The Studio guides business leaders back into their primal foundation as creators, connectors and communicators in business and in life. Often through the hands-on experience and vehicle of the written word, music, and the visual arts, Libby Wagner, Owen O’ Súilleabháin and Steven Morris—all practicing artists and business leaders—immerse Studio participants into a unique methodology of discovery and reclamation. When leaders experience The Studio, they connect with an essential component of a thriving approach to work.
Participants do not need to be self-proclaimed artists to benefit from this the Studio Experience. Together we will experience how the circular act of creation—intention, creation, refinement, offering, and receiving—is deeply connected to both the artist and the business leader. Through this multi-media, multi-sensory practice, participants will experiment with diverse artistic avenues that promote exploration, courage, expression, communication and connection, all relevant components of leading in the postmodern world.
Here’s how you can work with us:
Performance (Keynote):
Performance Keynotes are multi-media, multi-disciplinary events. A hands-on connection to artistry (for its own sake) and application to work and life. They include audience reflection, discussion, conversation. Each is designed to inspire, provoke, immerse participants in an experience of sound, music, visual (live or projected) and spoken word (poetry or story or song). Performance Keynotes may or may not be “interactive” breaking the wall between the presenters and the participants.
Interactive (Keynote):
The Studio leads theme-based presentations with thematic and obvious takeaways. Each Interactive Keynote is designed to inspire, provoke and immerse participants in an experience of sound, music, visual (live or projected) and spoken word (poetry, story or song). Typical Interactive Keynotes includes elements of discussion, conversation and Q&A. These are not the typical stand-and-deliver keynotes.
Total immersion into the practice and revelations of artistry in one’s life and work; multi-day retreat. Take participants out of their ordinary lives and engage them in both a practice of artistry as a way of being but also living an artful life. All elements crafted and considered: location, timing, agenda, food, etc. Create transformational experience and practice to carry over into their lives.
Facilitation:
The Studio creates the container for specific work to happen with the infusion of artistry (e.g. innovative sessions, collaboration sessions, change management, brand exploration, courageous conversations). These are highly focused facilitations; can be skill-building; can be courageous conversation-based; there’s a very particular outcome or goal the client wants that is delivered through facilitation. Facilitations can be customized for large or small groups.
Coaching:
Studio leaders provide one-on-one coaching and support in the infusion of leadership artistry. This is done to provide added value to individuals who want to work with us, either because they want the personal consistency and support, or they want to sustain changes they are implementing in their work and lives.
The Studio Leadership Immersion Experiences:
The Circle of Artistry meets leadership.
- Intention and the internal path to leadership artistry
Self-Portrait (immersion experience)
Element: Fire
Season: Winter
- Creation and the articulation of leadership vision
Voice (immersion experience)
Element: Ether
Season: Spring
- Refinement and the shaping of leadership artistry
The Eye (immersion experience)
Element: Water
Season: Summer
- Presentation and the performance of leadership artistry
The Body (immersion experience)
Element: Earth
Season: Autumn/Harvest
- Receiving and the conversation of leadership artistry
The Conversation (immersion experience)
Element: Air
Season: Any
Every leader, every artist, must begin at the beginning, and that is with the self. Clarifying goals and vision as a leader is an essential part of approaching leadership as a wholehearted affair, but this is no simple task and requires first the crucible and kiln of the internal dialogue of reflection, self-assessment, and experimentation.
If you are a leader who finds yourself on the threshold of change—your own internal journey, the shifting tides of the external world, or perhaps even both—then this Studio experience may be the invitation you desire. The Studio, led by three successful entrepreneurs and artists, combines immersive, hands-on experiences with the written word, the artistic visual, and the sounds of music to create a unique approach to leadership through the lens of artistry.
The Studio immersion retreat, Self-Portrait, begins with your journey to the Cascade mountains of Washington State, a beautiful wild location along the Icicle River to the cozy and comfortable Sleeping Lady Resort. We’ve considered every detail, including transportation to the resort, comfortable accommodations, a quiet spaciousness, wooded surroundings, and delicious food. Imagine crackling fires, starlit nights, Chihuly glass sculptures, good conversation, and pragmatic application.
The Studio approach centers around the metaphor and exercise of Self-Portrait. We craft an image of ourselves, the way we are seen in the world, by shaping our intentions, our inner dialogue, and eventually our actions. The artistry and creativity of our leadership calls us to be more courageous and honest in our conversations with ourselves and with our work. You can expect to do the following:
- Examine and experiment with artistry practices to clarify your intentions and align these with your organizational vision
- Explore the space between your leadership intentions and the ordinary outcomes you experience in your work
- Create a refined personal intention for wholeheartedness in your work and more creative approaches to the mundane
We ask you to be willing to dive in, take some risks, and imagine how your own work and leadership could be so much more fulfilling, enlivening and rewarding. The world is hungry for the real work, your real work, to take shape in new and interesting ways.
