What I Learned from One Too Many Dream Sequences

Do you like art that's on the edge? Does it interest you when a work of art tries our patience by breaking what were once-comfortable boundaries?

For some people, boundary busting is the very essence of art. For others, it's cause to change the channel, cancel the subscription, pull the grant.

On the continuum of innovation that stats from extremely conservative and extends to the end of wacky bizarre, the art that I appreciate the most (and sometimes create) leans way toward the wacky. My nickname in college was Wildman for a reason.

For many theater productions I worked with a long term partner who was great at reigning me in when I got too far along that continuum. She was always instantly candid when the wacky drifted off the chart. She kept our audience in mind and painted some boundaries on my creative landscape.

One year, when I was helping to develop a Christmas play for our church, without that valuable partner (who was busy with other stuff) my boundaries expanded to the level of the absurd. I was a crazy goat in a field full of sleeping sheep. And, what should appear in the Christmas play but a twenty-minute dream sequence. It was edgy enough to be an experimental project with loud music, overdubbed vocals, dark lighting, twilight zone narration, and tutus. Yep, the actors, who were not trained dancers, wore tutus.

You probably wouldn't care for a twenty-minute dream sequence with all that, and neither did the audience members who were expecting cute little skits featuring their children and grandchildren.

Instead of roaring and appreciative applause, the end of the sequence was met with silence. The sound of befuddlement. It was also the sound of me NOT being asked to direct the next year's production.

So, what did I learn?

Every visionary needs a realist

I'm not saying to limit your vision. It's great to dream big and we need people to be creative. We also need to keep one foot (or at least a toe) on the ground while our heads are in the clouds. What if the brilliant idea doesn't fly? What if our customers don't like our edgy campaign? What if our product loses money?

Ask your customers what they want

I'm the first to say that you've got to be ahead of the data and innovate. Customers don't always know what they want or more importantly will buy in the future. But you do still have to meet their current needs and expectations as you prepare for that creative future. Make customers happy now to earn the right to teach them something different ahead. I once worked for a very wise boss at Whole Foods, Brian Doyle, who told me that "customers come into the store for their favorite thing. If they can't find it, and if it isn't what they expected they leave without their favorite thing and might not come back. Give them their favorite thing!"

Do a pilot before you roll out!

Even Broadway shows run previews and pilots first. Training programs are never perfect the first time I deliver them. New products need to bump against their weaknesses before their weakness can bump them out of the picture. We need time to work out the bugs and we shouldn't hesitate to do that for some patient and honest people who care enough to provide feedback. I don't need to use ALL of the feedback, but I'm better off if I listen.

There it is. Boundaries aren't all bad. Partnerships are built on diverse skills. Perspective sometimes needs calibrating. I'm still as edgy as ever, but I've learned a few things about getting help along the way.

Points to Ponder

What's the most revolutionary change you've ever made to a product, service, or performance? What would you do differently next time?

Whose opinion do you trust the most? Are you asking for regular feedback from that person? Have you made it a point to thank them recently for the valuable role that they play in your work?

-- Doug Smith

Comments

Learn To Build A Better Tomorrow

Do you have all the answers yet? Are you finished learning? Of course not. Learning is a lifetime necessity, especially for leaders. Centered leaders learn constantly and apply what they learn to make things better. To solve problems. To achieve their goals. What we learn today can bring about a better tomorrow. Isn't that what you want, a better tomorrow? It can happen, but it's up to each of us. What will you do? What will you learn? What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training: how to achieve your goals

Release

If a goal doesn't make you happy, let it go. -- doug smith

High Performance Leaders Deal With Anger

What do you do when someone in your range of influence is angry? It can be discomforting. It can be disruptive. Anger is tough to handle under the best of circumstances. And yet, handle it we must. Centered, high performance leaders are careful about anger. Careful about their own anger and careful about their reactions to the anger of others. I had a boss once (a very long time ago) who told me that I had a problem with anger. That made me angry. The reaction to anger is sometimes defensiveness, sometimes fear, and sometimes (surprise!) more anger. Whatever our reaction, our bodies are usually poised for action. What we do in that moment of activation is critical to our success. If our life or emotional well-being is being threatened, that steers our direction. But usually, although it feels that way, we are not actually under any threat. So we must deal with anger productively. We must say what we want without blaming others for it not being there. We must listen with cur...

