Who are the strongest players in this scene? Who’s leading and who’s following?
The answer is given by Maureen Dowd in the closing paragraph of her column in today’s NY Times:
”Hillary and President Obama look bigger when they share the stage with other talented players,” writes Dowd.
That Bill Clinton and Kim Jong-Il are the stars of this scene is a result of strong supporting moves by players who were not onstage for the photo op.
Today, there are too many productive avenues for action, too many opportunities to move our scenes forward, for one player to be front-and-center in all of them. A person with a chronic need to be the hero of every scene, the one planting the flag on the mountaintop, or landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier to proclaim that the mission has been accomplished, will find that a hundred other scenes have passed them by, and with those scenes, the opportunity to influence and lead has evaporated, too.
In the Age of Improvisation, leadership consists just as often of supporting one’s fellow players, and of casting players in the right roles, as it does of being the star of the scene.
Sir Edmund Hillary was celebrated around the world as the first man to climb Mount Everest. As Hillary himself acknowledged, his guide, Tenzing Norgay, was the person who led the way.
“Follow the follower,” is the saying attributed to the legendary improv director, Del Close. In the Age of Improvisation, we take turns on the mountaintop. Leadership comes from those who show us a path for getting there. Performers are at their most powerful when they find ways to share the stage with other talented players.
Tags: Age of Improvisation, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Kim Jong Il, Leadership
Remembering as a kid sitting on a blue 2-wheel bike w/trainer wheels, hitching it up as if it were my horse, watching “The Lone Ranger” on tv…sooo last century, i know…The point? I remember telling my mom: It should be the Tonto Show because he keeps helping the Lone Ranger out of trouble.
This is a situation i have often enough experienced in worklife. The upfront personality being supported often silently by genuinely and amply gifted, talented people who remain at best on sidelines, at worst, invisible & bullied/shunned.
It is refreshing to read your thoughts on the topic of leadership as in collaboration, play, improvisation, dance…i hope gen-xrs decide to move past cults of personality, celebrity as i feel these are false measures based on false metrics of ego, glitz, publicity…rather than of intrinsic value, meaning
Have a great day! E ho’omaluhia me ka honua! May peace prevail on earth!