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Usefulness of Uselessness:1
A Case for Negative Capability
in Management
SUNEETHA SAGGURTHI
MUNISH THAKUR
XLRI-Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, India

The obsessive need for speed, control, and performativity that drives the organizational
discourse has disabled critical thought and crippled the imagination and the senses, calling
for the much-needed but less-discussed negative capability (NC) in organizations. A term
coined by the Romantic poet John Keats, NC is an imaginative, intuitive, and aesthetic
approach to life in a state of diligent indolence and passive receptivity that invites one to be
comfortable with uncertainty, mystery, and doubt. NC provides space for doubt to flourish in
organizations and promotes a culture of inquiry and learning. We propose that NC is important
in leadership because it helps shift the awareness of leaders from ego to eco, creating
excellence with its aspects of intensity and aesthetics and bringing in a moral commitment to
others, both human and nonhuman. We argue that an NC-based approach to management
teaching would lead to an awakening of the senses and openness to possibilities and
potentialities. Research will benefit from NC with its much-needed withness thinking, which,
until now, has been largely missing from the management literature in general and management
research in particular. We then present ways to develop NC and future directions for research.
........................................................................................................................................................................

It has been an old Comparison for our urging
onthe Bee hivehowever it seems to me that
we should rather be the flower than the Bee
Now it is more noble to sit like Jove tha[n] to fly
like Mercurylet us not therefore go hurrying
about and collecting honey-bee like, buzzing
here and there impatiently from a knowledge
of what is to be arrived at: but let us open our
leaves like a flower and be passive and
We thank AMLE Associate Editor Prof. Carolyn Egri and the three
anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and sugges-
tions that helped us develop this paper. We wish to acknowledge
the contribution of Prof. Neharika Vohra in the initial stages of this
work. We also want to extend our gratitude to our colleagues and
friends Prof. Uday Damodaran, Prof. Sanjeev Varshney, Gaurav
Marathe, Fr. Nelson DSilva, S. J., for their generous support. We
further thank Vivek Kumar Ghanghas, Girish Balasubramanian,
and Chitresh Shrivastava for their valuable feedback. We also owe
a great deal to Prof. Robert French for his enthusiastic support and
encouraging comments. We give special thanks to Prof. Neal M.
Ashkanasy for his encouraging suggestion, without which this
article would not have seen the light of the day.
receptivebudding patiently under the eye of
Apollo and taking hints from every noble insect
that favors us with a visit. He was led into
these thoughts. by the beauty of the morning,
operating on a sense of idleness.
Keats (From John Keats, W. J. Bate, 1963:
251252).
To write this article, we needed to have negative
capabilityto stay in the realm of not knowing
without falling into an activity trap and to give our-
selves time and space to allow our thoughts to
emerge. We wandered with our ideas, mused upon
them, reflected, and debated. It was an edge between
knowing and not knowing, between faith and anxi-
ety. We had to learn to dance between the polarities
of our positive and negative capabilities. A term once
1
Taking cue from Flexners 1939 article, Usefulness of Useless
Knowledge.

