By way of reminder…
The new U2 album has been out a week and I’ve given it a listen or two. I don’t LOVE it yet. Rarely do I fall quickly for some reason. However, if history is any indication, I soon will. Fall that is…
Since I started this practice back in 2002 I have used U2 as an example of a high performance team. They are flawed, they have, and will continue to have, songs that are NOT home runs or “hits,” they have failed publicly and privately as well. AND, they have been at the top of the music world, arguably, for nearly 30 years now. In the past few years they flew by The Rolling Stones as the most “successful” band of all time. AND, they continue to alleviate pain and suffering around the globe. They’re crazy good. And still, they’re not for everybody. The same will be true for you.
They are a band of like minded artists with very distinct and very unique talents and gifts. They all lead. Larry, Adam, Edge, and Bono all can grab the reins, and often struggle as they decide their direction. This is very cool. This is, also, quite confounding. In fact being on this team feels like it’s just this side of “chaos.”
Most of my clients can’t stand it here.
They have been wired for structure and order and don’t remember how much fun it was “way back when,” when they started their version of a band called a COMPANY. Now it’s business and it’s the “known,” where they are most comfortable. Hence the catchy term, it’s nothing more than “business as usual.”
Today, however, it’s business as anything but usual. The new zone most find themselves in is anything but comfortable and doesn’t have much in the way of order either. This is scary. This is also an opportunity to create like we once did…
“Way back when…”
Back to the band. U2’s stay at the top has not been simply a result of musical genius. Far from it. Their sustained high performance is multi-faceted, just as is yours. One facet that is often overlooked, is their ability to re-invent their sound.
Often.
Like, all the time. They continue to create a new sound and yet stay grounded to who they are. They also take more risks than most. They don’t play it safe. They, according to Bono, prefer vision over visibility. This is very cool and worth a further look. Here’s the thought captured in Rolling Stone, March of 2009. Check it out.
“Moment includes a phrase that’s close to sacred for Bono: ‘vision over visibility.’ Until now, he never found a home for it in a song, but he used it as a title for a painted self portrait in the Eighties, placed it in poems and essays, and even squeezed it into a live version of ‘Rockin’ in the free world.’ It’s an idea that I’ve held on to quite tightly over the years he says. It’s like MLK’s speech – the moment when you see the place, but you can’t see yet how to get there. The slogan stands for an insistence on looking past what you can see in favor of what could be. For Bono, the world as it is will never be enough. I’m not the tattooing kind, but if I had a tattoo that would be it, he says. Elvis had ‘taking care of business.’ I’ve got…
VISION over visibility.”
Slow down and reflect.
What are you doing to lead your team toward your vision in these times of limited visibility?
Where are you settling for visibility over your bold VISION?
How are you using this time as a time to re-invent your sound, your team, your market identity, your brand, your unique difference in the eyes of your customers?
Are you more like Elvis, just trying to take care of business or, are you living on the edge of chaos and valuing VISION over visibility?
Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 
I was wondering how long it would be before you somehow worked in the lyrics from “Moment of Surrender”. When I first listened to it, it reminded me of BTL sessions. The richness that could stem from a discussion of those lyrics is truly awe inspiring.
Forgot to mention your statements on chaos are echoed in Daryl Conner’s work “Leading at the Speed of Change”. He posits that the point between comfort and dysfunction is where teams are most creative…it is just a place not many choose to be.