Getting a Corner on Excellence

"LEADERSHIP IN THE LOUVRE" SEMINAR®

The purpose of the "Leadership in the Louvre" seminar is to create leadership attitudes where there may be none and to lead confirmed leaders to new perspectives which will enhance their own creativity. It is also especially effective for professionals in certain fields where a lack of attention to detail, cursory examination and hasty conclusions may lead to death or injury, such as the medical, nursing and engineering fields.

I like to think of this course as Feng shui for the mind.

This short but powerful experience (usually 3 hours) is really a workshop. Each participant is encouraged to come to the session with a professional problem in mind. The group meets at an art museum or private art collection that has been chosen specifically for the group by the workshop leader.

Participants interact with the group leader as well as with each other to develop their understanding of the meaning of leadership and its various expressions in the arts (paintings, sculpture, architecture…). After exploring approximately 3-5 art works, they will create their own "art work" to express their problem – or perhaps the solution – that they have discovered during the workshop. It is recommended that the session be followed by an informal gathering over coffee, lunch or cocktails to give participants a chance to interact informally with each other and to network.

Beyond learning about the theme, participants will also improve their sense of accurate observation, chunking down and chunking up to improve critical analysis and imagination, and calibrate their sensory experience to access or alleviate certain emotions. Certain notions of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) such as visualization and "reframing" – in a figurative sense, of course – will be used as effective problem-solving techniques that have enormous carry over to the professional area.

This is not an art history course, though you might learn how to better decorate your environment for the desired effect. Specialized modules can be developed with OB, leadership or strategy professors so that abstract vocabulary from their courses can be illustrated during the course. As such, this workshop is an excellent adjunct to the standard university curriculum.

The methods used are interactive dialogue in coaching mode, demonstration, situational exercises, and active participation in an individual or a collective work of art.

 The steps of the "Leadership in the Louvre" program are:

1. Exploring: What is there to learn in this museum (gallery) besides art history?

2. " Listening" to art: What message is the artist telling me?

3. "Reading" art: How is the artist conveying his message to me?

4. Interpreting art: Now that I understand better, I respect my conclusions.

5. Applying the lesson: I'm no Michelangelo but now I know I can communicate by expressing my problem (or solution) in many ways in order to reach more people.

6. Sharing: I will appreciate a moment of leisure with the group to share my observations, ideas, and enthusiasm for our new-found perspectives.

Workshop length: Minimum 3 hours, including all steps – Maximum: full day
Target attendance: professional adults, MBA candidates, doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers, consultants; this course may, of course, be adapted to special interest groups and high school students.

Copyright Constance G. Konold 2005 ©