes 7 Please refer for instance to the work of Niko Paech on the subject of the “post growth economy,” and Al Gore on “climate change.”
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 12 / 91
with clarity, sometimes not so much--but we don’t understand
what attitude, what perspective is required to get started and how
to act with the right means and priorities once we are in progress.
This is where an artistic mindset and approach can help. It is
certainly not a “silver bullet,” but it has the potential to make a
unique contribution--in combination with other approaches--to re-
establish a desperately needed balance. We believe such an
approach can help in three major areas and represent the
fundamental motivation basis for Age of Artists :
1. Challenges in a global society of individual people: making progress with wicked problems . Many challenges in the world are extremely complex and referred to as wicked problems. Success in addressing them as a global society is more likely when an artistic mindset and processes are applied. This is particularly relevant in the world of business and the economy. Business has always been important as a means to an end. Today, however, it seems to be the dominant force and sole purpose in life for too many. However, many leading thinkers believe for the economy to not create more crises and instability, a new approach is required. Fresh approaches and alternative concepts are more likely to become new norms when we bring beauty and meaning into business.
2. Future of organizations and leadership . The term business in its original, epistemological sense means to be in good company for mutual benefit. To survive, organizations need to evolve “back” to this original idea, as many of the key themes that define the future of organizations and their leadership are dependent on cross-disciplinary and cross-company cooperation, constant innovation and the balancing of multiple forces, needs, demands and targets. Much of what this evolution requires can be found in the arts. Organizations as a whole and leadership as a core activity in managing organizations need to support this change by creating safe environments where faith in people is more important than controlling them, where teams are built on trust so that collaboration can flourish, and where leaders coach their people as the future is emerging.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 13 / 91
3. Artful living. People who spend more time with art and/or apply an artistic attitude establish multiple focuses, perspectives and viewpoints. The German word allgemeinwissen, or the French culture générale that already carry the idea of culture within and that both mean “broad knowledge,” are good synonyms for this. It is good to broaden one's skill set and expertise towards what is demanded today, but it also offers an alternative to the dominant idea of a linear career and restricted life that comes with it. In the future, it is more likely that people will have multiple careers or occupations; therefore personally exploring one or many art genres is good for a fulfilled life and might well lead to a more significant perception change when it comes to beliefs and attitudes towards what really matters. At the same time, engaging with individuals from various disciplines helps to create a more diverse and thus robust people network similar to what is known as the “artistic community” that supports, feeds, and nourishes but also questions, critiques, and challenges the person.
In the following three sections, we look in more detail into those
three areas: making progress with complex problems, the future of
organization and leadership, and artful living.
Il lustration 1: Motivational Basis for Age of Artists: Individuals, Organizations,
Global Society
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 14 / 91
Challenges in a global society of individual people: Making
progress with wicked problems
The world is full of problems of different nature and size, and many
human enterprises have attempted to provide concepts and
approaches to help us cope with this challenge--whether as
individuals or as teams and organizations. For instance, in
cognitive psychology, the information-processing (or “rational”)
model of how individuals solve “well-defined” problems describes
problem solving primarily as a procedural activity in which a person
takes a representation of a problem’s key elements and “navigates”
or searches through a “problem space” toward an optimal solution
by way of clear rules and heuristics. Playing chess, solving a puzzle
or a basic mathematical word problem, and even perhaps buying a
car or an airplane ticket, are situations where this model seems
quite applicable.
Interestingly, there is a close resemblance between the
information-processing model of human problem solving
developed within the field of psychology and in many of the
approaches to planning, optimization and decision-making in fields
like administration, engineering, architecture, and even economics.
This similarity is based on the assumption that the underlying
properties of most real world problems are like puzzles and basic
mathematical problems. Complex problems can be decomposed
into simpler, more manageable ones, which can then be solved
semi-independently. Partial solutions can be assembled to form a
complete solution, the starting point and the goal state can be
easily defined and represented (e.g., with numeric goals,
quantitative key process indicators, etc.), and clear rules define
what solutions are valid.
When individuals are faced with ill-defined situations that present
them with problems that are complex, confusing, or not
completely clear, we could still understand their experience using
the concepts described by the information-processing model. But
we are likely to realize that, at this level, the abillity to be fully
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 15 / 91
rational is limited--more “bounded” or “partial” than when dealing
with tame problems or situations. Because of this, we are likely to
notice that people often approach these problems not as perfect
optimization challenges with one single optimal answer, but as
situations in which they try to reach a state that might be “as good
as it gets” given the information they have at the moment
(“satisficing”). However, we might notice that the model is starting
to show limitations and certainly says very little about the
challenges of communication and interaction among multiple
people engaged in solving the problem.
In fact, many have found the rational model of problem solving
insufficient to tackle problems beyond the "tame" ones (i.e., easily
decomposable, representable and/or easily solvable) that
individuals (not teams or societies) work with. For instance, in the
context of the problems related to social policy (e.g., tackling
environmental issues like global warming, equal opportunity,
health and wellness, etc.), the purely rational approach is limited
because social problems, among other things, often lack a single
complete definition, and involve multiple differing or pluralistic
perspectives (linked to stakeholders who are unlikely to agree
about “optimal solutions” and are also influenced by factors that
unfold over time).
Horst Rittel termed these “wicked problems”--problems that are
not just large, complicated or ill-defined. Instead they are a truly
unique class of problem in the sense that they seem to be
extremely hard to define even before one actually attempts to deal
with them. (Often, iterating through solution attempts seems to be
the only way to make progress in understanding these problems.
The fact that such problems have a different nature calls for a new
way of looking at them, including developing a new set of
concepts (e.g., stakeholders, world-views, frames of
understanding, etc.), new interactions (e.g., the interdependence
between how a problem is framed and its solution), and a new
repertoire of possible ways of engaging with these types of
problems. For instance, work on wicked problems has motivated
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 16 / 91
new ways of doing authoritative regulation, promoting open
competition, or supporting participatory planning in several areas
of social planning. Clearly, being sensitive to the unique features of
these types of problems has contributed enormously to our
collective ability to address significant societal problems.
What does art have to contribute to the process of addressing
wicked problems? Our working hypothesis at the moment is that
the artistic mindset can provide a unique and significant
contribution to tackling wicked problems. Its unique contribution
might reside, ironically, in its intrinsic distance from problem
solving as a central goal and to the need to engage the human
world (stakeholders and their contexts) or create systemic
solutions. As we shall explore later, our current insights into
artistic practices point to possibly unique approaches that can
clearly contribute to the meaning-making and sense-making
challenges at the core of engaging with wicked problems.
One of those wicked problems we need to address might be the
global economy itself, as many leading thinkers believe for the
economy to not to create more instability and crisis, a new
approach, such as a reform of the financial system, is required.
Approaches and alternative concepts are more likely to move from
niche to new norm when beauty and meaning are infused into
business and the global economy. Violinist and visionary Miha
Pogacnik described this with his own words: “Many people would
rather go for a job that is less paid but they feel to be part of
something that is emerging and it is addressing all the issues as
one complex whole. There are people who are beginning to look at
things as a whole and they feel very personally disturbed if you are
only […] making quick money […] but on the other side you are
destroying something.”8
8 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist, Hamburg/Dresden, June 14, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 17 / 91
The future of organization and leadership: Purpose-driven environments and studio leadership
The connection between art and business is probably as old as the
two disciplines themselves. Some connection points have been
thoroughly described. Others, like the ones presented in this
paper, are currently evolving. Art and professional organizations
have developed different forms of interaction, integration and
collaboration that can be structured into four areas that do not
necessarily build on one another or have a mandatory relationship
between them.
1. Representation, branding and social responsibility.
Organizations purchase art to exhibit within their buildings or in
their digital space. They may build a collection and run in-house
exhibitions. They sponsor events at museums or take similar
action. In this way, they may try to express their brand and culture
with architecture and design or use art to support marketing and
sales activities. While this—in contrast to the following areas—is a
rather superficial level of connecting business and art, it is the one
that causes the most friction between the two disciplines, as many
artists responded in the past with resistance or counterattacks
when they felt art was being used for what they felt were wrong
purposes.
2. Work-life-balance and community building. Many organizations
support shared activities amongst their workforce. A company
symphony orchestra, a big band, a corporate theatre company,
painting classes and other such activities can be found in both
large and small organizations. And very often their output reaches
a considerable level of quality and improves the work-life-balance,
sense of belonging, team building and networking after working
hours. Cultural activities at work vary according to the business
cycle and have a statistical association with employee mental
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 18 / 91
health, particularly in work environments producing emotional
exhaustion, and may protect employees against subsequent
emotional exhaustion. Such an effect was observable when the
business cycle in Sweden went from ”good” conditions (which
meant higher levels of cultural activity at work) to poorer
conditions with rising unemployment rates.” 9
3. Artistic intervention. Artists may be invited to work with and in
professional organizations. They might come for a visit, support
workshops or take on positions as a side job. “Intel has name d
Black Eyed Peas’ front man and hit solo artist Will.i.am (William
James Adams, Jr.)... its director of creative innovation.” 10 “And then
there’s Ashton Kutcher. After playing Steve Jobs in the biopic of
the late Apple founder, the actor was made a product engineer by
Chinese technology company Lenovo.” 11 A less spectacular but
certainly impactful example comes from Korail, the Korean railroad
company, which suffered from a negative reputation and realized it
needed to change its image. Classical musicians worked with
employees to create the Korail ensemble, which was then
expanded by inviting citizens to join and become the Korail
Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra travels with the train and
performs in railroad stations around the country. “This project has
changed the mindset of many employees and the reputation of
Korail…” Employees have grown in confidence and pride in the
orchestra, and feel they are providing a service to the community
through art. 12 Finally, FPT, the largest information and
communication company in Vietnam, has expanded globally since
1999. Working with the youth union, the company launched
numerous initiatives in diverse art forms. The company business
school has conducted surveys to find out how employees
evaluated the experiences, with astonishing results:
9 Töres Theorell et al. , “ Is cultural activity at work related to mental health in employees? ” 2006-2010. 10 Jane McEntegart, Intel names musician Will . i.am creative director , Tomshardware.com, January 26, 2011 . 11 Gulay Ozkan, Artists can do more than engineers to push innovation in tech , QZ.com, November 11, 2013. 12 Ariane Berthoin Antal, “Dancing to whose tune ,” Cultural Sources of Newness, November 24, 2013.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 19 / 91
1. “I see that artistic events help me better understand the company and people.” 88% agree.
2. “Attending artistic events and activities releases me from stress and tension at work.” 72% agree.
3. “Joining artistic events and activities, I feel proud of being a member of FPT and want to work for FPT for a long time.” 81% agree.13
Ariane Berthoin Antal and Anke Strauß provided excellent insights
in their research report, titled "Artistic interventions in
organizations: Finding evidence of values‐added.”14 They conclude,
“There is evidence that artistic interventions can indeed contribute
to such strategic and operational factors as productivity,
efficiency, recruitment and reputation, but this is the area that is
mentioned least frequently in the research‐based publications.
Apparently, this is not necessarily what organization members
consider as the most remarkable sphere of impact. Indeed, few
companies that have worked with artistic interventions have
sought to document such direct impacts. Instead, managers and
employees seem to care more about how artistic interventions
impact the factors that underpin the potential for innovation. The
power of artistic interventions in organizations resides in the
opening of spaces of possibility, which we call ‘interspaces’ in the
formal and informal organization. In these interspaces, participants
experience new ways of seeing, thinking, and doing things that add
value for them personally.” 15 The challenge is that “[a]rtistic
interventions are by definition ephemeral phenomena in
organizations. They start and they end, so the responsibility for
deriving the benefits for the organization and sustaining the
effects lies with managers and the employees.” 16
13 Ariane Berthoin Antal, “Dancing to whose tune ,” Cultural Sources of Newness, November 24, 2013. 14 Berthoin Antal, Ariane & Strauß, Anke, Artistic interventions in organisations: Finding evidence of values ‐added. Creative Clash Report . Berl in: WZB, 2013, p. 3. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 20 / 91
4. Art-based attitude and action at work: This is the area
introduced and supported by this paper. Here individuals display
an artistic attitude and embed best practices derived from art
seamlessly into their actual work. This does not suggest everyone
is suddenly an artist, but it means that there is a broad
understanding and appreciation for art-based processes on an
individual, team and organization level. This will lead eventually to
behavioral change in individual employees and thus a cultural shift
for the entire organization, economy and society. Introducing
methodologies such as design thinking or agile software
development represent early stages of such best practices. What is
particularly worth noting about this field is that it is immune to
economic and business cycles. Once art-based processes are
accepted as standard in an organization, they are not at risk of
being budget-cut, while all the other areas mentioned will be
under critical observation in bear market conditions.
Il lustration 2: Touch points between art and business and focus of Age o f
Artists
Looking at all four areas of potential interaction and exchange
between art and business, it becomes clear that art has already
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 21 / 91
much positive influence on organizations and the people within.
