ORGL 605: Leadership: Imagine. Create. Lead.

STATED OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this course is to develop the inherent abilities of the student as a leader, and experience, describe, analyze, and evaluate the dynamics of the creative process. Students also enhance their creativity and imagination in a leader’s work and organizational effectiveness while applying the principles of Ignatian imagination in their personal and professional practice. Students gain an increased understanding of the GU mission and engage with peers, staff, faculty advisors, and other resources in establishing relationships that support their success throughout the program and beyond graduation.

IMPACT QUOTES:

“Old paint on canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent. When that happens, it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter "repented," changed his mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and seeing again” -- Lillian Hellman, from Pentimento.

"Without creativity it would be difficult to distinguish humans from other animals. Creativity leads to a fuller more satisfying life. Without creativity mankind would not progress. Creativity results from the interaction of a system consisting of three elements a culture that contains symbolic rules a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain and a field of experts who recognize and validate the innovation. Creativity is the process by which a symbolic domain in the culture is changed. So we must learn the domain well. To master a domain, we must pay attention to the information to be assimilated. The bulk of our attention is committed to the tasks of surviving from one day to the next. And we do not do much with the small amount of attention left over because of the lack of focus. Diffused  thinking leads to lack of concentration. Creativity is possible only when we are able to focus attention on the problem at hand. Each of us is born with two contradictory sets of instructions: a conservative tendency, made up of instincts for self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, and saving energy; and an expansive tendency, made up of instincts for exploring, for enjoying novelty and risk. We need both. But whereas the first tendency requires little encouragement, the second can wilt if it is not cultivated. If too few opportunities for curiosity are available, if too many obstacles are placed in the way of risk and exploration, the motivation to engage in creative behavior is easily extinguished. Sustaining high levels of curiosity is the starting point of creativity" -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

“What was needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead, think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our question must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual. The last of human freedoms - the ability to choose one's attitude given a set of circumstances. Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by the lack of meaning and purpose” – Viktor Frankl, from Man’s Search for Meaning.

Competencies Gained:

This team-taught course has a two-fold purpose. It is designed to provide an orientation to the ORGL program and Gonzaga experience during the three days on campus. This experiential class provides an environment where students meet and engage with peers as well as with staff, and faculty advisors. During the face to face portion of class, students have numerous opportunities to establish relationships that support their success throughout the program and beyond graduation.

Throughout the course, students are introduced to the history and key concepts in the field of creativity. Further, through the theme of “seeing and seeing again,” students are challenged to apply and expand their creative and imaginative capacity. Students explore Ignatian imagination and perspectives from the liberal arts (art, history, literature, music, and so on) and are exposed to different techniques for developing and enhancing their creativity and imagination in the context of leadership practice.

Course Instructors:

Adrian Popa, Ph.D., Kristine Hoover, Ed.D., Tina Geithner, Ph.D., and Josh Armstrong, Ph.D.

Reference Materials:

Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. New York, NY: Harper Business.
Burkus, D. (2014). The myths of creativity: The truth about how innovative companies and people generate great ideas. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Catmull, E. & Wallace, A. (2014). Creativity Inc.: Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration. New York, NY: Random House.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2015). The systems model of creativity: The collected works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. New York, NY: Springer.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial Modern Classics.
De Bono, E. (1999). Six thinking hats. New York, NY: Back Bay Books.
Dyer, J. Gregersen, H., & Christensen, C. M. (2011). The innovator’s DNA: Mastering five skills of disruptive innovators. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Goldstein, D. (2013). Creative you: Using your personality type to thrive. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words.
Kelley, T. & Kelley, D. (2013). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. New York, NY: Crown Business.
Kumar, V. (2013). 101 design methods: A structured approach for driving innovation in your organization. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Lehrer, J. (2012). Imagine: How creativity works. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Michalko, M. (2006). Thinkertoys: A handbook of creative-thinking techniques. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.
Puccio, G. J. & Cabra, J. F. (2010). Organizational creativity: a systems approach. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity. (pp. 145-173). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Oxford, England: Capstone.
Sawyer, R. K. (2012). Explaining creativity: The science of human innovation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Seelig, T. (2012). inGenius: A crash course on creativity. New York, NY: HarperOne.
Tharp, T. (2006). The creative habit: Learn it and use it for life. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.