Leadership lessons from the stage

"A leader...is like a shepherd.

He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead,

whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along

they are being directed from behind."

 Nelson Mandela

And you just never know where or when you are going to learn some important leadership lessons.   Recently I witnessed true leadership when musician Jesse Cook performed on stage in Guelph.

How?   As a Juno-award winning musician, he has a big following and it would have been all too easy for him to just perform on stage and take all the limelight.  But he didn’t.   Here’s some of the business lessons I gleaned from watching him on stage.

Lesson #1 – Build a team of people who bring different talents to the group.

Like all good leaders he has surrounded himself with extremely talented people, who can play a wide range of instruments, many of which I suspect he can’t play.  

Lesson #2 – Let each person in the group shine and showcase their talents

Throughout the concert, each player in the band was given several opportunities to do a solo, enabling them to highlight their specific skills and feel part of the group’s success.

Lesson #3 – At meetings, introduce your team so clients know who they are

Jesse made a point of naming his colleagues whenever he could.

Lesson #4 – If people have been on your team for many years, acknowledge their contribution

It was impressive to hear how long the musicians had been playing together.  It also gave credibility to the group and spoke to how cohesive as a team they were. 

Last, it speaks again to Jesse’s leadership style.  It wasn’t all about him.  He was the shepherd.

Serenaded with love

So how was your Valentine’s Day?  Did your honey arrange something special and romantic?

I have to say I am a bit of a cynic, maybe after being married 40 years to the same man, I kind of see Valentine’s Day as a Hallmark occasion, complete with flowers and an expensive, over-charged dinner out.

Over the years we’ve rarely celebrated Valentine's Day  – maybe I will cook a special meal – but no cards, gifts or anything.

Except for one year a few years back when my husband really, and I mean really surprised me.  We were having neighbours over for dinner and one couple had arrived when a strange car came down our driveway, and out popped four men.

At first I thought that Andy had invited extra guests and had neglected to update me, so my immediate concern was how I was going to spin the meal so it was enough for four extra people.

But no.  Egged on I am sure by one of our other neighbours, he’d booked this quartet to come and serenade me!!!  Armed with red roses, which they presented to the women, they stood at our fireplace, all eyeballs on me and sang love songs.

I tell you I didn’t know where to look.  There was no way I was gazing back at them, so I checked out the ceiling, looked at my girlfriend and tried to behave as if this was an everyday occurrence in the Day household.  Fortunately their repertoire was short and then they left.

We still laugh about it, but my husband has been warned never, ever, ever to pull a stunt like that again.  A box of chocolates maybe, but forget the musicians.