Empowering my Community with Creative Leadership in Food Preservation

In a world of chaos and unpredictable events, many are looking into ways to improve self-reliance and community reliance. In our food systems, self-reliant and sovereign means are becoming more and more important in terms of food preservation, which is resurfacing into powerful action. How does one cultivate a culture of collective knowledge and hands-on learning in a community? It is here where creative leadership comes in. Bringing together individuals of very different skills, cultures, and experiences. Not only do we preserve the food, but even the enrichment of our communities goes farther than food itself. This blog post will look at examples of how creative leadership can bring about social change and sustainability. For my project this semester I established a Community Food Preservation Group (CFPG), a project which is moving people to share their knowledge, experiment creatively and create a far more resilient and sustainable future for themselves and their community. 

What is Creative Leadership?

Many view leadership as extroverted, action oriented and showy, but viewing leadership through a creative lens shows that leadership can show up in ways we may not expect or be predisposed to identifying as “traditional” leadership. Creative leadership is indeed creating an atmosphere in which that creativity and more fluid ideation can enable diverse thinking, new ideas, and collaborative efforts toward communal solutions. This is what creative leadership is about. Taking initiative to lead a group to think and act innovatively and empowering them to understand that their unique and individual perspectives are valuable to the collective, especially in times of challenge or transformation.

This kind of leadership requires one to pilot and encourage participants by reaching out to individuals and empower them to contribute something that only they can contribute. This type of leadership requires patience, empathy, a supportive nature and a gentle kindness that meets people where they are on their own journeys. It engages the community into a habitat of co-creation and creates a village of support for all participants to rely on and it helps to promote diversity, inclusion, and sustainability.

The Power of Food Preservation and Community Resilience

The CFPG is a perfect example of innovatively leading the change by empowering communities to take charge of their food systems through collective food preservation practices. The initiative was born from identifying common disconnects in my community from the growing, harvesting, and preserving process. Establishing a platform for shared learning and creating a community network where local inhabitants share information, know-how, and tools to help each other preserve local, in season foods via canning, fermenting, freezing, and dehydrating, among other methods. 

CFPG does not merely teach food preservation, this is where creativity, sustainability, and equity can coexist. This is a place where local people are mobilized and prepared to support each other to ensure that everyone is accounted for in the face of food insecurity. The group has the potential to bottle surplus food and distribute it to those in need through hands-on open workshops, using online communities, and networking with local farms and food pantries. Therefore, underscoring the systems of food that must not only be sustainable, but also equitable.

Creativity, Culture, and Equity: The Heart of Creative Leadership

CFPG encourages a creative culture shift towards a gift economy within this food preservation project. Participants can explore their own creativity by trying to apply different preservation methods while creating their own cultural traditions, perceptions and culinary knowledge. For instance, some might bring family recipes for pickling vegetables, whereas others could be experimenting with different fermentation notions from cultures across the globe. This diversity is an integral part of the project. This is creative leadership, facilitating a space where a wide range of knowledge is respected and celebrated, as it nurtures cultural exchange.

Culture is not the only aspect of equity that creative leadership adds to in this group. Access to food preparation equipment, training, or supplies can be a barrier for many. Therefore, CFPG cuts across that barrier by delivering a physical, local, and connected space that can give members access to tools like canning equipment, dehydrators, vacuum sealers, conceptualized in the spirit of “food preservation is for all regardless of income.” Workshops run on a sliding scale, with collaborative efforts to work with food pantries processing surpluses into efforts for serving people experiencing food insecurity. This is the ethical responsibility that creative leadership has of surrounding equitable opportunity for all in participation while exclusion is not from the distribution of a more sustainable food system.

Ethical Leadership and Community Impact

Ethics in leadership consist of understanding the broader consequences of one’s actions for the community and their environment. The CFPG embraces this ethical responsibility through the lens of sustainability, food waste prevention, and community relations. It makes a contribution to a more sustainable food system that reduces reliance on industrial food production and reduces food waste by creating a base of locally sourced food.

The idea of potential partnership of local farmers, community gardens, and food banks is perhaps the most ethical consideration. No food goes to waste, but rather feeds those in need. By promoting local food production and preservation, this project also nurtures the promise of the future food supply while also sustaining future environments. In this way, the CFPG complements the global climate justice movement by reducing the carbon footprints associated with industrial methods of producing and transporting food.

