Date of Completion

Spring 5-24-2018

Document Type

Open Access Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Peter J. Taylor

Abstract

This synthesis introduces a conceptual framework for cultivating personal leadership through creative agency, reflective practice, and systems-oriented awareness. Completed as part of the Critical and Creative Thinking graduate program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the work bridges practitioner narrative with interdisciplinary research, drawing from futures studies, systems thinking, design thinking, cognitive psychology, and creativity studies. The project emerges from a self-developed method of reverse-engineered visualization which is examined critically to identify its limitations and gaps. Through this critique, a new framework is synthesized as a more adaptive, systemic, and sustainable social architecture. Comprising four interrelated components, the synthesized framework offers a structure for aligning values, deliberate practice, perceptive capability, and relational attunement in support of future-oriented outcomes shaped in dialogue with changing conditions. Sources informing the framework include Senge, Inayatullah, Scharmer, Csikszentmihalyi, Ericsson, Fritz, and Rhodes, among others. The synthesis demonstrates how critical and creative thinking can be applied both as conceptual frameworks and as lived practices in personal, professional, and educational contexts. Potential applications include graduate-level instruction, leadership development, coaching, and arts-based facilitation. The work contributes to the field by offering a practice-informed model that supports self-directed growth and generative responsiveness within complex environments.

Download

Share

COinS