Aesthetic Leadership: Managing Fields of Flow in Art and Business

Ian Ashman

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

ISSN: 0143-7739

Article publication date: 4 September 2007

592

Keywords

Citation

Ashman, I. (2007), "Aesthetic Leadership: Managing Fields of Flow in Art and Business", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 28 No. 6, pp. 589-590. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730710781001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Aesthetic Leadership: Managing Fields of Flow in Art and Business is a collection of “cases” drawn from the work of a group of academics and practitioners associated with a Swedish research programme called “Fields of Flow”. In the opening chapter the editors explain that the volume is concerned with the role of leaders in “art as business” and the “exchange” between business and art. They argue that organizations operating in the realm of the arts create ecstatic experiences, or flows, within a given space, or field – hence, the rubric Fields of Flow. They claim, albeit without a great deal of justification, that “the feeling of flow is an aesthetic phenomenon” (p. 6) and that:

 … the new kind of leadership we want to understand seems grounded in the fact that beauty, harmony and the sublime dwell in factories, markets and offices, as well as in theatres, museums and concert halls (p. 6).

Consequently, the first part of the book draws case studies from the arts (the orchestra, the opera and film), whereas, the second part draws cases from a more conventional business domain (computing, finance, engineering and, less obviously, dieting). A third part attempts to draw together the themes of art and business with aesthetics and leadership through cases as diverse as exhibition curatorship, culinary judgement, the beauty industry and a home care organization.

It is possible that much of the content of Aesthetic Leadership may be a little too leftfield for the taste of some people, but I found that almost every chapter offered all sorts of interesting perspectives on the subjects under discussion. There is a problem with the book, however, because, to invert a phrase, it does not do exactly what it says on the tin (or cover). There is really not a great deal of attention paid to either leadership or aesthetics and so the fear is that anybody acquiring the book hoping to find a thorough and explicit account of the means by which leadership can be grounded in the philosophy of aesthetics (an idea that excited me) is likely to be disappointed.

For instance, Chapter 6, which examines weight watchers as a “body business” gives an insight into a company that is entirely premised on a particular aesthetic (the body beautiful) but does not address the meaning or value of that aesthetic and says nothing about the way in which that influences the leadership of the organisation (in fact, leadership is hardly mentioned at all). I found Chapter 9 to be very interesting. It explains Stengel's brilliance as an engineer of extreme roller coaster rides, included in the book on the perhaps questionable assumption that the thrill of a ride represents an “aesthetic event”. It covers “ideas for exciting events” engineering safety, measuring emotions, writing standards, and the “skills behind thrills” but where is the discussion of Stengel's qualities as a leader?

The chapter that most engaged me regarding the subject of aesthetics explores the potential for computer programme code to be beautiful (that is the actual code, not the end‐user application). The Author of the chapter, Erik Piñeiro, “overhears” the frustrations and desires of programmers across an internet forum called Slashdot.com (subtitled News for Nerds. Stuff that matters). One programmer writes:

I like to write beautiful code … as I imagine most real programmers do … us geeks that live, breath, and dream in code … but in real life there usually is not enough time or resources given to manage to write really well planned out code (p. 113).

Nonetheless, even though Piñeiro focuses on “programmers who dislike their managers” little of the discussion is about leadership per se.

There is one chapter that succeeds in bringing together the principles of aesthetics, leadership and “fields of flow” but in my view it is the only one. Marja Soila‐Wadman, from her ethnographic study of a film shoot, puts forward the argument that the director not the heroic leader that is often the image conjured up in the popular imagination. Instead she claims that it is “artistic expression” – “the aesthetic event” – that leads, the director simply facilitates. She concludes:

With the appearance of command and control, leadership in a film project can easily be confused with traditional leadership … Leadership in practice, however, is about shaping relations … As a Director, according to Marianne Ahrne, “you should be the artistic leader who catches the moods and creates a secure platform for the actors” (pp. 83‐4).

Here then, the reader can gain insights from drawing parallels with leadership issues in their own discipline, a luxury that is not afforded elsewhere in the book.

In the final chapter the editors return to review each of the cases and claim that they demonstrate “that aesthetic leadership is here to stay” (p. 251). Unfortunately I can neither agree nor disagree because I am still not sure what aesthetic leadership (as opposed to any other type) actually represents. Perhaps, if the reader is prepared to accept that management and leadership are fundamentally the same activity, then the issue becomes somewhat clearer. I however, consider the two to be quite distinct. Aesthetic Leadership is a fascinating book that I am glad to have been given the opportunity to read and I would recommend it to anybody who is interested in the way that organization theory can learn from, and be applied to, the arts. My fear is that those who have paid the cover price expecting a new insight into leadership theory and practice will not feel so magnanimous.

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