In addition, ethical leadership is concerned about the effects every decision has on every single member of the community. The group’s approach includes all persons so that every individual, regardless of their background or socio-economic status, has a place at the table. For example, cultural inclusivity enhances learning and even builds a sense of community in CFPG. By opening the doors to different views and opinions, the group creates a culture of shared responsibility, ownership, and respect.

Reflections on Creative Leadership in the CFPG

When considering the groups role in this community, it is not about simply managing projects, it is about creating a really dynamic community of changemakers focused on providing solutions to complex and interconnected challenges. There is an empowerment in the recognition of the idea that it is not that one leader is driving the group. Rather, it is because of the participation and creativity of all involved that it exists and continues to innovate through collective learning and experimenting around new techniques for food preservation.

My experience about creativity and leadership has taught me that self ownership of ideas and actions instills a deep and long-ranged meaning to an outcome. This has played out in several community initiatives, where a participatory approach has yielded better and more lasting outcomes than a trickle-down approach. For example, the CFPG aims to promote that members are not just consumers of knowledge, but their participation itself contributes to the resulting knowledge development in the project.

Conclusion: The Long-Term Impact of Creative Leadership

The Community Food Preservation Group sparks innovative leadership in all participating individuals to be able to change both their own lives and their community. Sustainability, equity, and creativity make up the backbone of every facet of operation so that the participants will not only gain much needed skills but also be incorporated into the much larger movement of food justice. This brings its users together to experiment and share knowledge which creates ripples that may change the whole understanding of not just how food is preserved but also how individuals shape their role within the larger community.

Developing leadership creatively is progressive, establishing communities to be more resilient, sustainable, and equitable that can engage people in taking responsibility for themselves as well as their neighbors and the planet. Such a place fosters creativity, cultural exchange, and shared responsibility toward a sustainable future that has no longer been an ideal but a way of living.

Creative Leadeship Final Project Proposal - Community Food Preservation Group

Project Proposal:

This would involve the creation of a Community Food Preservation Group to provide local residents with the opportunity to share information, knowledge, expertise, ideas and other resources relating to food preservation. The core idea is to develop a network where people could be supported to learn together about various methods of food preservation like canning, fermenting, freezing, and drying while working toward sustainable food practices and increased communal resiliency.

The initial project is going to be a Facebook group online giving easy access to discussion, tutorials, and the ability to share resources. It could eventually become a physical space at a community center or cooperative. The members could share equipment, attend hands-on workshops, and collaborate on preserving local produce. The organization will also engage in linking up with community gardens, local farmers, and food pantries to ensure surplus produce is preserved for donations to people in need. The big picture goal is to enable people to have more control over their food systems while building a strong and connected community.

It involves different principles of creative leadership in knowledge sharing and problem-solving, equitable access to all community members in food preservation and sustainability through the advocacy of long-term food security with regenerative food practices.

Creativity and Innovation:

It provides an avenue for creativity to bloom, as community members are called to engage in different hands-on approaches to food preservation. There’s opportunity for members to experiment and learn as a collaborative to find the best ways to preserve different foods with different methods. Members can work together on the best methods and make “community recipes” for future production.

The creation of a common physical space that houses food preservation equipment is a solution to accessibility barriers. Most people do not have the means or space to invest in canning supplies, large refrigerators to freeze, dehydrators or freeze dryers. This sharing of tools and expertise could be one of the means of instilling the collective innovation approach within the group. Members share best practices, collectively solve challenges, and experiment with forms of preservation which work best in this community for our specific needs. 

This space could find the aesthetics in food preservation by including culinary art or themed workshops like making jams in decorated jars for presents during the holidays. This adds an extra dimension to food preservation and creativity with hands-on activities that link to larger cultural traditions.

Cultural and Ethical Considerations:

Cultural inclusivity and ethics are the very core of this project. In this process, the project will look toward seeking participation from people of varied cultural backgrounds because every community brings unique knowledge when it pertains to food preservation. In finding inspiration for different cultural food preservation methods in hopes of learning new ways to preserve and continue with experimentation. Demonstrating respect and interest in the indigenous knowledge in our community will create a sense of cultural appreciation and respect for new perspectives and growth. 

Another priority of the group is accessibility to make sure that everybody, regardless of income level or experience, has the opportunity to participate. The best way to do this would be to keep the Facebook group free and open to all, offering sliding scale fees or pay-what-you-can models for workshops. Additionally, collaboration with food pantries or community gardens will ensure that surplus produce is utilized in ways that benefit people who cannot afford to be an active participant, but are suffering from food insecurity.

