Looking, Perceiving and Communicating at the Barnes Foundation

Join Dr. Elizabeth Johnson at the Barnes Foundation art museum for an exciting new workshop.

We expect information to come to us quickly, and we also expect to see what we need at a glance. We perceive only a fraction of what is in our sensory environment. In the fast-paced business world, we rarely can take the time to look more closely at our overall objectives, work products, assumptions about and relationships with our colleagues and clients. We also often assume that others see what we do and share our perspectives and perceptions. These practices can adversely impact our effectiveness at creating and developing new ideas, and can negatively impact our ability to lead, manage, and build relationships with our colleagues and clients.

The purpose of this session is to encourage close looking and to challenge you to distinguish between observation and interpretation of what you see by learning new skills about visual strategic thinking. Teams will discover how to better use language to make meaning clearer to others, and how to avoid assuming you know how and what others know, see, and think. New experiences that are very different from what we are used to can sometimes help us take more risks, create and discover new ideas, learn from and respond to each other, and be more mindful of the perspectives of those around us. You do not need to know anything about art or art history, or even like visual art for this session! The goal of this event is to (literally!) open your eyes and help you learn that you are already an expert at looking, deciding, and communicating about how you see the world, but you can get even better. Plus, private, after hours access to a roughly $25B+ art collection is a pretty unique opportunity.