Running Head: LEADERSHIP AND AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
Sustainability Leadership Through the Aesthetic Experience
Cynthia Way
The George Washington University
Dr. Ellen Scully-Russ
February 1, 2012
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AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
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Fostering the Aesthetic Experience to Develop Sustainability Leadership
This theoretical paper will explore the connection between the aesthetic experience and
sustainability leadership. Business leaders who develop an awareness of their own thought
processes surrounding aesthetics may become both more cognizant of and prepared for
sustainability issues, and therefore, may make more eco and socially conscious organizational
decisions.
This paper will begin with a reflection as to how I connected the aesthetic experience to
sustainability leadership, followed by a brief review of the sustainability leadership literature for
context. The paper will then explore the literature on the aesthetic experience and argue that it
can greatly enhance the relationship between leaders and the living world within which they are
embedded.
“My spirit and my voice, in one combined…” Andrew Lloyd Webber
Through my experiences related to music, literature, and a general appreciation of nature,
I learned many lessons which formed my thinking. I look to see how small changes can impact
society and systems and try to see circumstances from different perspectives, as we all have our
own realities. Everything is a matter of choice, derived from our habits and experiences (Dewey
J. , 1933) and as individuals we can make both positive and negative impacts.
Armed with this knowledge, as an adult, I strive to be a sustainability leader with the goal
of making thoughtful choices and thinking globally when making local decisions. For example, I
bike, walk, or take public transit when possible. When I eat meat and eggs, I try to make sure it
is free range. I consistently pack out others trash left in the woods. I offer the gift of music to
offer happiness and wellbeing to others. I often buy sandwiches for some of homeless people
near my office to help show kindness. Although I do not always make the best choices, I try to
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think through and understand the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the choices I
make, even if it is in a later reflection, which will facilitate better decision making the next time
round.
I identify myself as a sustainability leader and feel sustainability leadership encompasses
all of the above and more. The environment and circumstances bring about the choice for action.
These choices, I believe, are the opportunities for leadership to emerge. As leaders, I feel we
must live what we believe and show others the value in society, the planet, and the economy. We
have to create the space for others to understand themselves, how they fit in to the world, how
they can make a difference, and allow for their own leadership identities to emerge.
Reflections
How can the aesthetic experience help leaders become sustainability leaders? I started
reflecting on how and why I think the way I do.
“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” Lao Tzu
I am a classically trained singer with 25 years experience performing classical works,
opera, musicals, jazz, and more recently rock. Music expresses my emotions and focuses my
scattered thinking. Being a musician has taught me to be a holistic thinker in terms of seeing
multiple perspectives and realities, thinking in systems, and understanding that there is beauty in
each moment.
Some of these moments will become significant experiences allowing our
consciousness to evolve.
One specific experience occurred in my teenage years after a note sung wrong threw off
my a cappella group, our director took the opportunity to teach us a broader lesson through
discussion in how changing just one note can impact the fluidity of the piece for both the
audience and the musicians either positively, negatively, or both. After quite a bit of reflection, I
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started recognizing the relation to life on broader scale and how small changes can impact each
other, society, and systems. Music has helped me recognize minor details and how said details fit
in the larger picture. Music overall has taught me to think in systems, see interconnectedness of
multiple systems, and potential impacts through various changes.
Music has also taught me to how to understand multiple perspectives and appreciate
differences even if I do not agree. I have never been a fan of Bela Bartok; I find his music
disjointed, unharmonious, and filled with unresolved tensions. Bartok’s Night Music
encompasses these musical stylings by imitating the sounds of nature at night.
Another
significant experience occurred in college, when my music professor had us analyze this piece.
We discussed the underlying goals of the composer, his background, where he lived,
what was happening in the world during that time, and his impacts on music and society. We
reflected on the cathartic reactions we experienced from Night Music. We discussed why he
chose the specific combination of notes and rhythms, and that this internal conflict I felt when
listening was the intention of the composer.
