On this, the last day of National Poetry Month, I am sharing some final thoughts on the enlivening, relevant power of poetry. Actually, a compelling column written by John Coleman in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network. It’s entitled, The Benefits of Poetry for Professionals.
He writes, “I’ve written in the past about how business leaders should be readers, but even those of us prone to read avidly often restrict ourselves to contemporary nonfiction or novels. By doing so, we overlook a genre that could be valuable to our personal and professional development: poetry. … poetry teaches us to wrestle with and simplify complexity. “
“Harman Industries founder Sidney Harman once told The New York Times, ‘I used to tell my senior staff to get me poets as managers. Poets are our original systems thinkers. They look at our most complex environments and they reduce the complexity to something they begin to understand.’ “ Sidney Harmon articulated this construct so beautifully. Coleman’s complete article explores the relationship between poetry and leadership development, business creativity and human empathy.
What I value and admire so much is a poet’s ability to “wrestle with” and distill language to reveal the self and the world more deeply. Sometimes, it places me in history and community in the most delightful way. For my fellow Bostonians, this carefree poetry mnemonic decodes the weather signals from the old Hancock Building lights. It’s easy to memorize – or have you already?
Steady blue, clear view/
Flashing blue, clouds due/
Steady red, rain ahead/
Flashing red, snow instead.
(except in the summer flashing red means the Sox home game has been called off)
Onto May!
– Charlotte
P.S. I can’t stop the madness! Read this searing article about poetry and plagiarism. Nice Poem, I’ll Take It.