Leading Beautifully is innovating. Leading Beautifully is bringing out the best in people. Leading Beautifully weaves the world together in a tapestry of learning, meaning, and contribution. There is no question: Chris Brewster leads beautifully.

This artwork is no mere plate; it symbolizes the best of leadership—the best of Chris Brewster’s leadership. Chris’ heart, soul, and profound vision see people’s potential before they recognize it in themselves. “Chris sees the contribution we can make long before we have credentials.” “Chris gives us a chance to shine even when we are young and inexperienced.” “Chris recognizes that people from all countries can make immense contributions.”

When others’ see only uninspiring browns, Chris sees bright blues and turquoise heighted by a context of rich, earth tones. When others judge thin spots to be imperfections, Chris celebrates how the thinner, glazes (and absence of color) complement the more intense surrounding hues. When others search for straight lines—clear, linear, logical step-by-step processes for contributing professionally—Chris appreciates how lyrical, curved routes define each of our unique paths to competence and contribution.

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright challenged us with her now famous: “We have a responsibility in our time, as others have had in theirs, not to be prisoners of history, but to shape history.” Chris’ strong convictions shape history. Like Chris, this Leading Beautifully Award has strong, clear boundaries; a geometrically perfect, inclusive circle. When those who remain trapped in history reject Chris’ ideas and initiatives, he fiercely defends the circle and what it protects and nurtures. This circle won’t be broken.

Look closely at the surface inside the circle. It is a network of hues and shapes, each harmonizing with its neighbor, each adding to the whole.

This artwork reflects the overall field of Comparative Human Resource Management and CRANET, Chris’s creation. CRANET is a network people and ideas; not a hierarchy designed to praise one man. CRANET’s network champions colleagues from more than 40 countries.

Creativity, in leadership and in art, is never easy. All leaders face repeated hurdles. When you peek behind the artwork, you discover a bumpy, bubbling, chipped, uneven surface. Why? Because the kiln fired too hot—reaching 2200° Fahrenheit. Why? Because it was almost alone in the kiln. The artwork, like most of Chris’ novel initiatives, entered the world on its own. Techniques and strategies that work perfectly in the mainstream, no longer work for innovative outliers. We celebrate their ultimate success—whether the publication and presentation of outstanding research or an artwork’s visible beauty—while remembering the struggles and ugliness that made that beauty possible.

Was the newness worth it? Absolutely! The extra heat caused the glazes to become more vibrant. The glazes ran together, creating new layers and textures that never would have been possible at lower, more ‘normal’ temperatures. Chris shapes history by encircling networks of scholars and then turning up the heat with challenging questions and just the right amount of support. He shapes history by creating just the right context.

What Chris produces doesn’t look like others’ outcomes. Chris and the network his ideas create inspire all of us to be more than we imagined we could be; to give more than we thought we could give, to make a bigger difference than we dreamt we could make. Chris isn’t trapped in history. He has painted a future that we yearn for, and, on our best days, when surrounded by this network, we believe we can actually get there. Chris, thanks for inspiring us and giving us hope. Thank you for Leading Beautifully.

Nancy J Adler
Artist
S Bronfman Professor Emerita of Management
McGill University, Montreal, Canada nancy.adler@mcgill.ca
1-514-737-2230 http://adlerartistry.com/galleries