Guila was appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace in January 2012, in light of her commitment to promoting and defending human rights through art. She has taught at Sciences Po, Harvard University, Boston and Oxford Universities, University of Geneva, and the St. Petersburg Conservatory, amongst others.

thumbnail_guila-clara-kessous.jpg

guila-clara-kessous.jpg

Guila Clara Kessous

<h4>
 GUILA CLARA
 KESSOUS
 is a member of Harvard University’s affiliated Institute of Coaching,
 the UNESCO artist for peace, and an art therapist.&nbsp; Here she
 writes about the recent paradigm shifts in leadership and how
 present-day leaders require subtle collective skills rather than being
 super humans.
</h4>

<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 In recent years, we have challenged the narrow vision of a leader as
 someone “strong, knowledgeable, and a great communicator,” someone who
 can leverage their expertise to mobilize and create followership. Behind
 this heroic fantasy leader stands a human being who has spent their life
 accumulating knowledge, without worrying too much about its application
 and, especially, without worrying about relationships. For a
 super-leader, managing relationships is the manager’s prerogative (those
 nice facilitators who spend their time managing ego conflicts). So as
 soon as the leader faces the reality of also being a manager, trouble
 starts.



 Without managerial skills, a leader is not really up to the task. Even
 the most technical management position involves cross-functional
 interactions with other departments, and connections with other teams.



 The key to success in this delicate transition from controlling
 leadership to equitable management is behavioral skills, particularly
 the so-called “subtle” skills.


<h4>
 From Ego to
 Eco
</h4>

The word “subtle” derives from Latin and refers to two notions:

<ol type="1">
 <li>Something difficult to perceive, and</li>
 <li>Finesse and delicacy in realization.</li>
</ol>


 Subtle skills are twofold: if they are difficult to perceive because of
 their intangible nature, they are also highly accurate and incisive for
 those who can apply them.



 Let’s take the example of an executive expert promoted to a managerial
 position. When an organization uses the function of management, it means
 either “management of” or “management over.” Panicked by the new level
 of coercive power they have, the executive often seeks refuge in the
 skills they acquired during their years of study, however, this is not
 what is expected of a leader, who must not only inform which direction
 to take (a GPS can also do that) but also be the direction.



 Here is the subtlety: those who follow will no longer follow the
 information, but will seek to emulate a leader. They will be inclined to
 follow someone who knows how to use emotional intelligence and
 relational management to utilize the power of the collective.



 This is what Professor Otto Scharmer presented in his Theory U at MIT,
 highlighting the five necessary stages of collective intelligence:
 observation, perception, being present, crystallization, and deployment
 to bring about a stage of collective consciousness.



 The subtle skills required by the new manager are to meet the team,
 listen to the directions of the different participants, and understand
 what directional synthesis is proposing about the concerns of the system
 by comparing them with the reality of the market.



 Theory U is based on the success of the collective synthesized by the
 sagacity of an open-minded leader to be completely present to others.
 “New leaders will have to be able to drive attention on change without
 driving too much attention on themselves,” said Ronald Heifetz, director
 of the Harvard University Leadership Education Project. Subtle skills
 invite us to shift from egocentricity to eco-centricity; they reflect a
 greater maturity of leadership compared to a top-down pyramidal system.


<h4>
 New Leadership
 Subtleties: How to Systematize Enthusiasm and
 Embodiment?
</h4>


 The most remarkable subtlety happens when leadership is paired with
 concepts that seem to be at odds with a traditional view: progressive
 leadership, emotional leadership, situational leadership, and benevolent
 leadership. Spiritual leadership is the best example of two juxtaposed
 notions, because any form of spirituality is suspect in the management
 sphere, immediately evoking a religious figure who wants to lead their
 flock like a guru. And for the followers of spirituality, the word
 “leadership” distorts the very essence of a transcendental idea, so much
 so that the implied resonance of profitability is offending.



 Spiritual leadership is an apparent paradox because it brings the
 material and the immaterial together, but there is a genuine craze for
 the term in business nowadays and it can be explained by the need to
 include more subtle criteria among the indicators of managerial success.