For instance, Michael Gold and Dario Villa 17 suggest jazz as a
metaphor for the “learning organization,” since it is an art form
based in social learning that has innovated new products for over
100 years and was the basis for great wealth and inspiration. Such
examples illustrate the untapped potential for professional
organizations or, as Michael and Dario put it, “perhaps there’s more
to this metaphor of jazz as a model for improvising organizations
than meets the ear.” Both also quote a famous Playboy interview
with Marshall McLuhan in which McLuhan commented on the arts
as a distant early warning system.
The term business, in its original, epistemological sense, means to
be in good company for mutual benefit. To survive, organizations
need to evolve “back” to this original idea, as many of the key
themes that define the future of organizations and their leadership
are dependent on cross-disciplinary and cross-company
cooperation, constant innovation and the balancing of multiple
forces, needs, demands and targets. Much of what this evolution
requires can be found in the arts. Organizations as a whole and
leadership as a core activity in managing organizations need to
support this change by creating safe environments where faith in
people is more important than controlling them, where teams are
built on trust so that collaboration can flourish, and where lead ers
coach their people as the future is emerging.
Organizations that embrace art-based processes and provide an
environment in which an art-based attitude can develop will more
likely be able to succeed in a world that is highly complex, changes
fast, the competition is fierce and information grows constantly. In
addition to established management best practices, learning from
art--as a metaphor or literally--can help to address the main
challenges organizations face today. By using methods, principles
and processes derived from the arts, we become more flexible and
17 Michael Gold, and Dario Vil la, Trading Fours: Jazz and the Learning Organization," 2012.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 22 / 91
adaptive to change. Dr. Cho Hyunjae, the 1st Vice Minister for
Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Korea, welcomed the participants
to a recent conference in Seoul with a strong message, “Art can
make business dance and stimulate innovation.” “Organizations
need creative kicks” because “corporations need to learn to
stimulate the emotions of employees,” so “Korea is seeking ways to
bring down barriers between art and business.” 18 But just how
would such a connection between art and business look?
Miha Pogacnik illustrates the situation in which many organizations
find themselves by comparing organizations to symphony
orchestras:
If you have a symphony orchestra, you have 80 individuals
who are quite problematic people. Musicians have big egos I
suppose, including myself too. But as soon as they start
playing Bruckner or Brahms, this ego is gone and the
masterpiece takes them onto the next platform instantly.
There is no problem with ego. That’s gone and you are
immediately serving something much greater. So I ask: what
is this code that’s missing in organizations that we don’t drop
the egos? We don’t have that score yet, so the organization or
business does not have yet Bruckner, Brahms or Mozart [… ].
But what are the elements of Bruckner or Brahms? Well, that's
music but what are the elements in business? Well, you know
music is written on five lines and business is today only
written on one line which is the bottom line. That’s the
problem. So what are the other lines? 19
In building further on Miha’s idea, we tried to answer his question
about what the five lines of business should be. What could the
score for modern organizations look like? We suggest five
18 Ariane Berthoin Antal, “Dancing to whose tune ,” Cultural Sources of Newness, November 24, 2013. 19 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist, Hamburg/Dresden, June 14, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 23 / 91
objectives for modern organizations that are the foundation for
what we call the purpose-built and value-based organization:
Il lustration 3: The five objectives for purpose-built and value-based
organizations
For businesses, it is obvious they must keep a sharp focus on their
bottom line, as simply without that, they will not continue to exist,
whereas art can exist theoretically without it. Or as Philippe Rixhon
stated: “Creation can be purely artistic ; Innovation must be artistic
and economically viable.” Yet he continues the same thought by
saying: “The introduction of multiple bottom lines in other business
sectors--at least in their research and development departments
and divisions--seems to be recommendable.”20 His suggestion to
focus on research and development is certainly a good
recommendation for large organizations for which it represents a
major shift to go from one to five lines. For the purpose-built and
value-based organization, however, the concept must be extended
to the entire organization to be truly effective.
20 P. Rixhon (2008), “ Innovation leadership: Best practices from theatre creators,” in Führung, Innovation und Wandel (L. Becker et al. , eds.), pp. 197 -215.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 24 / 91
When looking at the five core objectives stated above, each taken
individually is already difficult to accomplish, but taken altogether,
they seem almost impossible. This is why the management
literature and business libraries are full of successful titles that
play with fear and include seemingly easy solutions to the major
threats organizations face today: complexity, market dynamics,
global competition, innovation pressures, customer and
stakeholder expectations, and technology change. Some solutions
suggested including better planning approaches, new standards,
sophisticated process models, more reports, stronger
management, lean and agile teams, etc. Looked at individually,
these might make sense, but when seen from above, they actually
reduce the ability of an organization to accomplish the holistic set
of objectives as outlined above. Each added piece further increases
complexity, thus limiting people’s abilities to be successful--either
individually or as a team.
Michael Brater suggests that organizations learn from artists and
look at how they act and make decisions under circumstances of
uncertainty and unpredictability. According to his research, artists
cope with openness and uncertainty not through objectification,
but through the following qualities: 21
Unbiased, exploratory actions instead of pondering and planning
Free playful and experimental exploration without intention Confidence in the intelligence of the unconscious Alternating between action and perception, influencing and
viewing Expanding perception ("expression," "feeling") Dialoguing with the subject: replying to "active questions" Picking up what emerges from the subject and be carried and
led (by it)
21 Michael Brater, “Wenn Arbeit Kunst wird. .. , “ Vortrag zum 2. Forum Wirtschaft meets Kunst, Freiburg, February 3, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 25 / 91
Accepting crises; allowing the solution to emerge from the process
Finding (again) the new and individual by following an original, unrepeatable and experiential path.
Recognizing the major challenges that confront organizations,
including the high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability,
suggests another type of organization that must evolve: the purpose-built and value-based organization, which is likely to be
more an environment that supports a working approach, as
depicted by Michael Brater, than an organization in the classical,
hierarchical sense. Such an environment needs to be supported by
another type of leadership as well. Miha Pogacnik again: “It’s all
about the question of how we identify with rules and so on. When
the rules are humane, friendly and meaningful, then we love to
identify with them. It’s also the question of who composes the
rules. Are we self-composers of the rules or do we just get them
passed on and end up in a very rigid situation where we just have
to obey the rules? There are so few people in most organizations
who really burn for their rules on the wall. This is their vision, their
mission. Very few people can identify. What we need to create is
an environment in a company. We have to invest in an environment
in which connection with one’s own goals and visions and missions
can be reestab lished. That’s what’s missing in organizations.” 22 Eric
Schmidt, former CEO and now Executive Chairman at Google, once
put it this way: “Let’s be clear about what we are claiming: As
business becomes more dependent on knowledge to create value,
work becomes more like art. In the future, managers who
understand how artists work will have an advantage over those
who don’t.”23 Philippe Rixhon, a leader at the junction of arts,
business and technology, also comments that "many business
sectors would benefit from adopting some of the theatre world's
basic creation practices related to innovation leadership. By
recognizing the interdependence of leadership, management and 22 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist, Hamburg/Dresden, June 14, 2014. 23 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003), Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall , p 1.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 26 / 91
coaching in the dynamic, situational and cultural innovation
context, businesses should identify, attract and retain the leaders
they cannot train and accept that a nurturing innovation culture
depends on an ever evolving leadership.” 24 Benjamin Zander, the
director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, during a TED
conference, vividly illustrates his love for classical music, which he
believes to be so powerful as to change people’s perception of the
world. But he also states that we are witnessing a shift in
leadership from a model where the leader has to “be ahead” and
“dominate,” to a model based on symphony. In this panorama, the
“Us” prevails on the “I”, and the leader, as the conductor, has to rely
“on his ability to make other people powerful.” 25
Leadership in the information age is a task of creating safe
collaboration experiences in which curiosity, creativity,
collaboration and open communication can flourish and where
failure is not sanctioned but encouraged as part of the overall path
to success. “Managers who develop an atmosphere of safety put
new glasses on everyone’s emotional eyes.” 26 Leadership in art-
based processes requires faith in people, yet interest in what they
do and letting go without being absent. Leaders become coaches
and masters of ceremony for processes and people. Keeping a
good balance is certainly not an easy task as u ltimately a leader is
also made accountable for a result, not just for creating a positive
atmosphere. We call this leadership style studio leadership, relating to the working environments, for instance, found in
design, architecture and engineering. The realm of design,
architecture and engineering has tackled the problem of solving
multivalent problems by the use of iteration and critique in
collaborative groups. As two of the oldest “knowledge work”
professions, practical techniques for innovation have been
developed and passed down. Elders teach young people not only
24 P. Rixhon (2008). “ Innovation leadership: Best practices from theatre creators” in Führung, Innovation und Wandel (Becker L. et al. , eds.) , pp. 197 -215, Symposion. 25 Adopted from Valeria Cantoni, “Leadership through the e yes of classical music,” Art for business group on LinkedIn , quoting Benjamin Zander at TED. 26 Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes, The Innovation Paradox, 2002, Excerpt on Ralph Keyes Website.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 27 / 91
the skills of drafting (hand), but also of problem solving, using
systems devised to meet the thousands of often conflicting design
requirements that go into a mid-sized building (head). They also
(heart) feel a compassion for humans and humanity that is inherent
in the act of making shelter beyond the joy of form-making and
problem solving that most architects experience. There is a very
strong ideological paradigm within the architectural community--a
desire to Make Things Better (heart). We have noticed in our early
interviews that this trait is commonly paired with an artistic mind,
in contrast to the pure business mind of making money.
Over the centuries, architects have created a set of conventions
around the “Design Studio” that promote and support the solving
of large, complex problems where a large number of different
approaches need to be considered on the way to developing a final
solution. This requires testing multiple approaches, where most
will “fail” or be discarded—so the tendency to become attached to a
particular solution is quickly unlearned. These design environments
are the most productive when the exploration of different
possibilities is encouraged. Not only are there no negative
consequences for the failure of an idea, but it is understood that
going forward with the first idea almost always means that one
hasn’t taken the time to find the best solution. These environments
and the leadership that creates them tend be encouraging,
supportive, kind, collaborative, and responsive. In fact, such
environments are where innovation lives.
At the same time, what is produced is examined minutely through
group or manager critiques. The group critique method employed
in the design studio allows individuals to leverage the experience
and opinions of their colleagues, and to expand and deepen one
another’s proposals. To do this well, group members cannot be in
overt competition for resources, but instead they must be highly
engaged, motivated and believe that they can actualize what they
propose. This mindset leads to high innovation and productivity,
which generates revenue and visibility. Although not usually
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 28 / 91
framed in this way, the overwhelming business need of the
architectural design studio is the output of creative and innovative
design solutions, so most management styles are modeled to
encourage those behaviors by creating safe and at the same time
challenging places where people trust one another and can think,
breathe, test, explore, create, erase, ideate, critique, and
collaborate.
Artful living
Skills for the future
One art genre does not prevail over another. While some
individuals are more attached to the visual arts, others have an
affinity for music, dance, theatre, l iterature or another art
category. What all art genres have in common is they support the
emergence of a skill set that is desperately needed in the
Information Age. But what are those skills? It is European
educational policy to emphasize the development of transversal
skills. Examples of transversal skills are the ability to think
critically, take initiative, problem solve and work collaboratively--
all needed to equip individuals for today's varied and unpredictable
career paths. Transversal skills can also be called cross
competencies or generic skills. In North America, “traditional
academic disciplines still matter, but as content knowledge
evolves at lightning speed, educators are talking more and more
about process skills, strategies to reframe challenges and
extrapolate and transform information, and to accept and deal with
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 29 / 91
ambiguity.”27 Various schools and colleges have started to put more
emphasis on teaching not only creativity, innovation and change,
but also the importance of failure.
Individuals in professional organizations both profit and not-for-
profit, can learn important skills and competencies from art-based
processes and methods. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of
Google, made this comment a decade ago: “I believe that human
values ultimately win out over mechanistic values or technology
for its own sake in an increasingly technological world. Companies,
especially high-techs, are not machines. They are collections of
tremendously motivated and creative people, and it is their
intrinsic motivation and their creativity that makes all the
difference.”28 Tim Leberecht, when he was still chief marketing
officer of the global design and innovation firm Frog, also
commented, “Indeed, the ’art’ of business has become more
important as the ‘science’ grows ubiquitous. As Big Data and
sophisticated analytical tools allow us to make our processes more
efficient, intuition and creativity are fast becoming the only
differentiating factors among competitors. Like any ‘soft asset,’
these qualities cannot be exploited, only explored. And like artists,
innovators must cultivate creative habits to see the world afresh
and create something new. Like art, true innovation has the
potential to make our lives better. It connects and reconnects us
with deeply held truths and fundamental human desires; meets
complexity with simple, elegant solutions; and rewards risk-taking
and vulnerability.”29 What all those sources implicitly have in
common is they suggest an enhanced competence profile that is
necessary and that focuses more on the creative and social
aspects, as these are the areas where people will continue to be
superior to machines in the foreseeable future.
