Lessons a Theatre Director Taught Me About Leadership

Apart from spending time with family and friends, there are two areas of my life where I spend the most time and energy. The first is my work and the second is the theater.  Like many dedicated theatre folks, I manage to find the time and energy to be part of productions several times a year, whilst still keeping my busy and demanding job.  One thing is for sure and that is that it's not easy to balance both.  But midway through our run for La Cage Aux Folles at the Emerson Umbrella in Concord, MA, I reflected on the experience and most importantly the lessons that I learned from our director.

This was no small production.  The sets, the elaborate costumes, the wigs, the make-up, the orchestration, the choreography,  all made for a very complex and challenging scene backstage.  There were wigs flying, fast costume changes, dancers hurling shoes in every direction.  There were prosceniums turning,  shimmery curtains opening and closing,  and sets moving.  It was all a bit head-spinning.

It's not all that different from the company I worked for at the time.  In my company, there were different departments doing their thing, priorities shifting, customers surfacing with questions and feedback, employees needing to work through issues and find solutions.  The backstage scene at the theatre is more intense and more concentrated, but there are days when things felt pretty darn chaotic at work as well.  I have worked with a number of CEO's and colleagues along the way in my career and have observed very different styles to get results.  Being a leader in a company is a lot like being a director for a production.  You have a group of people (hopefully talented people) who need to come together to work hard and achieve results.  In the case of a play, they need to mount a production and invite an audience to share in the experience. In the case of a company, the work and rewards are on-going.  There may be sprints along the way or big product launches, but the team needs to collaborate to achieve great things.

There are some very simple principles that I observed during this production, all guided by a very gifted director.  Here are the lessons he re-affirmed for me:

1.  Have a plan
2.  Set a vision and articulate it well
3.  Be kind
4.  Push hard for the results you want to see
5. Value every person's contributions
6.  Do it with love

HA! you say.  The "L" word.  Where does that fit in the workplace?  I'll get to that in a minute. First a bit about the first 5 on the list.  Our director came to the first rehearsal with a very clear plan, not only of the rehearsal schedule all the way up to opening night, but also his vision for the production and the time we would spend together.  He brought photos and imagery, he articulated some themes that were important to him in telling the story of the play.  He set a very clear vision whilst still expressing his expectation that everyone would bring their own ideas and vision to the process.  It was at once inclusive and inspiring.

He was incredibly kind and supportive of every single person involved with the production.  This is not necessarily the norm.  Tensions often run high in a production that needs to get mounted in a short period of time.  Maybe it was having a clear vision and plan that allowed him to stay calm and not get too impatient as we all worked to learn our part. And he pushed for sure.  He did it very nicely but he pushed us hard and set a very high bar.  The cast in this production were all very talented and experienced so everyone knew they had a job to do and put their heads down to do it.  But there was no doubt that the cast wanted to make him and at the rest of the production team happy.  He pushed hard and we pushed to deliver the results he was looking for.  Sound familiar?

When have you been in a company or part of a team who works hard because they don't want to disappoint their colleagues?   In the best companies and among the most successful teams, people are intrinsically motivated to work hard and to be there for each other.  It's one of the great joys of being part of a high functioning team.

And finally, what about the "L" word.  I don't use this word in a sappy, sentimental way.  I use it to express the times when we are seeing the very best in each other.  When we do not come with judgment but with a joyful anticipation of the goodness that we will find in each other.  Our director wrote a long email to the cast and crew shortly before we opened and it was really kind of a love letter.  He expressed something about every single person in the show that honored them and their unique gifts and contribution to the production.  It was impossible not to feel valued and to be inspired to do our very best work.

I  have often been heard at work saying that  "I love my team."  I have found that when a team, either at a company or in a play, can truly appreciate each other for our unique gifts, then the best work happens.  I have a sign on the whiteboard in my office, with a nod to Seth Godin, that says-  "Where is your art?  What are your gifts?"

So thank you Peyton Pugmire.  I am honoring you by name here so that when you get famous someday and are receiving some fabulous award, I can say I spotted your extraordinary talent early on.  Here's to leading with love.