180
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2016 Saggurthi and Thakur
relevant to poets, writers, artists, and psychothera-
pists has today become meaningful for everyone
wanting to learn, grow, or lead.
We present a detailed discussion of the much-
needed but seldom discussed concept of negative
capability (NC), that is, the ability to delight in doubt
and revel in uncertainty without feeling compelled
to rationalize half-knowledge or to reach for facts
and, in a state of diligent indolence and passive re-
ceptivity, move toward a knowing with the power of
ones imagination, sensations, and intuition. We then
discuss NCs place in management education and
research, and its implications for organizations and
leadership.
Although it is a cliched opening, organizations
today survive in a volatile, uncertain, complex and
ambiguous environment (Johansen & Euchner, 2013).
Facing the challenge of intense competition in a
chaotic and turbulent environment, the default mode
of action is control (French, Simpson, & Harvey,
2001, 2009) with flexibility, nimbleness, agility and
speed viewed as a source of competitive advantage
(see Singh, Sharma, Hill, & Schnackenberg, 2013).
The principle of performativity pervades all levels
of most organizations (French et al., 2001, 2009;
Simpson & French, 2006; Simpson, French, &
Harvey, 2002), including schools and hospitals
(French et al., 2001), and is the dominant discourse
within them (Simpson et al., 2002). This celebration
of action (Brunsson,1982, as cited by Alvesson &
Spicer, 2012: 1206) and the ideological value placed
on being fast and decisive has led to the avoidance
of difficult questions, myopic thinking, repression
of doubt, and the stifling of reflexivity, leading ul-
timately to self-reinforcing stupidity that leaves
no space for inquiry and improvements (Alvesson &
Spicer, 2012: 1194).
Grounded in a mechanistic and reductionist
worldview (Kauffman, 2008; Senge, Scharmer,
Jaworski, & Flowers, 2005; Wheatly, 1992), reality
is deduced by breaking everything down into
smaller bites (Kauffman, 2008). Although much has
been achieved with this approach, it has also led to
a materialistic worldview, replete with profit-driven
economies and rampant consumerism (Mathews,
2006). Following the trend and giving prominence to
quantitative measurement and analytic knowing,
we left our primary knowing behind somewhere
along the way. Consequently, although we have
achieved technological development, human devel-
opment leaves much to be desired (Senge et al., 2005).
Our neurotic need for control and to be correct
(Marcuse, 1962, as cited by Chia & Morgan, 1996;
181
Eklof, 2008; French et al., 2001, 2009; Simpson &
French, 2006; Simpson et al., 2002) is, a curious
business by which we closure off what [we] dont
want to see or hear, giving in instead to the temptation
always to engage upon something familiar (Bion,
1978, 1990, as cited by French, 2001: 486; Simpson &
French, 2006: 249; quotes in original). Not knowing
has become a deficiency (Simpson & French, 2006),
whereas the heroic notion of knowledge has become
a defense against vulnerability (Krantz, 1998: 93),
making NC a negative trait. NC is therefore ignored
and excluded from the dominant organizational
discourses (Simpson et al., 2002: 1222) and even
from education and research.
Not knowing has become a deficiency
(Simpson & French, 2006), whereas the
heroic notion of knowledge has become
a defense against vulnerability (Krantz, 1998:
93), making NC a negative trait.
The complexity and dynamism of todays world is
difficult for the human mind to comprehend, partic-
ularly with reductionist thinking; thus, managers
find it daunting to face uncertainty and instability
and the resulting loss of control. The need for control
induces decision makers to jump straight into chaos
without giving space for insightful action to emerge
(Senge et al., 2005; Wheatly, 1992). A perceptive or
discerning action requires an understanding of the
context, relationships, belief structures, intentions,
feelings, emotions, and even the unspoken. These
things require time and reflection, which we have
collectively turned into scarce commodities. The
pressures in organizations neither allow nor provide
for such luxuries. Looking at the organizational de-
bacles, we realize that the cliched argument of speed
matters is not a panacea for all ills. It is time to in-
tentionally shift our thinking and work toward bring-
ing NC into organizational discourse.
In this article, we provide a comprehensive un-
derstanding of the concept of NC and advocate
a shift away from performativity, the need for control,
and a mechanical perspective to reflective inaction
(Simpson et al., 2002: 1210), leisure for growth (Bate,
1963: 250), open playfulness (Hayashi, 2010: 3),
and seeing with the heart (Senge et al., 2005: 53),
thus liberating ones senses and imagination. We
make a case for NC in organizations in general,
in leadership in particular, and in management
182 Academy of Management Learning & Education
education and research, emphasizing its impor-
tance in organizational discourse. We discuss the
ways in which NC can be introduced in organiza-
tions and also suggest how NC can be developed in
individuals. Future directions for research are also
presented.
It is time to intentionally shift our thinking
and work toward bringing NC into
organizational discourse.
UNRAVELING NEGATIVE CAPABILITY
What is Negative Capability?
John Keats, the Romantic poet, used the term neg-
ative capability (only once!) in one of his letters; this
term stands for sensual participation, aesthetics,
passion, and spontaneity, as opposed to what Keats
called consecutive reasoning (Bate, 1963: 239;
quotes in original), rationalizing and analyzing
(Goellnicht, 1976). Negative capability thus un-
derscores the importance of feelings, aesthetics,
and imagination (Ou, 2009)an inner and outer
harmony to arrive at the truth (Bate, 1963). The
original usage of the term follows:
[N]ot a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on
various subjects several things dovetailed in
my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality
went to form a Man of Achievement especially
in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed
so enormously I mean Negative Capability,
that is when man is capable of being in un-
certainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irri-
table reaching after fact & reason Coleridge,
for instance, would let go by a fine isolated
verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of
mystery, from being incapable of remaining
content with half knowledge. This pursued
through Volumes would perhaps take us no
further than this, that with a great poet the sense
of Beauty overcomes every other consideration,
or rather obliterates all consideration (Keats,
1958, as cited by Ou, 2009: 1).
Bate called NC a curious phrase (Bate, 1963: 237).
The term is an oxymoron (negative and capable) with
a seductive ring to it, inviting one to learn more while
sounding jarring and incompatible, seemingly can-
celling itself out (French, 2000). Hopkins (1984, as cited
March
by Stuart, 1996), maintained that NC is an embodiment
of paradox, and explained that NC means capable of
being negative, not in the pejorative sense, but rather
the capability of being absent, having no identity, and
assuming any identity to create something. To be able
to allow every thing (quotes in original), there must
first be nothing (Castellano, 2010: 33).
Before we propose our understanding of NC, we
present a few definitions taken from English literature,
psychology, and management in chronological order
in Table 1. These definitions by scholars from dif-
ferent disciplines have emphasized different aspects
of NC, which makes it difficult to come to a comprehen-
sive understanding of the concept. Although the ca-
nonical interpretation of the statement given by Bate
(1963) still continues to hold (see Cornish, 2011) also ev-
ident is that in its travel from the domain of literature to
management, NC has been referred to as being in
a position of not knowing, resisting conceptual closure,
tolerating uncertainty, alive waiting, experiencing the
emotions of the self and others, and imaginative open-
ness. Certain aspects, such as sympathetic identifica-
tion, seem to have become implicit. Existing in
uncertainty or doubt is but one facet that has received
increased emphasis. Certain aspects, such as diligent
indolence, which are an integral part of NC (Maura Del
Serra in Bate, 2012; Goellnicht, 1976), are not reflected in
the key components of NC. What seems to have dis-
appeared is the playful romantic spirit of aesthetics,
imagination and the sensual (not just emotions) to ar-
rive at a place of knowing. The sense of play, like a
child enchanted and curious about things or experi-
ences that he or she encounterswho revels in living
in the mystery, in diligent indolence, with the whole
self completely immersedappears to have been lost.
Our Understanding of Negative Capability
The original usage of NC presents four attributes:
(1) NC makes one a man of achievement, such as
Shakespeare; (2) a person with NC is capable of
being in and comfortable with uncertainty, mystery,
and doubt; (3) such a person does not irritably and
hastily reach for facts, that is, he or she does not
restlessly pursue facts and reason; and (4) for this
person, a sense of beauty overcomes all consider-
ations or rather obliterates all considerations. Al-
though NC speaks of the ability to be in a place of not
knowing, abandoning the safety of the doctrinaire of
knowledge and accepting everything as it is without
chasing reason, it also enables movement toward
the place of knowing or toward a more truthful view
of the world (Ou, 2009: 2) through sensory, emotional,
2016 Saggurthi and Thakur 183

TABLE 1
Different Interpretations of Negative Capability
Author/ discipline Definition Focus

Bate (1963) In our life of uncertainties, where no one system or formula Imagination
English literature can explain everythingwhere even a word is at best, in Heightened receptivity
Bacons phrase, a wager of thoughtwhat is needed is Acceptance of diversity of life
an imaginative openness of mind and heightened Submission of self
receptivity to reality in its full and diverse concreteness. Sympathetic openness
This, however, involves negating ones own ego (Bate,
1963: 249).
Subsequently modified into the ability to negate or lose
ones identity in something larger than oneselfa
sympathetic openness to the concrete reality without,
an imaginative identification, a relishing and
understanding of it (Bate, 1970, as cited by Ou, 2009: 16).