27 Laura Pappano, “Learning to think outside the box : Creativity becomes an academic discipline ,” in The New York Times Online, February 5, 2014. 28 Er ic Schmidt, Executive Chairma n, Google, in Rob Austin and Lee Devin, Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work , Prentice Hall , 2003, p. xix. 29 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artists , ” CNN Money, December 21 , 2012.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 30 / 91
Balanced Life
People who spend more time with art--creating or enjoying--
establish multiple focuses, perspectives and viewpoints. The
German word allgemeinwissen, or the French culture générale that
already carry the idea of culture within and that both mean “broad
knowledge,” are good synonyms for this. It is good to broaden
one's skill set and expertise towards what is demanded today, but
it also offers an alternative to the dominant idea of a linear career
and restricted life that comes with it. In the future, it is more likely
that people will have multiple careers or occupations; therefore
personally exploring one or many art genres, as a secondary yet
equally relevant as the traditional career, is good for a fulfilled life
and might as well lead to a more significant perception change
when it comes to beliefs and attitudes towards what really
matters. At the same time, engaging with individuals from various
disciplines helps to create a more diverse and thus robust people
network similar to what is known as the “artistic community” that
supports, feeds, and nourishes but also questions, critiques, and
challenges the person.
The broader ones experiences and connections in life are, the more
open one is to new situations, change, and perceived risks. For
individuals dealing with art can help to reduce fears and thus lower
the barriers to developing an art istic attitude that is required in
many disciplines today and going forward, not just business and
science. Miha Pogacnik expands that thought and connects
individual attitude with organizational context: “You need an
environment and you need inner discipl ine with which you strive
for that kind of state of mind. The environment supports your state
of mind and your state of mind supports the environment.” 30
From individual to organization and from organization to society,
the right attitude and actions can make a difference. We are
convinced that artistic thinking and action can provide answers. 30 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist, Hamburg/Dresden, June 14, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 31 / 91
Skills, competencies, methods, ways of thinking and emotional
perceptions, as we know from how artists work, will help to deal
with and shape the far-reaching changes of our time--for people,
organizations and the global society. In all walks of life, the artistic
individual will become the counterpart and balance to artificial
intelligence.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 32 / 91
The Age of Artists Model
What is interesting about art versus many business disciplines is
that “artists are craftspeople.” They “think by making” and unite the
“hand and the head,” as sociologist Richard Sennett describes in his
book The Craftsman. “It has both a physical dimension (exhibiting
mastery in craftsmanship) and a metaphysical dimension
(connecting a new product, service, or business model with the
broader zeitgeist and cultural climate).” 31 Based on this thought and
by conducting interviews with artists and leading thinkers in a
variety of countries as well as through secondary research, we have
been able to compile a first version of our Age of Artists Model
that contains the major patterns we were able to identify until
now. It consists of four key elements:
Head - summarizes our findings when it comes to developing an
attitude as a basis or a foundation for the artistic practice. It
includes five components: Transcendence, Awareness, Position,
Passion and Resilience.
Hand - combines a series of actions that artists do and that we
were able to identify across various art genres. They might be
31 P. Rixhon (2008). “Innovation leadership: Best practices from theatre creators” in Führung,
Innovation und Wandel (Becker L. et al. eds.), pp. 197 -215, Symposion.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 33 / 91
relevant for other disciplines as well; in fact some of them are
already common practice in other areas. We structured this section
into three modules that contain further sub modules: Search,
Reflect and Produce. All three modules in this section contain
another set of sub sections.
Heart - represents an attempt to capture the sphere of beliefs,
feelings, and emotions. We include four areas in this section.
Motivation. Empathy, Faith and Evocation.
Time - acknowledges that every artist has to be in the “now,”
where head, hand and heart need to be in sync but also develop
over time where previous insights and experiences support the
direction of a next step. This is the sphere of iteration, learning,
evolution--in short: advancement over time.
Il lustration 4: Head, Hand and Heart of great art and the aspect of time
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 34 / 91
Altogether, Head, Hand & Heart deliberately kept in sync over time
lead to great art, meaningful science and sustainable business
outcomes. Miha Pogacnik described an episode which vividly
illustrates the triad of art: “My great master was Henryk Szeryng,
who died in ‘85. To me, he always was the most balanced violinist
and I experienced him very closely in some master classes and my
feeling was that when he played […] his way of movement of his
hands, the way he connected with his instrument, I felt as if life
would be squirting out of his hand (Hand). Life, so full of living. He
was so organic. It is the transition from technique to life.[…] So
instead of playing on the violin, which most people do, you start
playing out of the violin, so the violin becomes an extended organ
(Heart). You start speaking. The next level is the aesthetics. It is
what you play, the content. That’s where I have all these years of
research and practical experience. I quite definitely know that one
must try to break through the aesthetics because very often the
musicians stay within a certain style: New York, Russian, Israeli,
Belgian. You know they follow a certain style and they do it very
well, you know it. But you notice it immediately which school they
come from. But to overcome that, you have to go through
aesthetics. (Head) [...] I just want to say you have the physical
reality which is the violin instrument. Then you have living reality
which is the next which means playing in itself which must go from
mechanics into the life organic process which in itself gives a
special quality, which means you start to speak. And then, the third
one is going from aesthetic--through aesthetic into a general
experience. So suddenly you realize this is once and never again
and we call it “Sternstunde” or something like that.[...] and of
course those moments people will never forget.” 32
As we outlined, there are very good reasons to refer to the arts in
order to address some to the major challenges for individuals,
organizations and the global society. An artistic mindset and
practices have the potential to make a unique contribution to many
32 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist. Hamburg/Dresden, June 14, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 35 / 91
fields and disciplines. Yet before we look into the mandatory parts
of an artistic attitude which we call elements and the optional
pieces of the artistic practice that we termed modules and that
we’ve been able to identify, it is worthwhile to share some upfront
considerations. They might also be interpreted as foundational
principles.
Some upfront considerations
Creativity is not a prisoner of art
Art-based thinking and actions have always and do today exist
outside of the arts. Artist and art professor Ursula Bertram states
that “creativity is not a prisoner of art” and continues to emphasize
in her work that art based mindsets and practical approaches can
be found in science, business and other disciplines already today,
for example, in innovation departments of large corporations,
start-ups, scientific laboratories and elsewhere. The reason why
the Age of Artists movement looks particularly into the arts to find
patterns and best practices is because we expect to find a higher
percentage of individuals with important contributions to make in
the area of artistic skills, competencies, methods, ways of thinking
and emotional perceptions.
Art is seen as nice to have, but it really is a need to have
While an artistic mindset and practices can be found successfully
applied in other disciplines, there is also a broad range of examples
where art is seen as a non-mandatory attachment to business.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 36 / 91
Designer, computer scientist and academic John Maeda stated
repeatedly that “Art is seen as nice to have, but it really is a need
to have.” This quote illustrates the need to put art on par with
science and business to create sustainable solutions for (business)
problems. There is evidence that John’s remark is not just a nice
idea but also economically feasible:
The Design Council research looked at 1,500 organizations
throughout the UK and defined 250 of them as design-led
companies, where the use of design had made a direct impact
on such key measures as competitiveness, market share,
sales, and employment. One important component of this
effort was “a sustained track record in design and innovation
awards” by these organizations. Other indicators of design
leadership included senior-level or executive-level design
management and broad design training across the
organization. The Council’s study pointed out that these
companies outperformed their peers in the FTSE 100 over a
10-year period by a startling 231 percent. 33
While those data points cover the United Kingdom, the Design
Management Institute (DMI) has done similar research in North
America and reports similar data points on their website where
they comment: “Results show that over the last 10 years design-led
companies have maintained signif icant stock market advantage,
outperforming the S&P by an extraordinary 228%.” 34 It is worthwhile
noting that both study results speak about design-led companies,
not art-led companies. However, while art and design are not the
same design is an applied variant of art and thus in particular
relevant as an already established bridge between art and business
or science.
33 Michael Westcott, Steve Sato et al. "The DMI Design Value Scorecard: A New Design Measurement and Management Model" DMI, Winter 2013, p. 10. 34 This data point is conveyed in multiple locations on the Design Management Institute website, for instance: http://www.dmi.org/?DesignValue
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 37 / 91
Art is not for everything
While there is a common sense amongst leading thinkers from all
walks of life that art-based thinking and action is an answer to
many challenges in a globalized, technology-driven economy and
society, it is also critical to state that “art is not for everything.” We
don’t want the people who check our airplane before take-off
according to predefined standards and procedures to start getting
creative while they perform this critical task. It is critical not to
establish yet another dogma or dictate of the arts over other
disciplines. Yet, as outlined previously, there are more and more
challenges present where art-based thinking and action can help,
in particular where solutions to often undefined problems are
required that are not to be resolved in one vertical domain but in
cross-disciplinary networks.
Art is reliable
But if art is not for everything, is it just a mere ideal, or is it a real
alternative to the way we live and work going forward? Rob Austin
and Lee Devin confirmed that “art is reliable”:
There’s often a disparaging implication that art-like processes
are immature, that they have not yet evolved to incorporate
the obviously superior methods of science. The premise that
underlies this point of view equates progress with the
development of reliable, rules-based procedures to replace
flaky, unreliable, art-based processes. […] Our close
examination of art-based processes shows that they’re
understandable and reliable, capable of sophisticated
innovation at levels many “scientific” business processes can’t
achieve. A theatre company, for instance, consistently
delivers a valuable, innovative product under the pressure of
a very firm deadline (opening night, eight o’clock curtain). The
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 38 / 91
product, a play, executes again and again with great precision
incorporating significant innovations every time, but finishing
within 30 seconds of the same length every time. 35
Art is no magic, it is hard work
A key theme in art and beyond is the notion of talent, and even
genius is used frequently to illustrate a border that common
people cannot cross, hence separating them from the gifted ones.
Compared to some of the great women and men of the past, it is
hard for many to believe they are creative and innovative or that
they have talent. But everyone has talent, is curious and creative
from birth. Sir Isaac Newton famously said, “If I can see further
than anyone else, it is only because I am standing on the shoulders
of giants,” and Tim Leberecht adds, “Artists are conduits and not
’masters of the universe.’” Most artists—painters, sculptors, writers,
filmmakers, or musicians—will admit that they derive their
inspiration from a inspirational sphere that goes beyond their
individual creativity and skills. This applies to innovators, too.
Whether they are spiritual or not, humility suits them well, as the
social web and its wave of crowd-based collaborations have
rendered the myth of the lone genius obsolete.”36 Also Rob Austin
and Lee Devin confirm that “although art-based processes realize
the full capabilities of talented workers and can benefit from great
worker talent, by no means do they require exceptional or
especially creative individuals. Nor does great individual talent
ensure a valuable outcome. A (theatre) company of exceptionally
talented big stars can (and often will) create a less effective play
than one made up of ordinarily talented artists who have, through
hard work, learned how to collaborate.”37 Anthony Lowe disclosed
35 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003). Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall , p. xxii i . 36 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artists , ” on CNN Money; December 21, 2012. 37 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003). Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, pp. xxii i, xxiv.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 39 / 91
to Age of Artists how he became a painter: “[The first thing was a
really bad A level result in art. I think I got a C or a D which is bad. I
drew around the question. I missed the question that was set by
the exam board. […] That convinced me a career in the art business
was not a bad thing.”38 Aris Kalaizis similarly told us he started to
draw relatively late when he was sixteen and before and at that
time conveyed to us “I was bad in drawing. Really bad.”39 So if we
look beyond talent and genius—which might be a special gift that
some possess, we realize that art is no magic; it is hard work.
Art is free, science and business are characterized by restrictions
Many people outside art see it as an area without boundaries and
constraints, an independent place of liberty and freedom. And
many artists likewise insist on the freedom of art. And it is their
duty to do so, as many examples display where artists have been
and are instrumentalized, threatened or worse. On the other side,
science or business are always referred to as a place of restrictions
and limitations. People, resources, budgets and even customers
are in limited supply. This is why many people in science and
business likewise are skeptical when it comes to learning from art.
Yet, is art really this limitless sphere of unlimited freedom? Of
course not. There is the “history of art or the art market that are
already restrictions.”40 There is the audience that follows the trends
and tastes of their time. There is, like in other disciplines, ever-
shrinking budgets and resources. There are areas in the world
where artists still have to be very careful or alternatively leave
their country in order to follow their desire to express themselves.
What is limitless though is the creative spirit in people and the
ability of mankind to constantly invent new things--and this
proclivity is certainly not limited to the arts.
38 Interview with Anthony Lowe, visual artist, painter, Altenburg, August 18, 2014. 39 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, visual artist, painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014. 40 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, visual artist, painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 40 / 91
Great art thrives under scarcity
A Russian colleague once told us about a Russian proverb which
suggests that for great art to be created, the artist must starve.
