The Bridge: Poetry in Business

The first ever Poetry in Business Conference marked a watershed moment in bridging the historically divided realms of creative expression and corporate enterprise. This ground breaking event demonstrated how poetry can create more human-centric workplaces while fostering innovative leadership and creative enterprises. This article acts a moment for me to reflect on what was truly an inspiring moment in my professional development and a chance to consider how I fully embrace divergent thought in finding solutions. I can’t hope to fully do this justice given the depth of discussion on the day; rather provide a small look in to my experience from the day.

The event operated in a modular manner with each session bringing together keynote speakers and panellists to share their knowledge, experience and insights. In addition, each session was captured by a poet in residence; an individual who could offer accessible insight into the unique experiences and content shared. I was honoured to have the opportunity to act as a full conference poet in residence, seeking to find the common threads across our contributors (more on this to follow later in the article). This real-time creative documentation added an unprecedented layer of meaning and interpretation to the proceedings.

Each hour-long session was punctuated by "play breaks" - dedicated intervals designed for reflection and practical application. These breaks offered participants curated resources including podcasts, TED talks, and guided writing exercises, acknowledging that true learning and creativity often emerge in the spaces between formal instruction.

Before starting a full reflection, I must start by thanking Kate Jenkinson PhD, FCIPD (she, her) who without her desire to create a space for this community to flourish, I would not be as inspired as I sit here today. Rather than seek to summarise her journey, I would advise you to listen in to one of her previous interviews, where she speaks so elegantly about the role of poetry in business.

This conference captures poetry across a full range of concepts exploring its role in areas such as leadership development, coaching, wellbeing, ?innovation and creativity. After an opening from Kate, we began with a keynote address from Dr Clare Morgan, author of "What Poetry Brings to Business," drawing from her decade-long collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group. Morgan's address highlighted how poetry's creative energy and communicative complexity directly address business leaders' needs for innovation and problem-solving in today's volatile environment. Her work demonstrates that engaging with poetry helps develop the agile mindset needed to navigate unprecedented complexity in decision-making. Clare is undoubtedly the pre-eminent voice on the role of business in poetry with extensive research underpinning her contribution to the space. If you wish to explore this further, I highly recommend reading her seminal text.

The wellbeing panel, featuring experts including Nancy S. Scherlong, exploring practical applications of poetry for workplace wellness. Lauren Ducrey shared insights from founding Google's Poetry for Wellbeing program, while John Stoddart discussed poetry's role in educational development recognising the desire to find answers, rather than explore the questions. I was particularly drawn to the personal reflections of Peter Roe as he shared his experience of “writing himself well” and his journey to now share the written word of others.

A dynamic session on "Leadership is Poetry" featured Dr. Kate Jenkinson and Petra Lens in conversation with Michelle Gao, exploring how poetic thinking enhances leadership effectiveness. Their discussion demonstrated how poetry's embrace of ambiguity can help leaders navigate complex organisational challenges. There was consideration that many of the world’s leading leadership development programmes are advocates for poetry as a form of encouraging more divergent thought.

The innovation & creativity panel showcased practical applications of poetry in the real world through compelling case studies. Deb Alma, founder of the world's first walk-in Poetry Pharmacy, James McInerney of The Poetry Project, and Dr. Jacki McCartney shared how poetry drives organisational development and creative problem-solving. These examples underpin where there is a role for poetry beyond its beauty, rather offering practical business benefits. This content was nicely complemented by Vincent Avanzi, Chief Poetic Officer of The Ink of the Future, offering insights into poetry's role in future-focused business practices.

The formal proceedings concluded with Ross Nichols leading an interactive workshop on Poetry for Coaching, coinciding with the launch of the Poetry for Coaching Transformation through Verse Anthology. This session provided practical tools for incorporating poetic practices into professional development. I particularly enjoyed the breakout rooms and the chance to talk freely about issues such as how we share our experiences, the means of articulating change and tapping into the value our relationship with a coach.

The conference fully culminated in an evening open poetry session hosted by Ashley Edge and Kate (part of Prickly Pear), where the day's poets-in-residence performances were interwoven with contributions from other spoken word artists and participants. This session embodied the conference's spirit of breaking down barriers between business and creative expression.

The conference's success in attracting participants from diverse sectors - from corporate leadership to creative practitioners - suggests a growing recognition that poetry has a vital role to play in modern business practices. As organisations continue to face unprecedented challenges, this inaugural event may well be remembered as the moment when business began to fully embrace poetry's potential for driving innovation, enhancing leadership, and creating more humane workplaces.

Returning to my own role in the conference, I had connected with Kate as part of my own poetry collection, exploring the notion of economic development through poetic form. On discovering the upcoming event, Kate approached me with an offer to conclude the day with a poem, pulling together the threads encapsulating speakers and my fellow poets in residence. While I have regularly relied on poems as a means to capture the essence of my own professional journey, I was truly honoured to have the chance to draw this landmark event to a close.

Normally, I have time to curate and arguably spend time questioning my form of words. This opportunity posed more of a challenge as it required acting with a creative pace, while ensuring that these esteemed contributors saw the essence of their impact represented in a form which would do them justice. ?Speaking with Kate before the event (and a theme which came up regularly through the day), I was keen to explore the intersection between poetry and business; our humanity. The TEDx speech I shared at the start is one I have returned to on several occasions. The video description considers the following:

"Running business by focusing on the doing won’t serve the progress of humankind. Technology has already surpassed humans in that. What cannot be replaced is the human element. There is only one remaining space to innovate: humanity!"

I hope with the poem below I offer a small insight in to my own attempts to bring humanity to my role as poet in residence and a wider desire to explore how poetry will help me move more in to providing the bridge necessary for innovation within our humanity:

The Bridge

At the intersection of metrics and meaning we first found precarious passages -

ropes and rickety planks, what could be measured strung against what must be felt.

A business of trying to escape the words led to disrepair.

An attempt to elevate self, sullied by a structure which seldom sought to support.

?

Here, in this liminal space, we watched spreadsheets crumble

as if the laws of commerce alone could ever bridge human experience.

Yet poetry survived.

A place of its own making to thrive, where executives would never want to tamper.

An attempt to find clarification in life, a stay against confusion.

Yet both business and poetry draw from the same source.

?

So we learned to lay stone upon stone, stacking our habits to find a moment of clarity,

humanity becoming our foundation

as fluid intelligence flowed forward.

?

Leaders pace these growing parapets,

learning to read the structure, to sense solid standing

of teams and timing - finding in verse the vigour to build through uncertainty.

No longer reliant on crossing seas on their leadership.

?

Innovation flows beneath,

newly formed pathways of possibility

where creativity curves through conventional thinking,

each stone supports structure offers fresh ways to see the familiar

forged in a foundry of fascination and finding new foundations.

?

In coaching conversations, we walk time-worn flagstones together,

footsteps finding fragments of stories untold, discovering

in shared silence the strength to be vulnerable.

Our emotional literacy echoes before it dissipates,

finding comfort in the crossing.

?

Wellbeing moulds the mortar between moments,

holding space for healing, for breathing, for being -

a sanctuary supported by pillars of patience and peace.

?

This is how we learn to walk

between wisdom and wonder,

finding in verse the courage to be wholly present

in our measured dance of doing and being.

?

Each crossing leaves traces, invisible signatures of the poetic practice.

A story, a semblance of semantics.

We cross this intersection, not in search of the answers but to embrace the questions.

?

The bridge built to belittle the binary offers a truth which finds a common crossing.

Carved in the stone. A simple message. Yet one which fails to fade.

“We are here, who are you”