leadership : The Art of Non-Conformity

Work

If Your Vision Isn’t Being Understood, Never Hesitate to Change Your Tactics

From Mike Birbiglia’s “6 Tips for Making it Small in Hollywood”:

"I once heard an interview where Ron Howard said that he tests the rough cuts of his movies with a ton of audiences. He doesn’t do it to be told what the movie’s vision should be, but to understand whether his vision is coming across. If not, he makes changes. Your vision is not being conveyed a majority of the time."

This relates to some other things I’ve been thinking recently.

Life

Leadership Lessons with a View

Australia is one of my favorite countries out of 188 visited so far, and I was thrilled to have an extended stay of five days there last week. I first went to Melbourne to speak at Darren Rowse's Problogger Event, a gathering for bloggers and other fun people from Australia. The event was well produced by Darren and team, with lots of interesting people working on all kinds of projects.

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Life

The Arc of the Universe Bends Toward Justice

We began Black History Month by looking at Muhammad Ali, an under-appreciated hero of non-conformity in U.S. history. I thought we'd close by looking at a quotation from Martin Luther King that I've always liked: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

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Life

Get Excited and Change Things

If you're trying to figure out how you'll leave your imprint on the world, start by thinking about what bothers you.

What do you not like about the world? What is irritating? What is unfair?

Keep calm and carry on was the message for people in Britain during World War II. I like get excited and change things better.

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Influential Following

“Are you a leader?”

She felt like she had never led anyone before, so she answered the question with an honest “no” and sent in the application. She knew the university was looking for leaders (they had said so in their advertising), so she did not expect to be admitted.

A few weeks later she received this response from the admissions committee:

Dear Applicant,
This year the university will admit 1,455 new leaders to our incoming class. We thought all those leaders would need at least one follower, so we are pleased to grant you admission.