And there are plenty of examples of great artists who endured
hardship for a long time--for instance, Friedrich Schiller or the
perennial example, Vincent Van Gogh who was sustained by his
brother because his work was only acknowledged by a few people
towards the end of his life. So, is it true that great art only emerges
when artists are poor? Certainly not, as many other examples of
established artists show. But there is something more interesting
to learn about this common myth, as alluded to by Miha Pogacnik
when asked by Age of Artists about whether artists need to be
poor:
Well, one could say the other way around. When artists are
covered with money, that certainly can very quickly divert
certain inspirational flow. So if we look at it from the other
side, I am sure it's probably true, but it's not like you have to
make them hungry in order to be artist. So that would not be
right thinking. I would say when you as an artist take on a
vision and decide to go for it, then this question becomes
real. You cannot expect people coming to you and giving you
money, feeding you and so on. You have to fight. So that’s
true in that sense. If you really have a burning issue, a burning
vision as an artist, and you say “This is what has to happen,”
and this is out of the traditional circuit of the arts where there
is money--at least some money and some budgets--then you
are really in a situation where you may get hungry. You have
to fight for it.41
The lesson we learnt from investigating this question is that an
overabundance of resources might reduce an individual’s
willingness to get creative and that lesson is highly relevant to
both business and society. 41 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist, Hamburg/Dresden, June 14, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 41 / 91
Substance over semantics
Our research so far clearly shows us that meaning--true substance-
-is more important than semantics. The words we use to describe
our findings are used by many people for various purposes. In some
contexts, a word might mean something totally different or might
even have a negative connotation than what was intended.
Something as simple as a translation between languages might
drastically change the meaning. As hard as we may try to get to the
etymological bottom of a word or phrase, we will never succeed in
offering a series of words that provide final clarity or that are
accepted by everyone--nor do we want to. As with a piece of art, it
is the recipient to be perceived one way or another. Aris Kalaizis,
to whom we spoke, does not comment on his art at all, because he
would like the observers of his paintings to experience them for
themselves. This is why we suggest and encourage not judging or
criticizing words but instead try to go to the meaning, the
substance, and interpret what you hear and read with your own
words and thoughts. We are curious to hear what you come up
with!
Beyond boxes
Every conversation and all research so far has shown us that art is a
domain beyond boxes. As soon as we try to box elements of the
artistic head, hand and heart, we are already setting up limitations
on what is possible. We are setting up limitations to creativity and
putting a frame around what needs to be frameless. Until now, we
have not found a better way to talk about our insights than to
structure them into what we found were reasonable buckets.
However, it is fundamental to confirm that every bucket is open,
not closed; constantly connected, not separated; overlapping not
mutually exclusive; and, of course--very individual.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 42 / 91
Head: Attitude matters
Il lustration 5: Five components of an artistic attitude
A lot has been written on creativity and innovation in professional
organizations, and by now some excellent methodologies, such as
Design Thinking, Strategic Visioning and Lean Startup, have
emerged as general frameworks for leading innovation processes
in business contexts.42 Many organizations have begun to train their
members to use such methods--of which there are plenty more--to
support collaborative strategy development and innovation
processes in their organizations. Some organizations have even
started to invite artists to join them in order to unlock the existing
creative potential of their members through music, theatre,
sculpture and painting. Methods like Design Thinking, Strategic
Visioning and Lean Startup can help to set certain, yet quite
flexible, boundaries. They provide a framework that helps to avoid
such pitfalls as putting personal preferences before customer
needs. Experience however shows that organizations still struggle 42 “Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibil it ies of technology, and the requirements for business success,” Tim Brown, president and CEO of IDEO, states on the company web page. As a method, it is structured into three “spaces” to keep in mind: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Inspiration is the problem or opportunity that motivates the search for solutions. Ideation is the process of generating, developing, and testing ideas. Im plementation is the path that leads from the project stage into people’s l ives. The Grove’s Strategic Visioning™ process engages an entire organization in combining its best hindsight and foresight in al igned action. It uses large, graphic templates to ste p groups through the development of traditional strategic analysis, creative visioning work, focused action planning, and organization-communications design. The model i l lustrates an optimal path through these activit ies and invites variations and improvis ation.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 43 / 91
to achieve what they envision by training their members in using
such methods. We suspect the missing piece is what is best
described as attitude. Ursula Bertram, artist and art professor in
Dortmund, Germany, who also leads the ID Factory, a think tank
where art, science and business meet, articulates the core question
that defines the biggest challenge: “Are we able to transfer what
we envision into daily business and to instantiate it as an
attitude?”43 Suffice it to say, attitude becomes even more
important if we think beyond organizations and their challenges
into the sphere of wicked problems. Like it is for artists in their
practice, so it is for knowledge workers: their methods are means
to an end, yet the hand and the head need to be in sync. And the
head is where what we call “an attitude” is formed. So far, we’ve
been able to identify five components of an artistic attitude:
Transcendence: Ability to surpass limitations in order to accomplish inner freedom
Awareness: A general readiness to perceive, receive and to learn
Position: Holding a personal belief that is articulated with integrity
Passion: Pursuing what matters with initiative, determination, courage and persistence
Resilience: Appreciating chaos and ambiguity, flexible towards change, robust through conflict and cr isis.
43 Ursula Bertram, “The missing l ink” in Ursula Bertram, Kunst fördert Wirtschaft, 2010, p. 22.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 44 / 91
Transcendence
Philippe Rixhon, leader at the intersection of Art, Business and
Technology, connected many years ago to the works of the late
Abraham Maslow while researching the connection between art,
technology and business. At the end of his life in 1970, Maslow
placed transcendence at the top of his famous hierarchy of needs
as a new ideal, which he described in his paper titled “Theory Z.” 44
Transcendence is the striving for something that goes beyond
oneself and the observable world. In his work, Rixhon selected
some of Maslow’s descriptors to explain the characteristics of such
individuals who reach this stage, whom he refers to as “creative
leaders.”45 They
are consciously and deliberately self-motivated
recognize each other instantly
transcend the ego
have transcendent experiences and illuminations
correlate between increasing knowledge and increasing
mystery
fuse work and play, and
express cosmic sadness
44 Abraham Maslow, “Theory Z,” 1969, http://www.maslow.org/sub/TheoryZ.php 45 Phil ippe Rixhon, “Creative Leadership,” Presentation, June 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 45 / 91
Based on Maslow’s research, Rixhon states that “innovators
transcend all types of restrictions, especially their ego, the
unknown, the complexity in order to create something new.” When
one transcends both internal and external limitations, a new level
of freedom, liberty and independence is reached that can be a
basis for great innovation.
Awareness
Being generally aware, constantly perceiving and always ready to
receive with all senses is a requirement for deliberate practice,
lifelong learning and continuous redefinition--all topics that are
often quoted as becoming increasingly more important in daily life.
An open mind (and heart) leads to superior forms of cognition, and
only then can the “contextual forces” (as Philippe Rixhon calls
them) that are required in the creative process--serendipity,
fortuity and necessity46--unfold and work in favor of the artist and
innovator. After all, an attitude of constant awareness is what
leads to sagacity or even wisdom. Individuals who are truly aware
know that they don’t know. Visual artist Maureen Drdak described
a belief system based on her observations and awareness around
her as “being a sensitive reflector of things.” 47 And Aris Kalaizis
recommends: “Sometimes it is quite good you go to this or that
sphere of life that you do not see binding for the future and to
46 Phil ippe Rixhon, Creative Leadership, Presentation, Sent to Age of Artists by the Author, June 2014 47 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5 2014
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 46 / 91
work in areas where experiences are made that otherwise would
not happen in everyday life.”48 To display general awareness
requires one not to judge every context and every encounter with
others by the immediate value it provides to the core task at hand.
Instead, finding the time to swerve, to look around for things that
intuition suggests are worth pursuing, or even to look for great
input in negative experiences is what many might suggest as useful
sources of content. Daniel Prandl, jazz composer and musician,
told us: “I can learn more from a concert I dislike than from a
concert I love.”49
Position
Not many people outside the art world know that art education is
to a very large extent about helping artists to find their own
position. As in many disciplines, the craft itself is something that
students learn by practicing and learning from teachers, masters
and fellow students. But in order to make one’s art truly unique,
truly individual, a position is required. Many young artists report
that finding their personal, unique position is the most painful part
of becoming an artist. Maureen Drdak commented accordingly: “It
is more to do with the amount of personal emphasis I put on it, the
degree to which one is privileged over another, in terms of the
process of the work, and the degree to which my particular voice
or inclination becomes apparent, that it starts to become more and
more apparent and apprehendable through these behaviors”,50
48 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24th 2014 49 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30 2014 50 Interview with Maureen Drdak, visual artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 47 / 91
Certainly, a position can develop over time, but finding it initially is
essential. One’s position is where head, hand and heart merge and
become one. And without a position, there is no true passion.
Passion
Certainly, one can be passionate about something, but without a
position, passion is arbitrary. It is misguided, while at the same
time an essential element of an artistic mind set. Passion,
according to our definition, includes components such as initiative,
self-direction, accountability, dedication, determination,
persistence and tenacity. Good companions of passion are
audaciousness, risk-taking and courage. As such, passion is a
source of confidence. Artists are not gamblers, but their passion
leads them to new heights. When talking to artists, it becomes
clear they have fears (not to be confused with anxiety or angst) like
many people have, but it is not that much of an issue because their
passion is directing them to go beyond their fears.
Taking initiative requires an entrepreneurial spirit. Starting instead
of waiting, acting and not hesitating, questioning instead of
accepting the status quo—everything that relates to the idea of
entrepreneurialism is about taking risk—real or perceived. Being
proactive and acting independently (but not selfishly) comes, of
course, with the risk of being exposed, but it is the first movers
who innovate, and rarely the laggards. So, taking the initiative and
building on creative ideas in order to make a tangible and useful
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 48 / 91
contribution to the field in which the innovation will occur is
crucial. And it is not a lonely task necessarily; sometimes for magic
to happen, it might be a team effort. Taking risk and making
unorthodox decisions can lead to irritation and even isolation—but
it is a necessary if true innovation is the target. In their book
Trading Fours, Gold and Villa write about a concert Miles Davis and
his band gave in the late 1960s. Davis, already known by then for
his techn ique known as “creative destruction,” turned his back to
the audience while playing jazz music—a move never seen before.
After thirty minutes, the band left the stage, leaving the audience
totally confused and in despair. Only one critic understood the
historical significance51 of what Miles had done. He ran to a phone
in the lobby and called a jazz publication to describe what had
happened. People standing close by listened to what he said and
passed on his positive comments, which spread like wildfire. When
Davis and his band came back to play more, the audience
appreciated the innovation, and when the set was finished, „they
went crazy.”52 This is what Friedrich Goethe once described: “The
artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to
him, everybody sees them.” In order to reach success as an artist,
taking initiative and risk is required. This is true for individuals and
ambition in other disciplines, too.
On top of everything, passion is ultimately where work and life
become one. For artists, there is no such thing as work-life
balance, even though there is everyday life. As painter Aris Kalaizis
told us: “I am also doing mundane things. I do not sit in a library
and wait [for inspiration to come]. That would be foolish. But
ultimately, it's a kind of waiting. Just like with ordinary, mundane
things I do. Within me, there is not only this aspiration to paint a
51 “Miles was once again changing the organizational structure of Jazz; evolving the concept of the traditional soloist and the traditional rhythm section; merging the roles of leading and support; democratizing responsibil ity and the subsequent gratif ication of each of the artists within the ensemble.” From: Michael Gold and David Vil la, Trading Fours: Jazz and the Learning Organization, Milan, Art for Business Edizioni, (2012). p. 61. 52 Michael Gold and David Vil la (2012), Trading Fours - Jazz and the Learning Organization, Milan, Art for Business Edizioni, pp. 58 -62.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 49 / 91
picture that survives in me; there is also a tendency to knock a nail
into a wall or something similar.”53
Resilience
Resilience has become a core theme in education and business. It
is also worth discussing ego strength and self-efficacy when it
comes to the arts. Miha Pogacnik told us that “when you are an
innovator and you are sort of dancing on the cutting edge, you
don’t really have the possibility of [receiving] feedback very often.
You are right there and things are just happening and they are just
emerging. Something is emerging that has never been there
before, so you have no way to check it and you don’t get much
guidance.” Obviously, if an artist is really creating something new,
the process it is about accepting ambiguity and even chaos. It is
about being flexible and willing to adapt while things emerge. It is
about managing at once outer conflict and inner crisis. Dealing
with ambiguity and uncertainty is a constant theme for artists as
they question themselves and their work. Experiencing inner
conflict, managing through crisis, and accepting and appreciating
failure are necessary steps towards accomplishment and cannot,
and should not, be avoided. Adaptability to change and dealing
with ambiguity are core themes in art-based processes, and many
artists are masters of agility and flexibility: “Artists are comfortable
with ambiguity. By design, they often deal with things that are not
53 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, vi sual artist, painter, Leipzig, July 24. 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 50 / 91
measurable and can't be easily quantified. Innovators, too, should
value what may not be easily captured in quantitative terms. In
stark contrast to more mechanistic models of management, they
must be able to tolerate uncertainty and open-ended questions.”54
Gold and Villa also comment on maintaining agility in the process
of creating jazz. The same fundamental constructs are at work that
underlie the creation of all of classical music. But because jazz
musicians are challenged with creating the music in real time, with
each other, rather than interpreting what has already been created
and transcribed, these processes and structures are simplified to
allow for experimentation, ambiguity and, most significantly, the
latitude to make and learn from mistakes. Appreciating the
“unexpected nature of change” is central to the evolution of jazz.
