The Journey of a “Freak”: The Role of Frivolous Archetypes in Sustainable Leadership Practices

Play and art are similar in the sense that they are both difficult to define since distinct activities, ideas, or events can fall into these categories. Furthermore, art has an inherently playful dimension. Sometimes, play can be seen as art as well. Art is the sincerest imprint of society; it gives an accurate picture of its current state and future possibilities. In psychology, play is seen as an essential condition of psychologically safe experimenting. Due to their reflective nature, these two areas could have an important role in sustainability transitions by evoking change in business. The sustainability transition has many layers, yet leaders’ commitment, attitude, and behavior are unquestionable in all of them. A leader has a significant impact on the practice of conducting business, and therefore, plays a key role in the transition process. So, what happens if art, play, and business come together in one leader? How would that influence leadership practice? How can an art-loving and playful leader get business and sustainability goals closer to one another? In this chapter, we are approaching these questions from a leader’s perspective, who is by his own self-definition “a freak”, and focus on the playful behavioral patterns and assumptions of the frivolous leadership archetype, the Fool. We provide empirical data from a Hungarian art-related non-profit organization where we conducted qualitative interviews, observation, and an art-based, role-analytical interview to find out how such a play-infused archetype of our collective unconscious could inform contemporary leaders and help to create a more sustainable future. Our aim is to show through a real-life example how the interrelated archetypes of the Fool, the Clown, the Trickster, and the Jester may emerge in leadership practices and what role they may have in sustainability transition.