This experience helped me understand the connection between the intentional creation of
the music and the carefully constructed dissonance we all, as humans, face internally. The
experience helped me see that there are multiple ways to look at one phenomenon and multiple
realities depending on how one sees the phenomenon. The ending result which carried into other
aspects of my thought processes and leadership was a thoughtful understanding of others ideas
and perspectives which allows me to see both sides of an issue, as well as the larger context and
impacts.
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Back in the day when the grass was still green, the pond was still wet, the clouds were still
clean…” Dr. Seuss
Whether skiing, hiking, or just being, I’ve always felt a certain sense of unity with the
earth from being on a mountain and experiencing the quietude and brilliance of nature. I learned
to appreciate nature at a young age through the experience of riding up the ski slopes in Austria
on a sunny day and seeing the gorgeous magnitude of the snow capped mountains and how they
balanced each other. With the aid of a question and answer session with my father, I thought
through the systems process of when the snow melts, how it feeds into the streams enabling the
town to have a source of water and how any pollution in the course of the stream could affect the
health of the people.
My grade school professor used Dr. Seuss’ (1971) to support a broader conversation
about society and how each of us can make a difference, and together, make positive or negative
impacts, depending on the perspectives. The story discusses various aspects of environmental,
social, and economic sustainability detailing the consequences of industrial progress without
global thought and American society’s perspectives on continued growth as a positive outcome.
The story itself had a great impact on my emotions as a kid which caused reflection
resulting in furthering my thinking as to how I could make a difference. Back in the classroom,
the subsequent conversation taught me that individual action can make both positive and
negative differences. This aesthetic experience made a definitive impact on my values and
framed thinking. Our class discussion was, of course, tailored to our stage of mental
development, but through future experience and reflections of both the book and discussion, I am
able to see the story in the context of the world today.
My aesthetic experiences from both the
music world and the world itself guided me into thinking like a sustainability leader.
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The Aesthetic Experience Fosters Sustainability Leadership Thinking
Leadership itself is a form of art (Barnard, 1938; DePree, 1989; Ciantis, 1996) requiring
the emotion (Fenner, 2003), perception, and awareness to negotiate through unknown
circumstances with unclear endings (Merritt & DeGraff, 1996) by using holistic thinking
processes which include balance, sensibility, judgment, and imagination (Howard, 1996).
Successful business leaders are challenged to approach life, work, decisions, and environmental
and social stewardship in a holistic, thoughtful, and emotional manner (Shrivastava, 2010).
The aesthetic experience advances holistic thought processes including inter-connections,
complexities, and multiple realities (Palus & Horth, 1996). Aesthetic experience precipitates a
connection with both nature and community (McMahon, 2011), resulting in a deeper
understanding of humanity (Smith, 1996), a broader and more open perspective (Ciantis, 1996),
and has been found to change attitudes and foster new environmentally and socially responsible
behaviors (Pless, Maak, & Stahl, 2011).
Sustainability Leadership Literature Review
Sustainability leaders are essential to ensure a sustainable future by reforming business
cultures to embrace sustainability. Derived from leadership definitions from Pless, Maak, and
Stahal (2011), Palus and Horth (1996), and Ferdig (2007), the definition to be used is as follows:
Sustainability leadership is the holistic and mindful actions and behaviors comprised of a global
world-view which recognizes the union between the planet and humanity; thereby, through
personal and organizational choices, effects positive environmental and social change.
Sustainability leadership emerges from choices we make when opportunity is created in
our surroundings (Uhl-Bien, Marion, & McKelvey, 2007). Our decisions are based on our
knowledge gained from experiences (Dewey J. , 1933).
As the circumstances within the
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environment change and adapt, the leadership response will continue to adapt in new ways and
new depths (Holland, 1995) regarding emergent learning from chaos, quickly adapting to
changing environments and circumstances, and offering creativity and creative solutions (Leslie,
et al., 2002, Ferdig, 2007).
Sustainability leadership requires large-scale thought processes within the individual.