There would have been no learning without a fundamentally
different view of the nature of mistakes. To eliminate the risk of
uncertainty from the process of jazz would eliminate the entire
horizon of potential possibilities out of which jazz continues to
evolve. [...] This is precisely one of the conditions of business
cultures today.”55 This is why resilience is in high demand in
organizations today.
Psychologists describe a person with a well-developed ego-
strength as resilient. Such a person with such a strong sense of self
is capable of handling challenges. They more often: 56
Take a learning approach to life that increasingly grows their strength and confidence in handling triggering situations
Have an ability to tolerate discomfort, enough to regulate their emotions as opposed to feeling overwhelmed by them
Approach life overall with a curiosity and readiness to explore and to master what strengthens them, thus increasing their
54 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artist s” , on Money; December 21, 2012. 55 Michael Gold and David Vil la (2012), Trading Fours: Jazz and the Learning Organization , Milan, Art for Business Edizioni, p .35 -37. 56 Athena Staik„ Ego versus Ego-Strength: The Characteristics of a Healthy Ego and Why It’s Essential to Your Happiness ,” no date.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 51 / 91
chances of finding new ways of coping with challenges (see also awareness)
Treat self and others as having inner resources to deal with challenges
Do not personalize what others say or do, and regard self and other as human beings, thus, fallible” 57 (see also transcendence)
With such a definition, it becomes apparent that resilience is
somewhat a required foundation for an artistic attitude that
combines aspects that we discussed in all five areas. Today, it is
not entirely clear what makes some people more resilient than
others, but it is important to know about it as an important
element in developing an artistic attitude and to research further
how it can be acquired and improved over time.
From attitude to action
We put attitude (“head”) at the beginning of the suggested model,
realizing it is a very difficult thing to accomplish. Richard Branson,
for instance, states “the first thing that has to be recognized is that
one cannot train someone to be passionate--it's either in their DNA
or it's not. Believe me, I have tried and failed on more than one
occasion, and it cannot be done, so don't waste your time and
energy trying to light a fire under flame-resistant people. If that
basic, smoldering fire is not innate, then no amount of stoking is
ever going to ignite it. The exact same principle applies to positive
attitudes in people--you don't train attitudes, you have to hire
them.”58
During our initial conversations with thought leaders and artists,
however, we came to believe that an artistic attitude can be and is
57Athena Staik„ Ego versus Ego-Strength: The Characteristics of a Healthy Ego and Why It’s Essential to Your Happiness ,” no date. 58 Sir Richard Branson, “Richard Branson on Passionate Leadership ,” 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 52 / 91
developed over time. No artist was born with it. It is not a question
of genetics but breeding ground and practice. Author Daniel H.
Pink once said, “Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to
engagement.” To produce great art, the autonomy of the artist and
freedom of art is mandatory. Autonomy and freedom are words
with a very positive connotation, yet what sounds great at first
actually includes a series of things that are very difficult to
accomplish in the first place--not yet actions but purely related to
what we described as an artistic attitude. As Age of Artists, we
believe--as a next step--we need to find out how an attitude that
contains all five components--transcendence, awareness, position,
passion and resilience--can be developed individually. One person
at a time in order to support the emergence of a new idea of man.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 53 / 91
Hand: Attitude in action
Il lustration 6: Three action modules
With action (Hand), we relate to a series of processes or tasks that
artists do and that we were able to identify across various art
genres. This section is structured in three modules that contain
further sub modules:
Searching Reflecting Producing
All three modules contain another set of sub sections. When
looking at the three words Searching, Reflecting and Producing,
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 54 / 91
one might notice a possible sort order or flow where search comes
before reflection which comes before the production of art. While
this is somewhat intended, it is more important to acknowledge
that for most artists, such actions are applied whenever required
as they do not follow a rigid plan or structure when it comes to
those actions. There are choices, decisions, loops, iterations,
oscillations, etc. that make it impossible to identify a clear path or
method that one can simply apply correctly, like a recipe, to
achieve great things. The actions presented here should be
interpreted more like a toolbox59 that artists flexibly apply than a
rigid prescription of steps. And flexible application means that
some artists chose not to apply some tools from the toolbox. And if
they do apply them, they do not apply them all the time the same
way. They mix, match, blend and shift as they feel it is required.
This is not to say artists are undisciplined. In fact, the ones we
talked to were driven and followed a clear inner plan that is rooted
in their personal attitude. Attitude is mandatory; actions are
optional.
Searching
“Only the curious have something to find.” Unknown
Curiosity, in children as well as adults, is the appetite for
knowledge or “the lust of the mind,” as the British philosopher
Thomas Hobbes once said. This urge to know is a necessary
ingredient and perhaps the secret ingredient for any artist.
Curiosity fuels imagination and is a foundation for any creative act,
any piece of art. “Artists are neophiles. They are in love with
59 The German word “Instrumentarium” that translates into “equipment” was suggested to us as an alternative instead of toolbox which sounds too mechanistic for many people we spoke to.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 55 / 91
novelty and have an insatiable appetite for finding and creating
new connections.”60 To understand customer or user needs, to be
enabled for breakthrough innovation (and not just piecemeal
improvement), to position a challenge in the right context—for all
of these critical activities, curiosity is elementary. The challenge
however is to sidestep obstacles. “It is a miracle that curiosity
survives formal education,” Albert Einstein once said.
Life, for artists, is a constant quest for purpose and meaning, and
artists as analysts of the human condition have developed some
core skills and sensors where awareness--as we described in the
previous chapter--is a prerequisite that is enhanced by the good
practice of searching as an act to satisfy curiosity. The search
module in this paper and its sub modules represent those practices
as seen in art and with artists. Search can take place in various
forms, for example by
Researching Engaging with other people through listening and
conversation Exploiting what other people did Asking significant and challenging questions (which some
might perceive as impoliteness or provocation--both key concepts in art as well)
Researching
Reading, Watching, Observing, Researching--beyond our main
profession and main occupations. John Coleman writes in his
Harvard Business Review blog with the wonderful title “For Those
Who Want to Lead, Read”:
Deep, broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic
of our greatest leaders and can catalyze insight, innovation,
60 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artists ” , CNN Money; December 21 , 2012.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 56 / 91
empathy, and personal effectiveness. The leadership benefits
of reading are wide-ranging. Evidence suggests reading can
improve intelligence and lead to innovation and insight. Some
studies have shown, for example, that reading makes you
smarter through a larger vocabulary and more world
knowledge in addition to the abstract reasoning sk ills.61
And artist Maureen Drdak confirms,
The most important thing is for me is the quality of priming the pump in the first stage, of accessing and ingesting as
much information as possible. Priming the pump. There has to
be a quality priming. Because if it's only a cursory, it seems
like the quality of the output is almost proportionate to the
quality of the input.62
Painter Aris Kalaizis takes the idea of search even a step further
where every new beginning, which for him is the preparation for a
new painting, needs to start from a place of emptiness. Once he
has completed a painting
…everything is still so present. And I'd be lying if I were to
continue seamlessly towards a new image and would negate
the impressions I had. […] I don’t want to see the previous
painting any more. Not because I don’t like it but because the
goal of emptiness is to receive as much as possible without
influence from what was before in order to not get into a flow
of replication.
This phase he considers not productive but necessary or even
essential.63
61 John Coleman, “For Those Who Want to Lead Read,” HBR Blog Network, August 15, 2012. 62 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014. 63 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 57 / 91
Observation, Conversation and Dialogue
Observing and having meaningful conversations by asking,
listening and, most importantly, by expressing empathy and
respect toward our counterparts and dialogue partners, is a theme
that we will find again in the chapter on Heart:
Those who see what's obvious aren't necessarily brighter than
others. They're just more likely to observe that the emperor is
naked. Like children, they see what's actually there. Their
perceptions are less clouded by belief systems, taboos, habits
of thought.64
When Salvador Dalí, the famous painter of the surrealist era, was
six years old, his family spent the summer in their house in
Cadaques near Barcelona. According to reports, he watched Juan
Salleras, a local member of the community who painted for fun, for
hours and hours. At this age, the young Dalí realized his first
painting. Observation made him try out something new.
For Jazz composer and musician Daniel Prandl , researching,
observation and conversation can be become one combined
attempt to find new things:
Transcribing or just studying music of others and then
understanding the rules in it and trying to make songs with
those rules can spark new ideas. There is this famous
Stravinsky quote that says: Lesser artists borrow, great artists
steal. It's all about checking out what other people did, see
what you like, see what you don't like, abstract from it,
understand the rules. Don't steal a melody, that's stupid , but
you can deduct rules off formal aspects, from how a song is
constructed.65
64 Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes, The Innovation Paradox, 2002, p. 76. 65 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 58 / 91
Dialogue can happen in various ways, of course not just before the
actual artwork is produced but also later--if we think about a
concert, for example, where the musicians are in dialogue with the
audience or in rehearsal when members of a dance or theatre
company are on a joint quest.
Exploiting
When Daniel Prandl spoke to Age of Artists and referred us to the
Igor Stravinsky quote on stealing, we remembered Pablo Picasso
who famously said something similar. And so did Steve Jobs. It
seems the origin of such quotes is much earlier in history, and in
fact many great artists have related to the idea. 66 Poet T.S. Eliot
once commented: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.“
And subsequently, Igor Stravinsky turned it into “A good composer
does not imitate; he steals.” Pablo Picasso turned it into “Bad
artists copy. Good artists steal.” And Steve Jobs chose to use a
more politically correct version and was quoted multiple times to
have said: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” While all of them
relate to stealing, we find the term “exploiting” more appropriate.
This brings us to Goethe, who, in a conversation with Eckermann in
1827, clarifies what this is all about:
There is through all art a filiation. If you see a great master,
you will always find that he used what was good in his
predecessors, and that it was this which made him great. Men
like Raphael do not spring out of the ground. They took root
in the antique, and the best which had been done before
them. Had they not used the advantages of their time, there
would be little to say about them.67
Likewise Aris Kalaizis again confirms when asked by Age of Artists:
“Of course it would be foolish to argue against better knowledge 66 Please refer to http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/06/artists -steal/ 67 Conversations of Goethe, 1827.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 59 / 91
that one is not influenced. People need comparisons and this is
very important especially when you are at the beginning…” 68
Realizing that everything is derivative in some way is a key
principle in art. Using what others did, exploiting ideas of other
disciplines, exploiting the past and emerging future are
instrumental for artists. And the famous quotes mentioned
illustrate that they do not suffer from the “not invented here
syndrome,” though at the same time realizing that they have to
add to what was done in unique and new ways.
Asking significant questions
“There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen
Identifying and asking significant questions that clarify various
points of view and lead to better solutions are a core element of
search:
Artists are contrarians. Artists can see the ‘cracks through
which the light gets in,’ as the old adage goes. Likewise, great
innovators come up with solutions to problems because they
see what is missing. They are eccentric, which means they
literally view things from the fringes. Both artists and
innovators see the world as it could be. They look upon our
world, as Proust would say, with ‘fresh eyes.’ You might also
call that vision.69
68 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014. 69 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artists , ” on CNN Money, December 21, 2012.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 60 / 91
From Search to Reflection
Out of curiosity, artists embark on a search that helps to generate
necessity. This is the basis for any artistic effort. It provides the
motivation to address a certain problem or to make a certain
statement through a piece of art. When addressing wicked
problems, when addressing challenges in professional
organizations, or even for many of us when dealing with daily life,
curiosity is not adequately responded to due to lack of time. Even
if searching takes place, it is often reduced to a minimum in favor
of more visible action (i.e., producing), yet it is equally important
as the breeding ground for innovation in response to threats and
opportunities. It is the basis for everything that follows. Yet
searching is not the only thing that falls short in many discip lines.
Also reflecting as a means to find a solution to a question or
problem is often cut down to a minimum. However, we learned
that Artists do also thoroughly reflect and, as such, the next
section explores aspects of reflection.
Reflecting
“Artwork is really just 'sublimated problem-solving,’” Eleanor Blair,
Painter
Problem solving is already a creative process because it relates to
coming up with new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and
radical concepts) that will be used in later stages of an artistic
process. Problem solving addresses different kinds of non-familiar
problems in both conventional and innovative ways. As we
realized, problem solving is a result of conscious and subconscious
reflection.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 61 / 91
With all the information gathered, whether it is by observing, by
exploiting what others did, by engaging with other people through
conversation or by asking significant questions, the journey
through the creative process begins (and ends) with reflection.
