This speech introduces “Poetic Intelligence” as the essential modern “Ariadne’s Thread” for navigating a professional landscape increasingly dominated by Artificial Intelligence and cold technocratic logic, arguing that as algorithms take over analytical tasks, the human capacity for deep interpretation becomes our ultimate competitive advantage. It highlights a critical educational gap, noting that while Poetic Intelligence is absent from traditional academic curricula, there is a burgeoning international movement to integrate Poetry into University leadership programs to cultivate high-level cognitive skills. The presentation details four indispensable navigational abilities—metaphorical reasoning, sense-making, paradoxical thinking, and pattern recognition—that enable leaders to derive meaning where data alone fails. These concepts are grounded in practical experience through two case studies from experiential workshops: the analysis of Cavafy’s “The God Abandons Antony,” which redefines Change Management as the art of losing with dignity, and “Walls,” which serves as a metaphor for the limiting beliefs and cognitive biases that cloud modern decision-making. Ultimately, the speech advocates for Poetic Intelligence not as an aesthetic retreat, but as a rigorous Strategic Tool that empowers leaders to remain authentic, creative, and profoundly human in the age of AI.
Poetic Intelligence – Discovering Poetry as a Leadership Skill
Who the
Speakers are:
Speaker
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Babis MichailidisProduction Management Engineer, MSc, Vice-President of Education, District-25 AHEPA HELLASBabis Michailidis is a Production Management Engineer. He studied, lived, and worked in Great Britain for 7 years. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Industrial Plant Management from the Universities of Surrey and Aston in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
He has 40 years of administrative experience, working as a senior executive in large Companies and Organizations in Athens and Thessaloniki. He also has 30 years of experience teaching Leadership and Strategic Change.In recent years, he has focused on developing Creative Thinking skills, specifically the impact of “Metaphorical Language” on enhancing leadership capabilities, including critical, innovative, and “ambidextrous” thinking, problem-solving, and Change Management.
Combining this knowledge with his extensive experience in Human Resource Management makes him a highly effective Strategic Thinking Skills Mentor. He organizes speeches, seminars, experiential workshops, and conferences for many Organizations and Businesses in Greece and abroad.
Today, he founded, writes for, and runs the Poetic-Intelligence-for-Leaders Blog, a website for entrepreneurs, executives, students, and professionals that explores how Poetry, “Figurative” Thinking, and Symbolism can enhance innovative thinking.