Beauty and Good as North Stars
JLP Trio l to r: Janelle Gill, Corcoran Holt, and McClenty Hunter
In my last post, I mentioned that we would be facilitating a workshop for Google VPs that would take us onto a new path of collaboration. We did so the week before last, and it went exceptionally well. We co-created an experiential workshop with our trio and two Martha Graham dancers so the Google leaders could experience the compromise, negotiation, and creative tension of musicians and dancers building something together. It was well-received with leaders saying that they gained “rich insights,” that it was “thought-provoking,” and “inspiring with many lessons learned.”
We began the workshop with the artists sharing their seed vision for co-creation. Our musical director and bassist Corcoran Holt made a statement that resonated powerfully with the leaders and became a driving force throughout the session.
As he reflected about how he arrived at his seed vision of “transformation as flexibility,” Corcoran said that his desire was to “create something beautiful.” A simple, yet profound declaration. This was not only his guiding principle for the workshop but also serves as his philosophy in all his creative engagements.
Corcoran’s phrase became the quote of the day and helped the leaders shift into an aspirational space that, for them, was novel. The notion of creating something beautiful at the heart of their engineering work together, was a dazzling prospect. It meant framing a container where beauty was the intent and an aspirational north star.
We can readily associate beauty with the arts, as we take in the colors, textures, lines, tones, and composition of aesthetic work.
What does it mean and look like to hold beauty as a guiding tenet in our everyday work?
The Good
Tom Coyne is a bestselling author and editor of The Golfer's Journal. Coyne was the focus of a CBS Sunday Morning story about the demise and resurrection of the Sullivan County Golf Club in Liberty, NY. Town resident and greenskeeper, Shaun Smith, invited Coyne to visit Sullivan. What he found was a dilapidated yet still playable golf course that provided Coyne with an opportunity to step into a new role—shifting from consumer to provider.
What captivated Coyne was the connection and trust he was developing with Smith, as well as the communal welcome the club provided for everyone—no matter their social station. He asked the town if he could renovate and run the course for a year.
Coyne’s dedication to renovating Sullivan got attention and support from investors such as film actor Bill Murray and NFL player Jason Kelce. Soon after, membership applications started pouring in.
When the CBS Sunday Morning correspondent asked him if he would do it again, Coyne replied with a resounding yes, because he “got to be part of a team who wanted to make something good in the world. What a gift!"
What would our work look like if we consistently frame it as a catalyst for good?
Beauty and good:
Two values that ignite sensory depths and create an expansive landscape for us to play upon.
Two principles that are innately interwoven, signaling noble expectation as they undergird the interconnections of true alliance.
