Leadership as performance art

Note: This originally appeared as a client and colleague e-letter.

March 28, 2014


Dear Clients and Colleagues:

With new seasons come new inspirations. Or at least that's the hope. This year's winter weather has been enough to make anyone want to flip the switch on more daylight.

One of the joys of constantly searching for better narrative is when someone you've known for a long time brings a fresh unexpected perspective. This person recently sat down over coffee to extol the value of performance art as a differentiator in leadership. Performance art? Really? What do you mean?

Well, for starters, it's knowing when it's time to perform and knowing when it's time not to, which usually involves active listening. In this friend's words, "how to work the room" vs. when not to. This is fast becoming a dying art in leadership circles as more rise from financial ranks and other places that value tangible competency over the often intangible ability to connect to the occasion. We throw around the term, "authentic" so much now that's getting harder to discern who is and who isn't. Twitter doesn't seem to help with this endeavor. Capacity for performance art is having informed awareness both of who you are vs. who you are not and why you're present in a situation in the first place. It does not mean peforming only to gain an unseen advantage as some who think they should already be CEO often do.

The next step is understanding what the actual performance requires and being prepared for that moment enough to the point where balance is struck vs. going too far to the extreme of performance for performance sake. How many times have you sat through long winded speeches that try to find a point of view without ever doing so? Questions that make the points are always effective tools, but mastering that skill requires curiosity, another fading factor in the equation.

Back to my friend who has worked in several different Fortune 500 companies all with different sets of leadership. The leader who performed the best turned out to be the one who presented the strongest capacity for relationship, trust and access when it mattered the most (read this last part carefully, always being accessible isn't the same thing as access.) This CEO's story also was original without the need for fabrication and included being passed over for a major job prior to filling the role that would prove to be his crowning achievement. Granted it doesn't always work out that way, but this example provided pause.

Here is the inspiring part. My friend felt so strongly about the leader's influence that he wrote to him when his son graduated from high school, thanking his former boss for helping make it possible through jobs that compensated well enough to fund the kid's college education. In an age when it's easy to criticize and judge leaders, this story proved to be quite refreshing. There are countless others out there where individuals are making a big difference in the lives of those who work tirelessly for them. Gratitude is truly a two-way street even long after the transaction, which in this case, was a long-term job.

This is the lost story of leadership. Those leaders willing to make difference, be in relationship and fully invested in people will always rise to the occasion; the ones who don't won't because they can't get out of their own way. Or least that's my belief. Something tells me when that belief goes away yours truly will follow suit.

Happy Spring and thanks for reading. My perennial hope is that the messages contained here help make a difference with what you may be facing. All the best,

Jeremy C. Garlington
Point of View LLC
4060 Peachtree Rd./Suite D-#117
Atlanta, GA, 30319
Phone: 404-606-0637
Email: jeremy.garlington@hotmail.com
TGR web log: www.povblogger.blogspot.com

Five steps to look like a leader

Full disclosure: TGR has never, repeat never, addressed the subject of executive dress. Image is not a hot button -- at least not from the point of view of personal dress and hygiene. While our look can always be updated, we wear decent threads, nice dress shoes and always will remain clean cut until it's no longer in fashion to do so in executive leadership circles. That could be a good long while from now.

Having said all that, there does come a time when it's necessary to review proper guidelines. Especially now in the age of constantly changing dress codes, such as business casual, dressy casual, cocktail casual and simply, casual. It's not hard to envision when specific requests will be made to dress nicely, which means socks for men in dress shoes and no chewing gum in church.

Anyone still reading would be well suited (pun intended) to tune into the following webinar, which was originally hosted by SpeechWorks/Asher Communications in Atlanta. Fashionista Lori Wynne of Fashion with Flair gave a comprehensive outline of the five ingredients to looking like a leader. It's good stuff even for the sharpest dressed man who may need a reminder or two. See the following link for the hour-long webinar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Li8pjKsFnY&feature=youtu.be. When asked name someone with a great executive look, Wynne cited former presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, which explains this photo image lifted with credit from at least 500 on Google:



Photo courtesy of ginga.org

The most apt analogy in business circles when it comes to proper dress may be the old house sale image of a gutter hanging off the side of a house. That may not prevent an interested buyer from moving further into the process, but it sure does represent an eyesore that could prevent a successful negotiation. Same goes for not following proper dress or hygiene standards. Old school branding lessons aside, anything that doesn't seem right or sticks out based on the occasion probably isn't right. Adjust accordingly.

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