Name That Tune
Recently, I accidentally became the leader and spokesperson for a faction I don’t even identify with. I became the poster boy for this small, but very vocal, sect of people by winning a pie. Well, more accurately, by what I did when I won the pie. Maybe I should just tell you the story.
I was fortunate to attend the Global Leadership Summit in person this year at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL (Chicago). It is an amazing campus, and the Summit is one of the best leadership conferences I have attended and certainly the best value. I normally attend with my team at a remote streaming site in OKC, but this year I accepted the invitation to attend in person.
During one of the breaks, they were playing a game with people in the audience. The DJ would play a song, and if you guessed the song correctly you won a pie from Railyard Pie Company, which happens to be an Oklahoma (Edmond) company. My team members who were in attendance with me gave me up by pointing at me and making noise until the host picked me to play.
After some “get to know you” banter, the song started playing, and I knew it immediately. Then, the important thing happened. I connected with the DJ and used humor to involve the crowd—both good tools if you speak to audiences, and I did it without thinking. I made a comment about some of the music he was playing and said I was pretty sure the crowd didn’t know the lyrics, cause some of them were “nasty.”
The host laughed at the exchange and commented that this was not how he thought this set would go. Everyone laughed; it was fun; I got a pie. That was the end of it. Only it wasn’t. Before the next session started, I was approached by several people, individually, who just wanted to tell me how much they appreciated that I had spoken up against the secular music being played. This continued to happen for the rest of the day. At every break, I was congratulated by a number of people for taking a stand (and one person whose kids thought it was cool an old guy knew the song).
The problem was, I wasn’t taking a stand. I was having fun with the DJ. I liked the music he was playing. I think people are way too uptight about lots of things, and music is just one of them. I not only didn’t intend to take a stand, but I also don’t agree with the stand people think I took. It reminded me a little of The Life of Brian where people mistake Brian of Nazareth for the Messiah (resulting in tragedy for Brian).
There is a significant moral to this story for leaders. Everything you say and everything you do WILL be interpreted by the people around you through their own lens. Often, it won’t be in the way you meant it. One of the speakers we heard from was “Coach K”, Mike Krzyzewski, former head coach at Duke University. He said, “It is your responsibility as a leader to get your message across. Your audience is changing, you must be adaptable in how you communicate.”
I would add that you must be aware of how your message is being interpreted. I was lucky that people came up and told me, or I would never have known how they took what I said. Leaders must pay attention and ask leading questions like, “What did you hear me say?” or “What do you think our goals are in this situation?” We cannot assume either that they got the message or that they are hearing what we meant.
On the way home, I was riding the tram from the rental car facility to the airport terminal when a man I’ve never met before said, “Hey, you won the pie!” As a leader, you may never know how far your message reaches or who it will impact. Take the time to be intentional in what you say and do. Make sure your team doesn’t have to play “name that tune” to figure you out. Be clear, be consistent, and be curious, because clear communication is the key to successful community and the Bison Way.