I have enjoyed a new experience over the last few months, as the producer of a musical stage show. I fell into the role almost by accident and was surprised at how complex and time-consuming it became, but I found I enjoyed every minute, even when I started losing sleep and noticing a racing metabolism in the days leading up to the performances. Thankfully everything went remarkably well and, two weeks later, my body rhythms have almost returned to normal.
As the project progressed and as show day neared, I had a wonderful recurring sensation that there was a guardian angel hovering over the production bringing it good luck. Whenever we needed a break, we got one. We needed a sofa and were flailing around trying poor substitutes, when suddenly a perfect sofa miraculously appeared backstage. The same thing happened for a bench and a platform. I realised too late that our dress rehearsal would be immediately preceded by a scout troupe meeting in the same venue and that would ruin our ability to set up in time, but once I started investigating, I was given the wonderful news that the scout troupe had decided to take that week off.
I could quote many similar examples, but perhaps the luckiest break came from Covid. Staging the production at all felt almost reckless at the time we had to decide; cancelling would have been almost devastating for our small choir. We left the choice as late as possible, and somehow all the trends started working in our favour. Only one performer missed rehearsals while isolating, and one other had to miss the performances, somebody who was not critical. In the end we even felt able to offer performers the chance to perform without masks (after everyone took a home test), which transformed the experience for the audience and many performers. A week earlier or two weeks later and we would not have been so lucky, with cases rising again now in New York.
This sense of having a guardian angel looking out for me or for a team I was involved in has happened a few times before, though I can’t recall feeling it quite as strongly as this time. It is a lovely feeling, and I took to quietly chuckling whenever one more problem seemed to solve itself in the nick of time. I had to be careful not to become complacent, while allowing the happy feeling to add a useful dose of confidence.
I have also experienced the opposite feeling, one where failure almost seemed preordained. It usually happens when I fall ill physically. I might catch a cold, and that might somehow lead me to trip up and then basic tasks would start to go wrong. My mood could become cruel and blaming and failure would mount on top of failure. Then I would start losing sleep, and the cycle would only get worse. It could take a few weeks to recover. It is weird but in these situations it even seemed as if all the sports teams I support were destined to lose as well.
I have been part of teams where this negativity prevailed, but have also been in seemingly blessed ones. Ten years ago I was in a church choir run by a kind and hard-working lady. Her resources were thin and often unreliable, but that did not seem to curtail her ambition. She would repeatedly devise seemingly unachievable plans, without tight schedules and difficult repertoire. As the deadline approached, it seemed certain that disaster would occur. Yet time and again her guardian angel arrived in the nick of time to save her. Somebody steeped up in an unexpected way, something finally clicked, or some external event turned up to save us. I used to regard her good fortune as a series of minor miracles. Given the religious setting, it was occasionally tempting to look up to heaven wondering if the intervention might be a divine one.
But whenever I thought about it more logically, I could see various factors that combined to give that marvellous lady more than her fair share of luck. It was not luck at all. The saying that in life you make most of your own luck was borne out in that choir.
First, she worked very hard and always did more than her own share behind the scenes. Her repertoire was ambitious, but she had a vision for how the group might step up to perform it. She put in place structures to help people. Then she exuded a gentle confidence that rubbed off on the rest of us. Her confidence was never arrogant, or demanding, or entitled, but always trusting and supportive. We could see how she wanted us to succeed and we could see how she somehow deserved it, and somehow we usually stepped up and delivered, often coming up with a product we did not believe we were capable of. Afterwards she would humbly deflect the praise onto others. This was leadership in action.
So perhaps was I managing to exhibit some of the same qualities during my recent theatre project? I did at one point share my guardian angel theory with a teammate, who responded by stating that the theory was nonsense and the guardian angel was me, the nicest compliment I have received in a long time.
Reading the list of factors I just created for my blessed choir of a decade ago, I could never aspire to her serenity but perhaps I did find my own magic formula for a few weeks. I did work hard, set ambitious goals, develop plans and devise structures. I was able to utilise project management skills that became second nature during my corporate career. I suppose that may have encouraged confidence and trust in others and a willingness to go the extra mile for the project. Until the last few days I had a sense of being unusually productive, and at the end, when my body was starting to fail, my mistakes did not turn out to be crucial and others stepped up to share the load.
So for a short time I discovered my leadership sweet spot. I should bottle it up so I can use it again, but of course it is not quite so simple. What is true is that the situation I found myself in turned out to be an excellent fit for my skills. Then we found some momentum and off we went. For a change I managed to avoid bringing out my disastrous leadership traits of cynicism and snide remarks, and we managed to ride our success all the way to the finish line, although my physical stamina was at its limit.
Many of us will have our leadership sweet spots and it would be a healthy exercise to try to engineer situations where we might be at our best. We cannot always make that happen, but we can increase our odds. Then when the momentum is with us we have to ride it as long as possible. Another momentum killer is any loss of tension owing to a premature declaration of victory. I remember from my bridge playing days that disaster would strike as soon as I envisioned myself in the winner’s enclosure. You often see that same mistake and the other momentum killers in sports teams as well.
I can also see how others can end up in a cycle of despair. Physical frailty makes everything more difficult, and physical problems have a habit of multiplying. Tough situations can follow people about. Confidence and its absence are equally effective in pervading around a team. People born into tough environments with physical challenges and who lack educational opportunities to develop their leadership toolkits deserve our sympathy, and, where possible, a leg up.
It is also easy to see how these seemingly lucky or unlucky people and the lucky or unlucky streaks we all enjoy or endure might lead many of us towards religious beliefs. I choose to see out more logical causes, but sometimes, as in my recent project, things go so well that the idea of a guardian angel feels like the only explanation. And that idea has the added benefit of encouraging humility too, so for now I am sticking with it. How otherwise can sofas appear out of thin air?
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