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To convey the potential of hidden benefits in well‐selected arts‐based training – in this particular instance, theatrically‐based training.

A leading international consultancy put numerous vice presidents through training with The Actors Institute (TAI) over about ten years. This paper is an interview with a leading consultant who frequently gives presentations that had been consistently rated highly by his audiences before he began attending. After ten years, he still periodically returns to TAI for assistance.

The original intent was to improve presentations. In fact, participants gained a better sense for dealing with all kinds of audiences, extending to client engagements and personal situations.

Many executives don't feel the need for training when they hit a certain level. When the training is based on developmental skills and is over an extended period rather than a brief one‐time experience, and the training organization wisely chosen, there can be long‐term benefits that go beyond expectations.

George Stalk is highly respected. He has not previously spoken out on this topic. His first‐hand experiences can influence many other businesspeople to potential benefits of arts‐based training that they had not recognized.

This article seeks to distinguish between rhetorical and cognitive metaphors and argues in favor of “pushing past the fault line.”.

Too much of strategy is locked in a toolbox approach that often makes solutions appear much easier than they are. One way of broadening the way one thinks about strategy is to bridge the gap between business and other disciplines. Ideas from the world outside business can be made useful for the strategist via metaphorical associations. This paper discusses William the Conqueror and Madonna as strong candidates for useful metaphors.

Metaphors are a powerful tool in business to understand partners, customers, and market participants.

The goal is to encourage metaphorical exploration, both in thought and practical use, by the readers.

It furthers the concept of interdisciplinary thinking by offering specific ways to use metaphors in business.

To convey the findings of an investigation into the relationship between poetry and business thinking, which began with the hypothesis that regular reading and analysis of poetry and its levels of meaning, subtle verbal and nonverbal contextual nuances, emotional content, and required associative thinking will help people deal with ambiguity, delay closure on decisions, and result in more systemic thinking and in better business decisions.

The research and workshops indicate that reading poetry can expand thinking space by enhancing associative thinking and access to preconceptual areas.

The findings are based on extensive interdisciplinary research and a small number of seminars and workshops. No formal studies have yet been conducted.

This provides a way to open thinking spaces that may be often unused by the business strategist, and that can lead to better decisions. By focusing on how executives can refine their thinking abilities to take them beyond the ordinary limits of cause‐and‐effect approaches, encourages the application of those radical judgments that can help differentiate one organization from another.

The authors believe they are the first to explore this relationship between reading poetry and business thinking.

This paper demonstrates how effectively developing visual skills from observing and analyzing works of art applies in developing leadership skills and examines one application where these artistic skills are viewed as specific thinking skills that are regularly used in new product development.

The lead author adapted a successful collaborative program of the Cincinnati Art Museum and the University of Cincinnati Medical School into a program for doctoral students at Union Institute and University, then taught the course numerous times, recording the results.

The anticipated results were observed, judging from qualitative measures such as instructor and student evaluations.

This is a study of one course. To become an accepted practice, further study is needed in similar museum‐based learning situations.

At Union, the program has been adapted into a full course and should stimulate others in business, academia, and nonprofits to replicate the program.

The use of museum‐based training is widely used in medical training to increase diagnostic skills and empathy. It is less widely practiced in business and we believe this is the first program to adapt a successful medical training program to a successful leadership training program.

This article offers an up‐to‐date overview of the emergent practice of arts‐based learning in business. First, arts‐based learning is situated within the broader arts in business context as well as our present reality of the economic downturn. Then, the article shares why arts‐based learning has emerged as a new pedagogy in management education. Next, a working definition of arts‐based learning is shared as well as an exploration of how others are conceiving it. Lastly, the article turns attention to the question, what are the strengths and limitations of arts‐based learning, and suggests a couple leading‐edge management education programs that are framed by arts‐based learning approaches.

In addition to the author's expertise in arts‐based learning and his role as executive of one of the world's premier institution's of arts‐based learning in management education/leadership development, the author exchanges ideas with a number of prominent business leaders, artists and respected management educators from around the globe, whose comments about arts‐based learning in business color the ideas presented in the article – adding texture and a richer perspective.

This article directly addresses what has changed since the 2005 special edition of the Journal of Business Strategy. Of course – the economic downturn. And, now, more than ever, this article asserts, that leaders are looking to arts‐inspired creativity, as a means to realize the upside of the downturn. The article asserts an integral role for the arts to play in an organization's efforts to create a culture of innovation – which is central to business strategy in the economic downturn. More specifically, the article documents how new ways of working together in business (resultant from the continued emergence and growth of the knowledge economy) will require new ways of learning how to work together. This article suggests that arts‐based learning may offer such a new way of learning how to work together.

This article affords the reader insights to how arts‐based learning may enable your strategic actions and the innovation upturn that you're being asked to deliver.

The purpose of this paper is to give the reader a first‐hand view of why and how a major global corporation uses arts‐based learning, from the perspective of its Chairman and CEO.

This paper is an interview with Harold (Terry) McGraw III, Chairman and CEO of The McGraw Hill Companies, discussing the value of arts‐based learning to his corporation.

Mr McGraw characterizes creativity as a “business imperative,” and puts The McGraw Hill Companies’ successful experiences with arts‐based learning in a broad strategic context of “surfacing creativity” through engagement with the arts.

The McGraw Hill Companies is a global pioneer in the use of arts‐based learning to train leaders, help employees solve problems creatively, and foster personal growth; and is one of America's leading corporate supporters of the arts. Mr McGraw is a leader of unique stature and credibility, and with this interview, he becomes perhaps the most senior business leader in the world to discuss arts‐based learning in business from a perspective of direct experience.

To show that: as leaders refine business performance, they are increasingly focusing on human capital performance – how leaders and teams deliver outstanding performance and productivity. Leaders who are paying practical attention to the inner aspects of behavior are often reporting strong cultural shifts in individual engagement and collaborative teamwork affecting all aspects of company performance. These personal aspects of performance can be effectively addressed using the experiential techniques and approaches common to the arts and performing arts.

This article describes the case of Harcourt Assessment, a large education testing and publishing business, which underwent a dramatic business turnaround in 2006‐07. This article is based on analysis of the change methodology adopted by Harcourt Assessment and its consulting firm, The TAI Group, in 2006‐2007, extensive interviews of key executive participants in the engagement, and analysis of the firm's employee survey in 2007.

Participants in the turnaround of Harcourt Assessment were consistent in their assessment that the deliberate adoption of a change strategy focusing on individual motivators and collaborative group alignment using a creative, performing arts‐based approach was critical to the project's success. These evaluations were also consistent with the attitudinal changes reported in the 2007 employee satisfaction survey of views on senior team performance, teamwork and collaboration, strategy and trust.

The case study and findings demonstrate the measurable value of adopting a practical, disciplined approach to profound corporate culture change based on the experiential principles of the performing arts. This approach, with individual motivations and behavior at the core, can be critical to creating an aligned culture capable of delivering sustained high performance.