Cezanne Turns Leadership on Its Head

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• Cezanne Turns Leadership on Its Head
• Announcements
• Conundrum

Cezanne Turns Leadership on Its Head
Several years ago I decided to enroll in a drawing class. I had been very involved with sculpture but had virtually no drawing experience. I realized that if I wanted to grow as an artist I had to confront my lack of training in drawing. Actually, I was quite petrified since I thought my lack of drawing experience would expose me as a fraud.

The class was called "Drawing from the Live Model" and each session began with 90 second drawings of a live model who shifted positions at what seemed bewilderingly rapid intervals. The idea was to capture the basic gesture of the pose and not try to render the full form of the model. We then progressed in the same session to 5 minute, 10 minute and 20 minute poses, culminating in an extended 40 minute pose during which we were expected to make progress toward a recognizable drawing of the model, although we were discouraged from thinking we had ever "completed" a piece.

Our instructor would make the rounds, observing our struggles. When he stopped to critique an individual student's work the student would vibrate with anxiety as the instructor's blunt remarks revealed the inevitable truthfulness of his sharp eye and tongue.

Perhaps because I was a new student, he did not pounce on me right away. Several times he paused in front of my easel but did not comment. I went about my business, struggling to render what I saw before me: the model posing on the platform.

Then he struck. He stopped in front of my work for longer than usual. He folded his arms across his chest, shifted his eyes between my drawing and the model and extended one hand, palm up as though he were making an offering. "What are you trying to do?" came his question, clearly tinged with genuine puzzlement.

I tried to explain that I was trying to draw on the paper what my eyes saw. I realized I had a ways to go but if I were able to see the model clearly I would be able to draw it accurately.

My instructor reacted as though I had lit a match to Vesuvius. "No, no, no," he erupted. "Think Cezanne, follow Cezanne, understand Cezanne. For you, Cezanne should be the beginning and end. You do not see in order to draw. Cezanne teaches us just the opposite. You draw in order to see! Drawing is searching. It is discovery. Start over. Start with Cezanne. If you take anything from this class it is this: You do not see in order to draw, you draw in order to see."


That was a mouthful. And totally liberating. Cezanne and my teacher buddied up to cause nothing less than a revolution in my understanding of drawing and art in general. What possibilities this shift opened up for me! I now had permission to roam over the surface, to experiment, to explore different shapes, different relationships. As my hand embarked on this new journey, it became looser, more relaxed, more animated. Precision became less important than discovery. In that moment I felt as though I had rediscovered art.

So what does this story have to do with leadership? Over the years I have had many discussions with individuals who aspire to grow as leaders. Often these individuals would ask: "What would you suggest I learn in order to be a better leader? I need to learn in order to lead." My response would often involve a combination of some reading suggestions, a call to become a keen observer of other leaders and the encouragement to seek "stretch" assignments. I still believe that this is sound advice

But Cezanne has totally turned my thinking on its head. Now I share a different perspective. Just as Cezanne advised that you do not see in order to draw; rather you draw in order to see--I now suggest that you do not learn in order to lead, rather you lead in order to learn. I am not speaking here about technical learning--that's basic. I am talking about the deeper learning and insight that builds on wisdom and contributes to one becoming a more humane and effective leader.

Peter Senge has been a long time champion of the notion of the learning organization and the learning leader. Warren Bennis, author of numerous best selling books on leadership, speaks about ongoing self reinvention as a necessary quality of leadership in today's rapidly changing world. Management guru Peter Drucker wrote eloquently before his death about his belief that today's leaders cannot lead by knowing. The complexity of today's world does not allow one person to know all things. Therefore, Drucker believed that today's leaders must learn to lead by asking questions.

For a long time I thought one needed to develop an area of expertise before assuming a leadership role. I realize now, though, that there are at least two kinds of learning. The first is what might be called technical learning, the kind that is necessary to develop baseline competence in an area. The other kind of learning is even more critical and important. It is the development of leadership wisdom, acquired by constantly reinventing oneself as one learns the lessons of leadership. This kind of learning requires a far more rigorous, almost ruthless process of self honesty and discovery. The kind that Cezanne believe led to great art.


Announcements:

• Not too late for you and/or friends to sign up for The Life Change Studio at Esalen Institute in Big Sur that I will be co-facilitating with Nancy Fernandez Mills. Whether you are going through or anticipating going through life changes large or small this program will help you tap into new levels of energy, commitment and creativity. For a description click here.
  