Goellnicht (1976) Negative Capability is a state of being content with half Half knowledge
English literature knowledge, an acceptance of the world in all its diverse Acceptance of diversity of life
aspects without having to analyse, rationalize, and Passive
categorize those aspects, without having to explain Receptive
away every mystery and doubt, without having to fit Sensations
everything into a neat philosophical system. It is a state, Imagination
then, that involves passive acceptance and that Intuition
demands that the poet be receptive rather than Anti-rationalist
searching after fact and reason. It is also a state that
involves anti-rationalist sentiments (Goellnicht, 1976:
1112).
Goellnicht expands on this concept as a state of passive
receptivity in which sensations lead, by means of
association, to diverse speculations that eventually
dovetail into an intuitive understanding of the Mystery,
an imaginative understanding divorced from
explanations of fact & reason, but based, rather, on half
knowledge, on acceptance of life as it is (Goellnicht,
1976: 41).

Eklof (2008) Ability to empty ones mind of the prejudice that comes Neutral intellect
English literature with foregone conclusions and certainty (Eklof, 2008: 2). Openness
Open space, an open heart and mind. A beginners
mind (Eklof, 2008: 4).

Ou (2009) To be negatively capable is to be open to the actual Relinquishing certainty

English literature vastness and complexity of experience and one cannot Open to diverse and complex experiences
possess this openness unless one can abandon the Imaginativeness
comfortable enclosure of doctrinaire of knowledge, Intense life
safely guarding the selfs identity, for a more truthful Submission of the self
view in the world which is necessarily more disturbing or Sympathetic identification
even agonizing for the self (Ou, 2009: 2). Acceptance of the good and the bad of life
The composite key elements of NC may include Disinterestedness
imaginativeness, experiential and artistic intensity, Neutral intellect
submission of the self, sympathetic identification, the Embrace tragic realities of life
dramatic quality of the poet, disinterestedness, a neutral
intellect to tolerate diversity and contradiction, and
a tragic vision of human experience all of which are
intricately related to one another (Ou, 2009: 8).

Von Pfahl (2011) A psychological openness that enables the poet to Psychological openness
English literature experience other people and objects by assuming their
characteristics (Von Pfahl, 2011: 451).
(table continues)
184 Academy of Management Learning & Education March

TABLE 1
Continued
Author/ discipline Definition Focus

Stuart (1996) The ability to dwell with anxiety through facing it Live with anxiety
Psychology creatively (Stuart, 1996: ii). Maneuvering the in-between space of not
Sustaining of oneself between certainties, that is, in knowing and knowing
uncertainty, maneuvering the elusive middle ground
between a sure thing and what is totally mysterious
(Stuart, 1996: 7).

French (2000) Negative Capability indicates the capacity to live with Capacity to live in ambiguity
Psychology ambiguity and paradox, to hold or containnot just react Not act from ego
tothe pressure to act from ones own ego impulses or Identify with moods (emotions) of the other
act out, to identify with the moods and modes of suffering
of the other, in order to be a voice, a vision; to pass on
a message, translating it, flawlessly, into another, more
easily apprehended tongue (Symons, 1901, as quoted
by French, 2000, Negative Capability section - para.3).

Chia and Morgan (1996) Negative Capability involves resisting conceptual Resist closure
Management closure (i.e., of succumbing to the authority of the sign) Immediacy of experience
when dealing with affairs of the world. It is an injunction Open-endedness
for us to stay with the experience and to wallow in the Comfortable with vagueness
open-endedness and indeterminacy of that experience,
soaking it up until we are saturated with its presence and
enduring personal insights are attained (Chia &
Morgan, 1996: 55).

French (2001) NC indicates the capacity to live with and to tolerate Tolerate anxiety
Management ambiguity and paradox, to remain content with half Ability to listen to ones sensory impulses
knowledge (Ward, 1963) and therefore engage in a non- (here emotions)
defensive way with change, resisting the impulse merely Staying with the experience
to react to the pressures inherent in risk-taking. It implies Open and neutral (to be able to contain)
the capacity to integrate emotional and mental states
rather than dissociating oneself from aspects of
emotional experience or attempting to cut oneself off
from such experience altogether (French, 2001: 482).
Thus, NC describes the capacity to experience emotion,
ones own and others, but also to contain it until it has
in-formed us and hence reformed our understanding,
i.e., until we have learned or had a change of mind or
heart (French, 2001: 483).

Simpson et al. (2002) Capacity to sustain reflective inaction (Simpson et al., Passive receptive
Management 2002: 1210; italics in original).A shift from technical Manage meaning
control to a paradigm of management of meaning
(Simpson et al., 2002: 1215).

Grint (2007) Ability to tolerate anxiety and to ensure it does not become Tolerance of anxiety
Management excessive (leading to panic) or be denied (leading to
inaction) (Grint, 2007: 241).

French et al. (2009) Ability to resist dispersing into inappropriate knowing Tolerance of anxiety
Management and action. A capacity to give free rein to the Imagination
imagination (French et al., 2009: 197).

