Love the Leader in You, Not You Being a Leader.

Ricardo Morell is, without a doubt, one of my closest and dearest colleagues. Ricardo brings to every intervention not only his know-how and smarts, but his heart and many talents! His perceptions are always interesting and constructive so I asked him to write a piece for this blog and he set off to do it.

Today’s post is an interesting comparison between the theater and organizational life. As a Senior Consultant for Quídam and a professional actor currently performing in Mexico City (he can be seen in “The 39 Steps”) , Ricardo is more than qualified to write on the subject. I expect you will enjoy his writing as much as I.

¡Thank you, Ricardo!

I value your point of view and am very happy to share it with the readers of this blog!

Theater is the most permanent passion of my life, but “theatricality” when it substitutes substance and occupies the place of true content is not useful and definitely a pity! Allow me to explain myself:

It will definitely get in your way when you use theatrics to impress, foster other’s admiration and basically show yourself in a form which becomes more important than your substance. Some actors that I know are very interested in the way they “present” themselves to the audience, in order to be admired. They will change dialogue, improvise and  move out of character, without bothering to notice whether this is hurting the theatrical piece they are participating in.  Some theater directors also make their presence known by introducing illogical scenes, movement or interpretations in the staging, that are geared more at showing their magnificence than adding value to the play as it was originally written. In both cases, they put the play at their service instead of serving the play.  Stanislavsky said it much better than I:  “Love the art in you and not you in the art.”

Organizations are full of “Leader/Showmen” that, with great ability, use nuances in their voice, excellent motivational videos, impeccable suits and accessories and expensive watches to captivate their “audience”.  That is all just as well, but without good content behind it, there is nothing really there.  Just like a coin minted on only one side would have no value as currency. You and I both know leaders that could fall into that category and the problem is that many organizations unwittingly reward this, by promoting leaders unable to do what they say int0 strategic positions.  There, their behavior becomes a paradox, for instead of seeking people more competent than them to participate in their teams, they behave as impostors, afraid of being caught in their lie, and surround themselves with people that will agree with their every statement. They do not allow any light to shine on any other member of the organization, creating a dark, impersonal place to work.

The question you might to well to ask yourself is How can I know if I am being that kind of leader? or How will I find myself out if I am more worried about being admired than useful to my organization and ultimately, to myself?

In fact, it is not easy to find myself out in this sense.  Will Schutz was more than clear about it when he instructed new trainers that people should come out of the workshop speaking of themselves and their learning, not of you as the trainer!  Danilo Pérez, jazz musician extraordinaire, once told me something to that effect when we were talking about how to distinguish a virtuoso from an artist. He said: If you leave the concert talking about the person on the stage, with expressions like: “What speed of execution!”, “How precise!” ,”Did you see the faces he made?”, “What a great technique!” or such, surely you were in the presence of a virtuoso. An artist, on the other hand, will bring out in the audience remembrance, reflection, emotions. Danilo said that true magic is made when virtuoso and artist are one in the same.  That is, if after your meeting or presentation people come up to you and say “What a great video, where did you get it?” or “Excellent Presentation!” or “What software do you use to do that?” instead of things like “While I was hearing you speak, I felt…” or “We really can’t afford to keep doing things this way.” or “I am moved by what you said.” If people never mention what it is they didn’t like in your presentation or what they don’t agree with, you should begin to worry and realize the predicament you are in.  It is time to focus on content  without necessarily forgetting the form.  The same is true in the reverse case, if you have substance, but not a way to express it properly.

If you dare to leave aside the role of “Great Leader” to focus on being useful and serving the people you lead by listening deeply, you will be on the way to strengthening yourself and becoming an honorable, contemporary, true leader.

To sum it all up and paraphrase Stanislavsky:

“Love the leader in YOU, not you being a leader”

That’s what I believe in, but I would love to hear your opinion on this theatrical blog post! Please leave your comment below. I promise to read it.

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