Sans Fig Leaf

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"Hang together or..."

22 August, 2002

The nearly-impossible requires three things: time, resources, and ingenuity. If you have a surplus of one of those, you can make up for almost any deficit in the others.

The most complicated thing I've ever done is produce a concert tour. We did 38 concerts in 30 cities in 30 days. The group was an inter-denominational evangelical teen choir. I was the tour producer, stage manager, head sound technician, conducter of one of the small ensembles, and a puppeteer. I was also the back-up preacher (that part is a story for another essay).

For each of those concerts we rolled into town and 50-some kids ranging in age from 13-21 went into motion, unloading equipment, luggage, and costumes. We set up a stage, sound system, light system, and puppet stage. Then we rehearsed, ate, changed, and put on a two-hour multi-media live concert and "revival" meeting--complete with multiple costume changes and audience participation. Then, we packed the whole thing up and did it again somewhere else. I was one of only six or so adults herding (and chaperoning) that group of hormones on feet.

And I did it again the next year.

Before that, I had been working in the organization in various capacities. I started out as just a 16-year-old kid who was interested in music and theatre, thinking this might be a fun thing to do.

Things didn't always run smoothly. There were disasters, ranging from damaged equipment to injured kids. There were many times when the conducter would get a grand artistic vision for something new to do, and many outside observers would say, "That's just crazy! You'll never pull that off with a bunch of kids!" But more often than not, not only did we pull it off, we exceeded the conducter's dreams.

It's true we had some talented members. More than a few were brighter than average. And we occasionally got a lucky break, though we never, ever had money to throw at any problem. But I don't think we succeeded just because of talent, luck, genius, or even the liberal application of elbow grease.

I believe the single most important factor in our repeated successes was that we had a leader who expected us to succeed. He told us again and again that we could do anything we put our minds to. He led by example, never afraid to jump in and do the work himself, nor admit that he didn't know how to do something. When there were problems, he dealt with them. When someone screwed up, he didn't ignore it, but handled it a manner so it was clear that the behavior was the problem, not the person.

His successor worked the same way and the organization achieved even more incredible things. Unfortunately, the person who took over after him didn't quite understand that people will give you what you ask of them: if you make them feel like failures, they will fail.

I have been lucky enough to work with a few more leaders like the first two since. And though I thought I understood how they acheived all that they did it --after all, I used the same methods as an assistant director--I didn't really understand it until many years later, when the local lesbian & gay chorus was caught in tribulations: the conducter resigned, people were sniping and blaming each other for what had happened, income wasn't matching outgo.

I didn't bail out. I stayed, ran for the Board, got myself elected president, and put my nose to the grindstone. It wasn't easy. I came this close to developing an ulcer. On the very worst day of that year I did break down and light up a cigarette, after having been off the devil weed for a couple years. But we got through it, and unlike past presidents of the chorus, every one of which had left the chorus at the end of their term, often never to return, I stuck around and served another year as a committee chair (after which I took a leave, which has since stretched out indefinitely).

The part that I hadn't really understood before, when there had always been at least one person I was looking to for leadership, was that it isn't just the leadership.

It's also the followship.

People have the potential to do great things or terrible things. You can bring out the best or the worst in people. But they can also bring out the best or worst in their leaders. It's not a simple formula of leaders lead and followers follow. It's a complicated interactive process. Whichever role you are in, you have to give it your best, or things won't work. You can't passively hope that everything works out.

You can soar to the heights together. Or you can fail miserably. In either case, no single person deserves all the credit or blame.