**  After being reminded of this post from awhile back, I am re-posting as I believe it still applies to the spirit of this blog.

“That’s why we rehearse” – Michael Jackson, This Is It

What I learned by watching This Is It

It doesn’t seem like a movie that teaches lessons about leadership and running a business, and getting what you want.  But it is, and in fact, there are scenes that could be a good addition to any seminar about leadership and entrepreneurship.

Lesson #1 – Be Direct

Tell people what you want.  Don’t beat around the bush, or hide away… tell them what you want, and what you expect.  Say what you want clearly and without reservation.

“What can we do to make the ear piece sound better?”

“Just bring the level down a notch.”

Done.  That’s it.  They brought the levels down, he was happy, the crew was happy, and they got on with it.  No wishy washy, no, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe you can try and bring the volume down just a little bit and let’s see how that is.”

Directness.  It gets the job done, people know where you stand, and they can do what they need to do to move forward.

Lesson #2 – Give People The Chance To Shine

When you have superstars on your team, they need to shine.  Give the room to do that so they can be seen and heard and have the spotlight for a moment.  In the end this makes the entire team, the business, and yourself much better.

The woman guitarist comes up on stage, it is just her and Michael Jackson.  He tells her to really hit that note and to really go.  Then he says, “This is your time to shine.”  It makes the song, the performance, and Michael Jackson… better.

When great people shine, they make everyone around them shine.  It’s physics… or something like that.

Lesson #3 – Do it out of love, not fear

No, this doesn’t mean you need to tell everyone around you that you love them.  What it really means, is lead out of a place of love and respect.  Don’t lead so that people fear you and loathe to be around you.

There is a moment in the film when the music team plays a part of a song, and Michael Jackson stops them.  He says, “No, no, no… you’ve got to let it sizzle.”  Right after telling them ‘no’ he follows it up with the comment, “This is all for love, l-o-v-e.”

What happen when he does this… you see the whole room become lighter.  You see a great combination of respect for their leader and also see a room full of people who now know that this is a team, a collaboration, a group effort to make it the best it can be.  He wants what he wants for the betterment of the project.

Lesson #4 – Look for, and see, the beauty in things around you

When we see beauty in the things around us, it can help make a more peaceful and joyful environment.

Near the end of the movie, they are about to practice the last song, “Man in the Mirror.”  They are talking about the safety presentation flight attendants give before a plane leaves the gate.  Michael Jackson mentions the movements they make while pointing out the exits and says, “I love when they do that.”

Beauty in the everyday.

Lesson #5 – Sometimes you just need to feel it

As a leader, there are times when you won’t have a cue, or someone to get an opinion from.  Sometimes, we just need to ‘feel it.’  Call it intuition, call it a gut check, call it whatever you want… it’s the moment when the you just know what to do.

Michael Jackson is standing at the top of the stage, they realize he won’t see the cue from where he stands.  What is his solution to this problem… he says, “I’ll just need to feel it.”

Not another word is said.  He will just feel it.

Final Thoughts

Whatever your thoughts on Michael Jackson, there is no doubt he was and always will be one of the top entertainers of our time.  The piece I didn’t know until I saw this film was that he is not just a top entertainer, but an extremely good leader.  A leader who takes pride and ownership in his product.  A leader who gets people to come along for the ride because they want to be part of something bigger than themselves.  A leader who demands, and gets, a great amount of respect from those working with him.

A leader who does all of this without losing his cool, without yelling, without being an asshole who everyone can’t stand to be around.  He does it all from a place of L-O-V-E, and I think we can all learn from this.

All I know is that when I have my own business, and I need to form a team, I’m calling them my pit crew.

Are you starting a racing business?

No, not at all.  But, I got to go to a NASCAR race, and let me tell you… it’s all about the pit crews, oh, and the driver, oh yeah, and definitely the car.  But really… watching the pit crew is like watching a well rehearsed dance number on Broadway.  Except there’s no dancing, and I’m not really all that into Broadway plays… so maybe that’s a bad example.  But know this… it’s amazingly cool to watch the pit crew!

The pit crew… why I watch them as much as the race itself.

I’m not a big NASCAR person, but I’ve gone to a few races in my day, and honestly, there are times I catch myself watching the activity in the pit as much as the race itself.  The speed and seeming ease with witch they work.  It’s something to see.  I think in their off months, they should coach teams on better communication, trusting that the other people can/will do what they say they will and most of all… speed and efficiency.

Except, I think that speed and efficiency are results of good communication and trusting fellow teammates.

Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Based on the amount of equipment I saw, I believe that communication is at the core of what these teams do.  They talk to the driver, to people on the track and to each other.  I’d love to hear the communication.  I bet it is mostly people listening to a few people talking.  I don’t know this for sure… but I don’t think that 10 people are barking orders.

They seem to do almost everything without talking much.  Of course, the sound coming from the track may have something to do with this.  But, when a car comes into the pit, they flag it down, people get to work and then the head person (or at least they appear to be the head person) says something, pats the back of the car and the driver is gone.

Respect and trust.

Again, I’ve never worked on a pit crew.  Watching them work, and hearing that the rules are quite strict about what members on the pit crew can and cannot do based on their role, makes me believe they need to have a lot of respect and trust if they want to be an efficient pit team.  Turns out that the crew working on the car are not allowed to go over to the tool box and grab a wrench.  A designated tool person must hand it to them.  If the pit person working on the car grabs the wrench on the other side of the wall… they are out of the pit for the remainder of the race.  There is no such thing as substitutions, either.  They are just out… and the rest of the crew must work with one less set of hands.

So… each member of the team must trust that their fellow teammates will do their job.  They cannot step in.  Not even if they want to.  They must trust that the best person is in that position and will get it done.  I like it.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

The amount of practice that must go on… I can only imagine.  The weeks and months leading up to the season, the car nuances being learned, the personality of the team coming to light.  Like any good team, they aren’t just born, they are created and honed and put through the ringer together.  Through a little thing we call practice.

I’m sure that the driver practices hearing and feeling the car.  Practices how to communicate what is wrong with the car.  What the sound is they heard, what the feeling is they felt.  The pit crew must practice interpreting this feedback so they can figure out what is wrong, what needs to be adjusted, what needs to be replaced.  In 10 seconds or less.

The tuning on the car is so precise, that just swerving the car back and forth during a yellow flag can mean the difference between first and second.  The little details are so important that during long races, they will break for 10 minutes to allow the team to make any adjustments they feel necessary due to the way the track is running, the way the car is reacting to the temperature of the asphalt, the way the wind is blowing.  I mean, any little nuance is taken into account and corrected for, if possible.

This is why I want a pit crew.

Because with a good team, who I can trust and respect… anything is possible.  With a team that sees a way to fine tune the business by making the smallest of changes… the business is going to do better.  With a team that is willing to stop at lap 100 and reassess because things are not going as planned… the business will be able to go directions that one never thought possible.

Can’t wait to get going… can’t wait to have a pit crew!

What are some things you look for in a team?