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| McIntire Professor Mary Jo Hatch, W.
Michael Scheld, Howard Gardner, and Julie Bargmann in a spirited
discussion about leadership and positive societal change. |
The McIntire School held its annual Fall Forum Friday, Sept. 29, 2006,
in Old Cabell Hall. The forum, organized by the School’s Center for
Growth Enterprises, each year, along with the School’s annual spring
symposium, examines the complex nature and origins of organizational
success. “With every symposium and forum, we work to facilitate
compelling, multidimensional discussions of timely and important
issues,” says McIntire Dean Carl Zeithaml. “We were honored to have
Professor Gardner, one of the world’s leading experts on the
workings of the mind, speak to us about leadership.”
This year’s event, titled “Leadership and Positive Societal Change,”
featured a keynote speech by Harvard University’s Professor Howard
Gardner, followed by a panel discussion with U.Va. Professors Julie
Bargmann and W. Michael Scheld.
Gardner, the author of more than 20 books on the development and
education of the mind, is perhaps best known for his theory of
multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists
but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard
psychometric instruments.
Gardner, who has studied myriad aspects of education, including the
nature of interdisciplinary efforts in education, spoke on
“Leadership and the Mind.” In 2004, Gardner published Changing
Minds: The Art and Science of Changing our Own and Other People’s
Minds, which formed the basis for the forum’s address.
In the address, Gardner discussed the mechanisms by which
large-scale shifts in mindset occur around society’s biggest
issues—for instance, how Americans, in large numbers, might shift
from being Democrats to Republicans (or vice versa) or how Britons
came to accept Margaret Thatcher’s market-based reforms after
decades of state involvement in industry. Other examples of such
sweeping social change include major shifts in people’s conceptions
of art, or their acceptance of new scientific findings.
Effecting such change, Gardner said, requires the deft employment of
seven “levers”: resources and rewards; reason; research; resonance;
representational redescription; real world events; and resistances.
Notably, Gardner pointed out that his system for effecting change is
“amoral”—that is, it can be used effectively by people working to
persuade others to change for good or ill. Of course, Gardner said,
the best form of mind change is toward “good work”—the sorts of
changes sought by such figures as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and
Nelson Mandela.
Gardner defined “fundamentalism” not in religious terms, but as “the
commitment not to change your mind.” “It’s a waste of time to try to
change the mind of a fundamentalist,” Gardner said.
After his keynote presentation, Gardner was joined in a panel
discussion by U.Va.’s Bargmann and Scheld, both of whom are
currently involved in projects to effect the sorts of change about
which Gardner spoke. Bargmann, who teaches in the School of
Architecture, has been recognized by numerous national and
international design publications—as well as by Time magazine
and CNN—as leading the next generation in making a difference for
design and the environment. Through her interdisciplinary Project
D.I.R.T. (Dump It Right There), Bargmann challenges conventional
policy and works with architects, artists, engineers, historians,
and scientists to revitalize blighted ecosystems and communities.
Dr. Scheld is the Bayer-Gerald L. Mandell Professor of Internal
Medicine and newly appointed director of the Pfizer International
Health Initiative. He was formerly the president of the Infectious
Diseases Society of America and now chairs the organization’s
International AIDS Committee. Scheld has been a leader in bringing
HIV/AIDS care, prevention, research and training programs to Africa.
Both Bargmann and Scheld addressed the difficulty of what Bargmann
referred to as “getting people past the head-nodding stage.”
“You’d better have a compelling story,” Bargmann said, “and you’d
better be prepared to get kicked out of the room.” To get people to
hear a difficult message, Bargmann said, you have to “reach, not
teach…you have to combine care with conviction.”
Scheld spoke about the challenge—and importance—of changing people’s
views of AIDS patients and of changing AIDS patients’ attitudes
toward taking medicine. Scheld also talked about handling people’s
resistance to change and the importance of re-crafting your message
and of communicating with empathy and sensitivity. Doing so is
essential to changing people’s minds, Scheld said, and it’s changing
people’s minds that ultimately will change the world. “A difference
is only a difference if it makes a difference,” Scheld said, quoting
Gertrude Stein. |
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