Content area
Full Text
Abstract
Successful organizations master the power of high touch in a high tech world. Increasingly, organizations have turned to arts-based learning to cultivate this capacity. However, beyond method and metaphor, the cultural underpinnings of the artistic world reveal a mindset defined by Aesthetic Intelligence, comprised of Presence, Authenticity, and Synthesis. This article expands on the emergent field of Organizational Aesthetics and introduces Aesthetic Intelligence, suggesting how one can bring an artist's sensibility to their work.
"I am not a businessman, I am an artist." (Warren Buffet)
Possibilities: Aesthetic Intelligence
Last year I embarked on one of the most memorable journeys of my life, a research project with two regional theatres in Atlanta, Georgia. I wanted to explore what business organizations could learn from theatre ensembles to enhance alignment and performance. I came to understand how the world of the arts embodied many of the cultural and behavioral attributes that most business organizations yearn for.
Probing beyond the covert revealed the underpinnings of this enviable culture, an artistic mindset driven by a capacity, Aesthetic Intelligence (Mucha & Goodwin, 2008). Aesthetic Intelligence traverses the literature of several established OD foundations: organizational culture, engagement and learning (Argyris & Schon, 1996; Benedict, 1989 ; Csikzentmihalyi, 1990; Deal & Kennedy, 1982; Deri & Ryan, 1985; Ellemers, Gilder, & Haslam, 2004; Florida, 2002; Goffman, 1959; Goleman, 1995; Herzberg, 1987; Langer, 1989; Maslow, 1943; Ott, 1989; Pfeiffer, 1998; Schein, 1985; Weick & Sutcliffe, 2005). However, the purpose of this article is not to explore the theoretical roots, but rather to introduce Aesthetic Intelligence, provoke your curiosity, suggest ways Aesthetic Intelligence might inform your work, and spark further discussion, research, and application.
Many of us associate the term aesthetic with "beauty," and in the business world, the word aesthetic could easily be dismissed as irrelevant. But the derivation of the term, aesthetic, explains that it refers to a sense of perception, the utility of our senses, and it is this definition that informs the context for how aesthetic is used in this article. We consume and distinguish our environment through what we see, hear, touch, smell, feel and intuit. Our increased reliance on technology and virtual relationships has atrophied our senses and I contend compromised people and financial performance. Learning about Aesthetic...