I invited my colleague to try out this same studio technique in non-art-related settings. What would it look like to view a philosophical issue from multiple perspectives—or a novel? She thrived in this work, creating studios in many different settings, working with faculty members from diverse academic disciplines in her own university. As coaches and consultants, how do we emulate this art teacher, encouraging our client to study their coaching issues from diverse perspectives? How do we create a coaching or consulting studio for our client?
As Johansson notes, Intersections increase with a greater diversity in perspective. When wandering through our mid-21st Century world, we can’t help but notice the rich interplay of sights and sounds. This diversity encourages us (even forces us) to view the world from multiple points of view. We are not just viewing a still-life from different parts of the room—the still life is itself constantly changing! As a professional coach, how do we create this Cosmopolitan State of Mind in our client? Can we help them build their own personal bridge between Snow’s two cultures of calculation and narrative? Can we help them identify and make effective use of an expert who resides inside one or more intersections and, as a result, holds a Cosmopolitan perspective and engages in (or supports) Cosmopolitan practices?
Soulful and Spirit-ful Intersections
While all four of Johansson’s strategies (and many more) help us increase the number and diversity of Intersections in our life, I would suggest that there is a second dimension to explore when considering ways in which to create and use Intersections. I specifically propose that there are two different types of Intersection and both types are abundant in our contemporary world. There are first the Spirit-ful Intersections. These are Intersections that elicit optimistic, big picture ideas. They encourage us to move upward.
Sharon Stone (2021, p. 71) writes about a study in which people were asked: “How much money do you think people need in order not to be poor?’ The answers to this question typically went beyond numbers. Many years ago, I was teaching an M.A. course and asked my students to conduct a simple interview with their acquaintances by introducing a similar question. I invited my students to ask the following question: “how much is enough money.” This is a very spirt-ful question. A rich diversity of answers was provided that encouraged those being interviewed to look upward—toward their own personal aspirations. It was interesting to note the intersections that were contained in the responses to this basic question. As in the case of the study that Stone cited, they typically were not just about money and numbers (“I want to make xxxx dollars per year”); they included reflections on work/life balance, the role to be played by spouses and family in defining financial goals, concerns about quality of life after retirement—and the nature of personal happiness.
There are also Soul-ful Intersections. These are the Intersections that elicit reflection and often painful recognition or remembrance. One of the respondents to my student’s interview about having “enough money” offered the following poignant and soul-ful response: “It is always one more dollar than I now have.” We soulfully grieve the absence of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City and the aspirations these buildings (and those working in these buildings) brought to the world of international commerce. The 9/11 memorial site, with the water dropping off as a four-sided waterfall into the deep recesses of the earth inspires us in a quite different manner than the high-rise buildings. The cathedrals, synagogues and mosques similarly pull us deeper and into a state of solemnity and prayer. These are the intersections that Deborah Stone suggests we bring into the realm of morality and ethical decision-making.
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