Have you found your Leadership Groove?
As leaders, we often have to be focused on making sure all the pieces are in place to allow the overall plan to execute properly. One of the more difficult lessons to learn in the transition from “Doer” to “Leader” is letting go of managing the details and allowing others to be responsible for delivering on those tasks. Usually, the delivery will be in a way you wouldn’t have done it, and the natural instinct is to jump in either as the hero or sometimes, the villain, with your own ideas of how to do it “the right way.” Now, part of a leader’s role is to be able to jump in and provide guidance when needed, but it is important to be able to discern between when it is actually needed, and when you are allowing yourself to fall into the details and not allowing your team to grow and learn.
“Never let the lyric get in the way of the groove.” - Maurice White
This quote comes from a story about the creation of the song September by the band Earth, Wind & Fire. The most popular lines of the chorus include the words “Ba dee ya” which are admittedly nonsensical, made-up words that were originally used as fillers in the early stages of writing the song. When a fellow songwriter grew frustrated that these words, or syllables, hadn’t been replaced with “real” words, band founder Maurice White shared this quote as a valuable lesson that applies not only to songwriting but also in life and leadership. We can’t allow our desire for the elusiveness of perfection or the need to do it “my way” to keep us from reaching the ultimate goal.
In those moments when you feel the urge to jump in fix things to make them fit your own pre-conceived mold, remember that others in your team have unique gifts and knowledge to share that add value even if you personally may not understand it at the time. Leaders are more concerned with the overall contributions and quality of the song, not the individual words within it.
Released on November 18, 1978, the song September went on to sell over 2 million copies and is considered a classic - played often to this day and especially, you guessed it, in September. Guess those “nonsense” words didn’t matter so much after all.
Find your Leadership Groove and let the rest of it flow.