What I learned about leadership from Paul McCartney and Wings
As a big fan of the Beatles, more specifically Paul McCartney, I am always looking for books to read about the band and his rock ‘n’ roll journey. Last night, I finished a book called Man on the Run — Paul McCartney in the 70’s by Tom Doyle . An amazing book, that details McCartney’s years in the 70’s when he was establishing his solo career post Beatles. An in-depth read about Sir Paul’s successful band Wings, and his relationship with his co-rock ‘n’ roll conspirator, collaborator and wife Linda. This book, was an indulgent pleasure for me, as I put aside my work reading on digital transformation to enjoy an inside look into one of my favourite musicians.
After reading about Paul’s journey post Beatles, including building his new band Wings, I started to realize that many of the struggles he faced as a leader of a new band, had some alignment to what is experienced in corporate leadership.
Forming Wings, and retaining his team (band members), was challenging. McCartney went through many band members during the 10 years of Wings, and applied some of his leadership learnings as a Beatle to his band management style. From structuring retainer salaries, similar to his years as a Beatle, to sharing a bag of earnings (coins collected at University gigs) during Wings early travelling years which The Beatles didn’t do, it seems that McCartney based his management style of what he had learned, love and hated from the industry he grew up in. Some of this was good, and some bad, and often times he was learning on the go. I’ve come across senior leaders in companies and charities who constantly talk about their past leadership experience, focus on past learning, and don’t focus on new ways of learning to enhance leadership skills. What about perception? McCartney wanted to create a group that had a creative identity and contribution to the records as equals. That was difficult. The reality was that when Paul recruited his team (bandmates), most were in awe of him as he was perceived as one of the greatest rock stars of all time. Anyone joining the group, was told it was democratic contribution process, but he was the leader of the band, and the band mostly did what he (and Linda) wanted. Often corporate leaders are recruited for the same panache of a Errol Flynn style or rock ’n’ roller background and a star studded history. They come into an organization and propose “team work” and “group building” but often fail at adapting to common goals, or simply can’t get past who they are and where they have been.
The coolest things McCartney did for Wings members was a focus on growing and moving Wings forward outside of the norm. I believe, great leadership is about being different, strong, creative, driven, and adaptable. McCartney often left dreary rainy London and took his band to locations that would inspire and create new energy. One of the most successful records, Band on the Run was recorded at the EMI studios in Lagos, Nigeria. Shortly before leaving for Lagos, two of his bandmates quit. The country had just had a revolution. He didn’t blink an eye, but continued on his journey recording in a barely made studio with limited resources a small team to create one of Wings best albums. That meant playing drums and lead guitar to compensate for the lost band mates. The story here for me is resiliency in leadership, taking risks, learning new skills and being adaptive. It also is about rolling up your sleeves, grabbing the drum sticks and making the drum roll happen. That equals constant learning, which many leaders do not do.
Unknown to me, music and leadership became a focus when reading this book about one of my favourite musicians. It allowed me to reflect in a different way on how I can build leadership skills by looking outside and embracing traditional methods of learning.