Cornish (2011) Uses the definition by Bate (1963): In our life of Imaginative openness
Social work uncertainties, where no one system or formula can Heightened receptivity to reality in all its
explain everything . . . what is needed is an imaginative diversity
openness of mind and heightened receptivity to reality in Negating ones ego
its full and diverse concreteness. This, however, involves
negating ones own ego (Cornish, 2011: 138).
2016 Saggurthi and Thakur
and mental modes (Goellnicht, 1976). Therefore, res-
onating with Ou (2009), while NC itself has many
components, it is also a part of a constellation of
ideas; we understand NC as a conceptual umbrella of
diverse elements that are interrelated, some of which
are prerequisites (or preconditions) for NC and some
its key elements.
We define NC as the ability to delight in doubt and
revel in uncertainty without feeling compelled to
rationalize half-knowledge or to reach for facts or
fall back on existing knowledge structures, resisting
conceptual closure and in a state of diligent indolence
and passive receptivity, move toward a knowing
with the power of ones imagination, sensations, and
intuition.
At the core of NC is the ability to resist certainty
and closure, stay open and receptive, and experience
the object or situation in all its variety and complex-
ity, and to move from this place of uncertainty or not
knowing to certainty or knowing the truth through
imaginative openness of mind (Bate, 1963) and sym-
pathetic identification (Ou, 2009) with the experienc-
ing object. One must grasp the experience or object so
vividly with imaginative openness and sympathetic
identification that everything (sensory, emotional,
and mental processes) comes together in an intuitive
understanding of the core essence of the object or
experience (Bate, 1963; Goellnicht, 1976). The emer-
gent truth is beautiful.
NC involves diligent indolence, for it is only in this
state that can one be with questions and doubts and
rest the intellect, thereby freeing the imagination
(Goellnicht, 1976); disinterestedness that extends be-
yond self-interest (Bate, 1963; Ou, 2009); a submission
of self that enables identification with other beings
(Ou, 2009); an acceptance of life as it is, in all its
diversitythe good, the bad, the light and the dark
(Goellnicht, 1976); an embrace of the human condition
because one can grow through suffering and pain
(Goellnicht, 1976; Ou, 2009); and a neutral mind to
contain diverse and contradictory ideas, which in ef-
fect helps one be in half knowledge (Trilling, 1951, as
cited by Ou, 2009).
Having NC requires a strong sense of self because
only a strong self can let go of certainties (Trilling,
1951, as cited by Ou, 2009). Because the only certainty
of truth is the holiness of the Hearts affections and the
truth of Imagination (Keats, 1958, as quoted in Ou,
2009: 2), and because the sense of beauty obliterates
all considerations, an intense lifeboth experien-
tially and aestheticallyare crucial for NC (Ou, 2009).
NC can be understood both as a means and as an
end. NC as a means toward an end helps us know and
185
obtain a holistic and comprehensive understanding of
reality, an integrated picture, unexpected results, and
perhaps even a counterintuitive understanding. The
end result of NC can be artistic creation, intuitive truth
(Goellnicht, 1976), strengthening of ones intellect
(Keats as quoted by Bate, 1963: 249), a genuine voyage
of conception (Keats as quoted by Bate, 1963: 251;
Goellnicht, 1976: 76; quotes in original). A man of
achievement is what one would become with NC.
When understood as an end in itself, NC becomes
a way of being in which a person believes that the
ultimate objective of life is to enjoy the world as it is,
that is, a complete acceptance of life, and therefore,
loving it, relishing it, and trusting it ( Bate, 2012). The
ultimate outcome of the practice of NC is said to be
a state of calm detachment (Goellnicht, 1976: 85),
and the supreme exercise of NC is the apprecia-
tion of lifes mystery and an acceptance of the hu-
man condition as it is (Goellnicht, 1976: 84).
NEGATIVE CAPABILITY IN THE
ORGANIZATIONAL WORLD
if the importance of not-knowing is ignored,
then it is knowing that is the primary casualty
(French & Simpson, 1999, Two Concluding
Thoughts section, 3rd para.).
In our society of instant gratification and immediate
answers (French, 2001: 486), there is an expectation
that employees should possess all knowledge, skills,
and expertise, and should display their competence,
qualities that have together been referred to as posi-
tive capability (PC; see French, 2001). This expectation
to possess PC is accentuated by myriad pressures.
Not knowing becomes not only unacceptable, but also
shameful. Therefore, everyone becomes mired in
having to know, which creates unrealistic expecta-
tions and induces paranoia about ignorance (Alvesson
& Spicer, 2013). In such situations employees become
fearful and incompetent and experience a sense of loss
of control (French & Simpson, 1999). Such situations can
also lead to a reactionary mind-set and to posturing,
scapegoating, creating a faade of all-knowingness,
and so forth. This unbearable pressure also results in
energy dispersed in the form of explanations, overly
emotional reactions, or needless activity (French,
2001). To avoid such pressures and expectations, em-
ployees frequently use convenient lenses that rest on
what Whitehead called a fallacy of misplaced con-
creteness (Bate, 1963: 239; quotes in original). Contra-
dictions tend to go unacknowledged (Alvesson & Spicer,
186 Academy of Management Learning & Education
2012), and knowledge becomes an assertion of ones
ego and identity that leads to defensive routines and
getting stuck in a rut (Lewis, 2000), thus impeding
organizational inquiry and learning.
When employees become victims of habit (Argyris,
1980), organizational processes too become reified.
Organizations jump on bandwagons of techniques,
practices, programs, and policies that are in vogue
regardless of their effectiveness (Alvesson, 2013). Chia
and Morgan strongly and unequivocally posited that
regimes of signification (Chia & Morgan, 1996: 39;
quotes and italics in original) deceive our senses,
disorient our priorities and disable critical thought
(Chia & Morgan, 1996: 37). When reflexivity is set aside,
internal conversations focus on what is seen or un-
derstood as reality. A culture of repressing doubt and
adhering to certain beliefs and practices leads to
functional stupidity (Alvesson & Spicer, 2012). Here,
doubt requires protection from repression. Doubt must
be liberated, defended, and allowed to flourish (Berger
& Zijderveld, 2009). According to Knights and Willmott,
