The Director
“Lights! Camera! Action!” The words are all too well familiar in our ears, the words that echo through a film set as everyone quiets down and await their cue. From set engineers, grips, electricians, sound technicians, photographers, videographers, all the way to the main lead, they come together as one to bring life to the vision that has brewed in the creative mind of the director. I have had the privilege to sit down with a close friend of mine, a director, a writer and editor, who I’ve also had a chance to work with on set, in order to dig into what goes on in his mind during his creative process and what it takes to be in the director’s chair, leading an entire company of talented professionals that range from technical minds to the most artistic beings that one may come across. Even before we began to talk about the topic at hand, one thing was for sure, it was safe to admit that growing up as Korean Americans, neither of us knew or imagined early on that we would ever become leaders by any definition. However, this led us to firmly believe and agreed that leadership could come from anyone. My friend recognized that leaders come in different shapes and sizes and went further as to say, “True leaders actually work behind the scenes. No pun intended.”
The Leadership Trait
“Self-awareness,” my friend began to say with boldness, “is one of the primary characteristics of an effective leader in any situation.” According to a survey done by 75 members of the Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Advisory Council, there revealed nearly a unanimous answer to the question about the most important capability a leader should develop (Northouse, 2016). Self-awareness, something easily overlooked, may seem miniscule when defining a leader. With characteristics such as charismatic, influential, motivational and even having sex appeal, one would suspect that self-awareness is on the bottom of this list. However, without self-awareness, how can one be aware of all the internal aspects of their nature, including personality, emotions, values, attitudes, perceptions and even appreciating how these patterns may affect other people.
A very respected and influential pastor once told me that without a powerful sense of identity, we will never cease to struggle in our lives. He continued to explain and shared with me an analogy I will never forget. “If you see yourself as a failure, you will find a way or an excuse to fail.” It is clear that self-awareness or self-identity (which can be used interchangeably) is the root in becoming an effective leader. When leaders truly understand themselves, they are grounded and constant, reliable and sturdy, composed and stable. This is evident with many successful leaders that we know of today. When we look at the CEOs of Google and Apple for example, Larry Page and Tim Cook, we may not use words like charismatic or motivational. In fact, these extremely successful leaders have tested to be and are labeled as introverts. As my friend and I discussed about the different leadership traits, the notion that the quality of extroversion being quite insignificant made us both realize that today’s successful leaders are not the “tough guys” of the past.
Describing himself to be “talkative yet insightful, humorous but honest, and precise yet open,” my friend dreamed of becoming a director since his first ever visit to the cinema. Born in New York, raised in Hawaii, he taught himself the piano and how to draw. When other kids described objects as “this” and “that,” my friend labeled them by colors and shapes by age two. He still considered himself to be unique, which shaped him to become the type of leader he became today. “I always knew who I was, I knew what I liked, and I knew what I had to become to be successful. My identity as an artist was the foundation I used to write scripts, edit and direct film.” He continued on to share his lack of knowledge in the theory of leadership, but shared his belief that leadership is innate in everyone who chooses to bring it out. He believes that someone cannot make a person lead when they do not want to and those that simply do not care to lead will simply never lead. To my friend, leadership ultimately comes down to whether or not someone actually wants to become a leader, having self-awareness, a sense of identity.
The Application
“I don’t believe in being just one type of leader,” my friend answered as I asked him which style of leadership allows for a productive day on a set. “I know my team, my crew, my cast, I become the leader that they need. Some of them need a leader who is willing to be their friend while some need a boss who will give them clear-cut direction.” Much like my friend, I believe that a leader must have the capacity to adapt to the dynamic of their team that they are working with. Bruce Lee, the martial artist, said it best when he describes life as being like water. “If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle.” As my friend and I mentioned, this can only be possible if one is self-aware and is able to self-manage. Having the ability to control your emotions and act with integrity and adaptable ways is what helps one person become the leader of a group that is composed of multiple personalities, characters and minds (Goleman, 2013).
It is not difficult to make the connection between the approaches of my friend and how it can benefit into the clinical setting. Stepping onto the floor or unit of a hospital is not so much different than stepping unto the playground of grade school during recess. There will always be a melting pot of characters, cultures, age or even generation gaps to neatly construct into a cohesive team. We can talk about being authoritative or Laissez-faire, or transactional or transformational, but without knowing who we are inside, no matter what type of leader we try to become, it will not work. The smart healthcare team must realize this paradigm shift of leadership step out of textbook definitions and old-school tactics of leadership.
Conclusion
I have held these values and built upon them with every opportunity I had. Not only has my friend proved to me that a sense of strong self-identity is the key to being a successful leader, but has also showed me the potential of just how diverse a leader can become when this innate leadership trait emerges. Every great, famous or infamous leader of this past and present world has one thing in common, a strong sense of self-identity. This identity will present and manifest in ways that people will follow and recognize in some way or another. From the playground to the ruler of the free world, this identity is what leads, not the voice, not the looks, not even being nice. I hope to be this leader one day, whether it is on the unit or on the top floor of the medical building, to be like water, leading with purpose and identity, to be able to adapt to be the support my team needs me to be.