The Economist 14Dec2019

58 Business The EconomistDecember 14th 2019

2

Bartleby Conduct yourself

Economist.com/blogs/bartleby

P

icture a lecture session at a busi-

ness school and you probably envis-

age students gazing at screens filled with

equations and acronyms. What you

might not expect is choristers attempt-

ing to sing “O clap your Hands”, an eight-

part anthem composed by Orlando Gib-

bons and first performed in 1622. But

Bartleby was treated to this delight, and

others facing mbastudents, on a visit to

Saïd Business School in Oxford earlier

this year.

There was a catch. Some of the stu-

dents had to try conducting the choir.

The first to take the challenge was a

rather self-confident young man from

America. It didn’t take long for him to go

wrong. His most obvious mistake was to

start conducting without asking the

singers how they would like to be direct-

ed, though they had the expertise and he

was a complete tyro.

The experience was doubtless chas-

tening, but also instructive. The session,

organised by Pegram Harrison, a senior

fellow in entrepreneurship, cleverly

allowed the students to absorb some

important leadership lessons. For ex-

ample, leaders should listen to their

teams, especially when their colleagues

have specialist knowledge. All they may

need to do, as conductors, is set the pace

and then step back and let the group

govern itself.

It was noticeable, too, that the choir

managed fairly well even if the conduc-

tors were just waving their batons in an

indeterminate fashion. The lesson there,

Mr Harrison said, was that leaders can

only do so much damage—provided they

do not attempt to control every step of

the process. The whole exercise illustrat-

ed it is possible for a lesson to be in-

structive and entertaining at once.

Other business schools have also

realised that their students can learn from

the arts. At Carnegie Mellon University in

Pittsburgh, Leanne Meyer has introduced a

leadership-training programme that in-

cludes poetry, art installations and a book

club. Involvement in such pursuits can

help develop empathy in future leaders,

she argues; for example, reading a novel

helps students get into the mind of a char-

acter. She also believes that the pro-

gramme benefits students in terms of how

they promote themselves to recruiters.

It is hardly surprising that art-based

programmes are popular. They provide a

welcome diversion from the stodgy con-

tent that marks out most mbacourses. But

are they really helpful? Intriguingly, there

are signs that successful businesses are

incorporating the arts into their training.

aqr, a fund-management group best

known for its number-crunching skills,

has started a professional- and personal-

growth programme called the Quanta

academy; one component is a book club

where members have read “Destined for

War”, a book about American-Chinese

relations by Graham Allison.

Rather than turn the pages, some

business people tread the boards. The

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (rada)

has trained many great thespians, such

as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Alan Rickman

and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It also offers

training courses for executives, ranging

from half a day to six days.

“Acting is about finding the truth in

the character and in yourself,” says Char-

lie Walker-Wise, one of rada’s tutors.

“We help people to become more aware

of their habits; what they do without

realising it. How people manage their

physicality—their breath, their voice.

Not many people are aware of how they

come across.”

It might seem odd to link running a

business with a profession that ranges

from Laurence Olivier proclaiming Ham-

let’s soliloquy to Robert de Niro training

as a boxer to play the lead in “Raging

Bull”. But Mr Walker-Wise says that

middle managers are often delivering

speeches that are not their own (because

they were devised by head office) or

trying to inspire staff to meet an ob-

jective that was set by someone else. “The

lesson from acting is how do I connect to

this message without betraying my own

personality,” he argues.

Being a manager involves a lot more

than just setting targets and entering

numbers into a spreadsheet. It requires

empathy and an understanding of hu-

man nature. It makes sense that an edu-

cation in the arts might help develop

those qualities. Above all, the students

on Mr Harrison’s course at the Saïd

school were experiencing something

Bartleby never expected to see in those

attending an mbalecture: they were

having fun.

What businesses can learn from the arts

State use of the industry’s products to tar-

get political opponents, journalists and

others seems common, says Ms Ingleton.

Previous lawsuits have foundered, she

adds, in part owing to their high-tech, in-

ternational nature. Courts first need to be

convinced that plaintiffs have suffered an

injury, that the injury could be traced back

to the defendant, and that the court can re-

dress it. Even if this “standing” can be es-

tablished, it is hard to procure evidence.

“And even then it can be hard for some

judges to understand what is being pre-

sented,” she says. In a recent case in Ameri-

ca “Mr Kidane”, a pseudonymous American

with links to Ethiopia, alleged that the Ethi-

opian government had been spying on him

and his family using FinSpy, one of the

Gamma Group’s products. A judge threw

out the case on the grounds that the alleged

spying did not occur entirely within Amer-

ica’s borders. The Gamma Group did not re-

spond to requests for comment.

All the recent publicity has nonetheless

increased pressure on the companies. In

November Ron Wyden, an American sena-

tor, called for an investigation into wheth-

er nso Group’s products had been used

against American citizens. Mr Kaye wants a

moratorium on exports until stricter laws

can be drawn up. And the WhatsApp law-

suits marks an escalation by the big tech-

nology companies, which want to safe-

guard their users’ data.

A serious crackdown remains unlikely,

thinks Edin Omanovic at Privacy Interna-

tional, another ngo, owing partly to the of-

ficial background of many employees at

such firms. “Enforcement has always been

a problem within the arms industry,” he

says. Until that changes, purveyors of

snooping software can expect to thrive. 7