Ethically, this will instill a shared sense of responsibility for food resources, which will always be of the essence in these times of economic and social divides. The group will look at sustainability through the utilization of seasonal ingredients sourced locally and reducing food waste through the preservation of excess harvests and surplus foods.

Sustainability:

The project also focuses on sustainability in terms of the environment and community development. This group will practice food waste reduction through encouraging the preservation of homegrown backyard garden produce, excess produce from community gardens, and bought items nearing their expiration date. This fits within the larger movement of sustainability, reducing food waste, and supporting local food systems.

The physical space will be created with environmental sensitivity in mind. The group might use eco-friendly materials in workshops, such as reusable canning jars, local produce, and organic supplies. It could also limit potential waste by encouraging the use of compostable, recyclable or reusable packaging.

Long-term, this group could collaborate with local farmers and food producers in such a way that food preservation methods alleviate the effects of overproduction and food waste. It would also offer access to equipment when consumers cannot purchase their own canning supplies, thus creating a more equitable and sustainable food system within the community.

Implementation Plan:

Phase 1: Creating an Online Community

  • Create a Facebook group and invite the community to join it by posting content, tips, and questions on food preservation.

  • Post content weekly, including tutorials, and recipes on food preservation.

  • Ask the members to share any successes or failures they have encountered with food preservation.

  • Organize an online meet-up or an introductory webinar on the basics of food preservation.

Phase 2: In-Person Workshops and Shared Equipment

  • Find a physical location or partner with an already established community space-a local library or community center, for instance-to host workshops on food preservation methods including canning, fermenting, and drying.

  • Start fundraising to buy equipment and supplies, or seek out partnerships with local businesses that could donate or lend equipment.

  • Start arranging workshops where members can learn from each other directly, acquire hands-on skills, and share resources.

Phase 3: Collaboration with existing Local Farmers, Community Gardens and Food Shelves

  • Contact local farmers, food pantries, and community gardens to discuss donated food and joint food preservation.

  • Organize food preservation activities where members get together, preserve excess food, and then donate it to food banks or community kitchens.

  • Research how to increase the group’s impact through seasonal harvest events; this might entail partnering with a local chef or nutritionist for a public demonstration of food preservation.

Phase 4: Expansion and Long-Term Sustainability

  • Establish a shared physical space where community members will have access to larger-scale equipment and can organize together to work on bigger projects.

  • Develop ongoing partnerships with local farms, food organizations and sustainability initiatives.  

  • Grow the Facebook group and turn it into a source the community relies on for information, collaboration, and food justice.

Potential Challenges and Strategies:

Challenge 1: Attracting initial engagement.

Strategy: Social media, local flyers, and word-of-mouth would create buzz. Free introductory workshops would also be offered, and local community leaders could be utilized to help promote the group.

Challenge 2: Limited resources regarding physical space and equipment.

Strategy: Apply for local grants focused on sustainability and community building. Seek out equipment donations from local businesses or community members; share costs with local farms or co-ops.

Challenge 3: Participants will want and bring a wide range of expertise.

Strategy: Offer a series of workshops with multiple levels of difficulty. Offer beginning resources online. Encourage mentorship within the group by matching experienced members with newer members.

Conclusion:

The Community Food Preservation Group project is one application of creative leadership in bringing together collaborative creativity, cultural inclusiveness, and sustainability. It creatively uses shared resources, knowledge-building, and partnerships with other organizations around town to empower the community to take control of their food system and be more resilient and equitable. It will have a lasting impact through hands-on learning, sustainability, and social equity that will inspire future generations to take part in food preservation in a creative and substantial way.

Book Review: The Cult of Creativity by Samuel W. Franklin

In Samuel W. Franklin’s The Cult of Creativity, he explores the historic timeline of creativity and how intertwined the concept has been in American culture. Against what many may perceive, creativity has not been around for very long with a definition only coming into existence in the 1950s. Franklin highlights the cultural, economic and psychological shifts that enabled its rise to popularity. Beyond tracking the creation and history of creativity post World War ll, he also points to the commodification of creativity and how it became a way for business to become more productive and compete with the Soviet Union. Franklin asks the reader to consider how capitalism has objectified creativity and potentially shifted any single person’s true creative self expression. As creativity is generally considered a desirable trait, he asks the reader to consider if that positive perception comes from the drive to find personal growth or because society values it and in the capitalistic society we live in, can make money from it. 