encountering a more relaxed and changeable cul-
tural universe offers freedom and opportunities (1989,
as cited by Alvesson, 2013: 26).
Promoting a culture of NC allows employees to be
open to exploration, reflection, and inquiry. It cre-
ates space for thinking through difficult situations,
which may lead to new insights (Simpson et al.,
2002). Learning and growth occur at the boundary of
knowing and not knowing (French & Simpson, 1999).
Once the unknown becomes known, it can be
developed into knowledge and competence, which
promotes learning (French et al., 2001).
Bringing NC into the lexicon of organizations would
be neither simple nor easy. It calls for movement
away from performativity to a culture of diligent in-
dolence that will promote luxuriously lolling in
doubts (Masson, 1860, as quoted in Ou, 2009: 9). This
manner of thinking leads us to Piepers discussion of
leisure. According to Pieper, leisure is related to
connectedness, with growth in knowledge and with
understanding of the truth (Case, French, & Simpson,
2012: 354). Structures and processes must be designed
consciously in a manner that work does not crowd out
leisure, thereby reducing the intensification of work
(Pfeffer, 2010: 38) and pressures on performance.
Organizations may also have to take a hard look
at work extending technology (Towers, Duxbury,
Higgins, & Thomas, 2006: 594), which has resulted in
the colonisation of the private (Towers et al., 2006:
615) by the employer and has tremendously in-
creased the expectations from employees (Towers
et al., 2006). This change would translate into reducing
March
performativity in terms of target pressures and bottom
lines and would most likely involve a drastic change
in the performance metrics used.
The introduction of new organizational practices
such as those at 3M, where the 15% rule allowed em-
ployees to explore, experiment, and play around
(McNerney Jr., 2003) and engage in some fuzzy front
end (McNerney Jr., 2003: 54) exploration or experi-
mentation by applying patient money and exhibit-
ing technological patience (McNerney Jr., 2003: 78);
such as at Seventh Generation, where an office was
converted into a nap room for its employees (Hollender
& Breen, 2010); or by conducting meetings in the spirit
of open space technology (see Owen, 2008)may
foster the development of NC. Replacing elaborate
rules with general principles and reconsidering in-
centive systems (Schwartz, 2011; Schwartz & Sharpe,
2010) may be methods of creating space for employees
to develop NC.
There is no definitive map for moving into this
new territory, but organizations can surely playfully
explore and experiment to reach it. Organizations
would need canny outlaws (Schwartz & Sharpe,
2010: 233) and unorthodox thinkers to move against
the tide and usher in a culture of NC. This would take
courage and a streak of obstinacy (Schwartz & Sharpe,
2010: 234).
NEGATIVE CAPABILITY AND LEADERSHIP
Leaders with NC have been referred to as chame-
leon leaders because of their ability to be changed
by the truth of the moment to undertake effective ac-
tion (French et al., 2001; Simpson et al., 2002: 1219) and
also as the strings of a lyre because they become an
instrument for promoting organizational inquiry,
learning, and creativity (French et al., 2001; Simpson
et al., 2002: 1218). Leaders manage change effectively
and creatively by employing NC alongside PC, con-
taining their own emotions and those of others and
utilizing them as information (French, 2001). With NC,
they also provide creative leadership by giving free
reign to the imagination, the inchoate, the im-
possible, and the disparate (French et al., 2001,
Creative Thought at the Edge section, 2nd para.).
Leadership entails dealing with uncertainty and
being effective in the midst of it. Leaders address
wicked problems, that is, problems that are both
stubborn and ambiguous, and therefore, impossible
to solve decisively, precisely, and with certainty
(Grint, 2008: 12). These types of problems require
a clumsy solution (Grint, 2008: 15) in which the
leader must be content with imperfection and the
2016 Saggurthi and Thakur
half-knowledge that inheres in the solution, thus re-
quiring an element of NC (Grint, 2008).
We seek to further extend the impact of NC on
leadership beyond what has been discussed so far
in the extant literature. We present our thoughts as
a plausibility argument. We posit that NC is a nec-
essary condition for leadership and theorize that NC
would enable a leader to lead from an inner place of
knowingwhich means a shift from ego to eco
awareness (see Scharmer, 2010a)and that the
intensity and aesthetics of NC lead to excellence
and moral commitment for the greater good.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all / Ye
know on earth, and all ye need to know (Keats,
Ode on a Grecian Urn cited from Ou, 2009: 142).
I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the
Hearts affections and the truth of Imagination.
What the imagination seizes as Beauty must
be truth (Keats 1958 cited from Ou, 2009: 2).
Leadership is related to the ability of a leader to
create a future. In Scharmers words, it is about acting
from the emerging whole (Scharmer, 2008: 58), oper-
ating from a future space of possibility they feel
wants to emerge (Scharmer, 2008: 59), and leaving
behind old structural habits (Scharmer, 2008: 53) to
introduce fresh and unconventional thinking. All great
leadersGandhi, Martin Luther King, George Wash-
ington, and Wangari Maathai, and business leaders
such as Steve Jobs, Chip Cloney, and William
McKnightexemplify such leadership.
We posit that NC is a capability that enables
leaders to connect to a deeper source of knowing,
providing a certain quality of attention & intention
(Scharmer, 2008: 52) that empowers them to create
their best future possibility (Scharmer, 2008: 54). It
energizes them to create the future from the emerging
whole. When the response to a situation comes from
an inner place of knowing, then the intervention will
be successful (Scharmer, 2008). This inner place of
knowing can be equated with the place in which all
disagreeables drop off (Keats quoted by Bate, 1963:
244) due to the harmony of the senses and imagina-
tion when bodying forth a response (Seely & Reason,
2008). This truth in the moment can be understood as
Iin-now, a movement away from Iin-me, Iin-it, only helps one transcend ones own ego (Ou, 2009),
or Iin-you states of awareness (Scharmer, 2010a:
4). NC thus helps leaders attend to the moment in
the highest possible manner by clearing the space
to presence, which involves sensing with the
heart (Scharmer, 2010a: 6). Allowing the truth of
187
imagination to meet sensory impressions and sus-
pending the voice of cynicism, judgment, and fear