Reflecting is a constant theme in art while it contrasts with phases
of clear focus. Sometimes reflection phases are merely more than
an instant but can as well last for days or weeks. We included these
phases in the reflecting module:
Reasoning Abstracting Generating ideas Imagining Committing
Reasoning
Reasoning is about thinking critically about the outside world, but
also it is to introspect, to look inside. In order to look inside, it is
important to appreciate any feedback about our argument, and
even critiques. Maureen Drdak nicely explained her approach to
reasoning: “I am much more deliberate than perhaps many artists
may be in that my work is usually thematically directed with
philosophical or mythic content. I thoroughly research whatever
realm of those categories I am thinking about pursuing. And then
later lay material to rest [...] intellectually to fallow for a while
before I then revisit it and commence my actual work.” 70 She also
comments: “There's an implication of acquisition of information
and internal integration. This internal integration is very important
[so] the material can be accessed later on.” 71
70 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014. 71 Ibid.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 62 / 91
On the subject of feedback, Aris Kalaizis states: “Painting is a
lonely craft and thus really needs a corrective. […] I always like the
dialogue. There are not a huge amount of people here but I profit a
lot from conversations with one or two people. […] And it is not
important whether they are a professor or a carpenter. I have also
got proposals or reviews of quite ordinary people that were not
only worthwhile to think about but also led to an action on my
part. […] If I happen to have an electrician at home because he has
to do something on the electrics and it then happens that he looks
at my work and says something, then one or the other amazing
thing can happen.”72
Abstracting
Abstracting is about thinking holistically, connecting the dots,
finding clarity and conciseness, yet without losing the overall
meaning: “Artists are holistic, interdisciplinary thinkers. Artists can
connect dots and take things out of their original context.
Likewise, innovators contextualize and re-contextualize, mashup
and remix, and embrace new insights and ideas that lead to
unexpected, unlikely, and often serendipitous conclusions...” 73 A
core aspect of art is the ability to abstract: the act of taking away
and separating as a prerequisite for simplification by targeting the
bigger picture and being able to derive its essence while not losing
its overall meaning.
Abstraction supports the idea of “seeing the bigger picture” by
means of reducing complexity. The painter Roger Hilton comments
that “abstract art is the result of an attempt to make pictures more
real, an attempt to come nearer to the essence [of painting].”
Abstraction is found not only in visual art. “For one, poetry teaches
72 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014. 73 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artists , ” on CNN Money, December 21, 2012.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 63 / 91
us to wrestle with and simplify complexity.” Harman Industries
founder Sidney Harman once told The New York Times , “I used to
tell my senior staff to get me poets as managers. Poets are our
original systems thinkers. They look at our most complex
environments and they reduce the complexity to something they
begin to understand.” “Business leaders live in multifaceted,
dynamic environments. Their challenge is to take that chaos and
make it meaningful and understandable. Reading and writing
poetry both exercise that capacity, improving one’s ability to
better conceptualize the world and communicate it--perhaps
through presentations or writing--to others.”74
Generating and developing ideas
“You can never force inspiration. You can only prepare yourself for
inspiration. You can strive to create an environment but inspiration
will hit or it will not hit; you cannot force it. [...] but you can create
conditions so that this kind of flow happens. [...] We artists have
been doing this for hundreds of years.” 75 Miha Pogacnik told us this,
and truly every artist has developed different ways to manage the
transition from composition to creation. Maureen Drdak told us:
“Whenever I engage in a creative process, I always start out, I
guess the best way, I could describe it as free flowing amorphous
biological forms in my particular internal space.” 76 Daniel Prandl
puts himself into a certain state of mind where he just sits at the
piano and plays for one hour and sees where his fingers keep
going: “You just improvise and you come over a line and say, yeah,
that might be something, let's develop that.” 77 For him, “
Epiphanies mostly happen when I am at the piano, because then
my mind is attracted to what I have to do and is focused on it .”78 As
such, more ideas come when he is fol lowing this approach and 74 John Coleman, “The Benefits of Poetry for Professionals,” HBR Blog Network, November 27, 2012. 75 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist, Hamburg/Dresden, June xx, 2014 . 76 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014. 77 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30, 2014. 78 Ibid.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 64 / 91
Maureen hers. We all have heard about or even had great ideas
while in the shower. And we know the stories about great
innovations developed by accident. What is apparently critical to
having any good ideas is to stage one’s environment such that
ideas can come--either to one individually or to a group. Flow
instead of force seems to be a good design practice.
Imagining
If we can--perhaps deficiently--associate reasoning and
abstracting with the logical, rational aspects of acting, then we can
connect imagining to the subconscious and sublime. It is about
fantasizing and following one’s intuition . According to Tim
Leberecht, “Artists rely on their intuition. It may seem counter-
intuitive, but intuition is ever more important in the age of big data, because it is the only feature that is faster and deeper than
the massive flow of real-time information. Nothing comes close to
intuition as innovators seek to anticipate trends and make
decisions swiftly.”79
Maureen Drdak explains how she moves from reasoning
(“ruminating”) into imagination and then into composing (which we
will return to later): “I generally do not do a lot of preparatory
studies, other than, perhaps a series of very casual thumbnails that
I will do because as I intellectually ruminate over the material that
I have read or gathered together intellectually, forms usually start
to appear, internally, and as I roll those forms over in my mind
when they manifest themselves in a strong form one way or
another, then I will do a quick sketch, gather those little sketches
together, but never anything involved in terms of very involved
preparatory work. I usually directly move them to what I think will
be the major final work.”80
79 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artists, ” on CNN Money, December 21, 2012. 80 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 65 / 91
Aris Kalaizis talked to us about a part of his work in a similar
fashion: “I make a photo, print it out, then hang it over my bed. […]
Occasionally I stare almost apathetically at this image, usually in
the evening before I go to sleep and then … I do not know how to
call it. I hesitate to say, I think. It is a very difficult process which is
very hard to put into words. In any case, it is a relationship
between what I am searching for and what is there which I try to
influence and to give it another shape. [...] Yes, and then I have this
photo and fall asleep. And I wake up the next day, and if I then--
and that's the difference--in the past, I have made notes. Today,
I'm not doing this anymore because I assume I do not to forget the
important things. If I have to look the next morning very long for a
solution that was there the night before, then it was not good. But
when I wake up and it is the very first thing I think about, then I
know it is binding and has something compelling. Then I have to
investigate that further.”81
In addition, imagining is about swerving or allowing for digressions. As Rob Austin and Lee Devin noted in their book, 82
“Investing in an ability to swerve, to devise new responses to
unanticipated situations, clearly encourages creativity.” This is also
confirmed in a wonderful quote from well-known journalist and
radio man of the last century, Franklin P. Adams: “I find that a great
part of the information I have was acquired by looking up
something and finding something else on the way.” Maureen Drdak
also confirms: “Digressions are simply the brain recognizing
relativity in whatever it's discussing, and it becomes intrigued with
following these threads of relativity. And it goes off to investigate
them because it thinks that path over there might be an interesting
piece of missing information that might be informing this primary
conversation or discussion or problem.”83
81 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014. 82 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003), Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hal l , p. 10. 83 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 66 / 91
Committing
Committing is a term used a lot in business today, yet too often a
commitment and the individual making are kept separate. People
who fear they have only partial influence over whether they can be
successful in an endeavor tend to keep a back door open, ra ther
than committing to an action or plan wholeheartedly. But artists
don’t have such a back door at their disposal. They are on their
own. And to commit in art involves both judging (a situation or
topic) and deciding (on whether and how to proceed). While
committing can hardly be called a phase or task, as it is more likely
a result or a milestone as part of an overall process, it is essential
to the identity of an artist. The ability to choose among different
alternatives with thoughtfulness, clarity, and timeliness under
conditions of uncertainty, scarcity, complexity and all the other
things that tend to hold us back from making a decision is crucial
to one’s success. The painter Norbert Bisky is not a fan of
indecisiveness and people who “don’t want to make a decision.”
This explains why he uses color unconditionally and in a way that is
valid for him. Very often in a creative process, such determination
is required. But this is not be confused with an “it’s my way or the
highway” approach, but is simply a point where attitude and action
meet in a very profound way to become one before the production
can begin. Clearly, to commit is not easy and many struggle with it
for a long time. But clearly, without committing, a good product
will unlikely be the result of one’s actions.
From Reflection to Production
As we discuss various tools from our action toolset, it is critical to
remind ourselves how intertwined, connected, and parallel
everything really is as artists--and other creative people--move
from searching through internal reflections until they finally make
a commitment to action. Maureen Drdak provides a nice summary
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 67 / 91
that wraps up this analysis and illustrates the path from reasoning
to committing:
There is a phenomenon that I experience that I know for a
fact in reading is common [and] cross disciplinary to all
creative people and divergent professions, and that is the
idea of ruminating over an idea for a long period of time. [...]
This is a fundamental element in the creative process. A lot of
energy has to be put in [at] this stage. It can't just be a
cursory kind of thing that flips through their mind and then,
having exhausted themselves with their inability to attain or
extract an answer or ‘the goods’ as they envisioned, they will
lay the problem aside, and then they will go and busy
themselves with other tasks, only to experience at some point
and usually in a not-too-distant future, a sudden moment of
epiphany where the solution to the problem, whether it's in
the visual arts, whether it's in medicine, whether it's in
mathematics, whether it's in science, etc, will spring [forth]
fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus. In their mind,
it's the Eureka, and there have been many accounts [of this
occurring]. [...] So there is--there is clearly something
underlying--this mother matrix so to speak of creativity, that
resides within everyone--that especially creative individuals
seem more likely to access perhaps through their inclinations
in terms of the amount of intensity that they give to it.84
Producing
“I do not seek. I find.” - Pablo Picasso
84 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 68 / 91
Two things presented at the beginning of this module might
confuse. First, it might be confusing that we use the word
producing to summarize the three important action submodules:
Composing Creating Performing
In the public domain, those actions might be perceived as the very
core of what art is all about. Second, it might be irritating that we
use Picasso’s seek/find quote here. Shouldn’t it appear under
searching? Yet as we have talked to artists about these
distinctions, they have been very comfortable using the term
producing when speaking about their “productive phase,” as
painter Aris Kalaizis called it. In some very old sources, producing
is defined as “bringing into being,” which is exactly what we mean
in contrast to the notion of production coming to us through
industrialization. And Picasso? Well, what he actually meant was
that for him, creating is a process of finding, of getting to the
masterpiece while in the process of creation--or producing.
Likewise Michael Brater quotes painter Gerhard Richter who
commented: “At the end, I would like to get to a painting that I
have not planned upfront. I would like to receive something that is
more interesting than what I can think of.” 85 One submodule of
producing is to draft, to conceptualize or to compose. Composing
takes place when a vision, an idea--based on a previously made
decision--takes on a more concrete form or shape. It is not
necessarily a part of the final result, but it is a clearer
manifestation of what is “becoming into being.”
Another submodule of producing is to actually create or make. It
includes fields such as
Getting started
85 Michael Brater, “Wenn Arbeit Kunst wird. .. “ Vortrag zum 2. Forum Wirtschaft meets Kunst, Freiburg, February 3, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 69 / 91
Playing and experimenting Reaching a state of flow Making errors and mistakes Cooperating and collaborating Managing doubt and crisis, and Improvising
Of course, there are different core tasks in each art genre that are
elementary to the genre itself: rehearsing, painting,
photographing, sculpturing, dancing, writing, drafting and planning
and so forth. Those core tasks come closest to the specifics of the
actual art practice (for example, poet, dancer, painter, musician)
and thus the end product, but are not transferable into other fields
such a science and business beyond acting as a metaphor. They
can be seen as the “specialist knowledge and/or skill” of artists
that find their counterpart in the specialist knowledge and skills of
other disciplines. During artistic interventions or when artists meet
with people from other disciplines, those practices can be used as
synonyms or metaphors, but an actual direct transfer of meaning
seems to be unlikely.
The last submodule within producing is performing, which is the
core purpose of many art genres and the point where artists meet
their audience. Even for artists who do not perform on stage, the
day when the exhibition begins, the result is presented, or the
book is released is core to the--albeit temporary--completion of
the artistic process.