Key knowledge areas include systems thinking (Smith, 1996), understanding implications
(Ferdig, 2002), and collective vision between the leaders and followers (Pless, Maak, & Stahl,
2011). Collective vision, shared meaning (Ciantis, 1996), and a global perspective are helpful
(Leslie, Dalton, Ernst, & Deal, 2002) in sustainability leadership so as to ensure both the leader
and followers are headed toward the same goal and then allows the space to be created for
leadership to emerge, and therefore, enable action.
Sustainability leaders should be able to think in terms of systems, relate between parts of
systems, and recognize potential impacts, so as to understand that making small changes can
foster positive or negative larger global impacts. To fully understand a phenomenon, the
individual aspects in relation to each other and the entire phenomenon but be examined (Drath,
et. al, 2008). Dewey (1929), for example, recognized that the within the phenomenon of nature,
humans, the earth and physical sciences, and the animal world are all integral components.
Sustainability leadership resides in the appreciative nature of the symbiotic phenomenon
between social systems, ecosystems, economics, action or non-action, and future potential
consequences.
Aesthetic Experience
According to Merritt and DeGraff (1996), the word aesthetics was derived from the
Greek definition knowledge obtained through sensory perception. The aesthetic experience
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creates insight and mindfulness through a cathartic reaction which causes reflection (Smith,
1996) contemplation, emotion, reasoning, and creativity (Merritt & DeGraff, 1996).
The
aesthetic experience triggers emotions which, through cognitive processing, create knowledge
and learning (Dewey J. , 1934). Stolnitz thought having an aesthetic experience was the ultimate
achievement (Fenner, 2003).
Early definitions of the aesthetic experience are related to art such as paintings or
sculptures (Kant, 1914).
Kant (1914) sees the aesthetic experience in terms of aesthetic
judgments which are the appreciation of beauty. He said goal of the aesthetic experience is the
impetus to achieve a higher level of knowledge and understanding through aesthetic judgment.
Based on the aesthetic experience, he discusses aesthetic judgments in terms of agreeableness,
good, beauty, and sublime. Judgments of agreeableness are subjective from the pleasure one
feels as related to the object one is experiencing, which accounts for individual sense of taste.
Judgments of good are considered objective, moral, and ethical. Beauty is judgment in that
objects which are “beautiful” offer the same feelings of pleasure to all who experience it,
meaning everyone thinks the object is beautiful for the same reason.
Sublime judgments are
based in our imagination.
Later definitions related the aesthetic experience to a significant mind-body interaction
triggered from one’s surrounds or circumstances as related to his/her environment (Santayana,
2003; Smith R. , 1996; Dewey J. , 1933; Beardsley, 1982). Santayana (2003) analyzes value of
the aesthetic experience in terms of what one feels emotionally.
Santayana (2003) said that this
emotional consciousness is individualized from our own desires and preferences, which then
determines how we see an object or interpret an experience.
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According to Dewey (1934), although life circumstances happen every day, for an
experience to be considered an aesthetic experience, the individual must have an emotional
response which results in knowledge and learning.
Dewey’s (1934) aesthetic experience
encompasses the whole being’s perception in which a balanced sense of passion and emotion is
invoked through sensory perceptions linked to the activity. The cathartic response, induced by
art, engages a variety of emotions such as sympathy, compassion, and culpability (Dewey, 1934).
Beardsley (1982) discusses the aesthetic experience increases our perception and ability
to see multiple realities. He feels aesthetic experiences are beneficial to society by bringing
people closer and fostering sympathetic emotions. Smith (2006) agrees that aesthetic experience
can change the values in a society through the creation of a sense of compassion and justice.
Aesthetic Experience in Relation to Sustainability Leadership Development
The learning from an aesthetic experience starts with the experiential raw data from said
aesthetic experience (Fenner, 2003). Through our associated emotional contexts, we begin
processing this experiential data (Santayana, 2003). As the emotions are processed into one’s
consciousnesses, learning occur (Dewey J. , 1934). The learning from the aesthetic experience
results in refining of perceptions, increased creativity, and allowing one to see multiple realties
from other’s perspectives (Carroll, 2010; Beardsley, 1982; Smith R. , 1989; Ciantis, 1996).