helps one operate from the whole, which fosters the
emergence of inspirational and intuitive knowledge
(Scharmer, 2008, 2010a). Leaders with NC, therefore,
can connect with or to a deeper knowingwhere
beauty is truth and truth is beautyand where the
attention shifts from personal ego identification to eco
identification (Scharmer, 2010a), as they become one
with the other and transcend the self for a higher pur-
pose. Scharmer refers to this process as a new social
technology for the purpose of sensing and presencing
(Scharmer, 2008: 56). It calls for an open heart, open will,
and open mind, (Scharmer, 2008, 2010a), which Eklof
(2008) equated with NC. This shift from ego to eco can
transform institutions (Scharmer, 2010a), which is what
we propose that NC would enable leaders to do.
The words from Keatsholiness of hearts affec-
tions and beauty is truthlead to another crucial
aspect of NC: the emotionally and imaginatively in-
tense experience of life (Ou, 2009: 2). This intensity of
experience helps grasp the object or reality so fully
and vividly that all irrelevant and discordant qualities
disappear in the intensity and only the core essence
remains. This core leads to excellence (Bate, 1963;
Goellnicht, 1976; Ou, 2009). As the human spirit har-
monizes both within itself and with what was at first
outside it (Bate, 1963: 243), we posit that NC moves
leaders toward leading with intensity and excellence.
With the imaginative openness and sympathetic
identification of NC, one becomes the other. This
aspect of sympathetic identification with the other
goes beyond a performative encounter (Mathews,
2008: 19). Being capable of seeing the world as an-
other sees it is already to feel the force of anothers
perspective (Mathews, 2008: 8). This seeing and
feeling (sensing) the world from anothers point of
view, therefore, renders one capable of developing
a moral perspective and fosters moral commitment
with emotional conviction (Mathews, 2008). Becom-
ing increasingly sensitive to others pain, one is
overcome with a moral commitment to help others
and, in the process, heal oneself and others.
With NC, one embraces the tragic vicissitudes of
life (Ou, 2009), evoking a soul-making power (Ou,
2009: 8) and enabling growth from the depths of pain.
Accepting such encounters of growth from pain not
but also removes any certaintywhether personal,
social, or historicalthat one carries (Castellano,
2010). This acceptance allows one to extend beyond
conformity and change mental constructs and values
to travel beyond utilitarianism and rationality to the
188 Academy of Management Learning & Education
ethics of being-towards-death (Castellano, 2010:
24). Doing so will perhaps help leaders make de-
cisions for the greater gooddecisions that consider
tomorrows generations and reflect the concerns of
both humans and nonhumansand may thus lead to
a better life and the healing of the planet.
NEGATIVE CAPABILITY IN MANAGEMENT
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Management Education
What men or Gods are these? What Maidens
loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Thou silent form, dost tease us out of thought
(Lines from Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn)
Teasing out answers and presenting myriad possi-
bilities, Keatss poem embodies NC (Von Pfahl, 2011).
Rather than reflecting on potentialities and possi-
bilities, as with the urn, teaching in business
schools focuses on problem-solving techniques,
decision making, concepts, and control, all of which
promote linear thinking. The emphasis is on the
socioeconomic aspects of problems rather than on
human development (Chia & Morgan, 1996: 40). While
socioeconomic activity in its volatility requires engag-
ing with dilemmas, remaining in uncertainty, and
taking the time and space to gain clarity from con-
fusion (Johansen & Euchner, 2013), understanding the
human condition and improving it requires critical
thinking, imagination, and ingenuity in lieu of concepts
and recipe-based interventions (Chia & Morgan, 1996).
Students must be taught to embrace doubt, unpre-
dictability, and uncertainty through a type of inquiry
that encourages dialogue and self-reflexivity. This
would help them move to learning III, which Bateson
referred to (Bateson, 1972, as cited by Reason, 1994) as
being able to look at different structures in an un-
attached manner and to reflect and make choices to
understand and act. Recognizing concepts for what
they aretextsbehind which are lived experiences,
where each experience is unique in its own right, the
emphasis will be on relationships and connecting
patterns rather than on facts and figures (Wheatly,
1992). Viewing management education as manage-
ment of life in all its complexities will shift the emphasis
to cultivating negative capability and will, there-
fore, enable a manager to develop into a philosopher-
manager who is able to fill in and empty out, to learn
action and reflection, and to make the well-being
March
of humanity the larger goal (Chia & Morgan, 1996:
55). For example, a college of medicine included the
study of literature as a part of its curriculum in an
attempt to inculcate NC in its students (Wear, 2004).
The testing methods used in management edu-
cation must also further the cultivation of NC. For
practical reasons students are often given objective
tests in which the choice is between the alternatives
given. Such examinations do not provide for thinking
of disquieting questions, making fine distinctions,
looking for subtle, elusive cues, moving away from
the habit of mind (Tsur, 1975), and creating possible
solutions (McCulloch, 2010).
Knowledge comes when one begins to question
and wonder. Wonder also marks the beginning of
philosophy (Hassett, Mitchell, & Monan, 1953). Return-
ing to the writings of Keats, we read that knowledge
pursued through volumes would perhaps take us
no further than this, that with a great poet the sense
of Beauty over comes every other consideration, or
rather obliterates all consideration. Any intellectual
knowing begins with sensation because intellect
and the senses are intimately connected (Hassett et al.,
1953). According to Abram, our spontaneous experi-
ence of the world, charged with subjective, emotional,
intuitive content, remains the vital and dark ground of
all our objectivity (Abram, 1997, as quoted by Seely &
Reason, 2008: 9). Thus, denying the senses would mean
boxing them up and fragmenting the self. Knowing
occurs when the senses and intellect are in harmony
and in intimate relation with one another. Learning,
then, occurs from a unified whole (Hassett et al., 1953).
Management Research
The mechanical perspective that we are currently
steeped in has resulted in the separation of the re-
