What Shakespeare Brings to Business
Isn’t that a great title? That’s the name of a workshop I recently attended which was offered by the Ivey School of Business – part of their idea forum series. I have read and heard it said many times that the most accomplished individuals, like CEOs, read books other that business books. They read books that make them think – philosophy, poetry, poems, religion and so on.
And attending “What Shakespeare (poetry, art, literature, music) Brings to Business” opened up my thinking, and I now understand why CEOs prefer to hire people with an arts degree over those with business degrees.
“The exploration of creative works allows us to break free from decisions based on logic and data, decisions always limited by things we can’t see. Art, literature, poetry open up a sensitivity to the emergent, things that just pop up out of the nowhere of complexity…. Poetry, art, literature recognize that the whole is more than the sum of its part. This awareness is central to decision-making in business, and to maintaining a leader’s creativity.” Ivey School of Business
The session leader used Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to bring the workshop to life. He focused on the scene where Brutus has just killed Julius Caesar, and he and Antony are debating the need for Caesar’s death in front of the angry Roman mob. We were asked to pay attention to which of the two was a more powerful and convincing speaker. Antony was, and he set the stage by laying the body of Caesar for all to see before he started talking. A picture was certainly worth a thousand words and he played on people’s emotion.
Both Brutus and Antony used flattery, deceit and manipulation to influence the Romans. When you want to influence people, all you have are words, and Brutus and Antony clearly understood that. The angry mob was paying attention to the “noise” and not what was being said. They were so caught up with the “noise,” of what both Brutus and Antony were saying that they were not questioning what was actually being said to them.
Looking at Julius Caesar in the context of gleaning business lessons was very instructive for me and at the end of “What Shakespeare Brings to Business,” this is what I learned:
- What Shakespeare Brings to Business gives us the ability to see the complexity.
- People around us everyday use the power of words to flatter, deceive and manipulate us. They also use words to deceive themselves.
- Leaders get so caught up in listening to the “noise” that they fail to question what’s being said.
- We are victims of rhetoric. We feel good when we align ourselves with the person spouting the rhetoric.
- Life falls apart but we can bring it back together.
The workshop leader also briefly talked about comedy and what it can teach us. The example he gave was a fool walking down the street and keeps on falling, but each time he falls he rises again. What lesson could we possible learn from that example? The fool is teaching us resilience. Things fall apart every day in business and life, but if we are resilient, we can bring it back together again.
The next time you listen to a charismatic leader, focus on what is being said, and question it.