Every Leader Is an Artist

Harvard Business Review… The connection between leadership and art has been made many times over, usually as a way to single out certain properties of the arts that carry over to leadership, such as a jazz musician’s ability to create through improvisation. These analogies can be compelling, but my point is more ambitious: leadership is an actual art, not metaphorically an art. by Michael O’Malley

The same attributes that distinguish great from mediocre artists distinguish exceptional leaders from their ordinary counterparts. The best leaders and artists give us perspective on our social condition (good or bad) and greater appreciation of our world, ourselves, and our choices. Moreover, they challenge, excite, comfort, and motivate.

So let me suggest 12 artistic criteria for judging the art of particular leaders. To appreciate their leadership, we should ask about its …… More

Michael O’Malley, PhD is Vice-President of Human Capital at Sibson Consulting and the author of The Wisdom of Bees and Every Leader is an Artist (with Bill Baker).