 Far from being an incursion of religion into the corporate sphere,
 spiritual leadership explores an “energetic” dimension of governance,
 with the concept of followership no longer subject to a simple
 technocratic hierarchy, but instead to a charismatic figure who embodies
 its messages. First mentioned by Professor Louis Fry at the University
 of Texas, this approach to leadership insists on the importance of
 intrinsic motivation through the leader’s values, attitudes, and
 behavior. It is based on a schematic model in the form of quadrants,
 just like emotional or situational intelligence.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<img alt="authentic-leadership2" width="525" class="lazyload has-img-center" style="width: 525px !important"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/authentic_leadership2_f72db6b182.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T08:03:16.075Z" />


<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 As with presencing, the starting point is always a leader’s awareness of
 their relationship with self, which allows them to be fully available to
 build cohesion through three main components: vision, hope and faith in
 the future, and benevolence toward others.



 There is a growing interest in France in spiritual leadership, thanks to
 the debate on enthusiasm and incarnation. Both enthusiasm and
 incarnation imply a transcendental relationship based on a charismatic
 rather than an intellectual energetic presence. Therefore, the subtlety
 is to understand the importance of self-giving in a leader who wishes to
 inspire followership. Self-giving is fundamental to spiritual
 leadership.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

<h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 The subtlety is to
 understand the importance of self-giving in
 a leader who wishes to inspire followership. Self-giving is
 fundamental to spiritual leadership.
</h4>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<img width="700" alt="authentic-leadership3" class="lazyload has-img-center" style="width: 700px !important;"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/authentic_leadership3_9a79b9173b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T08:04:03.853Z" />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<h4>
 Leadership at
 Heart: Heartificial Intelligence
</h4>


 Self-giving does not mean “forgetting yourself in others.” Today’s
 leaders cannot afford a sacrificial posture that is lost in a kind of
 wild empathy. Instead, it involves a heart-to-heart resonance with
 followers, which allows them to better understand the ecology of their
 system.



 It involves the principles of Social Permaculture and the Symbiotic
 Economy, linking intellect and personal responsibility to the
 collective. As Isabelle Delannoy advocates in
 The Symbiotic Economy, it is based on the symbiosis of human
 intelligence, the power of ecosystems, and tools. The leadership
 challenge is in finding the right balance to regenerate them instead of
 exhausting them; to create a system that works without burning out
 either the leader or the followers. This is also what Gunter Pauli
 advocates when he talks about the
 <a href="https://www.theblueeconomy.org/en/">Blue Economy</a>.



 How to apply this level of subtlety to the very heart of inspiration at
 the corporate level? How to re-consider what we think is at the bottom
 of the ladder in our systemic worldview and, instead, make it the engine
 of a humanistic recycling economy?



 In this sense, the leader and the follower are two sides of the same
 coin in a circular economy. Restoring a person’s pride can have benefits
 for everyone in the system since all are intimately connected. This is
 what we call leadership from the heart: not only human and benevolent
 leadership but also courageous leadership of being oneself in front of
 others, and especially for others.



 Could this subtle Heartificial Intelligence save leadership from the
 dehumanization of Artificial Intelligence, while we wait for leaders to
 have an NFT rating? This is highly possible!


<hr />

<h4 class="has-text-align-center">Illustrations by Мария Гисина</h4>

<hr />

Subtle skills for authentic leadership: heartificial intelligence

<h4
 id="h-guila-clara-kessous-unesco-artist-for-peace-and-art-therapist-uses-drama-therapy-to-help-people-let-go-of-their-suffering-through-a-cathartic-process-it-is-a-way-for-people-in-rwanda-bangladesh-congo-and-afghanistan-to-find-solace-guila-paints-the-portrait-of-four-people-suffering-from-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-who-she-accompanied-to-their-respective-countries-she-has-also-designed-a-course-on-theatre-and-humans-rights-that-is-taught-at-harvard-university"
 >
 GUILA CLARA KESSOUS, UNESCO Artist for Peace and art therapist, uses drama therapy to
 help people “let go” of their suffering through a cathartic process.
 It is a way for people in Rwanda, Bangladesh, Congo, and Afghanistan
 to find solace. Guila paints the portrait of four people suffering
 from post-traumatic stress disorder who she accompanied to their
 respective countries. She has also designed a course on “Theatre and
 Humans Rights” that is taught at Harvard University.
 </h4>

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <h4>
 The Prince and the Poor Man
 </h4>

 
 The woman with black eyes has a wonderful way with French words.
 Intimidated, she clicks her tongue against her teeth and looks up to me.
 I reassure her and make it clear that I will not ask her to talk, but to
 express what lies within her, deep within her, to let it out. I know
 about her story: Martha lives in Ngoma, in Rwanda’s eastern province,
 near the women’s prison. This mother of five witnessed the slaughter of
 the Tutsis in 1994. She, too, once sincerely believed she could kill
 “for the good of humanity,” as the saying went back then on the waves of
 Mille Collines radio.
 

