van Gogh's Starry Night and Leadership
Mark Rapier CMAS, ALC
Trusted Guide | Author | Lifelong Learner | Corporate Diplomat | Certified M&A Specialist | Certified Life Coach
When I wrote The Leader With A Thousand Faces, the cover art was designed to reinforce the core message.? Leadership is a lifelong journey.? We always have things to learn to grow and advance our careers.
This article reinforces the ideas I was trying to express.
I have always been captivated by Van Gogh’s work, and Starry Night is particularly compelling.? It became more compelling when I learned that the swirls and eddies surrounding the stars accurately reflect turbulent flow in fluid dynamics.?? Van Gogh finished this painting sixty years before Andre Kolmogorov developed the first mathematical models for this branch of physics.? Van Gogh was able to see the unseen.? Today, astrophysicists have confirmed that Van Gogh’s painting accurately reflects the dynamics of molecular clouds – the birthplace of stars.?
The pinwheel represents the continuous leadership journey.? What we learned in the past prepared us for the journey we are currently on.? Today’s experience is preparing us for the next adventure in leadership.? As our career advances, each journey gets longer and more difficult as the challenges become more complex.
Everyone is on their own personal leadership journey.? Like the stars, each has its own gravitational force.? The larger and closer they are, the more effect they have on our journey.
“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.”
- Vincent Van Gogh
Here is a link to The Leaders Journey on Amazon.