Perils of the Practical Person

In This Bloutcher;
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• The Perils of Heeding the Practical Person
• The Mother of Creativity
• Another Iteration

The Perils of Heeding the Practical Person
(Excerpt from Memory Calls; Reflections on Paradox and Creativeness in Art and Life by Fred Mandell, unpublished manuscript.)

Nor is the will to power the only threat to creativeness.  Of a lower order but in many ways more insidious threat is the Practical Person.  For such a person Utility is the highest order value.  The Practical Person has a built-in sonar that scans for efficacy, efficiency, productivity, serviceability, convenience, appropriateness, good old "common sense"--the bland array of the tried and true.  The Practical Person does not see past his/her current context.  For this context is the sum total of the Practical Person's reality.  The Practical Person has little patience for dwelling in the imagination, among the outliers or the phantasmagoric--little tolerance for the unknown or ambiguous.  The Practical Person is a reductionist and is quick to judge that which cannot pass the litmus test of well worn belts and suspenders.  The Practical Person, without malice intended, has a gift for making the Creativeness Person feel that s/he lacks an essential quality of being a contributing member of society.

The Mother of Creativity

I recently delivered a featured presentation at the National Career Development Association Global Conference entitled The Artist Within; Creating a Masterpiece Practice. Here is one of the slides from my power point.

 We often think that dissatisfaction is not normal.  That normal is being in a state of equanimity and harmony.  If we were to be honest with ourselves, though, we would acknowledge we are in a state of dissatisfaction more often than not.  I would suggest that being in a state of dissatisfaction is more normal than being in a state of equanimity.  So rather than see such a state as an annoyance, an anomaly, why don't we view our dissatisfaction as useful information and empower our dissatisfaction to act on its own behalf.  At its core dissatisfaction is the mother of creativity!

Another Iteration

In my last bloutcher I showed images of "Hands of Paradox."  Here's the latest iteration with gouache and some words added.
                                             Paradox is hands open;
                                             Uncertainty trembles,
                                             Loosening the grip.

5 Leadership Paradoxes

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• Five Leadership Paradoxes
• Lessons of Paradox
• The Hands of Paradox, Charcoal Drawings

Five Leadership Paradoxes
As you know I have an interest in the role of paradox in our lives and, specifically, how paradox can be a source of creativity.  A relatively recent joint study (2012) by the Human Capital Leadership Institute and the Center for Creative Leadership identifies 5 Paradoxes of Leadership Development in Asia.  I believe these are universal leadership paradoxes. And, yes, even paradoxes of personal development.

Paradox #1:  To achieve success, learn from failure
I have never met a senior leader whose rise to the top has been a straight line.  Like the creative process itself, a leader's development is often characterized by stubbed toes, bruised egos and outright mistakes and failures.  "Effective top leaders should be able to deal with failure and learn from mistakes as part of their leadership journey--reflecting on setbacks, learning lessons from negative experiences and growing stronger."  I would even take this a step further and suggest that a key to organizational success is one in which failures are used as opportunities for institutional and team reflection, learning and growth.

Paradox #2:  To develop greatness, practice humility
"Effective leaders model humility and constantly learn from others.  Humility was a necessary component of intellectual curiosity and an essential component of fostering a learning culture within an organization.

For example, a top leader from Olam indicated his direct reports had taught him as much as he had taught them.  This was a signal to his team that one can learn from multiple sources and not just from people at the top."

Paradox #3:  To foster learning, emphasize doing
"When asked what contributed to their personal leadership development, the majority of leaders mentioned adversity and crisis.  A senior leader recounted a volatile labor strike that erupted while he was leading an Indonesian unit.  Being a Singaporean, he was not used to strikes of this nature.  Worried about the safety of his team, he suggested they all return home.  His concern for the team's safety instead led them to stay and help with negotiations, and tensions were later defused.  Leadership development truly occurred when classroom learning was applied in the field and this example illustrated clearly that leadership development did not take place only in the classroom.

Paradox #4:  To accelerate development, slow down
While multiple experiences were necessary for leadership development, organizations had the tendency to rapidly move people into different positions without giving them room to breathe.  The organizations interviewed saw the importance of giving their leaders time to slow down and reflect on their experiences.

Paradox #5:  To excel at the task, harness relationships
The best leaders are authentic in their interactions with others and not only build good relationships with people within the organization, but are also plugged in to key networks outside the organization.  Those best able to build and harness these relationships are most likely to operate at the highest levels.

The Lessons of Paradox

In an ever more complex, rapidly moving world the lessons of paradox may be counter-intuitive.  Here are a few:

• Failure is a form of progress
• Speed can slow you down
• Reflection is a different form of doing
• Humility, not knowing, opens possibilities
• Collaboration is the new white horse 

The Hands of Paradox

Charcoal Drawing

Charcoal Drawing

Charcoal Drawing

Blows My Mind

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

Blows My Mind

A viburnum bush sits outside my window.  For two glorious weeks in the Spring its white blossoms send out a powerful, heavenly fragrance that wafts through the air and into my studio/office.  It gives reason to pause.

In The Unknown Craftsman; A Japanese Insight Into Beauty, Master Potter Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961) tells us:

     A true artist is not one who chooses beauty in order to eliminate ugliness, he is not one who dwells in a world that distinguishes between the beautiful and the ugly, but rather he is one who has entered the realm where strife between the two cannot exist.

This is the truth of Buddhism.  Yanagi goes on to tell us that according to a Zen catechism:  Buddha is also dust.  Zen monks ask us if the Buddha is not plainly before our eyes in everything.

Everything is Buddha and Buddha is everything.  This leads to an underlying connectedness between all things--an orientation toward oneness.  Differentiation is an illusion because all is one.

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche writes:

    All that is straight lies.  All truth is crooked.

To the Western mind all is about complexity and differentiation.  Zen Buddhism sees oneness and connection and the West migrates toward categorization and analysis and a preoccupation with distinctions.

What is one to do with this dichotomy?  Is Viburnum Fragrance also dust?

Later Nietzsche says time itself is a circle.  Is this an opening?  Do East and West meet in the fullness of time and connect back up with each other?

I never appreciated either/or.  I believe the opportunity is to find the part in the whole and whole in the part.  Another paradox?  Buddha says paradox is an illusion.  I would like to believe that.  But then I smell the Viburnum Fragrance and it simply blows my mind.