Our colleagues Paul van Geest and Henri Slob were invited to Copernicus University in Torún. Together with our Polish colleagues, they discussed possible ways Augustinian leadership could be of added value to contemporary organizations and leadership.
The research teams from Torun and Rotterdam presented work on Augustinian leadership, classical rhetorical theory in relation to crisis communication and related themes. Thus, they identified the knowledge present and possible ways forward.
In their discussion, the researchers first focused on the validated version of the Augustinian Leadership Questionnaire. Several opportunities for further development were discussed, as well as ways to do this together. Since philologists and theologians were present, one way for consolidating insights regarding Augustinian leadership is to read more texts of Augustine and discuss the meaning each reader got out of the text. Additionally, text mining was brought up to analyze more texts faster.
Two more presentations were given during this visit. Each focused on Augustine or people he knew or who knew him. Connections were made between Cicero’s thinking and contemporary crisis communication. Furthermore, Eugippius’ ideas were shared on community, how to de-escalate violence and overcome divisions. This is based on a paper written by Marta Szada and is published in the Journal of Medieval History.
In their discussion, the researchers first focused on the validated version of the Augustinian Leadership Questionnaire. Several opportunities for further development were discussed, as well as ways to do this together. Since philologists and theologians were present, one way for consolidating insights regarding Augustinian leadership is to read more texts of Augustine and discuss the meaning each reader got out of the text. Additionally, text mining was brought up to analyze more texts faster.
