Leadership Academy Gains New Insights At Ackland

On November 20, participants in Carolina INCUBATE engaged in a one-of-a-kind leadership development workshop at the Ackland Art Museum. As the workshop began, Elizabeth Manekin, Head of University Programs and Academic Projects, immediately addressed the trumpeting elephant in the room: Why are you here? What can art teach you about leadership?

Shelley Johnson, Director of the Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy, clarified, "As the language suggests, Carolina INCUBATE experiments with its programming. Its workshops allow participants an opportunity for experiential, immersive activities from which to learn about leadership. Its programming features a host of field trips which take advantage of campus resources and in the process, leverage unlikely sources of inspiration and challenge assumptions about self and leadership."

Manekin specially designed the session to focus on the Leadership Academy's newly-adapted applied leadership framework as well as challenging student-athletes to find the method in the madness of hosting a leadership workshop in an art museum.

The first activity focused on personal reflection. Student-athletes wandered the Ackland's permanent collection galleries in search of a work of art which they felt spoke to their respective written prompt, be it "Find a work of art that speaks to your core values as a leader" or "Find a work of art that portrays resilience." The activity served as a warm-up and transition for participants, who were instructed to walk in silence and contemplation.

"Using the works of art in this way enabled students to reflect on the statements, expanding, deepening and perhaps complicating their own ideas about leadership," explained Manekin.

"The reflection offered them the chance to shift gears, to settle into the new space," Johnson offered, "and possibly afforded them a moment of mindfulness – priming them for the upcoming, alternative experience."

They then shifted from self to others. Students explored the "Color Across Asia" gallery for a work which spoke to them and then wrote description of it – without drawing or noting the title or artist. After having swapped papers, they then struck out to identify the work of art which their partner selected based solely on the written descriptions.

"Some found their partner's artwork easily while others struggled," Manekin said. "One is not better than the other in this case. The exercise lent itself to a closing conversation about multiple perspectives on a given object, and how people see things differently, even when that thing is sitting right in front of them.

"For example, some students wrote concrete descriptions, while others defaulted to more personal, narrative responses. The goal of the exercise was to reflect on the different ways we see and describe the same thing. It prompted the students to consider how they communicate."

Johnson provided the leadership connection. "Art calls it perspective or points of view," she said. "Leadership uses the term mental models. The brain looks for patterns to help us make meaning of our experience. This is both a blessing and a curse. I see a pattern which helps me to make meaning. Meaning making is the blessing. But is it the pattern? That is the curse."

The final activity moved to close looking and collective problem solving. In the Study Gallery, students examined a photograph entitled And One (2011) by Hank Willis Thomas and talked about what they saw, thus collectively unpacking the work of art.

Manekin described the significance of doing so. "This activity is at the core of all we do," she said. "It sounds fairly straightforward, but looking closely at a work of art fine-tunes students' observation skills, forces them to slow down, look, and listen. It enables them to see in real time how multiple perspectives – literal points of view – enhance their understanding of the artwork as individuals and as a group."

Again, Johnson added the leadership context. "Stephen Covey talks about paradigms," she said. "Are you conditioned to see the old lady or the young woman in the drawing? We don't see the world as it is. We see it as we are. People are looking at the same black and white space but how they make sense of it can differ. The challenge, the real difference-maker, is your willingness to try to see the young lady when all you see is the old lady."

In closing, Manekin and Johnson challenged the student-athletes to share what they learned about artistic points of view and how it will inform their leadership moving forward, and the student-athletes seemed to rise to that challenge.

"This workshop really opened my eyes to how different perspectives can bring about new meaning and how different forms of communication can work together in order to create a higher level of understanding," said Marissa Creatore, a sophomore on the field hockey team. "Art is all about expression and interpretation, and it was fun to look at leadership through the same lens. As athletes, we have to understand and react to different people's perspectives and communication needs in order to effectively lead. Thank you to the Ackland for giving us this opportunity!"

Related Videos