The Art of Management

Many MBA programs around the world are embracing artsbased learning as a means to help their students develop or enhance such important leadership qualities as insight, creativity, teamwork, and social responsibility. Once thought to be at the opposite ends of the personality scale, the "flaky, fluffy" world of artistry and the "rigid, rational" world of business are learning that there's value in working together. There's a reason, say proponents of arts-based management education, why successful business strategies are said to be the result of beautifully orchestrated plans...

...While there are still some who resist the notion of using arts to teach leadership skills, there is a growing percentage of management educators who are embracing the complementary relationship between these two seemingly disparate disciplines. Nancy Adler, who holds the S. Bronfman Chair in Management at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management, is also a renowned artist who once kept her two professions distinctly separate. They are now intimately joined in the management seminars she teaches, as well as in her art exhibitions...

To read full article, please view .pdf attachment (MBA Innovation Publication, Summer/Fall 2011)