Ways of Seeing

A convention-defying cover, designed by Richard Hollis, set some of the expectation for a pioneering Penguin paperback that emerged in 1972. That book, was, of course, John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. Inspired by that inimitable title, and marked by today's date (the birthday of poet and polymath, Seamus Heaney), welcome to a space for amplifying our own ways of seeing. The ambition is to create a deeply human space for interdisciplinary and crossgenerational exchange and to inspire us to look at the world through the perspectives of others.

As the world is in the grip of a crisis in the true North Stars of leadership, this transitional time in history is about what we do together - with real agility, with safe spaces for open dialogue and experimentation, and with shared ambitions for sustained action and impact.

‘Ways of seeing’ is a frame of reference for opening up a space for debate and exchange, which will feature creators, curators, and catalysts for change for good, the world over. It is designed to build our muscle of empathy, generosity and curiosity, and to inspire serendipity along the way.?Drawing on a melting pot of sources from art, literature, photography, philosophy, music and more, I shall be inviting guest editors, and featuring rising leaders, founders, makers and change-makers from all walks of the universe.?This space is dedicated to all of you, and may it be a progressive place for new discoveries and rediscoveries. In the spirit of co-creation, let's wide-lens, zoom-lens and angle the debate and make it happen together.

This first issue begins with a revisiting of Berger and Heaney, and involves locating our bearings on bodies of work that are far-reaching and far-ranging. In the space that we have in this first issue, I have selected some elements of their work that I treasure. Some are fragments. Others are portals to longer reads. Each one of them is a gem in its own right. Let us begin with one of the sublime examples of Berger's word-work on the unifying force of poetry:

“Poetry can repair no loss, but it defies the space which separates. And it does this by its continual labour of reassembling.”?John Berger

As we reflect on the?disassembling that we are seeing and experiencing on a plurality of levels, as manifest across business, society and institutions the world over, the imperative is to assemble and reassemble. Berger’s reassembling is a powerful reflection on the importance of the process and the journey as much as the destination.?We all have a responsibility to assemble and reassemble. This is about a transitional era of shifting the mindset and skillset of leadership to heal what is in the process of fracturing and fragmenting, and to set new north stars to address the shared challenges across business and society.

This unmaking and remaking resonates through many aspects of Heaney’s work, not least in the mesmerising Seeing Things:

”Where does spirit live? Inside or outside. Things remembered, made things, things unmade?”? Seeing Things

As we speak of ‘spirit’ and Heaney, and of the celebration of his spirit on his birthday, Heaney’s time at 美国哈佛大学 seems resonant, with a poem that he wrote for the University’s 350th year: Villanelle for an Anniversary.?

A spirit moved. John Harvard walked the yard,? The atom lay unsplit, the west unwon,? The books stood open and the gates unbarred.?

The maps dreamt on like moondust. Nothing stirred.? The future was a verb in hibernation.? A spirit moved, John Harvard walked the yard.?

Seek out the remaining stanzas for yourself and spend some time with them. Let them work their magic on you… It was during his time at Harvard that Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize, and he spoke of his time at the University as the gift of a unique sense of belonging:?“It gives you some kind of latitude and longitude for memory.” That latitude and longitude also resonate in Heaney’s Nobel acceptance speech, where he takes us with him on his journey into the “wideness of language”:

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1995/heaney/lecture/

As we reflect on that 'wideness of language', that sense of perspective, and ways of seeing, let us wend our way back to Berger, and an excerpt from a beguiling listen via the BBC:

“Berger is a border crosser.?Not just in his travels, but in his writing itself, which moves freely and liberatingly between prose and poetry, text and image, pencil sketches and philosophy, observation and imagination.” ?Sukhdev Sandhu via the BBC ?https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b05sxz6l?

Berger perpetually walked in the shoes of others, cross-fertilising insight and inspiration across art forms. We see this infinitely in Heaney, who emerges and merges, at times, as poet, playwright and translator.?Seeing Things again gives us a powerful reference point for ourselves in that sense of ‘border-crossing’, in that movement across the edges of things and the possibilities in the potential confluence of things:

"Crossing water always furthered something.? Stepping stones were stations of the soul." Seeing Things (from Crossings)?

Here’s to crossing borders, in whatever resonance that takes on for us in our day, in our week, in our year ahead. Here’s to new ways of seeing, to different ways of seeing, to shared ways of seeing. These are transitional times, and will need the ability to listen, as never before. This times will be defined by understatement, as much as statement, by understanding, embracing and living leadership in its true responsibility as one of guardianship.

Thank you for reading and for welcoming Ways of Seeing into the world!? I welcome thoughts, ideas and contributions and would like this to be a place and space to celebrate great things that are happening in crossgenerational collaboration, and interdisciplinary approaches to leadership and lifelong learning.?Above all, it is about looking at each other, and the world, in new ways, to walk more effectively in each other's shoes. And that means sharing your stories - as rising leaders, founders, makers and changemakers. Please get in touch, if you would like to share your story, nominate someone for their story to be shared, or make suggestions for future topics.?

Ways of Seeing is about new possibilities, potential Crossings, Squarings, Settings and Lightenings (to take inspiration from Heaney's Seeing Things). Until the next issue, let’s seize the moment and apply the mindset to our everyday life and work, by channelling the otherness and otherworldliness of poetry, articulated in that inimitably beguiling way in an interview in The Paris Review , where Heaney talks about the power of poetry to "entrance you for a moment above the pool of your own consciousness and your own possibilities."

https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1217/seamus-heaney-the-art-of-poetry-no-75-seamus-heaney#.UiB2J_6AjxY.twitter

Complementary reading and listening?

• Ways of Seeing, John Berger, Penguin Random House
• Selected Essays, John Berger, Edited by Geoff Dyer?
• A Writer of our Time. The Life and Work of John Berger, Joshua Sperling
• Faber and Faber 's entire collection of Heaney
• The Rain Stick?https://howtoreadapoem.com/listen-to-a-poem-seamus-heaneys-the-rain-stick/

? ?