Franklin argues that rather than creativity being an innate human trait, it has come to be out of cultural evolution. He makes a good argument for this by pulling from moments in history that have shaped how society values creativity. Particularly he pulls from the growth of creativity in capitalism and shows a convincing story of how the drive of capitalism found value in creativity in a growing economy. The need for innovation raises the question of whether individuals gravitate towards finding creativity solely for self exploration, or is there a higher drive for that discovery. This perspective questions the glamorized notion that creativity is solely a form of innate human expression and instead shows it as a value embedded in broader society. 

In this book, Franklin draws methodologies from many different disciplines including psychology, history, sociology and media. Particularly his use of psychological research that attempted to establish a definition of creativity that could be measured and quantified, popularized creativity because of its scientific legitimacy. In support Franklin pulls from self help books, and advertisements from post World War Two to show how creativity was encouraged on a large scale. I appreciated his fairly neutral approach to the ideas he was presenting, asking readers to consider the history and make a fair assessment based on what’s been shown. Understanding that most in society already air on the side of positively valuing creativity, he asks the reader to challenge that learned value and see another perspective. The methodologies he draws upon gives him a solid foundation for challenging readers in this way. If he were to have expanded this argument pulling from worldwide examples, this would have made his argument even stronger. 

I found Franklin’s writing in this book to be quite challenging. I have always prided myself on my creative abilities and that being a big part of why I can push the envelope on my personal growth. I’ve never considered that this drive or value I hold could have come from somewhere outside of myself or the environment in which I’ve grown up in. I found this concept to be unsettling at first, although exploring new possibilities is how I’ve come to be is always exciting for me to find. When I consider how others have always perceived me as a ‘creative’ and the positive feedback I’ve received for this label, I only remember good and am somehow surprised to learn that society’s general impression of creativity seems to match what I’ve experienced in my life. It makes me wonder, has my ‘creative’ identity been shaped out of pure creativity and curiosity for self expression, or is it a result of the positive feedback I have always received from others that has driven this interest. Human beings are, after all, value-seeking creatures. I will never know, but it’s been an interesting thought experiment and I am always happy to find new perspectives. As it pertains to leadership, the ideas in this book challenge readers to lead with an open mind, always consider different perspectives and to show that you understand where your biases may come from and lead with the intention of learning along the way.

The Cult of Creativity is an inspiring piece of literature that dives deeply into the short evolution of creativity and how it has been defined by the people experiencing it. It tells a story of how America has interacted with creativity from both a societal and individualistic perspective. It challenges the reader to reconsider where their own ideas of creativity come from and what their own definitions of this concept is. It draws from significant moments from America’s history, culture and socio-economic evolution in an articulate way that is palpable and easy to digest for creatives, academics, historians or anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the ideas that form self worth and productivity in America. With an overall sense of reflection and less capitalistic path to considering one’s place in the world, Franklin’s words in this book have proven inspiring. This book begs the question, is creativity a cult, an innate human trait, or a little bit of both?

In this worksheet on creative leadership made by Shannon Hereth, I found myself reflecting on her prompts with more long form answers and it felt like I was journaling a bit. I reflected on how I saw myself as a creative and what tools I have when feeling blocked from producing creative ideas. I was able to establish my preferences on how I’d like to work with others in this process and consider what kind of environment feels like it’s primed for creativity in my own opinion. I really enjoyed the questions about AI and technology and how it affects creative solutions. This is something really new to our world and is a difficult thing to navigate.

challenging the binary lens

In reading the article ‘Changemakers, CLIMATE JUSTICE Disruptors, and Protectors of Our Earth: Young Women and Girls of the Global Majority Leading Climate Justice” by Yasmina Benslimane, I found myself keenly aware of the issues of gender inequality in our world. Along with many women in the world and other groups of oppressed people, the inequalities are easily felt and more easily understood and empathized to other women or oppressed groups around the world. I often end up coming to the conclusion that all oppression, there needs to be a responsibility to the oppressors to make space and lift up voices of those oppressed. In this case, I know the world needs more men to step up and take action and advocacy for women and girls around the world to deliver justice and equality. For justice to occur in our world, the heavy lifting of transition to justice has to come from the ones who have an easier time navigating the world. For racial justice here in the United States, that’s white people. For disability justice, that’s able bodied people. For gender equality, that’s men.

