Noel McQuaid asks, ‘Why is it that the uncanny experience is so readily dismissed as irrational in thinking?’
This Food for thought Lunchtime talk will take place in-person and online
Noel believes that leadership thinking within organisations has tended to expel anything ‘irrational’ in favour of logical process, leaving little space for ‘unknowing’, the being open to removal of certainty, such as an uncanny experience provides. This is seen by Noel as a shortfall, when such experiences might be seen as a portal to the consideration of the mystical, as well as a possible foundation for a guiding myth.
This talk will share the findings of his doctoral research, which sought to explore the value of the uncanny and mystical in the thinking of leadership, particularly in times of organisational uncertainty. The results of which were surprising to both himself and research participants. Attendees to the talk will also be given space to explore their own uncanny and mystical experiences, as well to ponder on how these experiences have figured in their future thinking.
Noel’s consideration of ‘other’ as a dimension providing an alternative to logical thinking, seeks to offer a potential tool in consulting to change, be it at an individual, group or organisational level.
Join in exploring thoughts that are rarely given voice to, thoughts at the edge of the acceptable, the stuff which myths are made of.
Noel McQuaid has a background spanning engineering design, academia, and psychodynamic counselling, working with adults and adolescents within NHS mental health services and in private practice. These three distinct strands now interwoven via a doctorate in ‘Advanced practice and research: consultation and the organisation’, at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. His ideas on the Uncanny and Mystical Influences on Leadership, were presented and explored at the NIODA 2020 symposium ‘Working into the Future’.
Noel is passionate about using the ‘unknowing’ the uncanny presents as a tool for change, seeing this as the disruptive grit which has the potential to lead to surprise and the creation of a guiding myth. Noel believes however, that such thinking can too often struggle against the tide of the establishment and as a result, go unspoken and unutilised. This was the germinating idea of his doctoral research and is now a core element of his consultancy approach.
Fun fact: As a child growing up on an outlying, windswept farm, Noel believed his grandmother might actually be a ‘Cailleach’, with the late night tea leaf readings and a feral cat. This, along with the love of ghost stories, has led to him to hold a deep rooted belief in the power of a good ‘yarn’ to reach the very edge of things, where other forces might be experienced. He is currently writing a book with a working title ‘The Uncanny, The Mystical and The Myth: the hidden treasure at work’.
Location
Online/In-person at The Tavistock Institute, 3rd Floor, 63 Gee Street, EC1V 3RS