How can the arts give business leaders a creative edge?

But how do students respond to a more liberal approach to traditional business education? “Well, they’re surprised at first. It’s very physical work because I teach without tables. There is movement with and without music. 

“Secondly, there is a clear change in how the students approach challenging conditions. This work generates curiosity and courage to openly embrace disruptive contexts. Plus, they leave the classroom with a greater sense of empathetic, emotional care for each other which in turn creates more curiosity, courage, thrill and joy.”  

Jason Jacobs is an executive MBA graduate from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, where his background as a dancer, choreographer and rehearsal director in theatre was unique among his cohort.  

With experience in both the creative arts and business education, Jason now understands the power of creativity in effective leadership and that empathy is an important aspect. He said: “In contemporary dance and performance, artists have developed a type of expertise in empathetic listening in order to take cues, make decisions, act and react. The skill of listening with empathy is valuable in a business context. 

The concept of artistic expression in business education, as Ralf illustrates, is to unlock the non-cognitive decision-making process, where the rational mind lets go of control to allow feeling in the body to take precedent. It’s a practice called embodiment, which gives us a deeper understanding and trust in how we feel in any given moment, in turn enabling better, clearer decisions. 

Embodiment is something that Jason feels the business world could benefit more from. He said: “Once businesses understand the importance of thinking, feeling, assessing, interacting and decision-making through how these processes affect the body, they will benefit more from best practises across both the arts and business. 

“Once the aesthetic and physical experience of a situation is valued equally to the economic implications of that situation, businesses will simultaneously generate lasting shareholder value and solve critical problems for society.”       

For Mary Bou Akl, a marketing and communications graduate from GBSB Global Business School, and pianist, “art transforms you as a student and gives you a safe space to explore and understand yourself more.”  

Mary is a creative post-producer in Dubai and is listed in Campaign’s Creative Faces to Watch 2022. She said: “Creativity is essential in standard business. It challenges employees to look at new ideas and dare to explore them. It’s also a great problem-solving tool, opening people up to new perspectives.” 

Though, according to Ralf this method of bringing arts into the business classroom is a relatively untapped one.  

“Leading and decision-making under circumstances of discontinuity, disruption and surprise is the basic nightmare of leaders and managers,” Ralf said, “because it’s unpredictable and therefore difficult to control, leading to fear and anxiety. 

“The performing arts teach a powerful lesson that these conditions can be a source of growth and development. Business practice, research and education still struggle with a positive approach to surprise, discontinuity and emergence. The old cognitive ‘plan and control’ approach is still very much mainstream, though not as effective.”  

Actor Suhani Gandhi studied strategic marketing at Imperial College Business School. Some of the modules, like machine learning applications in marketing, were data heavy which led Suhani and her cohort to become engrossed in the logical and technical aspects of the topic.  

She said: “With my creative background in acting, it was instinctive for me to bring a narrative-building angle to the work. Especially in an age of overconsumption of content, where narrative and storytelling has become crucial to connecting with audiences and consumers.” 

With the rise of the creator economy and the popularity of NFTs, Suhani has seen a shift towards the democratisation of content and art, allowing creative individuals to build their own platforms and monetise their talents.  

“There are increasing opportunities for creatives to leverage their business skills and connect with their audiences. The link between business and creativity has never been more important,” she said.