Leadership Talk with Steven S. Taylor & Matt Statler
Organisational aesthetics – now more than ever.
- Starts:15:00, 21 January 2026
- Ends:15:45, 21 January 2026
- Location:Online via Zoom
- Contact:Federica De Molli (federica.d.molli@bi.no)
Abstract:
We offer a review of the current landscape of the field of organisational aesthetics, in terms of a series of different configurations of topics and methods of inquiry, including: knowing with and through the senses; knowing with and through art; analysing organisations in sensory and/or artistic terms; and the utilisation of artistic and aesthetic methods in organisations. We argue, given the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, that the field raises a series of questions about the future of human knowledge and experience in organisations, and that arts and aesthetics are more important than ever for organisational life and organisation studies.
What is Leadership Talks?
Leadership Talks is a series of seminars about topics related to leadership, change and sustainability, project management and organizational psychology, hosted by the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at BI Norwegian Business School.
Speakers
Steven S. Taylor
The former applies art-based scholarship and practice to management and organizations. The latter focuses on the ability to analyze our own actions and learn how to be more effective, ethical, and artful as managers and leaders. His research has been published in academic journals including Organization Studies, Leadership Quarterly, Leadership, Academy of Management Learning and Education, and Journal of Management Studies. Taylor is the author of the books: Leadership Craft, Leadership Art; Staging organization: plays as critical commentaries on workplace life; Becoming the Leader You Want to Be: Using Reflective Practice for Root Cause Analysis in the Craft of Leadership; and Confessions of a Reluctant Leader and other musings from Organizational Aesthetics.
He is also the founding editor of the journal Organizational Aesthetics. Steve is also a playwright, whose plays have been performed in England, France, Poland, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Italy, Australia, and the United States. He received a PhD in management from Boston College; an MA in performing arts from Emerson College; and a BS in humanities from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Matt Statler
Previously, Matt served NYU's Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response as the Director of Research and as Associate Director of the International Center for Enterprise Preparedness. He worked as the Director of Research at the Imagination Lab Foundation in Lausanne, Switzerland following several years as a management consultant in New York City. His research on wisdom, play, ethics, leadership and strategy has been published in dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He completed a PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University, spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Heidelberg, and obtained Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and Philosophy from the University of Missouri.