Interview with Michael Cafasso
Key Inspirations recently spoke with Michael Cafasso, Colorado President for American Bank of Commerce (ABC Bank), on the upcoming series “Leadership as a Performing Art” at Colorado College.
KI: Tell me about your involvement in “Leadership as a Performing Art.”
MC: I met Jane Hilberry, who’s a professor of English at Colorado College, while attending one of Kevin Asbjornson’s programs and we started talking about commonalities. We both have an affinity for David Whyte, the corporate poet. Jane had wanted to bring in David Whyte but couldn’t afford it so the bank put up the money to bring him in 2003. Then I attended one of David Whyte’s workshops in England and that was incredible. The ABC Bank and Colorado College together brought him in again in 2005. I attended another workshop in Italy with David Whtye and that’s where I met Richard Olivier, who is the son of Sir Laurence Olivier and is versed and schooled in Shakespeare. I witnessed a program of his while on that Italy trip and I thought, ‘What if we put all three of these individuals on the same bill?’ Maybe do a little series because they all have such unique but powerful messages using unique media. So the idea was born to develop a series called ‘Leadership as a Performing Art.’ What I’m trying to do is reach out into the business community and show the importance of creative and artistic thinking, which I think has become somewhat drained in the business world.
KI: Why do you think that?
MC: Because of all the automated processes and all the standardization. It’s important to open up the creative side of the brain – or keep it open. And it’s also important to tap into the academic community which, by their own admission, doesn’t have enough connectivity with the business community. So we’re saying, ‘Look, these are all business people but they use the arts.’ So we really try to bring those two audiences together, as well as drawing in people from the community at large.
KI: What is it about poetry, theater or music that leads you to make that bridge between artistic endeavors and how they can help foster creative thinking in business? What does that equation look like for you?
MC: For me, there’s a tremendous need to stay open and to stay on the edge of new and better ways of doing things. How can we make things better? I don’t care if it’s service, process, people, whatever the case may be. The music, the poetry and the Shakespeare resonate in a way that just opens everything.
KI: For those folks who are curious about arts-based learning, how can you make what sounds rather esoteric resonate and connect with business people?
MC: Use your whole brain. Engaging in the arts allows the opportunity for you to open up the whole brain. I don’t think we were ever meant to be automatons. I think we all have the capacity to think beyond where we are right now. It’s about opening up your whole mind to additional thought – not to say you don’t think now – but to go places in your mind where you never thought you would go. I read Shakespeare in high school, for example, but I could never get the application. It turns out there’s a huge bridge between the two beyond the merely metaphorical.
KI: How has engaging in this type of work benefited you in your work?
MC: Personally, it helps me stay on the frontier. I’m able to have a fresh open mind and think of better ways of delivering business. The other question that gets asked often is ‘What does this have to do with the bank?’ I usually say ‘a lot of things’ and ‘not very much.’ You’re not going to go and open up a batch of new loans or take on a bunch of new accounts at that event but what it does do is present the bank in a different, unique, creative light.
KI: Do you see your peers or other folks looking for different leadership paradigms of which maybe the arts is only one?
MC: In my industry, I would say the arts paradigm is looked on with some confusion. The way it was explained to me long ago – and I haven’t found anything that would offset this yet – is that we’ve standardized and automated everything so much. I mean, think about the banking world: prompt here, push this button here, email here, online here. There are no people involved, there’s no subjectivity. Everything is fairly scientific and rigid. And I think there’s a void now in the business community that’s begging for new ideas and creativity and design thinking. Plug in, turn on, you got your cell phone, your email, your Blackberry – there’s no thinking in any of that. And frankly it’s muting our ability to communicate. I think the void that exists out there has to do with paying attention and looking at things. To me, one of the greatest skills that’s not taught enough is the act of paying attention. With art you notice things that you normally wouldn’t notice and in that lies opportunity.
“Leadership as a Performing Art” will feature author and theater director Richard Olivier on September 22, poet David Whyte on October 15, and international inspirational speaker and performer Kevin Asbjornson on November 12. All events are at 7pm at the Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center at Colorado College. Events are free and open to the public. For more information, call (719) 389-6607. To preview the invitation to this unique event, please click here.
