Drawing Upon Your Past
So summer break is upon us all and we are all about to go out and explore the world as we spend this time to get away from all of the world's demands. It will be in no time that life will hit us with reality again, so make sure to cherish all of the good times that are bound to come right now. As I make this wonderful transition from a week full of finals, sleepless nights and multiple cups of coffee to the relaxing period that is summer, I want to share with you all something interesting that has come my way recently as I wait for the Copa del Rey Final to start on this Sunday afternoon.
Isn't it baffling how such a simple line or phrase that was once said can resonate with you for life? It's crazy to think how such simple ideas can be so transcendent in such a complex society we live in today. All of these eye-opening ideas are just floating about in the universe and you seemingly just have to always be on the lookout for them.
As most of you all know, I love watching interviews in my spare time. Lately, I've been taking a much more business minded approach to the type of videos I watch. A lot of the videos that I've watched recently are of famous sports coaches and looking at their management styles. Some of the coaches that have really stood out are Phil Jackson, Pep Guardiola, and Sir Alex Ferguson. In fact, I highly recommend you to watch this video of Sir Alex Ferguson at Stanford's Graduate School of Business to learn a little about what made him one of the, if not the, most successful coaches/managers in sports' history. It's crazy to see how their coaching philosophies all differ, but they have all still achieved greatness as a leader and coach/manager.
But enough of all that. What really caught my attention as I was watching these videos? Not surprisingly, something Kobe Bryant said in this interview really stuck out to me: "Be yourself. That's it - be you, be you. There's no gimmick, there's no.. you don't have to contrive anything. Who are you? Where are you today? What is your story? Where does that come from? Right.. and then all you're doing is now communicating the story to the public."
The concept of storytelling has really caught my attention ever since the end of my freshman year here at Cal. It's an art form that really has no impurities to it - it is simply natural. I think that's the best part of storytelling in fact - the fact that it is so natural and comes with an ease that you can't really fake. But enough about storytelling, let me get back to my point about how to go about managing others by using the idea of storytelling.
Managing others is truly an art form that takes a lifetime to craft. With each individual that you look over, you are writing a chapter in the story that is your management. Each stroke that you make on your management canvass will be different and will tell a different story in all of its own way. At the end of the day, you are set out to create a masterpiece in the amalgamation of all the little things here and there. What is interesting about the process of it all is seeing how many get sidetracked with other ideas, causing them to sway from the natural way.
As people go about management positions, they get caught up in learning how to do the best that they can in their position by drawing upon common traits that have made those leaders before them successful. I myself have done this early on. What I figured though from all of these managers is that their upbringing and their own life story was the best source of information available to them in crafting their management styles. This is not to say that you shouldn't look outwards for advice and tips in developing your managerial style; however, the reason why certain tactics and tricks have worked for very few managers is because there is something within their own personal story that taps into and brings out the best in them. It is all about clarity by drawing back upon your past and using that to carry you forward since that is unique and permanent to you.
The next time you look into the mirror and ask yourself what type of manager/leader you want to be going forward, I want you to assess if you are tapping into your life story to color your managerial style. If you are not, think deeply about why you are asking yourself that question in the first place and how comfortable you feel as a manager/coach/leader at that given moment. It is hard to realize that who you are at the core can be used to unveil a great leader and manager since we live in a world that wants us to envelope something different and fake.
I've loved looking at my own leadership style and assessing areas for improvement. Recently, I've been trying to break down this idea of the "Dual Actor's Mentality" that I bring to my leadership style and try to mesh my dual faced style to approaching things. In meshing the two, I found that my own person, rooted in my life story, has been the keystone to my managerial style and its given success at times. Now, I want you all to go assess your own managerial styles and realize that your own self is your most powerful asset to developing and honing in on your own leadership style. Take a listen to this song as you start to think about this all as I find songs like these help me break down complex problems into simpler terms, thereby helping me find clarity in the world. Otherwise, have a great summer everyone!
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
