I personally love a great buffet. Give me the largest and most over-the-top display of culinary masterpieces and I will happily spend hours trying to taste as many dishes as my stomach can hold. Similarly, when I go to see a production, I want to be dazzled by complex artistic expression. I want to see layer upon layer of mesmerizing pageantry, which is why I’ll take a stadium-sized drum corps over a jazz quintet any day of the week. I like big, loud, and complex experiences that make my soul shake to its core. It’s just who I am. But leadership is not about a leader’s preferences. I’ve worked for people who, because of their positional power, got everything their own way, however, the long-term result of this level of self-focus is an organization that goes stale, loses relevance, and faces collapse. Leadership is about doing the things that are best for the long-term effectiveness of the organization and its people regardless of personal preferences. I like buffets and performance extravaganza, but that doesn’t necessarily mean this is the way everyone should conduct their business.
I have discovered that in today’s culture, sometimes we need to be less of a buffet and more of a fine dining experience. Just as a 5-star chef will choose a few things at which to be the very best, we must do the same. We must decide on the strategic activities that will give us distinction and differentiate us from our competition, then focus on those things and be the very best. Hughes, Beatty, and Dinwoodie stated, “When everything is important, nothing is,” and I believe one of the challenges and opportunities we have before us is to step away from the pack (our competition), which does things well, but is not distinctive. Let’s become the shining example of focus, clarity, excellence and effectiveness. It will take courage to trim some fat, but the result will be an agile and lean approach to work that can meet both known and unforeseen needs of the people entrusted to us. By creating an environment of focus, we can, as Kroll and Yoskovitz stated, “be lean, not small.” We will be lean in a way in which we can be leaders of innovation, collaboration and flexibility and still have a huge impact. Losey, Meisinger, and Ulrich stated, “and is the enemy of success” and we must keep that in mind. We must focus.
Now, before you think that I’ve lost my over-the-top approach to virtually everything in life, and accuse me of going simple on you, let me explain. Great leadership is knowing when to go big with impact and when to go small with crystal clear focus. Both are important parts of a strategic plan. Sometimes I’ll cringe when I hear someone say “less is more,” a statement which I believe many use improperly to justify their laziness (that’s another blog altogether). For me, less is less and more is more, however, sometimes less is better. When it truly is, that’s the strategy to use. The bottom line is to be effective, which is where focus comes in. Focus on the methods and practices that will get you the results your organization needs. If the results are proven, it doesn’t matter if the methods used were big, small, or otherwise.
I still prefer a buffet, drum corps, Cirque du Solei, and more than 31 flavors of ice cream, but sometimes it’s best to focus on a single bite of gourmet excellence.
Lead well.