Many MBA programs around the world are embracing arts-based learning as a means to help their students develop or enhance such important leadership qualities as creativity, teamwork, and ethics. Once thought to be at the opposite ends of the personality scale, the “flaky, fluffy” world of artistry and “rigid, rational” world of business are learning that there’s value in working together. There’s a reason, say proponents of arts-based management programs, why successful business strategies are said to be the result of “beautifully orchestrated” plans.
Artists taking residence on MBA campuses
At a growing number of MBA schools, you’ll find arts-focused courses being taught side-by-side with more traditional business disciplines. At MIT’s Sloan School of Business in Cambridge, Mass., MBA students explore leadership styles by taking on roles in Shakespearean scenes. Students at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management in Montreal are exposed to arts-based learning in their very first course, Global Leadership, which uses improvisational theatre performers, filmmakers, and other artists to spark their imaginations, learn the value of teamwork, and discover how business success and social concerns can go hand-in-hand. Clark University’s Graduate School of Management has sent their MBA students into the community to analyze the creative economy of Worcester, Mass. And at the IEDC-Bled School of Management, the school’s entire philosophy is arts-based, starting with the location and architecture of the school itself, which fosters creative thinking through its magnificent views of Slovenia’s Lake Bled, and working and learning spaces that all feature prominent works of art.
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