Composing
To draft, to conceptualize or to compose are words that are used in
other disciplines as well. What is particularly interesting is the fact
that many artists already relate such actions to the productive part
of their work, while at the same time there still is no apparent
outcome. Jazz composer Daniel Prandl illustrates the path from
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 70 / 91
search to concept as such: “When I work on a new project I first
read a couple of books on the topic and don't write a single note
but rather lots of descriptive comments such as, that's mysterious,
that's odd, that's happy, that's pathetic, that's whatever, just like
that. Naturally, I can only work like that, because I am using a
highly programmatic approach for my own compositions. ” and
continues further.’ ‘I also define by how the development of songs
is: the highs and lows of the album, how much energy at what
point, who is soloing on which tune...”86
Painter Aris Kalaizis often builds a model for his paintings. He told
us: “The more accurately I could work out the model, the more
corrective I had to bring about possibilities to change. The model is
ultimately the basis for the painting. Not more. It is a kind of
background scenery which is the basis for each image. It is a kind
of power of the forms that can appear so and so in an image and I
must try so that it generates the highest tension in my view. [...] At
the end, the model never suffices to paint a decent painting. It is
simply a means to an end in order to be closer and to make things
with this model that ultimately need to be decided before the
easel. Otherwise, painting would not be required. I can build great
houses, but if I do not transpose convincingly, the entire vermillion
is not worth anything.“87
A key theme that is part of a composition is the idea of layers. “ I
love the idea of layers, so I imagine the saxophone as a layer, the
baseline is a layer, drums are a layer and they could be more
intense or less, and those layers come together and form a
structure. And I'd like to state: One layer is nothing - the
combination of layers gives the music strength and keeps it
together,”88 composer Daniel Prandl told us. Aris Kalaizis, when
unable to build a model, told us: “I am building an image from
various levels so that it becomes my ideal version of an image.” 89
86 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30, 2014. 87 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014. 88 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim , May 30, 2014. 89 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 71 / 91
He spends more or less the same amount of time on the
preparation as on the actual painting. This is not to say that the
painting is executed as planned or that it is formed intentionally
based on an idea of the future product. It develops from “back to
front,” “towards the future,” as Michael Brater described. It follows
the law of open development from what pre-exists. Something is
being developed, guided and directed by the perceptive and
intervening artist. As proof, Brater quotes painter Andreas Reichel,
who commented: “In plain text, this means that no work is just
thought of and then easily implemented. As a layman, one could
think that one can show the artist something beautiful, who [then]
manages to capture this beauty onto the canvas. [...] Nobody does
that. Certainly not me.”90
Creating
Another core area in producing is to actually create or make. It
includes such actions as:
Getting started Playing and experimenting Reaching a state of flow Making errors and mistakes Cooperating and collaborating Managing doubt and crisis Improvising
Getting started Artists respond to uncertainty and unpredictability not with a plan
or lengthy theoretical thoughts but just by getting started. 91 They
work with their material similarly to what we described in the
previous section on composing. Education professor and expert at
90 Michael Brater, “Wenn Arbeit Kunst wird. .. “ Vortrag zum 2. Forum Wirtschaft meets Kunst, Freiburg, February 3, 2014. 91 Ibid.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 72 / 91
the intersection of education, art and business Michael Brater says,
“cognitive action comes before thinking,” He calls this process
“active situation discovery,” while he--and this is important to
remember--also states that before action begins, there is often a
very long phase of observation and reflection. 92
Playing and experimenting Artists play with their material. As we know from children playing--
at least when they are little and do not yet understand the idea of
winning and losing--has no direction or purpose. Playing is not
binding. The act of playing satisfies without having a clear
direction or suggested outcome. While playing, unforeseen things
can happen; unexpected inventions can be made. Playing is
exploration and investigation.93 Likewise, but usually associated
with a more formal set up (objective), experimenting is very
common in the arts. “The true method of knowledge is
experiment,” English poet and painter of the Enlightenment era
William Blake wrote in one of his books. Playing and experimenting
while seeking the most appropriate and effective answers to
difficult situations and complex themes trying different ways is a
key theme in Art. We certainly all know from observing children
how important experiments are, but as we grow older, many of us
lose this desire. Artists instead manage to preserve this talent and
to use it in their work for their own benefit. Daniel Prandl
commented in support of this idea: “ If you stick to an idea, pretty
much anything can happen to it. I mean, you can change the meter,
you can do anything. Manipulation of the material is one of the
most important things, you know. It might be you write something
down that is beautiful, and that's it. But I really love to manipulate
my material, maybe add something, maybe delete something.
Whatever. You find another part, you cut a part, you think of a new
introduction and interlude section. I just like to play with forms .“94
92 Michael Brater, “Wenn Arbeit K unst wird. .. “ Vortrag zum 2. Forum Wirtschaft meets Kunst, Freiburg, February 3, 2014. 93 Ibid. 94 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 73 / 91
Reaching a state of flow Artists reaching a state of flow appears frequently across art
genres as a theme that explains phases of more output (quantity)
and/or superior value (quality). Artists usually know quite a lot
about this phenomenon--at least they can tell when it is there.
Conductor Omer Meir Welber wrote on his website about flow as
follows:
Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, the Hungarian Psychologist, offers an
interesting term for us to use when talking about music
making: “Flow is a subjective state that people report when
they are completely involved in something to the point of
forgetting time, fatigue, and everything else but the activity
itself. It is what we feel when we read a well-crafted novel or
play a good game of squash, or take part in a stimulating
conversation.” I can say, that conducting could bring me to a
state where I feel these sensations. You lose track of time,
fatigue, you don’t feel your body: it’s as if something took
over you. Csikszentmihaly describes: “The flow experience is
typically described as involving a sense of control--or more
precisely, as lacking the sense of worry about losing control.”
I believe that Flow is the ultimate description of the state of
mind we musicians find ourselves in occasionally. Not in every
concert we manage to get into it, not in every concert we
experience this feeling as above. There are three main
preconditions to experiencing flow: a clear set of goals, a
balance between perceived challenges and perceived skills,
flow is dependent on the presence of clear and immediate
feedback. All these preconditions are correct for a general
definition of Flow, whether we talk about extreme sports,
music making or studying.95
Jazz Composer and Musician Daniel Prandl offered another, yet
similar perspective on the subject: “You can't force creativity but
95 Omer Meir Wellber, Flow in the concert hall , Part 2, Tuesday, April 2, 2013.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 74 / 91
you have to force creativity. If you want to write, you will say, ‘I am
now writing for new album,’ so I have a deadline. Everyday, when I
have time I write couple of hours and on some days, I won't write
one single note. But that whole process, even when you don't ge t
to write something down, your brain starts working and the day is
always coming where you write a lot in really a short time and then
it's just flowing,”
Daniel continued about composing: “You can't expect me to act
like car production works. I can't produce so and so many
compositions a week. But there will be definitely months where
you have a big output and you will have months with a lower
output. [...] The word flow is an important thing.” 96
Painter Aris Kalaizis suggested, when asked what business can
learn from art: “If we observe people that try to create something,
you see they are sort of absorbed, which in itself can lead them to
a variety of things and perhaps this making is something that could
be more elaborated. […] In making--I would say--people tend to
see their life in a different light.97
Making errors and mistakes “One fails forward toward success.”
Charles Kettering, Inventor and Engineer
In governments, professional organizations and even families,
there is usually an appreciation for “doing things right the first
time.” A second time is rarely granted and failure is not something
one wants to be easily associated with. One of the reasons for this
is the core assumption that failure represents a cost that ideally
needs to be avoided. The other core reason is that failure is
associated with shame, even to a higher degree in some regions of
the world than in others. Generations of management students
96 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30, 2014. 97 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 75 / 91
have been trained in quality and lean management; they have been
educated to optimize wherever they can and to avoid unnecessary
cost under all circumstances. But who says failure is unnecessary?
Failure isn’t the right idea. In rehearsal, the iterations all
interact with each other […] Touch a hot stove and burn your
hand—that’s a failure; touch it again and burn your hand
again—that’s a mistake—same injury, no new information. […]
This resonates with many Master of Business students and
even executives, but makes no sense to artists. The
distinction between failure and mistake imposes an
unreasonable limit on exploration. Though artful making is, as
we have said, reliable and efficient, it has little use for the
efficiency rules like Avoid touching a hot stove twice (or ten
times) may be what’s needed to break up a creative log jam.98
Bill Clinton, former U.S. president, once stated on the topic of
innovation, “We need to embrace our errors and not be ashamed of
them because that will enable us to learn from our mistakes and be
more creative. And the whole culture of either thinking you’re
always right or being paralyzed by the fear of being wrong is
totally inconsistent with solving the problems of the modern
world.”99
Trying and trying again—even if things go wrong once—is not a bad
thing. The history of innovation is full of huge contributions to
mankind where people did not stop trying and trying again.
“Actions become experience, and experience becomes the material
that future choices are made of. […] Inclusion of past actions into
the materials of creation is the force that drives emergence. […]
Nurture and trust emerge. Don’t try to ‘get it right the first time.’
Instead, create a team and a process that can ‘make it good before
the deadline.’ […] Build iteration into your processes. Iteration
98 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003), Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall , p. xxvii . 99 Former U.S. President Bil l Clinton, speaking at a Rockefeller Foundation meeting on innovation and philanthropy, July 27, 2011.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 76 / 91
creates and defines the problem as a way of searching for valuable
outcomes. Think of iteration as making rather than discovering.” 100
In the past, avoiding failure had to do with the immense cost
associated with it in many industries. For artists, persevering
seems to be easier. “Collaborating artists, using the human brain as
their principal technology and ideas as their principal material,
work with very low cost of iteration. They try something and then
try it again a different way, constantly reconceiving ambiguous
circumstances and variable materials into coherent and valuable
outputs.” 101
Consider the history of art and examples where iteration of the
actual end product was not really an option. Today, about 50% of a
painter’s cost is materials. In earlier times, “that proportion was
probably even higher […] when canvas had to be cut and mounted,
and pigments ground and dissolved in painting media. […] Since
antiquity, one pigment of choice was ultramarine because of its
intensity of color. Ultramarine was processed from lapis lazuli , a
semiprecious stone found in Afghanistan and taken ‘across the
waters,’ usually to Venice. The value of the raw material equaled its
weight in gold.” 102 Over time, the use of new technologies and
production processes have led to new ways in painting—because it
was affordable. Today, the situation is quite similar: 3d printing can
be used for verifying constructions and simulations supported by
huge computer power to help to test assumptions. Those
innovations bring the cost of iterations down to a minimum also in
areas that are not just about human brains like a theatre company —
not to forget there is an economic side to theatres too. With those
new technologies, iteration is economically feasible and this art-
based principle can be fully embraced in organizations of all
100 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003), Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know abo ut How Artists Work, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall , p. 21ff. 101 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003), Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall , pp. xxv-xxvi. 102 Michael Hutter and David Throsby; Beyond Price; Value in Culture, Economics and the Arts .
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, June 2011, p. 62.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 77 / 91
disciplines so that innovation can emerge from repeating the same
mistakes again and again. “Cheap and rapid iteration allows us to
substitute experience for planning. Rather than ‘get it right the
first time,’ our battle cry becomes ‘make it great before the
deadline’ and ‘cheap and rapid experimentation lets you try new
forms; cheap and rapid artful iteration helps you create new forms
to try.” 103
Managing doubt and crisis “Of course, there should always be doubt. Particularly when
success comes one is required to revisit. Success is slightly
alluring. It lets people avoid reviewing and test things but mainly
when having success it is important to set the stage for the future.
For a painter this means to not repeat what was accomplished.
Instead one must try to paint better pictures than one has
previously believed that it is possible. I like the path of a
permanent searcher more than the certainty to have found
something that I can reproduce.” 104 Aris Kalaizis told us and
continued: “Crises have brought me forward. Actually, I paint to
put me in crises because these crises have always brought me
forward. I found those laborious phases nice but they did not put
me ahead very much. (Crisis) is as if the body is infected by a virus.
It is unpleasant, the temperature is increased and the invading
virus then shaken off. Then the body is slightly stronger against
those viruses. If you make a break and allow the crises to come it is
similar. For me it is important to gain distance from what was
accomplished so that a crisis can develop. The crisis does not just
happen. The longer you stay away from work the more you can feel
that you are at odds with yourself and the universe.[…] This form of
revisiting does not happen between each painting. Otherwise I
shouldn’t probably paint anymore. These are greater intervals, I'd
say, perhaps once a year."
103 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003). Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work, Upper Saddle River, NJ,: Prentice Hall , p. XXV . 104 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 78 / 91
Cooperating and collaborating From art, we know that the creative act is not necessarily a lonely
task. This is obvious in a theatre company or a symphony
orchestra. But many people believe that writing and painting are
creative acts of individuals locked in an atelier or study room.
While this is often true for the actual execution (“hand”), it is not
true for the creative act of inventing (“head”). Famous writers l ike
Goethe and Schiller were in constant exchange and dialogue with
others about their work, and painters like Picasso and Braque, who
jointly invented cubism, did this by visiting and inspecting each
other’s work. There are very famous groups of artists that existed
over a substantial period of time, such as Die Brücke and Der Blaue
Reiter, both in Germany at the beginning of the last century. Die
Brücke (The Bridge) for instance was a group of German
expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905 who had a major
impact on the evolution of modern art in the 20th century. Even
artists who were not active collaborators would not deny that they
built upon what others did before them, and in fact art history is
full of such references and quotes. The dialogue with our
precursors is special form of collaboration.
Collaboration starts with a joint purpose around which the idea of
community, of belonging together for a cause, emerges.
Collaboration requires the willingness to cooperate, to compromise
in order to reach consensus. It is also about learning from and
working collaboratively with individuals representing diverse
cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and
open dialogue in personal, work and community contexts. In a
global context, this requires cross-cultural understanding across
diverse ethnic groups, nations and cultures. When interacting with
others, it is not about judging a person or group, but building on
other people’s ideas. “Politeness is the poison of collaboration,”
Edwin Land, the co-founder of Polaroid and inventor of the instant
camera, once said. Author John Jay Chapman similarly commented
half a century earlier that “too much agreement kills the chat.”
Giving and accepting feedback and even criticism by focusing on
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 79 / 91
the task, not the person, is essential and a skill that can and needs
to be trained. Challenging others--but even more being
challenged--is a key concept of art. People who perform on stage
are vulnerable and they have to accept this as part of their work—
probably a topic that dancers know even more about than their
fellow artists in other genres.