 
 I suggest we perform the exercise of “The Prince and the Poor Man” that
 Peter Brook used to teach a person to find “the right posture.” Asking
 her to portray a noble personality, I see the body of the septuagenarian
 straightening up and I watch her as she finds a glorious way to hold her
 head, so typical of faith in oneself and faith in humanity, found only
 in people who have not lost the beauty of their ingenuity. I try to spur
 her on, suggesting she tries to walk like a queen, taking care to slowly
 spread her feet on the ground, heel first and then toes. I notice the
 effort of her leg. It carries the history and muscles of thighs that
 were strong enough to drag themselves out of this hell. She looks around
 her with an air of Banyiginya haughtiness; the Nyiginya clan, who
 represent the nobility of the Batutsis.
 

 I then submit a text to her from Hamlet:

 
 … I know not “seems.” ’Tis not alone in my inky cloak, good
 mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy
 suspiration of forced breath, No nor the fruitful river in the
 eye, Nor the dejected haviorof the visage, Together with all
 forms, moods, shows of grief, That can denote me truly. These
 indeed seem, For they are actions that a man might play; But I
 have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and
 the suits of woe.
 

 
 Before it even ends, I see her body shrivel up, withdrawing from the
 bliss of forgetfulness to return to what Peter Brook called “the Poor
 Man,” the human broken by their condition. She utters each and every one
 of these words distinctly while facing me. She concludes with a whisper,
 “Mu-ra-ko-ze,” which is the Kinyarwanda word for thank you,
 and then she curtsies!
 

 <h4>
 I have no hatred in me
 </h4>

 
 Francesca is repeating the sentence to me. She emphasizes every word and
 makes sure I’m jotting everything down. “How could I only explain that
 to my family? Since they’re rejecting me and think this is all my fault.
 I’m a disgrace to them.” I ask her if she’s willing to work on this
 feeling of shame with acting. She nods. Francesca was raped in the
 Congo, as so many other women have been, since rape is a weapon of war
 in the DRC.
 

 
 When she talks to me, she blinks a lot, just to be absolutely sure that
 she is still alive. So often have men imposed their will on her that at
 some point she was not sure of anything anymore. “I felt this predator
 had no desire, he just wanted to dominate.” Francesca lives in Bunia,
 the capital city of the Ituri province. She has endured many sexual
 assaults since she was a little girl, including in school where this
 kind of punishment is common. I suggest trying a body awakening exercise
 that will allow her to slowly come back to herself and to possess her
 sore body again.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <div class="block-image">
 <figure>
 <img
 
 alt="art-therapy-human-suffering2"
 class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/art_therapy_human_suffering2_700x480_e35c0c82ad.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T06:54:35.060Z"
 />
 </figure>
 </div>

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 
 The “Energetic Shower” exercise involves “stretching one’s arms toward
 the sky” while imaginary drops “run” from the ceiling by moving one’s
 fingers and slowly bringing them down to micro-massage the forehead, the
 eyes, the cheeks, the chin, the back of the neck and then the neck. I
 watch her as she proceeds meticulously. I can feel the skin untighten on
 her forehead, the wrinkles fade out. Once the neck area has been
 reached, it’s time to switch to soft right-hand taps on the left side of
 the body. She talks to me: “If my daughter saw me doing this, she’d tell
 me ‘Mom, stop, you’re almost fifty now.’” She pats her left shoulder
 with her right hand and then the full length of her left arm. Then, the
 opposite. I can see her body stretch out and ready itself to “embody” a
 role that will help it healing. Francesca is looking at me, intrigued.
 

 I hand a poem to her:

 
  So long as the blade has not 
   Cut off that brain …
 

 
 These lines from Rimbaud make her smile. And I see her surrendering to
 the role, a sheer force getting hold of her. She now hits me with verse:
 

 
  That white, green and fatty parcel,  Whose steam is never fresh…
 

 
 At the end of the poem, she repeats to me, “He won’t get his hands on
 that one.”
 

