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www.leadershipniagara.com Mike Cardus
Leadership: Balancing Art, Craft, and Science
Leadership: that process in which one person sets a purpose or direction for one or more other
persons, and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that
direction with competence and full commitment (Clement & Jaques. Executive Leadership 2009)
Leadership: adding value to the problem solving and decision making of others
Leadership does not exist in a vacuum it is observed by others while a person is leading,
found while it is experienced within a particular context. Removing the person leading from the
context creates confusion and uncertainty. Leadership is seen within the practice. To make
sense of this practice I am arguing that leadership is a continuum that combines art, craft, and
science each useful and practical when in balance, while ineffective and useless when out of
balance.
The table below lists various characteristics of leading under art, craft, and science.
o Art encourages creativity, resulting in ‘insights’ and ‘vision.’
o Science provides order, through systemic analysis and assessments.
o Craft makes connections, building on experiences.
Accordingly, art tends to be inductive, from special events to a broad overview; science
deductive, from general concepts to specific applications; and craft is iterative, back and forth
between specific and general. This is expressed most evidently in how each approaches
strategy:
o as a process of visioning in art,
o planning in science,
o venturing in craft.
The Three Poles of Leadership
Science Art Craft
Based on Logic Imagination Experience
(the verbal) (the visual) (the visceral)
Relies on Scientific facts Creative insights Practical experience
Concerned with Replicability Novelty Utility
Decision making as Deductive Inductive Iterative
Strategy making as Planning Visioning Venturing
Metaphor The Earth (rational) The air (spiritual) The sea (sensual)
so can get stuck so can get lost so can go adrift
Contribution Science as systemic Art as comprehensive Craft as dynamic
analysis, in the form of synthesis, in the form of learning, in the form of
inputs and assessments insights and visions actions and
experiments
Page 1 of 7
www.leadershipniagara.com Mike Cardus
Art
Vision creative insights
Narcissistic
style
Visionary
Insightful
style
Too
balanced?
Engaging
style
Cerebral
style
Problem-solving
Calculating style Tedious
style style
Science Dispirited leadership Craft
Analysis systemic evidence Experience practical learning
Page 2 of 7
www.leadershipniagara.com Mike Cardus
Effective leadership requires all three, while they need not exist in perfect balance they
do have to reinforce each other. Accordingly, the outer triangle above labels each style in
negative terms:
o narcissistic at the pole of art, namely art for its own sake;
o tedious at the pole of craft, where the leader may never venture beyond their own
experience;
o calculating at the pole science, with relationships that can become dehumanized.
To the use the metaphors listed in the table on page 1.
o Art, as spiritual, rises into the air but risks getting lost in the clouds;
o craft, more sensual, floats on the sea but can go adrift;
o science, so rational, sits firmly on the ground, where it can get stuck.
The figure above labels the three lines of the triangle negatively, too, since each
combines two of the dimensions but leaves out the third.
o Art and craft without the systemic scrutiny of science can lead to disorganized
leadership.
o Craft and science without the creative vision of art can lead to dispirited leadership,
careful and connected but lacking spark.
o Art with science, creative and systemic without the experience of craft, can produce
rootless, impersonal, disconnected leadership.
o The triangle also shows a particular example of the latter, labeled heroic, closer to
science but with a hint (or illusion) of art.
Effective leading tends to happen within the triangle in what is illustrated in the middle
layer, where the three approaches coexist, even if there may be a tilt towards one or the other.
A third smaller triangle is shown at the center to suggest that too much balance of the three
may also be dysfunctional since it lacks any style.
Many functional leadership styles are possible within this middle triangle. The figure
shows three in particular. One near the top, towards the right side, is labeled visionary. It is
mainly artistic but rooted in experience, and supported by a certain level of analysis (or else it
would go out of control). This suggests that the “big picture” does not appear as some
apparition but has to be painted, stroke by stroke, out of the tangible experience of craft. The
visionary style seems to be especially common among successful entrepreneurs.
A second style, labeled problem-solving, especially combines craft and science. It
appears to be common amongst first line operating managers, such as factory foremen and
project managers. This style may be slightly analytic, but is firmly rooted in experience and
dependent on capability for insight as well.
Page 3 of 7
www.leadershipniagara.com Mike Cardus
A third style, labeled cerebral, takes its majority from science and mixes in a bit of art.
The research and development manager or lead scientist will tend to favor the rigorous analysis
that stems from science. The cerebral style works best when the vision of an artist is slightly
combined with the rigor of data and science, to continue leading towards a breakthrough or
discovery.
Toward the lower right is shown a people-orientated style, labeled engaging, favored by
leaders who do lots of coaching and facilitating. This is mostly craft, but with enough art to
make it interesting and enough science to make it viable.
Where do you fit on the Art, Science, and Craft Leadership Continuum?
Page 4 of 7
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