Acts of Leadership: A Creative and Personal Exploration of Leadership as an Art through Shakespeare’s Macbeth

M.A. International Management ‘Creative Leadership’ student Aurora Galli explored the intersection between artistic expression and leadership through a performative and reflective engagement with Shakespeare’s Macbeth. How can a theatrical performance become a tool for leadership learning?

Artistic and creative research approaches are a defining element of the M.A. International Management - Creative Leadership program. In her master’s thesis, Aurora investigated leadership as an aesthetic and relational practice, combining literary analysis with embodied performance. Drawing inspiration from Lady Macbeth’s powerful “Unsex Me Here” monologue, she examined how ambition and vulnerability are constructed through body, voice, and emotion – dimensions often overlooked in traditional management studies.

Through her practice-based research, Aurora transformed Shakespeare’s text into a living experiment. Rehearsing and performing the monologue in a natural outdoor setting, she explored how authority and emotional awareness emerge through movement and sensory experience. The process was documented through a ten-minute video performance that wove together theory, creative practice, and self-reflection (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6_3Cg7hiao) 

Her findings revealed leadership as a performed negotiation – a balance between drive and empathy, control and openness. By stepping into Lady Macbeth’s voice and reflecting on her own growth as an emerging leader, Aurora showed how the arts can serve as a medium for leadership development.

With Acts of Leadership, she contributes to a growing movement that integrates artistic methods into management education, demonstrating that leadership, much like theatre, is a craft cultivated through presence and imagination.