A few days ago I received an email from one of my Design History students. She’s currently struggling with the questions of truth and identity—what all PC students wrestle with here, often for the first time. Rather than respond to her individually, I thought I’d “reply all”:

Dear Kelly,

How ironic that you should send this note at this moment. Here I sit, staring at the wisdom printed on the side of my Starbucks cup, The Way I See It #89: A recipe for happiness: an insatiable curiosity, a joy of discovery, quick to forgive, hold no grudges, love without condition, stay loyal to the death, see the best, and ignore the rest. Then here comes your shared quote, People should realize I’m not leading by example, I’m just being true to who I am. It seems like a perfect continuance of that first commentary.

I believe we have a choice in life: we can either be a leader or a volunteer. For example, this quarter you are studying about Walter Gropius and the programs of the Bauhaus that were created way back in 1919, whose mantra then was, The ultimate aim of all creative activity is the building! You might perceive the word ‘building’ to represent not a pure physical form, but rather analogously YOU—yourself as building. For the very origin of the word bauhaus comes from a German word, ‘bauen,’ meaning to build up the human condition.

Fast forward from 1919 to 2006, and perhaps today’s vision reconfirms that the role of art is one of reaffirming your own integrity on a personal and constant basis. There’s where the opportunity lies for you to demonstrate your ethos and make a contribution within society. The artist is the soul of its existence, and that, my friend, is what you are. And, this industry you are going into is one where ‘art and business’ synthesize, and you must be prepared to participate fully.

This is about Future. It’s about vision—about thinking in a new way, about creating.

Consider also, for a moment, it is a fact that people are somewhat like “collective bodies and universal fraternalisms.” In that context, you have volunteerism, where people like to be led, flattered, catered, acknowledged, treated with excessive care; therefore, readily, they will accept an influential course of direction; they will enjoy new leanings, new products, new vogues, new procedures, new experiences and stimulations. And, this later part is about leadership exercising itself— leadership defining a course of direction.

See, in leadership, there is a current reality and need. For without a sense of imaginative and stimulating leadership, there cannot be any voluntary following. Leadership is a symbiosis of four things– motivation, information, fantasy, and fascination, not necessarily in that order.

Each of these is a unique quality. Motivation, for example, is a means of attracting and offering a welfare of convenience. Information is delivered through wonder, which ascends to knowledge. Fantasy is about unlimited imagination— inclusive of sensitivity, the pleasure of the senses, and the ability to galvanize the ardor of passion. Fascination is about atmosphere, temper, adventure — it is that arranged effect leading to temptation.

If in your life and work you interpret through YOUR VALUES, letting your leadership extend these qualities of fantasy, fascination, motivation and information, such that they serve as the impetus to frame and define all your work. Your work will then reflect the essence of a Core Value that in turn reflects personal integrity. If the ideals of leadership are the guiding principles by which you choose to create your designs, you might come to embrace your responsibility as one that is socially conscious. As a result, the aesthetic value of your work and life might be elevated to a moral transaction.

Bucky Fuller imagined: When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I only think of how to solve the problem. But, when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know its wrong.

We are all human; we all feel, and we are all sensitive. The passion of your energies involves you such that you will question your own confidence. Yes, you are vulnerable. Confidence is like a little bird that begins to fly. If it begins to waffle, the altitude must be quickened and regained, lest it fall to the ground and crash. Nevertheless, the conflict is what dimensions the change. The greater the conflict, the greater the change. So, if you can see it differently for a minute, you can realize there is magic in conflict. It’s scary, no doubt.

Not long ago, a writer friend I had been helping with some thoughts, or I should say OUT of some thoughts, as she was working on a project wrought with incongruity, sent this to me, saying, Here’s something I want you to have as a gift, a quote from Kahlil Gibran, whose words guided Bill Bernbach his whole life in his search for balance in all things: work, play, home, life. Perhaps, it’s a good time to share with you also…

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining. And passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

You’ll know you are beginning to get a good education when you start understanding what you do know measured against what you don’t know. It is never about how much you know, or how much you can memorize.

Often we look, but we just don’t see. You should always challenge the status quo of yourself. To that end, introspection is a positive support, but sitting in assessment is not. Just be careful to recognize the difference.

Here’s the thing: the time is upon You for change, and you must embrace it, not be scared of it— and, into your future I will make sure your education is as it should be. That’s a promise.

Hank

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