Since World War II there has been a gradual and often trenchant critique of the Enlightenment/Modernistic movement in many areas of intellectual life, not only academia.

 

Some recent reading of Aquinas and commentators has brought to light the Medieval (Scholastic) approach to aesthetics and how their reflections may find some effective "translation" into the executive suites of 2012 and beyond. Aquinas identified three simple, yet elegant, approaches to what forms a comprehensive aesthetic of life and decision making. Thus:

 

"Proportio":

"Proportion" is identified early on by Pythagoras (570-495 BCE) and later by Boethius (480-524 CE) as a sense of "harmony." It is commonly experienced by us within the realms of music and math and reflects a sense of unity between the universe/experience (what is out there) and one's inner perception of it (what is in here).

 

For the Scholastics music is mathematical, harmonic, and theological. From this foundation it became simple over time to apply this sense of proportion to the "outer" (the study of harmonics in physics for example) and to the inner (the identification of the psychological within the structure of human experience).

The leader is in touch with the "harmonics" of movement and comprehends the both the "outer" and the "inner" as a necessary dynamic.

 

"Integritas":

For Aquinas, parts form a whole and the whole forms an indissoluble unity. "Integrity" is the work of someone who knows how to grasp the whole while giving life to the many parts.

The leader constructs, promulgates, arranges; orchestrates the "harmony" actually. The "whole" (community) has equality with the "parts" (individual). Since World War II, society has experienced ongoing fragmentation of the "whole" with increasing focus on the "individual."

 

"Claritas":

"Clarity" has a number of meanings in Aquinas but in every case he speaks of "lux" (light) or "lumens manifestans" (luminosity). The Middle-Ages understood light ("lux" or "lumens") as a participatory embodiment or energy and thus the "communication" of "clarity" is at the core of its meaning. Clarity is a "networked" and energized reality.

The leader generates a pervasive sense of "clarity" (illumination) through energy and transparency.

 

These simple paradigms may be of assist to us as we redefine the "C" level and leadership roles in all organizational structures.

 

~Vic Pergola 

vpergola@decisionpointegrp.com

216-308-1648