It's a part of me

Christine Palmquist Hemborg

Chapter 15 in Leadership, Art, and Responsibility, 2026, pp 129-134 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter presents the recollected testimony of Christine Palmquist Hemborg, whose encounter with Shibboleth became a lasting inner reorientation. Confronted with an unfamiliar artistic form, she initially responded with resistance and distrust. Yet the intensity of feeling, the presence of others, and the immediacy of the artistic encounter gradually disarmed her. She draws a sharp contrast between traditional leadership programmes – experienced as role-training, armour, and control – and the Shibboleth process, which addressed her not as a function but as a human being who is also a leader. Through text, music, and shared reflection, she describes a movement from defensiveness towards openness, from vigilance towards trust. Feelings arose before thought; understanding emerged through resonance rather than explanation. Shared exposure to suffering, evil, beauty, and vulnerability gave rise to recognition. Ethical reflection no longer required guidance; conversation itself generated insight, and listening revealed unfamiliar dimensions of herself. The experience extended into her leadership. She perceived her employees with new clarity and relinquished forms of control she had taken for granted. Trust and dialogue no longer appeared as risks but as conditions for responsibility. She speaks of heightened civil courage – a strengthened resolve to resist wrongdoing, refuse silence, and stand firm even at personal cost. What remains is an enduring shift: a clearer gaze, deeper humility, and the conviction that to be human is to assume responsibility. Shibboleth did not remain a course. It became part of her.

Keywords: Shibboleth Experience; Shibboleth Art Form; Civil Courage; Ethical Leadership; Mutual Recognition; Embodied Reflection; Leader Responsibility; Transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781049403991
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