“On the Record”: Blending Past, Present, and Future as a Leader
“The past is a steppingstone, not a millstone” — Robert Plant
I’m an obsessed music collector. Thanks to immigrant Jewish parents who saw music as an integral part of life, our home was filled with the sounds of opera, classical, rock, and jazz. That soundtrack of my childhood fueled a life-long passion of music discovery and enjoyment.
In high school, my friends and I spent countless hours visiting Bronx and lower Manhattan record stores, thumbing through stacks, and asking who was playing on the overhead speakers. We bonded through those experiences and the feelings of curiosity and connection that came with discovering new and old music.
As city outings became less and less frequent, we adapted as CDs replaced records, and then came iPods… and, well, you know the rest. Fast forward to four years ago when I pulled my records out of storage, cleaned, and re-connected my Technics turntable, and re-kindled my vinyl love affair. Within a few weeks, I found myself selling 1400 records to a used record store and keeping the 400 or so that mattered most to my wife and me.
Today, we live in a (mostly) digital home, having sold all but a few remaining records (with heartfelt apologies to any fellow collectors who might be reading this). While I certainly appreciate the records’ intrinsic value, I value more the anytime-anywhere access to my always-growing music collection in the cloud.
Yes, there’s a healthy tension between platform users — those loyal and committed to the past, and those who enjoy the innovation and flexibility of the new. I, for one, don’t mind living at that intersection.
Leading At The Intersection of Past, Present, and Future
My passion for music is met and matched by my passion for leadership where — presently at play — is a “platform” intersection between past, present, and future skills required for leadership success. With the continuous introduction of new, the reframing of current, and the replacing and “rewrapping” of less trendy (but important) skills and practices, some leaders are just trying keep up while others are actively staying ahead of the curve.
Consider for example that current trends and practices point to adaptability, curiosity, empathy, and purpose as a few of the important behavioral characteristics for any leader’s toolkit. Concurrently, our shared pandemic experience accelerated a paradigm shift highlighted by the re-distribution of power toward the employee, greater needs and expectations of flexibility, and more collaborative communication and decision-making processes. In the meantime, essential skills and practices that any leader should master including facilitating constructive conflict, building and sustaining team performance, delegation and budgeting have been re-wrapped with modernized definitions and terminologies. In context of current events, we are again reminded of the importance of situational leadership in times of uncertainty,
I was fortunate to have a mentor early on in my career who made clear the importance of continuous learning, adaptability, and curiosity, while stressing the need to master the fundamentals. Innately, my mentor observed the relationship between past, present, and future skills required for my success. He noted that while the need to be current and relevant as a leader is a table stake requirement, so is recognizing that the definition of “current” was and is highly subjective … and is always changing.
This could not be more true today: as the rate of change rapidly increases knowledge and behaviors required for leadership success seem to depreciate more rapidly. Still, broadening one’s leadership toolkit requires that leaders pragmatically discern what is “best for me” given the natural limitations of time, their self-awareness and professional aspirations, the context of their current operating environment, and what can be reasonably assimilated while learning to adapt one’s current practice and approach.
Consider two excellent leadership articles that made their way into my inbox: one is a three part series from HBR on Leading Transformation in the Digital Era, a research-based approach focused on some of the “new” key leadership skills for the future. The second article from strategy+business suggests through its title that leaders revisit the work of past culture pioneers and reconsider what we can still learn from them today. The intersection of these divergent leadership recommendations for action illustrates an ongoing challenge and tension between past, present, and future, and raises many questions. For example:
· What does it mean to be current and relevant in today’s climate given the rapid pace of new ideas and approaches?
· When and how do I unlearn and phase out less effective practices or blend in new practices and thinking for today’s workplace?
· Where is the line between innovative ideas and practical realities?
Just as few would argue that LP records are modern and easily transportable, similarly few would argue that digital music offers the purest and most authentic listening experience. Leaders are more effective — amid the great uncertainty and opportunities of today — when they recognize the value and merits found at the intersection of new thinking and time-tested practices.
True leadership acumen comes in the skillful art of knowing when, how, and in what precious balance, to apply both, and to do so on a continuous basis.
