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May/June 2005 Featured Stories
Social Artists

by Jean Houston, Ph.D.

Jean Houston, Ph.D.

Too many of the problems in societies today stem, in part, from leadership that is ill prepared to deal with present complexity. This is not just a matter of inadequate training in the realities of global change, but even more tragically, a lack of human resourcefulness – leaders living out of a field of awareness that is both limited and limiting in their abilities to deal with the world as it is today. Worldwide, societies are crying for assistance in the transformation of their citizens, organizations, and institutions. But sadly, insufficient training leaves the greatest of the students’ natural resources unexplored and hampers the preparation of leaders who can rise to this challenge. The leader, like most of society, emerges as a highly compromised version of what he or she could be. And the state of the world reflects this in a most dangerous way.

Leadership today is caught unprepared and uncertain in the face of too much happening too quickly. Few have been trained for the task of dealing with the complexity and the chaos of today’s world, while at the same time the usual formulas and stopgap solutions born of an earlier era, will not help us. As Albert Einstein reminds us, a problem cannot be solved with the same consciousness that created it.

Chaos, however, can be indicative of a rapid and widening exchange of information. Despite the present chaos of the world and its seemingly destructive turnings, it is possible to see that such vigorous challenge and change may be creating a whole system transition in which everything shifts to a whole new form, and choosing the evolutionary momentum of these forces (rather than the destructive possibilities) can lead to a new understanding of human and societal development.

The complexity of our times requires a greater and wiser use of our capacities, a rich playing of the instrument we have been given by what I call the Social Artists. The world can thrive only if we can grow. The possible society can become a reality only if we learn to be the possible humans we are meant to be.

The Social Artist is one who brings to bear the focus, attentiveness, skills and individual genius of the artist, exercising them all with aplomb to serve human beings. The Social Artist’s medium is human development, and his/her goal, that of providing an enhancement of life at every level of society. The work of the Social Artist is to help people select the most beautiful, powerful and evolutionary of the possibilities, ones that evoke a world that works for everyone.

Social artists are able to move between cultures, with the ability to enter one another’s belief systems, cultural styles, energizing stories and rituals. They learn to be informed on world issues in the context of different cultures, and not just from the point of view of a particular nation or policy.

The social artist has the tools to help people to work in collaborative networks and move away from hierarchies and power structures. He or she is one who helps cultures and organizations move from patriarchy to partnership, from dominance by one economic culture or group to circular investedness, sharing and partnership.
Additionally, the social artist is the one who presents a model for a constantly learning society. As a paradigm pioneer, the social artist is able to see trends and the emergence of new patterns out of apparent chaos. He or she demonstrates that different times require a revolution in management styles. The social artist shows even the most hierarchical and bureaucratically based organization that the inevitable movement in a world as complex as ours is to circular organizations. The successful new or renewed organizations will look like a series of circles everywhere. The social artist creates and uses effective multifunctional groups pulled out from all levels of the pyramid and formed into clusters, task forces, or problem solving teams.

The social artist will be able to help members of the culture or organization to preserve the genius of the culture even as they move it into the new story. In business for example with mergers and acquisitions slapped together, and in countries with huge immigrations coming in to upset the given cultural styles, the new story has to do with appreciating the diversity and complexity of the 'new brew'. This means deep appreciation and cross cultural understanding of the stories of the representative cultures, be it the Maoris and the Anglos in New Zealand, or the stories that inform disparate corporate cultures that have joined in a merger. Together they make for a whole new story. Often the larger picture or story will help the movement out of a static reality. This is where the consideration on an overarching story or new myth is of the greatest importance.

Social Artistry also aims at providing strategies that can work in an interconnected world, training effective leaders who can productively address interconnected public problems, given present day conditions of reduced fiscal resources, lack of consensus on options, and the necessary involvement of diverse, independent-minded stakeholders. The Social Artist is trained to discern ways and means to integrate disparate elements of human life and society into meaningful wholeness, providing a sense of the reality of interconnectedness and renewed dedication to creative expression and sustenance of this web of connections.

The Social Artist learns to think like a planetary citizen; to appreciate cultures and cultural stories and myths, while searching for the emergence of a new story, a new myth; to offer new models and paradigms of organization; to exhibit the joy of being a lifelong learner; to bring laughter and delight to learning and change; to serve as a healer of people and societies; to balance her/his life so that contemplation and meditation informs each action, and so that inward life and outward expression are complementary.

We are all hungry for a new paradigm of leadership. The world is begging each of us to engage fully in making the necessary changes to bring this about. I am inviting you to be a part of a new profession - that of the Social Artist.

Dr. Jean Houson is a Senior Consultant to the United Nations Development Programme and has worked with leadership all over the world. She has developed a number of programs, seminars and intensive work as well as a graduate degree program to educate, train and develop social artists prepared to create a better society. The core of all of this work is the summer program in Social Artistry meeting this year at the University of Southern Oregon in Ashland, Oregon from July 22nd till July 31st. In these trainings the participants learn to develop a wide range of their human capacities using state of the art strategies in providing leadership and creating innovative solutions to address critical issues relevant to both their respective societies as well as the global arena. What is offered will be a new order of catalytic leadership that will allow you to make a difference in profound ways.

For more information go to www.socialartistry.com or contact Bridget at (541) 488-1200 or Bridgetthebrit@aol.com.