In my career, I have staged and choreographed hundreds of musical theatre productions, and a long time ago I started using the phrase, “This is art, not science.” It came about while I was teaching a group of singers the movements to a musical sequence. As I taught it, one person became frustrated with the loose artistic license which was needed in order to land in the right place on the stage at the right time in the music. As soon as things stopped for a moment, his hand shot up and he asked me to be specific as to how many steps he needed to take in time with the music in order to accomplish the task, and he was very insistent that my instruction to him needed to be exact. Without losing a beat, I said what has now become a regular part of my leadership repertoire, “This is art, not science.” Sometimes in a staged musical number, the distance of time and space between point A and point B cannot be broken down scientifically, but rather the performer must feel their way with the music and artistically land in the right place at the right time.
It’s the same in leadership. There are many textbooks and popular literature available which provide formulas, rules, techniques, flow-charts, and scripts which, when followed, are supposed to result in effective leadership. I have been a student of these texts and I daily call upon what I have learned from the writers of such material. However, one of the things which I have learned in my leadership career is that just when you think you have the right formula for every situation, something will change and you have to improvise. My statement, “This is art, not science,” is far more often the case than being able to lead from a textbook. As a leader, I improvise almost daily, and because I work with a large amount of volunteers, being able to shift gears and change tactics on the fly is paramount to my effectiveness. No two situations are exactly the same, especially when people are involved!
I’m in the process of reading an interesting book written by O’Malley and Baker. Every Leader is an Artist explains a lot of what I have learned in my life of leadership. They state, “Leadership is a creative discipline [and] is a special form of art that takes time and persistence to master. It is helpful to think of the work of a leader as a work of art since the connection highlights the leader’s very public mission and the need for both superior technical abilities [science] and acute nontechnical sensitivities [art] to pull it off well.” I have had to develop my skills so that I can perform and lead others with precision. This is a science which I’ve had to master. However, because I work with people of every flavor and temperament, I must be a master artist, able to improvise, blend, and create experiences which will inspire those I lead to great heights. All the scientific skills in the world will fail me if I am not able to be an artist and operate with high sensitivity to those people entrusted to my care. They must know that I care about them and that I don’t lead strictly from a textbook formula.
When the people you lead know for certain that you care about them, you earn the right to have them follow you. If all you do is the science, there may come a day when you think you’re leading, but you turn around and no one is following. Every Leader is an Artist states it this way, “If you call yourself a leader, you are inviting a special look from others who will study the evidence and make a conclusion about whether the label should be forfeited or duly honored.” Remember, “This is art, not science.”
Lead Well.