Beardsley (1982) laid out a five phase emotional learning process through which one
went through when having an aesthetic experience. This is depicted in the circular portion of
model one. Phase one is object directness in which the person allows him/herself to be impacted
by the experience. Phase two results in a felt freedom where the person feels a sense of release
into living and experiencing the moment. Phase three, detached affect, the person’s emotional
involvement becomes impactful and one distances his/herself so as to begin realizing his/her own
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power. Phase four’s active discovery is the process on how we connect the individual pieces into
networks through mental associations as such as through Fenner’s (2003) recollectivity,
emotional, or cognitive association. The last phase, five, is wholeness in which one because
holistically integrated mind, body, sensibility (Dewey J. , 1933) and learning occurs.
The aesthetic experience, however, in and of itself has no meaning without context to
offer an association (Smith, 1996) to which we can use our aesthetic judgment (Kant, 1914) and
perceptions of value (Santayana, 2003) to process and understand the experience (1934) through
the act of discovery and wholeness (Beardsley, 1982). Reflection and the qualitative change of
self as a result of the experiential activity turn the aesthetic experience into learning (Dewey,
1930).
Sustainability leadership can offer the context with the goal of holistic perspectives.
Aesthetic experiences may be a developmental base which can guide individuals into forming
their leadership awareness (Komives, Longerbeam, Owne, Mainella, & Osteen, 2006) around
sustainability leadership.
Komives, Longerbeam, Owne, Mainella, and Osteen (2006) identified six phases of
leadership that a person volleys through as they are developing as a leader. The stages include
awareness, exploration, leader identified, leadership differentiated, generativity, and integrationsynthesis. Model one shows the authors leadership stages in a linear format.
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
Model One:
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Komives et al (2006) discuss the levels of leadership in their model. In the context of
sustainability leadership, the leadership development process is as follows. Awareness occurs as
a person becomes more cognizant of what is happening around her, such as the awareness of
other sustainability leaders or sustainability issues. At this stage, a person might have had an
emotional response to seeing a documentary discussing that climate change was caused by
pollution and waste. The individual may suddenly recognize that there is a lot of waste at her
organization. Exploration is the immersion into the environmental and social experiences where
a person wants to do more and has the motivation to change his/herself, processes, the
organization, others. At this stage, the individual may want to join the green team to figure out
how to make a difference.
In the leader identified phase, one begins to take on new
sustainability roles and start to think holistically when making decisions. At this stage, the
individual may volunteer to lead the green team’s recycling initiative for her organization. In the
leadership differentiated phase, the person starts to focus on vision and impacting others. In this
stage, the individual may see the future potential for an eco-conscious culture change throughout
the organization. Generativity occurs as the person becomes committed to personal passion such
as the sustainability of his/her organization and the overall health of the planet. At this stage, the
individual may start to understand how the excessive organizational waste is affecting the
community both socially and environmentally. In the integration-synthesis phase, a person
begins to holistically see organizational complexity across contexts and wants to improve the
organization and its impacts. At this stage, the individual may be making eco-conscious and
socially conscious choices at home as well as at work, and thinking globally when acting locally.
As shown in model one, as a person is developing their leadership, aesthetic experiences
in terms of sustainability can help the person process, learn and evolve into the subsequent
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leadership stage. In other words, if an aesthetic experience in the context of sustainability
emerges, it may trigger emotions which lead to learning and become part of the whole
individual, moving her into the next phase of leadership development. At that point the next
related aesthetic experience in a sustainability context should move him/her into the next level in
the leadership development in the journey toward sustainability leadership.
Conclusion
The aesthetic experience triggers a holistically integrated mind, body experience from
which learning occurs through an emotional learning process resulting in thinking with greater
sympathy, compassion for humanity, a broader perspective, seeing multiple realties, and their
connection as well as impacts. The aesthetic experience in the context of sustainability may be
the necessary catalyst to encourage the evolvement in the leadership development process. The
aesthetic experience in the context of sustainability can cultivate holistic thinking which
incorporates the economy, society, and the planet and thereby, foster sustainability leadership.
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