In a 1968 interview, John Lennon was asked to comment about George Harrison’s growing mastery as a musician, and the impact that his deepening spirituality might have had on that growth. Lennon offered the following thought: “There’s nothing unique or special about George; but what is INSIDE George…now that’s incredible.”
That’s the way I feel about Chet Scott. Readers of this blog certainly know who he is. He’s the guy who quotes Bono, not Lennon…
Chet’s gift is what is INSIDE him. That’s his power source, and believe me, it’s universal, transcendent, and infinite. As he would say, “it just is.”
Chet’s just like any of us–an ordinary human being, with two HUGE exceptions: 1.) he’s from Kansas and, 2.) he refuses to get in the way of what’s INSIDE him. Yep. He stands aside, and allows that power to express itself through him. I know from watching him up close that his choice, and action, to stand aside is REAL. HARD. WORK. And he does it anyway.
Yesterday he asked me a question about my last 2+ years playing with the band at BUILT TO LEAD. Here’s what he asked. DON’T miss this. This is HUGE. He asked, “What have you learned?”
I thought about it for a couple of seconds and said that I’d need hours to answer that question. But the main thing I had learned is to stand aside. That is Chet’s gift to me.
I am on the journey from control to mastery. It’s no longer “my will be done” but how can I help the truth emerge from another person with me walking alongside them for a while on their journey.
I have been showered with grace and gifts in every nook and cranny of my life. As Bono would say, “I’ve found grace; it’s ALL I’ve found.” And so I’d like to thank Chet for the gift he has given me. Chet’s gift BUILT the original gifts I’d been given–to release them from my puny scope of control and unleash the universal, transcendent, and infinite power behind them.
So, I’d like to share with our readers what Chet models for the band as a leader, and how that might just give you some ideas for building your team. These five points below are gifts that have allowed me to grow more in the last two years than perhaps I had grown in the prior twenty.
It’s “freakin’ MAGIC.”
Meaning and Inspiration: BTL’s purpose is my purpose: to change the way the world works and lives. Cool.
Autonomy in Community: We “mustangs” have freedom within the team to do it our way and experiment.
Growth towards Mastery: Perhaps the only strict requirement in the band is to “Master Your Craft.”
Impact for Improvement: When clients grow, we grow. When they win, we win. Together, we improve.
Confidence to Climb: BTL is BUILT on BELIEF, coming from trust and faith, to always seek the next peak.
Thanks, Chet. Thanks, band.
What would life in this world be like if we could all work this way?
Don’t you long for a more humane system of work? Isn’t it time to begin building one right where you are?
What do you seek for your team?
What would they say your gift is?
BUILT TO LEAD 
Thanks Sully. You are too kind and thank God, you’re giving your gifts of connecting. We are so blessed to have you beside us…
Prior to reading this post, in my mind control IS mastery. For example (generally speaking)… when I find myself looking at a situation, problem or issue, mastery is the process of understanding how it all works and fits together and then making (controling) the right decisions at the right time to achieve the goal.
However, I’ve just been enlightened to put the control on a whole new level to achieve mastery. The control isn’t so much about how IT all works and fits together, it’s about how I work and fit together. Mastery would be ME resisting ME and MY desire / tendancy to control things I don’t need to or shouldn’t. And let me tell you brothers and sisters, for me this isn’t going to be easy, it just won’t.
Having said that, thanks to Chet, I know it’s possible and believe I can do more because as you said “… his choice, and action, to stand aside is REAL. HARD. WORK. And he does it anyway.”
That IS magic, thanks again Jimmy Boy!
Hey Dave,
It’s “flippin’ great” to have clients as engaged as you.
Here’s a bit more on this issue of control. It is amazing how ineffective I can be when I try to control outcomes. When I’m in that state of heart and mind, I suffocate others with MY truth, MY will, MY forecast of how things should turn out and, of course, MY ANGER when I encounter resistance, hesitation, or someone contributing one of their idiotic ideas to MY brilliant plan. You see where this is going…? I hear a toilet flushing.
I have learned from the master (both of them, actually) to involve others in the search for THEIR truth, THEIR vision, and THEIR productive actions to bring it about. I simply stand aside, and stand with them, and ask questions and challenge fuzzy thinking. People will not easily or happily accept imposed plans made without their involvement. When the plan involves teams, I have learned to “get the system in the room” and let them create their own futures. Consensus seems impossible to bullying, impatient leaders like I was, but it’s surprisingly easy to gain if you involve everybody, give them the ball, actually LISTEN and consider their views, and let them work out the plan in concert with their peers. It’s a pity that just doesn’t happen much, so consensus seems rare.
Keep on truckin’, Dave!
Love this ‘and’…
“I simply stand aside, and stand with them, and ask questions and challenge fuzzy thinking.”
For me that is WAY harder work than just spouting off the answer and moving onto the next problem. However, this is a visual that makes sense and gives me clear, consise, direction.
Thank you good sir.