Teaching With Case-in-point* Is About “Showing Up” In Class

*Case-in-Point is an immersive and experiential methodology to teach leadership.  The idea is simple: people learn about leadership by experiencing it hands‐on in real time, rather than hearing someone talk about it. Learning leadership experientially means recognizing, naming and reflecting upon leadership concepts as the group experiences them—as they materialize in front of our very eyes.

What kind of work is “showing up” in a class? For the the instructor–and for the participants– showing up requires courage. Case-in-Point requires that we show up as learners, as people who dare to not know, to be fine with ambiguity and disorientation. We do not give up all that we know but we hold it lightly, and with a willingness to bend our well-defined positions into the curiosity of courageous,collaborative inquiry. Case-in-Point requires that we show up differently: that we become students of our own behaviors. This is an invitation to be aware and intentional about the way we show up for ourself and for others.

It hinges on noticing what we are missing when we are only open to certain perspectives. Also notice what it feels like to simply be there as a vessel for the group in a spirit of service. The power of this distinction–between doing things as an educator and simply being–requires an example inspired by Werner Erhard. For an African cattle rancher, all his cows are different from one another. But for you, they are all brown. The distinction is vital for the cattle rancher because his livelihood depends on it. This is a matter of life and death for him. Now, you are blind to that distinction, blind to that knowledge. Worse, you may believe such knowledge doesn’t exist, as it serves no purpose for you. Yet if you were to understand the day-to-day life of an African cattle rancher, that distinction would change the way you see his reality. Showing up is like that distinction. 

The question is: to which distinction of reality as an educator–with the power to transform the experience in the moment–am I blind right now?The work of Case-in-Point is like changing gears. You can continue to increase speed but when you need another level of speed for a different situation, you need to change gears. We ask: What would it look like for you to change gears as an educator?