searcher from the subject (Reason, 1998) in man-
agement research. Anxious about performance and
career, the researcher has yielded to roi-search
(return-on-investment search; Alvesson, 2012: 82),
with an increasing focus on routine, standard and
predictable formulaic research, and a wooden style
of writing (Alvesson & Gabriel, 2013: 246), engaging
deeply with neither the word nor the world. With
numbed senses resulting in a sensory and emotional
incapacity for inquiry (Seely & Reason, 2008), the re-
searcher has moved away from curiosity-driven,
uncertainty-acknowledging, re-search (Alvesson &
Karreman, 2011a, as cited by Alvesson, 2012: 82) be-
cause it entails more hard work.
Bringing NC into research might institute a Dio-
nysian culture of inquiry, which is imaginal,
2016 Saggurthi and Thakur
expressive, spiralling, diffuse, impromptu and tacit,
a move from the dominant Apollonian culture which
is rational, linear, systematic, controlling and ex-
plicit (Heron, 1996: 4546; Heron & Reason, 2006: 148).
NC is also akin to Shotters withness-thinking (2005:
145; italics in original). When aboutness-thinking
(Shotter, 2005: 146; italics in original)which is fac-
tual, analytical, and rationalis employed, a re-
searcher is disengaged from the phenomenon and
seeks either a solution or an explanation to a problem
by means of a logical sequence of steps that is based
on existing mental frameworks. This might leave
one with formulaic research with little space for cu-
riosity, imagination, serendipity, creative synthesis,
or bringing together discordant traditions (Alvesson &
Gabriel, 2013). However, withness thinking, which is
Goethes delicate empiricism (Shotter, 2005: 153;
quotes in original), makes available to the researcher
a type of expressive responsive (Shotter, 2005: 151;
italics in original) bodily understanding that is oth-
erwise unavailable (Shotter, 2005). Thus NC, with its
withness thinking and Dionysian spirit might propel
one to become a polymorphic researcher who ac-
knowledges uncertainty and ambivalence, paradox,
and mystery, avoiding premature closures, and who
is moving away from being predictable and im-
personal to being imaginative and creative and
working with interesting possibilities (Alvesson
& Gabriel, 2013: 254). When researchers rush from
phenomenon to theory without providing space for
emergence, the essence is often overlooked. How-
ever, when researchers suspend their intellect and
allow space for distillation, they learn to dance be-
tween intellect and emotion and allow each to in-
form the other (Seely & Reason, 2008), thus becoming
artists in their own right.
DEVELOPING NEGATIVE CAPABILITY
A person must believe in two aspects of life to be
able to cultivate an attitude of NC (Cooper, 1976, as
cited by Chia & Morgan, 1996). The first is the
Whiteheadean concept that man and his environ-
ment are interconnected; therefore, one participates
in bringing forth ones reality. One constructs what
one sees, meaning that things can be other than
what has been seen. As a consequence, nothing must
be rejected prematurely. The second aspect is to see
man as an ever open and unfinished (Cooper, as
cited by Chia & Morgan, 1996: 56; quotes in original)
project, which renders every experience new. It is thus
clear that NC, like phronesis, must be experienced,
that is, learned through practice (see Grint, 2007).
189
Some ways that one might develop NC include
the following: individual or group psychotherapy to
understand the ways in which one disperses energy
in a state of anxiety; experiential learning ap-
proaches, such as group relations conferences; spir-
itual exercises, such as creating time for reflection,
journaling, and meditation; engaging in arts or music
(Simpson et al., 2002); discussing the undiscussables,
so that one does not fall into defensive routines,
conformity, and groupthink (Argyris, 1980); providing
oneself with a variety of experiences; becoming
aware of ones various states of mind (Betts, 2007); and
knowing ones valence toward a particular way of
dispersal (French & Simpson, 1999). Recognizing and
working with ones internal pressures, which create
a strong urge to act, slowing down, listening, ob-
serving (Heffron, Ivins, & Weston, 2005), and learning
to wait (French & Simpson, 1999) are a few others. A
walk in the woods, getting in touch with nature, being
playful and spontaneous, and creating spaces in
ones life (Hayashi, 2010) may all lead us to NC.
In organizations, the burden to teach by example
falls on leaders, because when leaders admit not
knowing and invite a dialogue or a shared inquiry
(Harter, 2013), they are not only facing their un-
certainty, but also helping others face theirs. Like
a hologram (Wheatly, 1992), if the leader in the sys-
tem develops NC, it will open the doors for the or-
ganization as a field to develop NC as well.
SPECULATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
NC is a field wide open for study. Little empirical
research has been conducted in this area. Possible
questions include the following: What type of
leaders possess NC? Will transformational lead-
ership, spiritual leadership, servant leadership, or
aesthetic leadership require more NC than other
styles of leadership? What roles in an organization
require more NC? How does NC help when tran-
sitioning from one role to another? How do NCs key
composite elements contribute to the strategy pro-
cess in organizations? Can organizations with NC
be better learning organizations? Are tacit knowl-
edge and NC related? Does NC facilitate Aristotles
practical wisdom? How does NC differ in different
cultures? Do Eastern countries have better NC than
Western countries, considering that possessing
a beginners mind is equated with Eastern philoso-
phy? Can we prove the relationship between lead-
ership, ethics and NC?
Other questions include the following: Can ev-
eryone develop good enough NC equally? Is there
190 Academy of Management Learning & Education
a possibility that low self-esteem, narcissism, neu-
rotic anxiety, and alexithymia can impact the
cultivation of NC? Narcissistic leaders, with their
self-aggrandizement, sense of entitlement, grandi-
ose plans (Brown, 1997), and hubristic self (De Vries,
2003), may find it difficult to be in a place of reflective
inaction, listening and waiting patiently, and may
thus not have a predisposition to NC. However,
people with low self-esteem may be incapable of
handling the degree of loss of self that NC requires.
Inaction might only fuel their self-doubt, causing
them to question their capability or competence
further, leading to a downward spiral that generates
a fear of loss of control and a sense of futility (French
& Simpson, 1999). When one is prone to neurotic
