The secret that leaders know and never talk about is, Perfection is a lie.
I absolutely love stage acting. I love the character exploration, the "families" that are made with each new cast, and I especially love the small (sometimes large) imperfections on stage.
In live theater, there are no re-takes, no "cut" from the director. You drop a line? You keep going. As the actors on stage, we support each other and are there when things happen and the only way to make it move forward is just to move forward - Just like life.
A few years back, I was playing Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde in a local theater. Callahan's big entrance is the song "Blood in the Water" as he talks to all the incoming Harvard Law School Students. After 6-weeks of rehearsal, and 6-shows already behind me, I step in with authority and begin.
I move through the first verse and into the chorus and turn to “Enid” to ask her a question for the second verse and POOF! 💨 The second verse is gone from my head.
Nothing.
Enid and I lock eyes and stay present as the music continues, even though nothing is coming out of my mouth, we stand there. As my "verse" is coming to a close, she says her part, and BOOM, I'm right back in.
At the end of the scene, Callahan moves off stage, where I collapsed on a couch and cried. After a minute or two, I pulled myself together and got ready for my next scene. I moved out of that moment and entered back into the next moment. The rest of the show was great.
And mistakes don't just happen on small stages.
A couple of years ago, I saw Sting in his musical "The Last Ship." Yes, THAT Sting. Sting was not only an actor in the show, he helped write it, and he wrote the music. He'd performed this show 100's of times. On Broadway, on West End, and then touring the US. On this Friday night, I was awestruck as Sting dropped a line. Completely and utterly forgot his line.
If this was a movie, they would just reset. We, as the audience, would never see it. But on this night, over 1000 people saw it, and what they saw didn't change the show one bit as one of the other actors swooped in, and in a moment of authentic dialogue that was never written, asked a question that moved the scene forward and it was if it never happened.
What we do after a mistake happens is more important than the mistake itself. Do you wither? Do you blame someone else? Do you make excuses? Or do you move forward knowing mistakes happen?
If the mistake is made by someone on our team, are we there to support them and keep things moving forward, or do we put a stop to the "scene" and draw attention to what happened? If we make the mistake, do we know that our cast, our team, has our back?
The truth is, there is no perfection. Mistakes will happen. Use mistakes to grow. Have your team's back and trust that they will have your back.
What imperfections have inspired you? How have you grown as a leader from your imperfections?
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