What Rock Stars Can Teach Leaders

For both groups, flexibility, adaptive capacity, and ability to perform are of paramount importance

by Robert J. Thomas

Business leaders are often compared to performing artists. Both are on stage a great deal and are expected to sway audiences. The best leaders and performers often rely on dramatic flair to ensure that what they say is memorable and moves others to action (whether that means buying a new CD or a stock offering). And, given the importance of interaction between performer and audience, leaders, like musicians, must be able to "read the house" and tune their message to engage listeners, whether they number one or 100,000.

That's why most business leaders could learn valuable lessons from performers like Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, and Alicia Keys. They are proof that consummate performance demands two qualities: an extraordinary dedication to practice and an insatiable thirst for learning. For example, Clapton has practiced relentlessly throughout his life, even during what he refers to as his "dark times" of drug and alcohol abuse. With the dedication of an aspiring novice, he rehearses chords and phrases, moves his fingers through the air when there is no instrument at hand, and improvises before, during, and after stage performances.

Likewise, Simon and Keys see no distinction between performance and practice; they are intrinsically the same process. The spontaneity of improvisation and the seeming magic of composition on the fly are the product of countless hours of practice.

Practice, Practice, Practice

For Clapton, practice isn't limited to a set of songs he's planning on performing. Instead, practice includes repetition of the underlying chords, finger placements, and movements of wrist and hand that enable him to play any song. A performing artist must master underlying moves to accomplish with ease the complicated combinations that create a sound, an effect, or an image for the audience.

The lesson for leaders? First is the recognition that there are leadership "moves" that have to be mastered. Some may be unique to particular organizations or cultures but most are well-known and, like guidebooks to music and magic, any of a hundred books can list for you the things that leaders do, including setting goals and communicating them, listening deeply, testing for understanding, and inspiring others.

Of course, simply knowing what the basics are won't make someone a leader, any more than acquiring a guitar will make him or her a rock star. That's why the second lesson is more challenging: dedication to practice. Leaders in business and government commonly complain that they are performing all the time and have no time to practice. For many, the very notion of practice is off-putting. It's almost a punishment, or an activity for beginners.

Because they harbor a negative concept of practice, many leaders find themselves "stuck" in a given style of performance—a limited repertoire of behavior patterns that they rely on to get things done as a leader, whether it's the very public side of leadership (such as speechmaking) or the less public side (like giving feedback or addressing difficult decisions). If you can't find time to practice, it will be difficult to achieve the kind of flexibility that Dan Goleman attributes to those with high levels of emotional intelligence and that Noel Tichy says is demanded by changes in the global economy. Unless you are satisfied with stagnation or ensconced in a protected backwater, the only way out for time-starved executives is to learn how to practice while they perform.

Ceaseless Quest for Perfection

To illustrate the concept, consider the career of Paul Simon. While practicing and rehearsing, he's also performing, constantly thinking about how to project sound and imagery to an audience. He's notorious for testing the endurance of band members, technicians, and engineers until they get the sound just right. In the midst of performance, he's also practicing, adjusting what he and his band are doing in response to the audience's mood.