For Rob Austin and Lee Devin, three out of four qualities of “artful
making” deal with aspects of collaboration:
Collaboration – The quality exhibited by conversation, in language and behavior, during which each party, released from vanity, inhibition, and preconceptions, treats the contributions of other parties as materials to make with, not as positions to argue with, so that new and unpredictable ideas emerge.
Ensemble – The quality exhibited by the work of a group dedicated to collaboration in which individual members relinquish sovereignty over their work and thus create something none could have made alone: a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Play – The quality exhibited by a production while it is playing for an audience; or the quality exhibited by interaction among members of a business group, and ultimately between the group and the customer.” 105
Michael Gold and Dario Villas recently provided us with a great
book titled Trading Fours: Jazz and the Learning Organization, in
which they give numerous examples of how aspects derived from
jazz can act as a catalyst for change in professional organizations.
For Gold and Villas, we can also learn about collaboration from
jazz: “The roles of composer, performer and conductor, strictly
siloed from one another in classical music, were, in jazz, fused
together into a new role: the role of the improviser. Underlying
structures and strategies that guide the collaborative creation and
105 Rob Austin and Lee Devin (2003), Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall , , pp. 15/16.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 80 / 91
spontaneous performance in jazz are drawn from both Western and
African musical traditions. This fusion also reflects one of the first
instances of cultural globalization a century before the digital
transformation.” 106 Effective collaboration will beas important for
the global workforce as for musicians in a jazz band or actors on a
stage.
Improvising An important notion in art is improvisation as a constant
interchange between artists. One instance is jazz, where Daniel
Prandl told us “we always say classical music is music for the eye
and jazz music is music for the ear. Because it's not written out,
even when I compose stuff, it's not all written out and the fellow
musicians can add so much to that. [...] it is always about changing
things and working them over. But there is a master plan.” 107
Improvising does not just happen when many artists work together
like in a band but it also occurs in collaborations between an artist
and his material. Maureen Drdak told us: “Materiality itself, of my
process, is very informed, because the materiality, will – it's
guarantee that it will start to latch onto the internal form and start
to drive the process in terms of how that internal form will express
itself--manifests itself through the work. Obviously, certain
materials have properties that are more expressive than other
materials and seemingly, the voices, so to speak “the material
voices,” will be exploited by myself in the process of doing my
work.” 108
Performing
As a last submodule under the category producing, we decided to
add performing, because for many art genres, all the hard work of
106 Michael Gold and David V il la (2012), Trading Fours: Jazz and the Learning Organization . Milan: Art for Business Edizioni, p 35. 107 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30, 2014. 108 Interview with Maureen Drdak, Visual Artist, Philadelphia, June 5, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 81 / 91
the individuals involved culminates on the day they step on stage
to perform in front of an audience. Daniel Prandl plans for this, as
he would like “to give the listener images that appear in her mind
when she hears the music.” 109 Even for visual artists, one could say
an exhibition represents a stage--of course weakened because it is
the artwork that plays the main role in an art exhibition, not th e
artist, at least in most cases. Performing also represents a
conversation with the audience and thus can be seen as the
emergence of something new that commences again with--
searching.
109 Interview with Daniel Prandl, Jazz Musician and Composer, Mannheim, May 30, 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 82 / 91
Heart
Including the concept of heart represents our attempt to ca pture
the sphere of beliefs, feelings, and emotional perceptions. At this
stage, we have identified four conditions relevant to this section:
Il lustration 7: Four areas of Heart
Motivation
An important aspect beyond attitude, skills and competences is a n
underlying key theme: motivation. Artists tend to be thought of as
extremely motivated in what they do--which is true--but why
would individuals in other disciplines be less motivated? We doubt
this and argue there is no difference between artists and
individuals in other disciplines. Same roots, different fruits.
Another question, however, is whether the environment and
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 83 / 91
leadership practices in other disciplines respond adequately to
cover for:
1. all sources of motivation, as no person is motivated by just one thing, and yet there is a different weight every one of us gives to each of the various sources of motivation;
2. a possibility to connect the individual value system with the organizational value system, where for both it is true they cannot and will not change every quarter but only gradually and slowly over time;
3. consistency between the motivation sources. An often quoted mismatch illustrating this is the stated objective of a call center to create customer satisfaction where at the same time employees are paid according to the number of calls they perform in an hour. Suffice it to say, many will attempt to close calls as quickly as possible in order to get to the next customer.
While many sources of motivation can be orchestrated in order to
drive a certain behavior, artists raised some concerns during our
research. Musician Miha Pogacnik, for instance, noted: “It is [the]
entrepreneurial attitude that should be examined today because, in
my experience, entrepreneurs and artists are growing from the
same source. They branch into other spheres, but at the end, they
meet because any future business will have to be holistic in a sense
of being able to relate to everything else--and that’s already
happening. […] The source is called the meaning of life. […] Let's
just say we have a crisis of meaning. Most people today live from
yesterday into tomorrow without knowledge or experience of
where we came from or where we want to go. [...] So how do we
create an environment in business such that everything that
happens is penetrated by meaning like it is in a masterpiece. If you
take a Brahms sonata, every note is meaningful there. Just take
one [note] out and put it somewhere else and you have a disaster.
So everything is meaningful. […] Meaning becomes an inner
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 84 / 91
muscle. 110 Aris Kalaizis commented in a similar way when he told us
about Aristotle who stated in the first book of his nicomachean
ethics that every individual strives for insight. yet “today we really
need to say this statement is definitely under revision. If people
have the freedom, they actually tend to avoid such insight or the
experience that comes with it.” 111
So when talking about motivation, we also need to look more
specifically for what influences people look to for insight and
meaning versus when they don’t do this. According to Aris Kalaizis,
the difficulty is to take the fear away. Fear that vanishes when
individuals realize that trying, while sometimes failing, is still a
good idea, or as Richard Branson put it: "In the end, you have to
say, ‘Screw it. Just do it.’" 112 Potentially, fears are more dominant
when an individual’s identity is tied to a very linear education
history that subsequently connects to a narrow expert career, for
instance. This does not indicate there is anything wrong with being
or becoming an expert, but to extend the idea of a rounded
personality, “which prizes individuals known as T-shaped People.
These are a variation on Renaissance Man, equally comfortable
with information systems, modern management techniques and
the 12-tone scale.” 113 While exaggerated and thus funny, it again
supports our point that art (but also sport, nature, family, friends
and other elements) is elementary for a satisfying life and acts also
as a source of general motivation.
Empathy
Empathy means an interest in the human condition--in personal
interaction or interaction on a more general, societal level, often
110 Interview with Miha Pogacnik, violinist, Hamburg/Dresden, June 14, 2014. 111 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, visual artist, painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014. 112 http://www.inc.com/branson-upclose/on-taking-risk.html 113 David Guest, "The hunt is on for the Renaissance Man of computing," The Independent
(London), September 17, 1991. Quoted from http://www.wordspy.com/words/t -shaped.asp
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 85 / 91
widely practiced by artists. “Artists are humanists. They are experts
of the ‘human condition’ and observe human desires, needs,
emotions, and behavior with a sharp, discerning eye and a high
degree of empathy. They can feel with and for others.” 114 This
human quality is what allows them to analyze well and to
subsequently create great art. So far, all artists we interviewed
expressed high levels of empathy for human beings in specific and
mankind overall, and those expressions were often understood by
the artist as relating to or directly impacting the artistic work, the
artistic product or outcome. Combined with a tendency for dee p
observation and reflection, we noticed in the artists a common
desire to make the world better. Carolyn Schafer, a jewelry maker
and painter, told us about selling a piece from her gallery to a
visitor while at the same time expressing empathy for the
departing customer: “I think most artists do express that
(empathy). The joy is having someone else appreciate that and
taking it home and, as I would say to people no matter what they
take out, my parting note is ‘wear it in good health.’” 115
Faith
Faith, in our definition, is a spiritual belief that the work is
influenced from some source that is deeply rooted in the
subconscious or even outside one’s self. At this stage of our
research, it is very hard and rather dangerous to define it like the
other areas discussed in this paper. Nevertheless, we would like to
report what we have observed in the interview process. Many of
the artists we spoke with say that their work must come from a
divine power, because it doesn’t come from them, or completely
from them. Carolyn Schafer, for instance, commented: “There is an
energetic sense that arises from what is being created, and the
artist’s stepping into the flow with that piece is what allows it to
be created, as it should be. […] It is releasing [oneself] to the 114 Tim Leberecht, “What entrepreneurs can learn from artists , ” CNN Money, December 21 , 2012. 115 Interview with Carolyn Schafer, Jewelry Maker and Painter, July 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 86 / 91
process and being an observer, a witness to the process, as well as
the participant, and realizing you are not totally alone in the
driver’s seat. There is some creative force that is happening.” 116 It is
worthwhile noting that artists most often mention this aspect
when talking about creating or performing their work.
Evocation
Evocation for us means an intentional movement of the audience
into a specific emotional state. Traditionally in business or science,
there are people that do communication, public relations or
marketing, but this is not yet at the level of evocation that we find
in art. Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic
Orchestra, stated in his 2012 Ted Talk: "We have a B (note), and
next to the B is the C. The job of the B is to make the C sad. And
composers know that. If they want sad music, they just play those
two notes.“ He continues, "...of course if the piece is long and you
have had a long day, you might actually drift off. Then your
companion will dig you in the ribs and say, ‘Wake up! it's culture!’
and then you feel even worse! Has it ever occurred to you that the
reason you feel sleepy in classical music is not because of you but
because of us?" The practice of evocation is also very much
developed in theatre and poetry where writers and actors know
exactly how to make an audience laugh--or cry.
116 Interview with Carolyn Schafer, Jewelry Maker and Painter, July 2014.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 87 / 91
The aspect of time
When we look at the head, hand and heart of artists, it always
seems as if we are trying to freeze a complex, floating, evolving,
strange matter so that we can get to the bottom of it. Well, first it
will hardly be possible to achieve this. Rather, we can try to find
indicators that we trust well enough to see and try them out in
another context. And secondly, in reality it cannot be frozen. Time
is moving on. Clearly, the idea of emergence, of iteration, of
evolution is another dimension we need to acknowledge, not just
in the process of creating one piece of art, but also when looking
at the development of an artist or an entire art genre over time.
Painter Aris Kalaizis is working only one painting at a time, fully
and exclusively immersing himself into the task. Once done, he
tries to distance himself immediately from what was accomplished,
even to the point where he tries to let the painting leave his
workshop immediately. Then he tries to empty himself to make
room for his next production. While this sounds as if there is no
connection between the two paintings, he realizes at the same
time that he is building on what was done previously, reaching
higher ground. Hence it is a constant attempt to define more
challenging projects: “If it is to be good, you grow with the
pictures. Each painting is finally building on another. This is a chain
from the beginning that ultimately represents all paintings I have
made. I cannot select one painting and say how I did it. This is
actually a senseless act because you ultimately have to consider
the totality to be able to evaluate the individual picture.” 117
He leaves us with an important lesson to consider when looking at
the aspect of time, which is that “the developments are only of a
nuanced nature. That's quite a lot.” 118 This remark is to remind us
that we all tend to overestimate what can be done in the short
117 Interview with Aris Kalaizis, Visual Artist, Painter, Leipzig, July 24, 2014. 118 Ibid.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 88 / 91
term but underestimate what can be accomplished in the long
haul. Time is in our favor if used wisely.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 89 / 91
The Age of Artist Model revisited - Summary and Outlook
We have already developed a great appreciation for artists of all
genres and the way they approach their individual missions. This is
a mission where work and life cannot be separated from each other
and yet there is room for family, friends, hobbies and even the
most mundane things. At this stage of our journey--approximately
one year into the investigation process and a couple of months in
personal dialogue with artists and thought leaders, we do not feel
our model is nearly complete or ready to be exhibited. Yet we
know it must be brought on stage in order to continue its journey.
We learned that great art is produced when the head, hand, and
heart are in sync and when there is an appreciation for allowing an
evolution over time. We also identified some potential elements that make an artistic attitude (head) which is mandatory, and
identified a variety of action modules (hand) that we interpret as a
toolbox for optional use throughout the artistic process. We
believe there is some emotional component to great art (heart) and
have seen many proof points that there are larger iteration circles
in the life of an artist and art overall that help to develop an
individual art practice or entire art genre over time.
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 90 / 91
But how does this all fit together with the idea of creating better
outcomes in business and society? We propose implementation of
the Head, Hand and Heart model, supported by an environment
consisting of a different leadership approach and an adjusted way
to work in professional organizations. In essence, two things need
to be connected: the value-based, purpose-built organization and
the individual with an artistic attitude and skill set looking for
meaning in supporting an organization’s purpose. A connection
between the two is an adjusted form of leadership that we call
“studio leadership.” In a society that includes those components as
a standard and not the exception, we can begin to successful ly
address the wicked problems we face.
Il lustration 8: The Age of Artists Model revised
Age of Artists / The head, hand and heart in the arts
ageofartists.org 91 / 91
This paper represents our latest findings and current thinking. We
are still at the beginning of our journey and look for more
interested and interesting people to engage with in a fruitful
dialogue to evolve our hypothesis.
Come play with us!