 Clearly, he won’t get his hands on that one.

 
 as if, for a fleeting moment, she had managed to break free from
 tragedy.
 

 <h4>
 I would have preferred not to choose
 </h4>

 
 The interpreter is looking at me because he doesn’t know whether he must
 translate what has just been said. Hossain is a twenty-four-year-old
 father who doesn’t understand why he should stay with his child since
 his wife is there to look after him. As the others, he has fled and
 tries to live here in Cox’s Bazar under this makeshift tent strapped to
 bamboo pegs.
 

 
 Despite humanitarian aid, the Rohingyas’ situation has not really
 evolved, and Hossain is nervous. The interpreter resumes his
 translation: “I would have preferred not to choose. If I had known, I
 never would have done this. I would not have chosen to get her pregnant.
 She shouldn’t have kept the child.” I ask the interpreter to tell
 him that I’m not here to judge him but to offer him a way to explore the
 emotions he’s experiencing through drama-therapy. “Now is not the
 time for drama. How is drama going to help me find a solution?” he says,
 rolling his eyes. He seems exasperated.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <div class="block-image">
 <figure>
 <img
 alt="art-therapy-human-suffering3"
 class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/art_therapy_human_suffering3_700x480_1ebb3b3b2c.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T06:55:06.212Z"
 />
 </figure>
 </div>

 
 I suggest we perform a breathing technique called “the sniper’s
 breathing.” He listens to me, suddenly showing interest. “Sniper?”
 he asks. I smile, “Yes, snipers do this to calm down and enter a
 state of great focus. Try and you’ll see. Close your eyes.” I teach
 him this deep, abdominal breathing, taking in the air for four seconds,
 holding your breath for another four, and then breathing out for eight
 seconds. I see his puny body carrying it out. Then, after three times, I
 tell him he’s free to open his eyes.
 

 
 He has calmed down; his chest isn’texpanding as much and his eyes have
 narrowed. “Now, let’s play,” I say. He raises his eyebrow. “You’re
 going to be your pregnant wife and you’re going to tell me what you
 think of Hossain.” He laughs and sits immediately, pretending to
 cover himself with something. “What are you doing?” I ask. He
 tells me that his wife always wraps herself in a coat to protect her
 child from the damp atmosphere. This delineation brought by the coat is
 symbolic, but it will eventually help him realize, while impersonating
 her, how difficult it is to be a mother. And when the role play ends, he
 will agree to try to stay by her side.
 

 <h4>
 All the faces in the world
 </h4>

 
 I’m on the phone with Sabba and I ask her if she wants us to start
 working together using art. In precarious English, she tells me
 that yes, she does: “I want to become other, different roles, different
 faces. I’d like to be all the faces in the world today.”
 

 
 She lives in the small town of Charikar where she hasn’t had the
 opportunity to go to school for over a month now. She listens to the
 radio fervently because it’s her only way to stay connected with the
 world and to catch educational broadcasts. I suggest we do a little
 focusing exercise by describing her radio set. “It is small,
 rectangular, black.” I encourage her to speak in a louder voice and
 dare her to be more confident.
 

 
 And she follows up. “The radio set has buttons to choose the
 frequencies.” I now ask her to insist on some words, which she does
 willingly. “This radio is BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL, and MINE.” This
 last word comes with a bang, and I can hear the pride that emanates from
 it.
 

 
 I tell her what we will do next: “Now Sabba, try to become this radio
 set and to speak out about what you’re going through on a daily basis
 and how you’re here to comfort Sabba.” Silence. Absorption of the
 information, then an imaginative effort. There’s a dilemma in the mind
 of this fourteen-year-old girl. I can hear her questioning herself, “How
 am I supposed to do this, I, who don’t have a professor anymore, to know
 if I’m following the instructions correctly?” And then she lets go, a
 breeze of courage ushers in the role play.
 

 She’s a symbol of courage and a symbol of hope.

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <div class="block-image">
 <figure>
 <img
 alt="art-therapy-human-suffering4"
 class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/art_therapy_human_suffering4_700x480_5f564ad18a.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T06:55:54.845Z"
 />
 </figure>
 </div>