Words are the only sure weapon against oblivion Lessons from coaching What we can apply from looking at the nexus between coaching and literature to our own academic writing Words are the only sure weapon against oblivion

The mysterious “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead – his eyes are closed...To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms.”

Group of students Low employee morale Lack of communication Not feeling listened to Personal problems impacting on professional lives Absent – reference to increased productivity/falling share prices/streamlined ways of doing business

The art of being in the workplace How to create solid and satisfying work How to communicate with greater clarity How to use Cheever’s story “The Swimmer” to learn how to write better and to develop our voices How can the themes of loneliness, alienation and struggle help our coaching and our writing

Background to study Emotional context of coaching in organizations is woefully insufficient How can “The Swimmer” fill a gap in an emotional sense? Critical tensions between rationality and emotion in the workplace (ongoing in Western philosophical thought) Organizations present themselves as rational, reasonable entities

Cheever’s fiction Acutely sensitive to characters’ emotions Much we can learn from how he handles emotion & “manipulates” emotion in his readers Privileging story-telling Guiding us to perceive our world in a more probing & thoughtful manner Embrace the benefits of storytelling

Questions for discussion How does Cheever manipulate the reader’s emotions? Can you ask questions of the text that can apply to your own practice?

Being aware of lexical choices Who is speaking to us? How does the voice establish authority? 150 words on being “exposed”

Use of myth & the unconscious The quest motif Reader-response criticism – there can be a range of responses to the same text Metaphor/imagery/drama Striving to make others see and feel our world

voice Fiction provides lessons on developing a voice Power of a text wholly dependent on a writer’s voice Quality of text that lends it its social power Voice or “persona” – the essence of conveying (or not) one’s authority Persuasive Infusing our own values & principles