What air guitar taught me about leadership

I started entering air guitar competitions in 2012.  The hours spent preparing, the minutes performing, and the camaraderie of my fellow performers has enriched my life beyond measure.

So why did I hide the most unique and interesting part of me from hiring managers, bosses, peers and reports? Fear, mainly.  Fear that people would have trouble separating the manager pitching an idea, from the clown in tights and a wig. I wanted to be like everyone else, and not stick out.
What’s that saying about the nail that sticks out? You know how it goes.

Now, these were deeply rooted "tapes” that played in my head, and weren’t easily erased. Mainly, lessons from my stoic father and roughly a decade of reprogramming from the US Army in how to compartmentalize work & personal life, and create the necessary amount of distance between myself and subordinates.

For the record, I still think the latter is necessary, and something with which many junior managers struggle. The key is defining “necessary”. In the real world, it's much less than the military. That statement so self-evident it’s almost absurd to state it, but any veterans reading this will understand the difficulty in shifting this mindset.

Eventually, I took the example from a couple friends, and decided “I’m going to start telling people this”. It was a burden lifted. There’s something I can always talk about that lights my face up, and brings me out of my shell. Why would I hide that?

My experience since jettisoning that baggage has been overwhelmingly positive reception. Genuine curiosity, excitement, appreciation and usually a lot of follow up questions. And sometimes it’s politely dismissed, which is fine. I do the same when someone starts sharing the finer points of Harry Potter. Not my thing, but I still feel better knowing that they have their own “silly” passion.

The point is, your coworkers, bosses, and especially your reports, are waiting for you to share some vulnerability.  Don't be afraid to.  They're smart enough to see through your work mask anyway, don’t fool yourself.

My challenge to you:

Take that thing about yourself. . . that passion or hobby that you think is too weird, nerdy, or embarrassing and start sharing it with people. You don’t need to write a blog post about it (then again, why not?) but just stop suppressing the urge to bring it up when it feels like it’s right. You’ll be surprised what you learn about them in turn, and the positive environment this can create, especially if you’re in a position of influence.

I'm now the current US Air Guitar National champion, and in 10 days will represent the United States at the Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu, Finland.  Is this achievement going on my resume?  You bet.

photo by Kyle Payton Privette

Thumbnail image photo by Lenny Gotter