Joy is not the first thing we associate with leadership. Influence, power, strategy skills, achievement, change management, tolerance for complexity – absolutely. Joy? Rarely makes anyone’s Top Ten list.
Experience and years of seeing talented and dedicated executives burdened – or burned out – by the demands of their work have brought joy to the top of my list of leadership requisites. It’s every leader’s under-appreciated, competitive advantage – and the best way to wed great accomplishment with health and balance.
What’s the role of joy in your work life? How can you find more?
That’s not an easy question for many of us to answer, nor is it one we often contemplate. Professional training in all fields focuses heavily on skills, knowledge, acumen, practice, responsibility – learning more, doing more, doing better. Joy takes a side seat, if even allowed to the table. Without joy, the stage is set for a career characterized by stress, strain, and an ethic of just keep pushing harder.
To illustrate my point on the power of joy – and to add joy to your day – take a look at a leader-in-action video. As you watch, think about the leader’s power, influence, impact, efforts, and achievement. Then take a look at his joy. What do you notice?
Hint: Joy drives everything – and it has made great things happen.
The leader is Gregg Breinberg, music teacher and director of the fifth grade PS22 Chorus at a large public school in Graniteville, Staten Island, New York. Gregg founded the chorus in 2000, and the world will have a chance to see the fruits of his labors when the group performs at the Oscars in Hollywood later this month. [See Anne Hathaway’s surprise visit to the 11th Annual Winter Concert to invite the group.]
I’m a relative new comer to the PS22 Chorus, but they’ve been an internet phenomenon with more than 28 million hits since Gregg began his postings more than five years ago. Anne Hathaway said she’s been following the PS 22 Chorus for years – and yes, they have brought her a lot of joy.
So take a look and a listen. The kids are adorable. The music is great. The leadership lesson, profound. This is one of the group’s best – and had the flu not derailed me, I’d have beaten the Huffington Post to press in reporting on their terrific rendition of Ariel Pink’s “Round and Round.”