The Shibboleth experiment

Julia Romanowska

Chapter 6 in Leadership, Art, and Responsibility, 2026, pp 25-36 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter presents the Shibboleth experiment – a randomised controlled intervention study designed to examine how an artistic, non-instrumental pedagogy may transform leaders and, through them, shape organisational life. Fifty managers from diverse professions were randomly assigned either to a traditional leadership programme or to the Shibboleth programme. A rigorous, interdisciplinary evaluation model was developed, combining psychological, behavioural, and biological measures and incorporating assessments from both leaders and their employees. The control group underwent a conventional, theory-driven programme based on lectures, models, skills training, and structured reflection. By contrast, participants in the Shibboleth group were immersed in an unfamiliar artistic environment and confronted with 12 Shibboleth performances – polyphonic collages of music and literary fragments portraying the tragic and complex conditions of existence. The pedagogy offered no explanations, tools, or prescribed goals; instead, participants met the material unprepared, through aesthetic experience, free writing, and open-ended group dialogue. Three pedagogical components shaped each session: the sensory and emotional impact of the performance, the creative act of written articulation, and the collective testing of judgement in shared reflection. This design activated both receptive and imaginative faculties, opening participants to existential insight, ethical ambiguity, and the reconfiguration of their own assumptions. The performances’ defamiliarising techniques heightened perception; the writing sessions deepened emotional resonance; the dialogue cultivated moral discernment and expanded understanding. The chapter concludes by tracing the Shibboleth concept's intellectual sources – ancient Greek tragedy, salon culture, and their shared belief in art's capacity to reveal truth, stir judgement, transform the human being, and awaken responsibility.

Keywords: Shibboleth Experiment; Leadership Study; Randomised Intervention Study; Art-based Pedagogy; Greek Tragedy and Catharsis; Transformative Learning; Interdisciplinary Evaluation Model; Psychological and Biological Effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781049403991
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