anxiety, response to pressures due to uncertainties
may be inappropriate and exaggerated. Anxiety
affects peoples ability to think and collabo-
rate (Krantz, 1998); therefore, people with neurotic
anxiety may be unable to provide the space required
for patterns or ideas to emerge during uncertain
times. Alexithymics are emotionally color blind
(Krystal, 1979, as cited by De Vries, 2003), and their
inability to recognize emotions or empathize with
others and their lack of awareness of their emotions
renders them action-oriented. They like to play it
safe at work (De Vries, 2003). They may be unable to
develop the capacity for NC because their way of
addressing conflict entails leaping into action mode
and becoming mired in routines and social confor-
mity. NC fuels our thinking in these directions.
DISCUSSION
Curiosity and the ability to inquire are fundamental
capabilities of human beings (Reason, 1998). These
capabilities have resulted in many inventions and
discoveries. The cultivation of curiosity has con-
tributed much more to human welfare than the need
for immediacy of application (Flexner, 1939: 545). I
am just fooling (Flexner, 1939: 548), said Ehrlich to
his professor, who responded with, Very well. Go on
with your fooling. This fooling resulted in the sci-
ence of bacteriology. Such has been the usefulness
of what we generally brush off as useless curiosity.
Thus, a call for practicing NC is a call for the freeing
of the human spirit (Flexner, 1939: 548). Thus, being
curious about the human condition should be the
overall goal of management educationwhich would
require cultivation of NC. It must lead to awakening
of the senses and connecting knowledge, imagi-
nation and zest for life (italics in original; White-
head, 1932, as cited by Chia & Morgan, 1996: 57). We
March
will then have philosopher-managers who can dwell
on sensual experiences rather than on befuddling
signifiers, (Chia & Morgan, 1996) and bring affec-
tions of the heart into management.
NCs call to be present in the moment in diligent
indolence and passive receptivity is a cry for what
Sewall called sacred attention (Sewall, 2000, as
cited by Seely & Reason, 2008: 10; quotes in original).
It demands generative listening, creating space and
openness, and an atmosphere of humor and play-
fulness and even some spontaneity and wildness in
daily life (Hayashi, 2010). Whatever the business,
there is a need to slow down, and even to stop,
start really paying attention, listening, reaching out,
listening more, sensing what wants to happen,
reflecting deeply and connecting to an inner source
of knowing, the inner place of silence where know-
ing comes to the surface and insight or inspiration
shows itself (Scharmer, 2010b: 15). Nothingness thus
becomes a place for many possibilities, including
learning (Scharmer, 2010b). Being open to everyday
experiences can bring a sense of awe and wonder
back into life. Sympathetic identification with others
enlarges ones awareness of them, moving one to-
ward a communion with other beings. NC teaches us
to whisper our truth and not shout or be arrogant,
providing space for our minds to meet and thus lead to
a grand democracy of Forest Trees (Keats, as quoted
by Bate, 1963: 251). It will help develop positive tol-
erance for those who differ from us (Berger &
Zijderveld, 2009: 29). At a collective level, NC can
strengthen the Slow Movement, where we have
time to stand and stare and time to turn at Beautys
glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance
(Lines from W. H. Davies, Leisure).
In sum, the concept of NC has been around for
quite some time but has remained underexplored in
management. Here, we have critiqued the value
placed on action, speed, and control in organizations
and advocate for NC in management and organiza-
tions. We provided a comprehensive idea of the
concept and argued for its importance in organiza-
tions, leadership, and management education and
research so we have managers who can embrace the
human condition. NC would create a relaxed culture
of play and exploration in which doubt can flourish
and organizations become grounds for inquiry,
learning, and achieving new levels of creativity. We
believe that NC enables leaders to lead from an inner
place of knowing and to shift from ego to eco
awareness, thus transforming institutions. The in-
tensity and aesthetics of NC will propel leaders to
extend beyond conformity and performativity and to
2016 Saggurthi and Thakur
develop a moral commitment with emotional con-
viction to make decisions for the greater good of
humans, nonhumans, and the planet. As beings of
a non-ergodic universe living into an unknown fu-
ture, NC might help us get in touch with our wisdom
and act from it.
A FEW LAST WORDS
We worked on this topic in the academic context
with a deadline for delivery in a specified manner.
Despite engaging with it intensely, we still believe
that we possess half-knowledge about NC. When
the going got tough one afternoon, one of us went for
a long walk with a colleague to discuss the concept
and bounce ideas off this colleague to see if they had
any merit. Sensing the muddle, the colleague said,
Why cant you have negative capability about neg-
ative capability? Why do you want to tie it all up so
neatly? It was a moment of realization. How easy it
was to slip back into anxiety about not knowing, not
to be in delightful diligent indolence, and using
Senge et al.s (2005) words, to not let goto let come!
So we asked ourselves, How does the story that we
have written thus far resonate with us? Can we close
it off, trusting the process, and say, this is it for now?
We put 30 spokes together and call it a wheel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing
That the usefulness of the wheel depends.
We turn clay to make a vessel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing
That the usefulness of the vessel depends.
We pierce doors and windows to make a house;
And it is on these spaces where there is nothing
That the usefulness of the house depends.
Therefore just as we take advantage of what is,
We should recognize the usefulness of what is
not.
(Lao-Tzu, 1934)
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Suneetha Saggurthi is a doctoral candidate in organizational behavior at XLRI-Xavier School of

Management, Jamshedpur, India.
Munish Thakur is an associate professor of strategy at XLRI-Xavier School of Management,
Jamshedpur, India. He received his PhD (Fellow) in Management from the Indian Institute of
Management, Calcutta. His interests include entrepreneurship, dynamic capabilities, leader-
ship, questions about planetary sustainability, and philosophy of research.
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