For people of my age, The Beatles were our generation’s living proof of the maxim that sometimes, “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
In that respect, The Beatles also confirm BUILT TO LEAD’s tagline of “together we improve.”
The Beatles as a “system” had built-in synergy: all four were totally committed to their calling and each other. They practiced for 10,000 hours in places like Hamburg and Liverpool and hundreds of locations around Britain from the time they were young teens in 1957 until they “suddenly” broke into our consciousness here in the U.S. in 1964. Why? Because of LOVE, and OPUS. They simply loved what they were doing, and knew that they were going to be better than anyone else. Each brought individual excellence and passion to the group, and that inspired every other member to “raise their game” in response. Is there any doubt that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were better together than apart? John, Paul George, and Ringo–described as the four fundamental elements of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.
Legendary.
To those of you who lead a “band,” I ask, what if you could “get back” to the beginning of your team? How would you set things up? Would you use The Beatles as a model?
Would you get real clear as to why you personally were called to what you were doing (or assume leadership just in the hopes of cashing in some day)?
Would you dream a dream for the band (or continue to think that “the vision thing” is optional)?
Would you anchor your enterprise on love and joy and service to others (or simply to “maximize shareholder value”)?
Would you insist that anyone who joins that band must love its purpose and commit to that vision wholeheartedly, just as passionately as you were committed (or allow anyone with a modicum of talent and a need for a paycheck to join)?
Would you set up deliberate practice as a team mastering its craft (or throw everyone into the big performance with no time to practice at all)?
Would you mix people of different talents and points of view into your working teams (or maximize efficiency by keeping similar people on repetitive tasks in their functional silos)?
Would you continually pursue excellence, take risks, lead the market, break new ground (or rest on your “core competencies” and milk profits from a stable brand)?
Would you make it your practice to delight your customers with an exceptional customer experience, finely-crafted work, and an occasional positive surprise (or standardize a decent product to minimize production hassles)?
“Synergy” is such a buzzword. So overused and applied to anything BUT true synergy that it’s become buzzkill to even hear the word.
So let’s use the word “chemistry” instead.
When a band has “chemistry” the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Like nested dolls, chemistry is the end result of 1.) devotion to deliver excellence to the fans of the band (your customers) 2.) love and care for each other in your band; 3.) a system of deliberate practice together towards the elusive state of mastery; 4.) an inspiring purpose and vision of the band and a team that BELIEVES and 5.) trust, aka BELIEF, brought by the leader first and built into the fabric of the band.
Your band may not be the equivalent of The Beatles. Today, they may look more like The Monkees.
Who but you will lead them to mastery?
Is it time to reset your sights–gain 20/20 vision–about being exceptional?
Time to Get Back to where you once belonged…
BUILT TO LEAD 