So I’m sitting in a cafe on a wintery weekend morning, drinking hot tea and listening to Black Sabbath and in an instant, I am thinking of Mark. Just like that, a flashback 30 years to another time and place.
Perfect.
It’s funny how it happens. It seems as if some people just do that – they burst into your life and flare like a supernova, creating that brief, shining moment that burns into your memory and somehow leaves a permanent, indelible mark on you.
It may not even be obvious at the time but when you sit back and reflect, so often, you can trace a thin, wobbly line from that moment all the way along the path, through to now.
They don’t need to be the “In Your Face” types to make a lasting impression; maybe they just chip away quietly, or say something in a certain way that hits the spot…but in the end, they see something in you, they open a door and create an opportunity that allows you to grow into something new, maybe something that you didn’t even know at the time that you could be.
This month, Bill Treasurer invites us to reflect on our own personal journeys and recognize someone special who has opened a door for us, given us an opportunity to take a step forward – the very essence of his “Open Door Leadership” in action.
I love this invitation because it is an opportunity to bring together two of my favorite ideas, marrying Bill’s “Open Door Leadership” approach with the notion that we don’t have to look too far to find inspiring leaders, that leadership can be found in the most ordinary of people in the most extraordinary circumstances.
So I want to play with Bill’s invitation a little and see if we can twist it around a little.
- First – in the spirit of the fabulous “Open Door” approach, let’s reflect on someone in your journey who has opened a door, created an opportunity for you to grow, but who does not have a high public profile. How did they affect you? What opportunity did they create for you? What door did they open?
- Second – think about what you can take away from them and apply to your own leadership. What lessons can you learn? How can you translate those into your own practice? Do you see any of the Open Door Leader in yourself?
Let me share my own story with you and see where it takes us.
As I sit here listening to Ozzy, my mind goes back to Mark Petch, my high school English teacher, someone who irrevocably shaped me almost 30 years ago and who, if I follow the wobbly line, continues to influence me even now.
Mark is an inspiring guy – thinker, creative, insightful, quizzical. Hang out with him and you can’t help but come away feeling rejuvenated or somehow, a little “lighter”. But here’s the thing that I love. He is not a high profile motivational speaker, a well known author or a popular artist. He just does his thing. But when he does that, he has a way of reaching inside, grabbing you by the throat and showing you things about yourself that you never realized you were capable of.
Mark was the one who twigged to my academic ability and gave me his time and energy – he saw something in me as a spotty, angry teenager and had the foresight to set me on a path that I honestly didn’t know was there. For two solid, relentless years, Mark didn’t just teach me – he confronted me, slapped my face, eyeballed me and dared me to do better.
Mark showed me beauty and color in the rhythm of words; he helped me find my own voice and use those same words to paint my own pictures, to mark out my own rhythm. He taught me to see the world in different colors, encouraged me to look for different light, different angles, to form an opinion and back myself whilst also taking pride in knowing my information.
Now, like most teenage boys, I certainly didn’t see the true lessons that Mark was teaching at the time – sure, I really loved his class – the cool musician with attitude, a brain and a smart mouth who wrote great plays, knew all the best books to read and had an infectious love of words. But the gold nuggets that he was throwing my way slipped me by and it wasn’t until I was a lot older that I recognized just how precious was the opportunity that he had given me.
Now, as I look back with open eyes over the passage of time, I can clearly see the line tracing its thin and meandering path – it’s certainly wobbly at times, but it’s there, no doubt about it.
As a project leader, I spend my time connecting with people around the world – reaching out, creating authentic and personal connections, using words and thoughts to help them engage with changes, guiding them on their own change journeys and through it all, helping them see their own worlds in a different way.
Like an orchestra conductor, I look for everyone in the team to bring subtlety to the collective effort. Light and shade. I look at a problem from different points of view, engage people around me and try to craft a solution that brings the best of everyone involved; that allows the audience to see something for themselves. If I do the job right, then the solution that my team produces has substance; like some sort of prehistoric monolith, it shines in its own space while allowing everyone involved to see it in a different light, to take something away that is uniquely theirs.
To me, that’s the essence of Mark’s door-opening.
Through his guidance, I’ve learned to approach my craft with an appreciation of rhythm, of the subtle beauty to be found in light and color. I approach project management as something more than building a solution; I look to engage with my team and audience, to communicate and connect at a personal level, to help them see their own light and shade in our collective end result.
It’s an intensely personal interpretation of Project Leadership and reflects who I am, what I believe and what I have learned along the way. It shows just how I have grown from that personal Open Door opportunity all those years ago.
I am incredibly grateful.
Although it’s around 25 years since I’ve seen Mark, we touch base occasionally online – just enough to keep contact. I honestly can’t imagine losing that connection now and will continue to chart my journey along Mark’s thin, wobbly line.
With Ozzy along for the ride, no doubt.
So, now think now about your journey.
Who are the people that have helped draw your wobbly line, to join your dots? How have they shaped the way you see things? Do their words and actions continue to guide you?
I’d love to hear your story, your own reflections on just how you have grown through the actions of a unique, personal Open Door Leadership moment.
Believe me, it’s incredibly rejuvenating to do this. Give it a try!
This post is part of Leadership Opportunity Fest Blog Tour, hosted by Bill Treasurer. Watch the Leadership Opportunity Fest webinar here, find his book on Amazon, and then join us for the blog tour on August 13 as we celebrate leaders who open doors!
The post “Open Door Leadership” – Mark, Ozzy and the Thin, Wobbly Line appeared first on Tony Adams - Project Manager.