In asking for privileged people in the world to advocate for others who don’t have the same privileges that requires a level of empathy and willingness to expand perspectives that many in the world need to expand their abilities in. This practice can bring up fears of losing control, power, or being vulnerable that I believe deters many from engaging. The mental and social exercises in advocating for the groups that don’t have the same privileges take courage, bravery, deep empathy and vulnerability. And this is just what the world needs to lift up oppressed voices, including girls and womens around the world. Challenging gender roles at every angle and encouraging all genders to confront the binary lens in which we live, is a great place for all individuals to start.

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://407546.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/407546/Downloads/Digital_Magazine_Issues/3103_NPQ%20Fall%202024_WEB.pdf

digging deep into childhood imaginative play

In my activity for this week, I’ve created a worksheet in which the participant has an opportunity to recall how they used to engage in imaginative or creative play as a child and what components made that play possible for them in those moments. Using a mind map, this activity asks the participant to dig deep into what skills they used, what inspired them and what challenges they faced. Upon learning the details about the remembered activity, the participant is encouraged to apply the skills, inspiration and understand potential challenges to the creative solutions they’re trying to achieve today. Doing this activity with a partner can bring even more insight to any certain memory you’re trying to decipher and can expand the potential for what can be observed. 

This activity has the potential to expand understanding of creative leadership by pushing the boundaries around what rules and regulations we’ve come to learn as adults navigating society. When we bring back the building blocks of our childhood imagination and challenge our minds to go back to a time when creativity came a little easier, it can spark ideas about how to apply childhood creativity to today’s solutions. Particularly when considering the challenges one would face as a child might give the participant insight into what challenges they might face in their own creative process. Having an understanding around challenges can create some empathy for the self and the ability to take more risk or create a safer net around failure.

is the push for creative innovation a capitalism hoax?

Something that I continue to run into throughout the readings so far in this course has been that it seems that it is difficult to define exactly what creativity means and exactly what leadership means. Or that these terms are generally up to the interpretation of any individual. And as a result it’s even more difficult to define what creative leadership is or how it’s defined. I’m coming to see that these terms are fluid. Although we live in a world where definitions and clear interpretations help us communicate and create boundaries around what is and is not, leaving these terms up to interpretation is a creativity exercise within itself. As Dr. Samuel W. Franklin talks about in his book The Cult of Creativity and discusses in the Chasing Leviathan Podcast, the term ‘creativity’ is relatively new, only coming to exist in today’s context in the 1950’s. So it makes sense that we haven’t quite defined what it really means yet or that it is still an evolving concept. And maybe it always will be.

One quote that I found really interesting from the Chasing Leviathan podcast was a summary PJ mentioned of Dr. Samuel W. Franklin’s words, “We’re sending people looking for something that we’ve already found because then they won’t work on the thing itself”. Here Franklin was pointing out that often the call for creative innovation can be a way for leaders to not take action on solutions we already have because they don’t necessarily want to take risk or radical change, but maybe want to be seen in the social context of “wanting” change. I suppose wanting change and taking action on change are really very different things. And applying those two things to a capitalistic society, action and wanting or fostering action are indeed very different. I think in this, greenwashing is born.

Franklin, Samuel W. 2024. The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History. N.p.: University of Chicago Press.

the act of letting creativity live within you.

This week’s readings were very inspiring. I enjoy reading about creativity from a mindset perspective and am always energized to practice mindfulness for the sake of finding my creativity. Although I’ve known of these sorts of concepts before, I was refreshed in considering them again as I am different today than I have been in the past. Today I read about these concepts and think about how difficult these avenues towards being creative can be in practice. Finding one’s way through things like judgment, assumption, and even fear can be an incredibly difficult thing to achieve mentally. Especially in the world we live in today. I don’t believe that mental practices like this are taught or valued in our society and it really has a damaging effect on the innovation of our society as a whole. In ‘Practices for Creating’ Michael Jones states “Inquiry finds its roots in the curiosity we had as children” and I find that this is often something adults are missing in their lives. There seems to be a search for how to feel creative, playful or imaginative as we once did as children and the question lies in how did we lose those abilities to begin with. I think that our society can view these sorts of wandering endeavors as childish or immature. There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of value put in aimless action or movement that isn’t driven by purpose or in our capitalistic world, profit. In a bigger picture it’s difficult for capitalism to be innovative because there’s risk involved in slowing down and taking your time, exploring creative solutions or wandering aimlessly for the sake of innovation. I find this to be such a shame. For businesses that value this, it could mean you fall behind on profits and even go out of business. How is it possible for the capitalistic world we live in to transition to one that can be rewarded for slowing down, pursuing creative solutions and wandering aimlessly for the sake of finding everyone’s individual ideas. This seems to be a question worth exploring through these very means!