The Voice: Creation and the Articulation of Leadership Vision
Every leader, every artist, engages in an ongoing and ever-expanding development and ownership of their voice. This is the clear and purposeful articulation of your unique vision and message in the world, but it’s not just about talking out loud, it’s also about a deep internal listening developed to shape your leadership artistry.
This Studio retreat—The Voice—creates immersive practices and experimentation, especially in the generative processes necessary and essential for your unique footprint and signature—your congruent and integrated showing up as a leader.
How will you honor the inheritance of your experience, your wisdom, and the unknown horizon? How do you participate in the creative processes of your own voice as a leader? In what ways will you shape and define an inspired path for those to follow and align to the greater unfolding of your organization’s mission and purpose?
The Eye: Refinement and Shaping of Leadership Artistry
As a leader, you will, to some extent, be defined by the choices and decisions you make—your discernment and particularity, both in the moment and behind the scenes. You enter into the conversation of The Eye with two equally held assumptions: you will draw from the deep well of your experiences, your credentials, your successes and failures; and you will draw from your intuition, your sensory perception, and your desire to lead well.
This Studio retreat offers an immersive experience and practice in shaping and refining your leadership artistry, your decision-making, and your willingness to engage with a particular audience, perhaps not yet known. The development of The Eye of artistry will differentiate you from all other leaders in your practices and refinement of both preparing for and responding to the shifting leadership paradigms in the world and in your particular industry.
The Body: Presentation and the Performance of Leadership Artistry
As leaders, we are often relegated to operating from the neck up—the over-emphasis on the intellect, data, and logic offers us only a portion of what we can be as leaders. We are all complicit in this practice. The full body, the full presence, is how you show up to present or even perform your leadership artistry. This may be in intimate, solo conversations, in front of large audiences, or even through digital media—but make no mistake, a talking head will not lead the organizations of the future.
This Studio retreat invites you to dive into an immersion of the practices and reclamation of the presence of the body and embodiment as an essential, creative tool for artistry. Sensory perception, movement, practice and preparation are the tools of the embodied, creative leader. Presentation is also about a willingness to hand over what you’ve created—the act of letting go and floating your ideas, creations and plans out in the world—how you do that matters.
The body never lies, and the evolving paradigm of leadership artistry invites us to show up as our whole selves—how are you holding your physical self? How do you embody your strength, vulnerability and presence as a leader? How can you be powerful and invitational at the same time? How will you present, frame and offer your gifts to the world?
The Conversation: Receiving and the Back-and-Forth of Leadership Artistry
Sometimes, a leader mistakenly imagines that once the vision has been set and articulated, the message has been refined and shared, all will follow as anticipated. A creative, innovative leader knows that the conversation of leadership is about receiving, responding and engaging in the work of our work. We didn’t create in a vacuum—the intended audience was there, carefully held in our hearts and minds all the time—there is no such thing as drive-by artistry.
This Studio retreat offers a hands-on, immersive experience into the courageous conversations we have with those who receive our work—both internal and external to our organizations. In The Conversation. we consider our circles of influence and our circles of conversation with those essential relationships and with the community of creators around us.
How do we hear and receive the good news? The bad news? Criticism and praise? How do we invite the truth of our work and our people without cutting them off or shutting them down? How do we listen even more deeply to what we may learn from our teams, our clients or the world at-large? How do we recover and recommit after both success and failure?
Libby Wagner is a poet, teacher, writer and speaker who works with organizations large and small, and leaders across the globe, to create the kind of lasting and powerful impact they desire, whether it’s through their unique approach to work, the language they use to influence and create, or the relationships they build. She is one of the only poets working in organizations where she inspires others to access and express their artistry, even when they might not normally describe themselves as creative or innovative. Libby is a trusted advisor for presidents, CEOs and executive directors, and her work has shaped the cultures of numerous Fortune 500 clients, including The Boeing Company, Nike, Philips, SAP, Diageo and Costco. Libby is a founding faculty member of the Institute of Conversational Leadership and Invitas with poet David Whyte, and she was honored as a Nellie Cashman Woman Business Owner of the Year in 2014. She has been quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review.
Owen Ó Súilleabháin is a singer and composer from Ireland, who draws on his background in philosophy, Greek and Roman civilizations, and peace studies to inspire creativity in individuals and organizations. Owen works with leaders to unlock the sensibilities of listening into areas where it’s most in need. He introduces creative and dynamic methods of listening, to enable more powerful communication and enliven transformation. Owen’s approach to leadership has emerged from his dedicated apprenticeships with the poet David Whyte.
Steven Morris is an
The Studio / 