• I am also excited to be speaking at the first Poetics of Aging Conference (November 16 to 19) in San Francisco. A really impressive line up of speakers. Check it out here.
  
• The International Positive Aging Conference in Los Angeles December 6th through the 9th has grown from a modest idea to an international phenomenon in just 5 short years. The conference taps into the amazing energy of people doing cutting edge work not only in shifting the paradigm of aging but in developing innovative programs and initiatives to create new realities on the ground. I will be leading a project entitled The Telling; Second Generation which chronicles on a real time basis these emerging themes through creative expression. Come and catch the spirit!! Click here.
  

Conundrum:

George Braque once said: "You can explain everything about painting except the part that counts." What did Braque mean? And can we apply this same thought to our lives?

Lost and Found

In This Bloutcher

• Lost and Found
• Announcements

Lost and Found

I recently gave a talk at the BIF7 Innovation Summit. The idea is that each of the storytellers had fifteen minutes to tell his or her story. The story tellers included such outstanding creative thinkers as Dan Pink, Richard Saul Wurman, Len Schlesinger, Sebastian Ruth. I spoke about the "Middleware of Personal Innovation," that is the core creative skills one needs to develop in order to transform their personal vision into reality. In my talk I referenced the personal experience of being lost and found simultaneously. I said, "When I am creating I am both lost and found and I believe there is no better place to be."

After the talk lots of folks came up to me and asked what I meant by being both lost and found at the same time. How can you be both?

When I am creating I am lost because I am working on the edges. I do not yield to the path previously taken. I am frightened, not knowing what will come next, what to do next. I am filthy from failed attempts, deep in the forest without a compass. I am Theseus without Ariadne's string. I battle despair, wrestle with the angels of doubt. I am a madman. And I see no way out.

When I am creating I am wondrously found. I am mindless of time, overcome by a strange, intoxicating exhilaration triggered by the tiniest of brush strokes, a spit of color. the struggle for truthfulness. I am where I belong, where I am meant to be, on the journey. Pursuing the questions. I am the cartographer of my own land, navigating an internal terrain of my own making--I am found, my coordinates always changing but traceable by the heat of wonder. I am found if not by others at least by myself.

And how is this different than the experience of engaging in life change? Personal reinvention? I do not believe it is different. We are all simultaneously lost and found--as long as we are on the journey, creating and recreating ourselves.

Listen to some of the great artists. They were on a great journey. And they also recognized the pain of feeling lost and found:

Paul Cezanne--It took me 40 years to find out that painting is not sculpture.
Henri Matisse--It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.
Willem de Kooning--I work out of doubt.
Paul Klee--I paint in order not to cry.

In our best moments, we, like the great artists, are both lost and found.

Announcements:

• Becoming A Life Change Artist; 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life has just earned the prestigious Mom's Choice Award. The award honors excellence in family friendly media, products and services. The esteemed panel of judges include educators, media experts as well as parents, librarians, performing artists, authors, producers, medical and learning professionals and scientists. That's cool! Congratulations to my co-author Kathleen Jordan who just became a second time grandma with the arrival of Addison Kelly Livermore, 6 lbs, 13 ounces.
• Get the word out: I will be conducting a 5 day workshop at the Esalen Institute with co-facilitator Nancy Fernandez Mills in breathtaking Big Sur November 13-18. The program is called the Life Change Studio and is appropriate to anyone currently going through a life change or contemplating one. Check it out here.
  
• If you would like to discover the poet in you, consider attending my wife Karen's Esalen program "Calling Calliope; Finding Your Poetic Voice," also November 13-18. For more information, click here.
  
• Also for anyone interested in and committed to changing the way society thinks about aging, please join up at the Poetics of Aging Conference November 16-19 in San Francisco. I will be speaking about What the Great Masters of Art Can Teach Us About Living the Second Half of Life with Creativity, Vitality and Meaning. This should be fun, informative and thought provoking conference. To learn more about it, click here.
• I will be doing an author's talk at the Andover Book Store on October 20th. Join us at 7 pm. Click here for directions.
• Please consider attending the 5th Annual International Positive Aging Conference in Los Angeles, December 6-10. This conference is chock full of interesting ideas, organizations, leaders from across the globe who share their innovative ideas for leveraging the creativity and talents of folks in the second half of life. I will be conducting a program called The Telling; Second Generation. It will engage participants in creative but mysterious exercises that capture the essence and challenges of aging. Learn more, click here.