Developing Moral Imagination in Leadership Students Open Access

Imagination is the exercise of generating new and novel mental images. Because of its utility for the arts, it is primarily thought of as a purely aesthetic tool. And yet, as a cognitive orientation to the world, imagination has much to offer business leaders. Imagination shifts leaders away from ingrained ways of thinking; it emphasizes reframing existing situations, moving beyond constraining mental models, and formulating innovative responses. In short, imagination is the critical cognitive link connection between what is and what might be. This application brief describes a module designed to develop moral imagination in leadership students in Gonzaga University’s Masters in Organizational Leadership Program. It outlines the use of popular film – in this case, the classic Woody Allen (1989) film, Crimes and Misdemeanors – to help students identify ethical events, assess various viewpoints concerning these events, and then practice reframing the events using moral imagination.