Kallion circles presents…
Leading with Friendship
Hosted By: Mallory Monaco Caterine
About the Circle
Join Kallion Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Mallory Monaco Caterine, for a Kallion Circle Series to explore how we define “leadership” and “friendship,” and how these concepts do and should – or should not – intersect in our
personal, professional, and civic lives. Participants will meet over the course of six hour-long lunch sessions.
Registration deadline is September 24. Registration fee is $249.
Questions? Contact Mallory (mallory@kallion.org).
Our conversations will be grounded in exploration of practical philosophical texts from ancient Greece and Rome, classical China, and 21st century US:
Aristotle
4th century BCE Greek philosopher and tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle will introduce us to three classifications of friendship – of utility, of pleasure, and of virtue – that we experience in our lives.
CICERO
1st century BCE republican Roman lawyer, politician, and philosopher, Cicero invites us to consider what sparks and sustains our friendships, as well as the grounds for breaking up with a friend.
plutarch
2nd century CE Greek philosopher, biographer, and statesman, Plutarch will guide us on how to speak hard, yet important, truths to our friends.
Matteo ricci
16th century CE Jesuit missionary to China and contemporary with Shakespeare, Ricci will challenge us to distill and translate our ideas of friendship to people from other cultures (“friends from afar”).
bell hooks
A Black American 21st century intersectional feminist philosopher, hooks calls us to see friendship and love as central to the work of building strong communities and inspiring positive social change.
Schedule
Background
“I guess the attitude that I’ve tried to create here is that I’m a friend first, a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.”
-Michael Scott, The Office (2005)
Should your boss be your friend? Or do friendship ties pose an inherent threat to organizational effectiveness and fair dealing? Should our friends agree with us no matter what, or should they speak up when they see us acting against our own best interests, or even against what is right? Across time and cultures, humans seeking to live well in communities have grappled with how to answer these questions in theory and practice. Over the course of six hour-long lunch sessions, we will explore how we define “leadership” and “friendship,” and how these concepts do and should – and should not – intersect in our personal, professional, and civic lives.
Participants will be expected to read 15 – 25 pages in preparation for each weekly session. While we will spend a few minutes each session building our understanding of the contexts and contents of each of our readings, our main will work will be on discovering insights and connections from the readings that we can each apply to our own personal leadership development. Each session will be preceded by a 15-minute leadership writing prompt which participants will be prepared to share at the session. This investment in private and collective reflection will enable us to form stronger, more collaborative, and mutually enriching relationships in all aspects of our lives.