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://metcalffoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Art-and-the-World-After-This-Exec-Summary.pdf

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.pianoscapes.com/pdfs/Quality.pdf

A partnership between Critical Theory and creative leadership.

This week’s reading really expanded my ways of thinking and understanding of individuals and our society as a whole. I enjoy reading about ways of challenging thought and expanding my understanding of conceptual topics, but these readings were a little arduous for me! Even in the challenge, I took a lot from these readings and thoroughly enjoyed them. 

Considering how creative leadership is applied to individuals and our society as a whole, takes a deep, collective understanding of what we define a leader to be and in which ways that can be expanded. To understand any individual’s understanding of this definition, we can use critical theory to expand our own definitions to include different perspectives or use this as an understanding of where the standard of the masses lies. Creative leadership and critical theory can be deeply intertwined here. 

In the article Critical Theory (Frankfurt School) from Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy it states, “Critical theory aims not merely to describe social reality, but to generate insights into the forces of domination operating within society in a way that can inform practical action and stimulate change.” As our society has evolved and created different types of functioning, our definition of a leader has grown with it. Understanding this is key to understanding how to expand it for growth towards different ways of leading and to create more opportunity for everyone to perceive leadership qualities in themselves. 

Using critical theory to expand how the masses of our society functions, evolves, and expands our way of understanding the realities in which we live and packaging these concepts to deliver change for good has been interesting concepts to explore this week. It shows me a bright light for the evolution of our world to consider these concepts and have been deeply thought through, but sometimes I’m daunted by the idea that majority of people on this earth don’t have the privilege of knowing or contemplating whether that be from not having the resources, the time, safety, education or other circumstances. I’m hopeful that these ideas can inspire creative leaders to explore how they can advocate for the whole of our world.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9828806/#:~:text=Critical%20theory&text=These%20theories%20ask%20us%20to,1986%3B%20Sherman%2C%202003

Considerations of what Creative Leadership can be.

In this week’s readings I found many inspiring and surprising concepts that I hadn’t considered before. For example, shifting the idea of leadership off of an individual. Sometimes I’m surprised by how deep I actually am in Western ideas and I’m happy to be reminded that there’s an opportunity for me to challenge that part of myself. Creating a different definition of what leadership is, how it can look and who can hold it, is a beautiful thing to consider. This shift is just what our world could benefit from. Global leadership and collective leadership has an element of empathy and caring, that holds space and value for the experiences of others and what collective experiences can bring to the table. On the opposite end, the idea of heroic leadership is rooted in ego that can flourish under this sort of individualism and hierarchy. There’s also a dangerous opportunity here to attract a certain type of leader who craves being put up on a pedestal to feed that ego. Shifting this definition or a standard for what leadership should be will be an exciting thing to explore. These concepts remind me of the phrase, “Pulling up the ladder behind you”. This phrase pertains usually to a certain individual and whether or not they invite others into their ‘success’ or not. I’m contemplating now how many of the leaders in this world are the kind of leaders that have ‘left the ladder behind them’. What does opening that space for others to join look like?In other thoughts, I enjoyed Ragdale’s concepts on emergent strategy and how essentially being lost in the process can take you places unimaginable. I can understand why this could be a difficult strategy for more people. It takes a huge amount of courage and bravery to wander through a process and potentially ‘fail’ along the way. I think this strategy is a wonderful way to practice failing in a way that’s positive. In a very western mindset, I have a feeling that many wouldn’t give the time and space to wander aimlessly without intention. Or at the least that enacting this strategy would create discomfort for many. But here, I think, lies the magic! A bit of discomfort, courage, and the willingness to fail can take a leader a long way.

https://www.artsjournal.com/jumper/2022/12/co-creating-with-a-conscience-or-why-study-leadership-at-an-art-design-college/

https://www.artsjournal.com/jumper/2023/01/on-a-strategy-of-indeterminacy-or-the-value-of-creating-pathways-to-the-unforeseen/