At the beginning of the new school year in the MBA program I direct, I posted my own mini manifesto about the goals of our degree program, and the qualities we hope to foster in our students.
The gist of it was this:
I believe that our degree program is in the business of finding and fostering cultural leaders who see with clarity, choose with purpose, and act with intent. Further, we want to provide these individuals with the tools and insights to foster arts organizations with the same three characteristics.
Several commenters to that post noted that I was missing a rather important element: something about collaboration, communication, leadership in groups, and personal connection to the wider world. Since cultural and creative enterprise is almost always about collaborative action and galvanizing vision, I figured that they had a point.
After some collaboration of my own, I’m now adding a fourth characteristic to my trinity (I know, lists of three are far more powerful than lists of four, but it can’t be helped), and exposing it to the open air through this post today.
As amended, the larger goal of our MBA degree in Arts Administration is to foster individuals who can bring themselves and encourage their organizations to:
See with clarity
Choose with purpose
Act with intent, and
Play well with others
A bit kindergarten, perhaps, but there wasn’t nearly enough whimsy in the first three. The new fourth characteristic is intended to capture the extraordinarily social and collaborative nature of cultural endeavor, as well as the absolute joy of that nature (when stewarded well).
There might be an addendum yet to come (these things evolve, we hope). But I’d love to hear if I’m close to something.
Andrew: I agree that collaboration is a critical element to add to your list of leadership characteristics. I am wondering, however, whether “play well with others” (although cute) is the best way to express how leaders should behave in groups. Certainly, getting along well with other is important. But, isn’t what distinguishes leaders their ability to inspire others to follow them? (See Bennis and Nanus: “Leaders”)
What I love about this formulation is the word “play” which I am increasingly realizing is the defining characteristic of the tasks that make my heart sing. Sure it happens in my art-making; the big deal, though, is to make it happen in the “serious” consulting tasks. I wonder if we are altogether too serious and not nearly playful enough. If what we are imparting are experiences of inspiration and creativity, why not play at it? And, if we’re engaging with other people, doing that with grace and respect is an obvious benefit.
I love the element of whimsy – especially in context of the heavy duty stuff we have to do under “See, Choose and Act.” “Play well with others” is exactly the right tone, because even functioning teams have leaders/instigators/those who “inspire”/those who kick us in the butt when we need it – as well as a whole host of people who just have to be good at their specific jobs.
This makes my job sound like fun – a lot of work, but a lot of fun!
Three is fine — but there are some good fours: think D’Artagnan, and the Four Agreements. For my part, it seems that the sine qua non of all work in this world is collaborative whether we choose to believe so or not — in which case you could stick with three.