The Essential Question

The essential question is "How can I help?" Whether you are the leader of thousands or completely on your own, your role on this planet is to help, to make things better. Usually, that means helping other people. Kings, rulers, athletes, artists, government officials, doctors, fire fighters, deli workers, mechanics, economists...we are all here to help. Sometimes it doesn't feel that way. Sometimes we feel the need to be served instead. But whatever the situation, no matter what the organization, high performance leaders know that their role is to help. Reflection Questions How can you be most helpful? What situations are you facing right now where you have not yet asked the question, "how can I help?" Who do you remember the most for being ready to jump in and find a way to help? How did they make you feel? How engaged and happy did they seem to be? Action Plan Within the next 24 hours, find a situation and ask yourself "how can I help?" ... and then...

Stop Running From Your Solution

Why do we run away from the answer? Sometimes it's right there in front of us - the solution to our problem, and yet we turn away. It's a bad habit and one that keeps us from finding what we're looking for when it comes to solving a problem. The solution to your problem is looking for you -- you just need to stop running. Can you hear those footsteps? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership: High performance leadership training doug smith training: how to achieve your goals

Explore Perspectives

When you find yourself locked in conflict, suspend your competitive edge long enough to discover what people in the conflict really want. For many of us, the natural reaction to conflict is to become more competitive. We prepare ourselves to fight to the finish and behave as if victory must be one sided (and of course, must be ours alone). As Doctors Thomas and Kilmann have pointed out in their influential work on conflict, we have more choices than that. We can always choose to compete if necessary. But first, what if there's an opportunity to build relationships? What if there's an opportunity to collaborate? Isn't it worth taking a moment to step back and find out? Breathe. Relax. Look at the situation from a more impartial distance. Ask meaningful questions with genuine curiosity and an open mind. It's that important. -- Doug Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com For a useful Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Modes Instrument in PDF form: http://www....

Great Teachers Are Great Leaders

Do you remember your favorite teacher? What was it about that teacher that made class better, more effective, and more productive? Was learning interesting, even fun? Did you realize at the time that your teacher was demonstrating great learning skill AND great leadership? Where else could high performance leadership be more important than in our schools? There's a great article here about a great leader and teacher from Alabama, April Kennamer and her approach to teaching. Her keys to teaching including: Encouraging students to learn thru self-discovery Creating curiosity in her students to compel them forward Promoting respect for all things We could certainly benefit from more leaders who include those three components. We tend to remember more when we discover the answers on our own, most team members are more inclined to stay motivated if there is an element of curiosity in their work, and we all benefit from both giving and receiving more respect. You could even make a case...

Work To Be Done

Many years ago when I was music director and touring with Child's Play Touring Theater we were putting together a show for children with a work-related theme. Children are often fascinated by jobs, by what their parents do, by what they see adults doing in the world. It was just one of hundreds of shows that we did, but I remember one song from that show that I wrote especially. The first verse was: there's a little bit of work to be done an American phenomenon there will always be a little bit of work to be done to be done, to be done, by everyone... I can't take credit for the lyrics because we used poems and stories written by children as the basis for our material. It was fun. And it reminds me today that what was true then is still true today. There's a little bit of work to be done. We have problems to solve. We have goals to achieve. High performance leaders are never finished. Even as I near retirement age (don't fret, my bills will keep ...

Wake Up Call

The phone rings. It's darker than usual. Who would be calling now? You stumble to find the source of the ring. That's not even what your phone sounds like. You pick up the receiver. No one's there. It's your wake up call. Now you remember: you're away from home. There's work to be done, and you did ask for this reminder to rise up early and to get started on your goals. Wake up calls are sometimes disorienting. They can take us by surprise, even when we expect them. How does that make sense? Examine your history of wake up calls and look for patterns. The patterns are likely there. What is your wake up call? What have you put in place to get you going, to get you oving in a strange place, at an unusual time? We live in unusual times but hasn't that always been the case? What do we have to prevent us from slipping into a muddled routine accepting everything and leaving our own assumptions untested? What can rattle our cage? We need wake up...

Escape Negativity

Sure, these guys have thorns - but aren't they pretty? How does it feel to be pulled into a negative state? For me, it's a bit like an old ride in a amusement park. You think you're going into a fun house, but it turns out there's nothing fun about it. Poorly paid teenagers hassle you with textures and unwelcome contact. Distorted sounds surround you. Lights flash unexpectedly and you could just about swear that a rat just ran across your feet. Not fun. Who would willfully choose a negative state? Circumstances sometimes suck us in. Darkness descends around us without our knowing why and certainly without choosing it. But let's not stay there. Let's escape negativity. Let's work as centered, mindful, high performance leaders to stay aware of our mental state and choose our best path as often as possible. And, it's usually possible. Centered leaders find ways to escape negativity. Ways like challenging an out of bounds criticism. Staying cur...

High Performance Leadership

Search This Blog